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In Ohio, a Dearborn County man is accused of shooting and killing his wife

A man originally charged in Indiana last year in his wife's death is now facing charges in Hamilton County instead.

Mohammed Mondal, 46, was indicted by a Hamilton County grand jury on Wednesday after evidence suggested that his wife, Stacy Mondal, was actually shot in Ohio as the couple drove from their Dearborn County residence to Colerain on Nov. 6, 2023 , Dearborn District Attorney Lynn Deddens said in a Facebook post.

He is charged with five counts of murder and assault.

How did Stacy Mondal die?

Dearborn County Sheriff's Office deputies responded to St. Elizabeth Dearborn Hospital just before noon on Nov. 6 to investigate a shooting and learned that Mondal had shot his wife multiple times.

According to Deddens' latest Facebook post, the shooting occurred on Sand Run Road near the Ohio state line as the couple was on their way to an appointment to have photos taken of their one-year-old and two-month-old boys, who were in car seats buckled in the back seat.

During an interview with investigators, Mondal said he and his 40-year-old wife were arguing and she reached for a gun in the open center console, Detective Jack Stevens wrote in an affidavit.

According to court documents, Mondal also claimed that his wife pointed the gun at him before reaching for a 9mm gun he was carrying and shooting her. It was initially reported last year that Mondal's wife was shot seven times, but Deddens said in her Facebook post Thursday that it was six times.

In a follow-up interview the day after the incident, Mondal told investigators he had to open fire on his wife to “neutralize the threat,” the detective wrote. “Mondal said he remembered looking at the road but didn't know if he had fired while driving when he lost his composure and said, 'I'm not the bad guy.'”

Mondal said he called 911 immediately after the shooting but hung up. He then called his neighbor, a sergeant with the Dearborn County Sheriff's Office.

During that call, Mondal initially said the shooting was an accident before claiming he did it in self-defense, the affidavit said.

Deddens said in her Facebook post Thursday that Mondal drove his wife to St. Elizabeth Hospital but was intercepted by Dearborn County Sheriff Shane McHenry and other officers who accompanied him to the hospital.

Before officers took Stacy Mondal to the hospital, they noticed a small black handgun lying on the passenger side floorboard near her feet. She had “little to no sign of life” when she was taken to the emergency room, the detective wrote.

The case is being transferred to Hamilton County

Mondal was originally charged in Dearborn County following the incident and his trial was scheduled to begin Nov. 12 in District Court.

However, the Dearborn County District Attorney's Office learned in mid-October that evidence indicated both the shooting and death most likely occurred in Ohio, Deddens said.

Deddens said Indiana's medical expert previously said Stacy Mondal's time of death was shortly after 12 p.m. on Nov. 6, 2023, when she was pronounced dead at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Lawrenceburg. However, in October, the defense consulted an expert who said her death occurred within seconds of being shot.

The Indiana coroner reexamined the evidence and concluded that Stacy Mondal likely died within a much shorter time, possibly just seconds, after she sustained her wounds, according to Deddens.

“If you reduce the time of death to seconds or just minutes after the shooting of Stacy Mondal, there is very strong evidence that Ms. Mondal died in Hamilton County, Ohio,” Deddens said in the post.

In light of the new information, the case was forwarded to the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office and Hamilton County Sheriff's Office investigators who assisted Dearborn County Sheriff's Office deputies in the early stages of the investigation.

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