James William Stockdale was 21 when he died on June 15, 2017, at the family farm outside Bolivar, Ohio. The youngest son of Kathryn B. and Timothy C. Stockdale, he played banjo, guitar and upright bass with the Stockdale Family Band and was active in competitive speech and debate; he’d been elected Governor of Ohio in the TeenPact statewide policy program.

On the day of the killings Stark County 911 received a hang-up call from the farm. Officers arriving found an open front door and James’s body on the ground. Further inside they heard a gunshot and located his older brother, Jacob Stockdale, who had shot himself in the head but survived. James and his mother Kathryn were pronounced dead at the scene.

Jacob was later indicted on two counts of murder and a firearm specification in September 2018 and pleaded not guilty. Reporting noted the family’s strict religious upbringing and a 2008 appearance on the reality show Wife Swap; motive for the killings remains unclear.

Did anyone in the community know James well enough to add detail about his life or the family’s dynamics?