A “Juggalo” is a fan of the “horrorcore” band Insane Clown Posse, whose fans have been linked to homicides in several states.
Now Henderson is in the Montgomery County Jail, facing charges of aggravated murder and aggravated robbery in the stabbing of his stepfather, Warren Correctional Institution Corrections Officer Charles Zan II, 45.
Miamisburg police arrested Henderson just before 3 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 20, at the Knight’s Inn, 185 Byers Road.
Police said Henderson, of Middletown, entered his mother and stepfather’s studio apartment and stabbed Zan more than 40 times as he lay in bed about 6 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 17.
Pandora Zan — Zan’s third wife and Henderson’s mother — called 911 to report her husband’s stabbing.
In the highly emotional call, she told a dispatcher, “Someone broke into our apartment. They knocked me to the ground and I kind of blacked out. And when I woke up, he (Zan) was laying there. And there’s blood everywhere.”
When the dispatcher asked if she saw the intruders, she said, “No, all I heard was noise.” She also said she thought the attacker used pepper spray.
Pandora Zan did not return a phone call Wednesday, Oct. 21, seeking comment. Efforts made to contact Henderson’s sister, Misty, were unsuccessful. Another relative declined comment.
Public records and research by the Dayton Daily News show that the Zans have lived in turmoil for much of their seven-year marriage, facing home foreclosure, bankruptcies and recent separations.
For nearly 14 months in 2003 and early 2004, Pandora Zan was serving time in prison for the armed robbery of a clothing store in Warren County while her new husband guarded inmates in another prison.
On her Web site, Pandora Zan said her mental health problems were responsible for most of their problems.
“I have almost put my husband and my parents in an early grave from stress and worry,” she wrote this year in an online article. “My financial irresponsibilities have ... caused Chuck and I to lose just about everything.”
In July 2004, the Zans filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, listing assets of $8,974 and liabilities of $323,953, including mortgages, medical bills and other debt. The case was closed in December of that year.
In August 2006, the couple filed for Chapter 13 protection in federal bankruptcy court, reporting assets of $139,990 and liabilities of $164,349, according to a petition from that case. The case was closed in December of that year.
They lost their home in a 2006 foreclosure and spent the last three years in a succession of small apartments. They separated a couple of times in the past year, as Pandora’s mental health problems caused Chuck to question their future together, she said on her Web site.
“He has had to deal with so much because of my illness that I truly don’t know why and how he has held on,” she wrote. “He has stood by me through so much — legal problems, depression, breakdowns, suicide attempts, money problems....”
John Richie of Willis, Texas, said he knew Charles Zan because Richie previously had been married to Charles’ ex-wife, Darlene.
Richie said he considered Charles a hard worker who consistently paid his child support on time, but added that Charles could be quick to anger.
“I can say Chuck, even though he was good at heart, was hotheaded,” Richie said.
Zan served in the Army, Marines and Army Reserves, according to his obituary published in the Dayton Daily News.
Richie, himself a corrections officer in Texas, said he was not surprised to hear about the slaying, in part because of the strains within Zan’s family.
Photos on Pandora Zan’s MySpace site show the Zans smiling and embracing. One shows Zan and Henderson last summer at Sheffield Lake, west of Cleveland, smiling with their arms around each others’ shoulders.
Misty told WHIO-TV (Channel 7) that Charles Zan had been nice to her and Cody and she was still in shock over the crime. She told the TV station she became suspicious of her brother and reported him to police.
“There was some stuff that just wasn’t adding up right,” she said. “He’s my brother and I love him and up until now I have supported him in everything he has chosen to do. But I’m not supporting him any more and I hope he gets exactly what he deserves.”
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