Witness Silenced: Corrine Gump
On March 30, 2015, 10-year-old Corrine Gump was set to testify in court about how she was raped and sexually abused over a period of four years. Hours before she was set to testify, her home exploded, killing her and her deaf grandparents on the south side of Youngstown, Ohio.
For parts of her life, Corrine lived with her mother, Lynn Schmidt and her mother’s boyfriend, Robert Seman. During other periods of her life, she lived with her father, Ethan Gump. She also would eventually live with her grandparents, 63-year-old William “Bill” Schmidt and 61-year-old Judy Schmidt on Powers Way in Youngstown.
According to court records, Corrine told her family and police officers that Seman had been sexually assaulting her over a period of five years from 2009 to 2014. In March 2014, a Mahoning County grand jury indicted Seman on four charges of rape and four charges of gross sexual imposition. Due to Corrine’s age, each rape charge carried a life sentence.
Initially, Seman was held without bond initially, then given a $200,000 bond set by Judge Maureen Sweeney. Judge Sweeney ordered Seman to be on electric monitoring, and that he had to stay away from Corrine.
As he watched the prosecutor’s case against him mount, Seman reached out to his former ex-wife Christine Seman and offered her $10,000 to lie on the witness stand. Christine was Ethan Gump’s sister, making her Corrine’s aunt.
On the morning of March 30, 2015 at about 3:30 a.m., fire poured out of every inch of Bill and Judy Schmidt’s home. The Schmidt’s and Corrine were found near their beds, having died of smoke inhalation.
Investigators quickly concluded that the fire was fueled by gasoline. In their investigations, U.S. Marshals found Corrine’s mother at Seman’s home in Canfield, Ohio. Seman himself was not home.
He appeared in court the day of the fire, and Judge Sweeney pushed back the day of the trial. She also revoked his bond based on the allegations that he tried to bribe his ex wife. After he was placed back into custody, burns were found on his body. He wore makeup while in court trying to hide those burns.
The public outrage surrounding the deaths of Bill, Judy, and Corrine was swift. Not only did they publicly share their dislike of Robert Seman, but when it came time for jury selection for a murder trial, it made it near impossible to find a jury.
According to Ohio law, potential jurors are allowed to have some previous knowledge of the case. They however, cannot have formed an opinion on the guilt of the defendant.
In September 2016, a mistrial was declared because potential jurors were speaking to each other about the case.
In February of 2017, out of 95 potential jurors interviewed, 52 already formed an opinion on Seman’s guilt. Some had to be escorted out of the courtroom for what they were saying in the juror pool. The decision was made to move the trial to Portage County, 35 miles away from Youngstown.
Although Seman’s lawyer, Tom Zena, was able to successfully move the case to a different county, he was unsuccessful in removing the death penalty. If convicted, Seman would be sentenced to death for their murders.
Just after a final pre-trial hearing on April 10, 2017 in the Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, Robert Seman, along with four armed police officers walked out of Judge Sweeny’s court room on the fourth floor. Although his feet were shackled together, his hands were free. As he walked in the hallway, he leaped over a railing and then proceeded to fall four floors to his death, landing in the rotunda.
Although Gump and Schmidt’s families will never find a sense of formal justice, a memorial outside of the home they once lived in still stands to this day. Their home was demolished in November 2015.
Neighbor Jean McCammon hopes that her friends and their granddaughter are finally at peace, and that they will always be in her heart.
