Convicted killer dies of suspected suicide while serving life in prison in 2019 fatal Lorain shooting

A Lorain man convicted of murder after taking his girlfriend along in a 2019 drive-by shooting in which she was shot and killed has died by suicide in prison, a state official said. Christian Marshall died May 10 of a suspected suicide at Ross Correctional Institution, where he was serving a life sentence with possible parole, said JoEllen Smith, a spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. "The official cause of death will be determined upon receipt of the death certificate," Smith said in an email. She did not immediately respond to additional questions about the investigation. Marshall, 25, would have been eligible for parole after serving at least 34 years on murder, attempted murder, having weapons under disability, tampering with evidence and other weapons charges following his 2023 conviction in Lorain County Common Pleas Court, which was upheld by an appeals court last year. The Lorain County Prosecutor's Office had no comment on Marshall's death. Marshall and two other men were charged in connection with the death of Marshall's girlfriend, 17-year-old Clearview High School senior Jessica Baker, who was shot and killed Oct. 17, 2019. Baker, Marshall and Marshall's friend Savion McCall were in Baker's parents' Jeep when she was shot. McCall and Lucas Williams had gotten into a fight earlier in the day. Police broke up the fight, but McCall asked Marshall to meet up with him later and to bring a gun, according to special prosecutors with the Ohio Attorney General's Office, which handled the case because then-Lorain County prosecutor J.D. Tomlinson had been Marshall's attorney in a different matter. Baker picked up Marshall's gun at his request and drove to pick him up. Marshall then got in the driver's seat and Baker in the passenger seat, and they picked up McCall. The trio drove to Williams' house, where McCall shot at a vehicle outside. Williams fired back 13 times, and one of the bullets hit Baker in the back and killed her. Marshall fled the scene, dropped McCall off, then called 911 and said Baker had been shot on East 36th Street while they were driving around and that he was headed to a hospital. Lorain police stopped the Jeep on 21st Street, where paramedics pronounced Baker dead. An investigation revealed Marshall had lied about where the shooting took place. McCall was found guilty of complicity to murder, complicity to felonious assault, complicity to discharging a firearm at or into a prohibited premises and multiple firearms specifications following a jury trial in 2024. Miraldi sentenced him to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 to 32 years. Now 24, he will not be eligible for parole until 2053, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. Williams pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 9 to 13 years in prison. Now 24, he will be eligible for release in 2032.Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.