Police and medics were called just before 5 a.m. Tuesday to the Indian Mound Apartments on Rosland Drive in south Columbus, where they found Spears critically wounded. She died at Grant Hospital.
Her boyfriend, Neil Fensler, told police she shot herself, WBNS reported.
Initially it appeared no charges would be filed. Police have not said what led them to arrest the 23-year-old on suspicion of murder. He is in the Franklin County Jail on $1 million bond, according to court records.
NBC4i.com is reporting that investigators said Fensler’s account of what happened was inconsistent with physical evidence. Police said they did find the gun in the apartment.
WSYX ABC 6 in Columbus is reporting that court records reveal Fensler has admitted to police that he shot his girlfriend.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation has been brought in by police to handle the investigation because of their expertise in blood splatter evidence.
The couple had four children and worked at Ponderosa on High Street, where she was a server and he was a cook.
A co-worker, who did not want to be named, said they couldn’t say anything bad about either person and couldn’t believe Fensler could kill someone.
“[Fensler] cares about his kids (and was) not mean to nobody. He’s nice, polite,” the co-worker said. “She always talked about her kids she loved her kids to death.”
The couple had moved from Middletown to take care of Fensler’s father, and the children live with Spears’ sister in Middletown.