Suspect in killings enters insanity plea

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

PAULDING — A Paulding County man accused of killing a woman and her husband last month then stealing their car has entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity.

Clay Dockery, 23, of Paulding, entered the plea during an arraignment hearing held last week in Paulding County Common Pleas Court. However, legal proceedings were put on hold after his attorney, William Kluge, asked that Dockery be evaluated for competency and criminal responsibility, a request granted by Paulding County Common Pleas Court Judge Tiffany Beckman.

Dockery will be evaluated by the Court Diagnostic and Treatment Center in Toledo. Once the results are complete, the court will set future hearing dates.

Court records show Dockery is charged with two counts of aggravated murder, unclassified felonies, in connection with the early December deaths of Celecitas Pelegrino Williams, 60, and her husband, Bruce K. Williams, 81. The two were found dead in a barn on their property in the 6500 block of Road 123, near Broughton. Few details have been released about their deaths.

According to a report from Paulding County Sheriff Jason K. Landers, deputies went to their home for a welfare check, after co-workers of Williams became concerned after she had not reported to work for two days, hadn’t called off sick and had not answered her phone.

While deputies were processing the scene, a call came in from the Ashtabula County Sheriff’s Office that Dockery was driving a vehicle owned by the couple when it broke down in the northeast Ohio county. He admitted to Ashtabula County authorities that he killed the two and stole the vehicle.

Dockery was returned to Paulding County and was jailed on $10 million bond. A Paulding County grand jury indicted him on January 13.