Woman killed, one injured in East Toledo domestic dispute

Youssef Ramadan, 44, a suspect in the stabbing.

An East Toledo woman was killed and her 14-year-old stepson was seriously injured this morning in a violent domestic dispute in their home in the 1000 block of Front Street, authorities said.

The woman, Mirvat Ramadan, 40, was pronounced dead this morning at St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center, where she was taken after the stabbing, and where her stepson, Mohamad Ramadan, was listed in serious condition.

A second child, a teenaged girl, was not at home at the time of the incident and was uninjured, police said. The girl was taken into protective custody at her school, East Broadway Junior High, police said.

Police Sgt. Phil Toney said fire and police crews had been called to the corner home at East Broadway and Front Street shortly before 8 a.m. by the son, who called 911 after he had been beaten by the suspect.

Police, on the scene, investigate the early morning stabbing.

When they arrived, they discovered the wife had been beaten and stabbed and was lying in the living room. She later died at St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center, Sergeant Toney said.

The son, who had let police into the house, had been beaten with what Sergeant Toney described as a "small sledge hammer-type weapon."

Police continue to search this afternoon for the woman s husband, Youssef Ramadan, described as a 44-year-old Lebanese man, about 5-foot-9-inches tall.

He was described by police as the owner of a private used car lot in the 800 block of South Byrne Road, and was reported to have fled the scene in a silver Dodge Neon with dealer plates.

Police investigating at the scene of an early moring stabbing.

Toledo attorney Charles Sallah represented Mr. Ramadan in two civil cases, and said he was in contact with other family members trying to locate the man so that he could surrender himself to police. Mr. Sallah said that he would be representing his former client again in this case.

"It s so unlike him. It s so atypical," Mr. Sallah said of his former client, whom he described as good-natured and easy-going. "The family is just shocked."

Toledo Public School officials said Mohamad is a student at Waite High School across the street from the home. The school was placed into "lockdown" shortly after the incident was reported, and remained so through its early release today at 12:20 p.m.

Lockdown means that no students are allowed in or out of the building, Toledo Public School officials said.

Police were conducting house-to-house searches in the East Toledo neighborhood into the afternoon searching for Mr. Ramadan. Several of Mr. Ramadan s relatives live in the same neighborhood, Mr. Sallah said.

Cindy DeBolt, a neighbor two doors down from the victims home on Front Street, described the victim as a "very lovable" woman in her 30s or 40s who had recently been teaching Ms. DeBolt s daughter and her friends to speak Lebanese.

Cindy DeBolt, a neighbor two doors down from the victims home on Front Street, watches as Toledo Police and detectives investigate at the scene of an early morning stabbing. She described the victim as a "very lovable" woman.

She said the family was often openly affectionate toward one another.

"It s astonishing what happened. They re all hard-working. They re constantly working on their house," Ms. DeBolt said. "When the husband would come home, he used to hug his wife and children."

"Last week, she [the woman] was talking to me and my cousin She was teaching me how to say [in Lebanese] I love you, "hi, things like that, said Brittany DeBolt, 14, of 1008 Front.

Her family were the only neighbors who could be seen on their porch after police arrived. For about an hour, there was hardly a passerby and an occasional passing car would honk at a small crowd of reporters.

The two-story house, where police said the incident occurred, is located on the northeastern corner of Front and East Broadway, with two porches on the opposite sides of the house.

Both porches, those of the victims family and the DeBolt family, face the Maumee River.

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