Jayla Gill was 20 years old and Jesse Burgett was 24 when they were both found shot in the head inside Burgett's home on Hemlock Lane in Harpersfield Township, near Geneva, Ohio, on August 31, 2020. Ashtabula County authorities ruled it a murder-suicide, concluding Burgett shot Gill and then turned the gun on himself. Six years later, no autopsy was ever performed on either body, and the mothers of both victims say that gap in the investigation has left them without real closure.
According to News 5 Cleveland, Toby Burgett called 911 after finding the bodies of his son Jesse and Jayla Gill inside his home that day. The Ashtabula County Coroner ruled Jesse Burgett's death a suicide and Gill's death a homicide, but wrote in her verdict that no autopsies were performed on either victim. Ashtabula County Sheriff's deputies had responded to the Hemlock Lane home in Geneva after the emergency call, and the sheriff's office ultimately concluded Burgett shot Gill before shooting himself.
Gill, a Certified Nursing Assistant at St. Paul's Home in Greenville, Pennsylvania, and a 2018 graduate of Commodore Perry High School in Hadley, Pennsylvania, lived in Mercer County and commuted across the state line, according to her obituary from Robert L. Snyder Funeral Home & Crematory. She and Burgett were, per the same News 5 Cleveland report, a couple building a life together, complete with a new husky, and she had traveled the country with him for his work. Case records from Crime Solvers Central note that family members initially described their relationship as healthy and happy, with no known prior warning signs or domestic disputes reported before the shootings.
A Text, a Scuffle, and DNA on the Gun
Per the News 5 Cleveland report, Gill had sent a text message saying Jesse was in a mood not long before the shooting. Terry Moisio, who oversaw detectives during the death investigation as Chief Deputy of the Ashtabula County Sheriff's Office, said there appeared to be an argument and a scuffle in the couple's downstairs bedroom. Investigators found both Gill's DNA and Burgett's DNA on the gun in the room, and Moisio has said that evidence was clear and left no question in his mind about what happened.
Gill's family tracked her phone to the Burgett house, the outlet's report states, and Moisio has remained certain in the case determination ever since. But Kelly Harper, Gill's mother, and Lisa Burgett, Jesse's mother, disputed the coroner's and sheriff's office's conclusions and united in a search for answers about the deaths of their son and daughter. Harper has said she wants answers for both families, not just her own.
Why No Autopsy Was Ordered
Ohio law leaves most autopsy decisions up to the coroner's discretion. Under Chapter 313 of the Ohio Revised Code, county coroners have broad statutory authority to determine whether an autopsy is necessary to establish cause and manner of death, unless a court order or religious exemption overrides that judgment, according to the Hamilton County Coroner's Office. State law does not require autopsies for every homicide or suicide, leaving the final call to local officials.
In official quarterly reports, Ashtabula County Coroner Dr. Pamela Lancaster has stated that her office determines autopsy and toxicology testing on a case-by-case basis and frequently omits autopsies in suicide cases when the cause of death appears obvious, according to the Ashtabula County Coroner's Office. Lancaster, a Republican physician, has served as the county's elected coroner for more than 15 years, winning consecutive terms through 2024, per Ballotpedia.
Moisio has said he argued with the coroner's investigator that autopsies should be performed in this case. That internal disagreement did not change the outcome: Ashtabula County authorities performed no autopsies on either Jayla Gill or Jesse Burgett.
A Forensic Pathologist Pushes Back
Dr. David Applegate, the elected Coroner of Union County, Ohio, who has led statewide research on coroner staffing and autopsy resources through the Ohio State Coroners Association, told News 5 Cleveland that an autopsy can document how a person died and provide critical information for investigators. Applegate said a murder-suicide automatically warrants an autopsy, a standard the case did not meet.
The gap is not unique to Ashtabula County. In 2022, the Ohio State Coroners Association launched a statewide survey addressing what it called an “Autopsy Crisis,” citing surging caseloads that have outpaced the operational capabilities of local death investigators, according to the Ohio State Coroners Association. Rural counties in the state often lack dedicated full-time forensic laboratories and rely on the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation for complex crime scene and forensic testing, per Ohio Department of Health violent death reporting guidelines.
Private Investigator Wants Remains Examined
Ron Brotherton, a private investigator who has worked with Kelly Harper and Lisa Burgett, believes more forensic testing should be done. He wants Jesse Burgett's cremated remains examined for possible bullet fragments, and he wants Jayla Gill's body exhumed. Brotherton has said he will not give up or back off because the mothers have a right to know what happened.
Six years after the shooting deaths on Hemlock Lane, the case remains formally closed, with the sheriff's office standing by its conclusion and the coroner standing by her rulings. For Harper and Burgett, the absence of autopsies has left an opening they refuse to let go — one decision still raising questions six years later.
