Canton police continue to investigate the deaths of two women found severely burned inside a Skyline Terrace apartment Sunday morning, as a missing person report provides additional details about the hours before the women disappeared.
Police identified the women as 42-year-old Katina C. Spells of Canton and 31-year-old Kourtni D. Yeager of Massillon.
Canton police officers responded around 10 a.m. Sunday to 712 Alan Page Drive SE at the request of the Canton Fire Department, which was already at the scene of a structure fire.
Firefighters searching the building found Spells and Yeager inside an apartment. Both women suffered severe burns and appeared to have sustained wounds that were not associated with the fire, according to police.
Both were transported by Canton Fire Department medics to local hospitals, where they were pronounced dead.
According to a Canton police missing person report obtained by Jordan Miller News, members of Spells’ family went to the Canton Police Department on Saturday to report her missing after they had not seen her since early Friday morning.
The report states Spells and a family member had gone out drinking at Nathan’s Patio and left around 1:30 a.m. Friday. They attempted to go to another bar on Mahoning Road NE, but it was closed when they arrived.
The two then went to Speedway at Harmont Avenue and Mahoning Road before Spells dropped the family member off at a residence on Ninth Street SW around 2:34 a.m., according to the report. Police were told that was the last time a family member saw Spells.
The report also indicates that Yeager was with the group that night. Family members told police there had been discussion about potentially meeting up with a group of men. The report does not identify those men.
Spells was last reported driving a white 2012 Cadillac SRX. The vehicle was reportedly later found abandoned near 17th Street and Shorb Avenue in Canton.
When Jordan Miller News arrived at the Skyline Terrace fire Sunday morning, members of Spells’ family were at the scene and expressed fears that their missing loved one could be involved.
The family later received the tragic confirmation that Spells was one of the two women found inside the apartment and that she had been pronounced dead at the hospital.
Canton police detectives continue to investigate the circumstances surrounding the women’s deaths and the fire. As of Monday afternoon, police have not officially identified a suspect or suspects in connection with the case.
Authorities have also not publicly disclosed the nature of the wounds that police said were unrelated to the fire.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Canton Communications Center at 330-649-5800 or the Canton Police Detective Bureau at 330-489-3144. Anonymous tips can also be submitted through Tip411 or Stark County Crime Stoppers.
