Husband held in Portage shooting death of wife
Post-Tribune (IN)
April 26, 2011
PORTAGE — Problems at home drove Cynthia Cashner to sleep on an air mattress in her herbal business.
Cashner, shot multiple times inside the store on Sunday night with what appears to be an AK-47, had come to the building’s owner about a month and a half ago. Cashner and her estranged husband, Fredrick C. Cashner Jr., were having issues, so she asked At Nature’s Door owner Greg Fleischman if she could sleep in the shop.
“I said sure, it was not a problem,” said Fleischman on Monday.
Cashner, 50, worked at Fleischman’s health food store for a year and a half, and he had lent her the upstairs space to start her Mystic Moon herbal business.
“She was very nice and caring,” Fleischman said, “that’s why she became an herbalist.”
Police have Fredrick Cashner, 54, in custody.
Fredrick Cashner was booked initially on a murder charge, but the Porter County prosecutor has not officially filed charges. The state does not allow bail for murder charges.
The incident happened at Mystic Moon, 5830 U.S. 6, Suite B, between Swanson and Willowcreek roads. Police responded to a 911 phone call at 10:22 p.m. Sunday where dispatchers heard only faint breathing on the other end.
Officers found signs of forced entry to the business and discovered the woman, who had been shot in the upstairs office multiple times by a high-powered rifle. The business phone lay near her.
“He came prepared because the door he broke has a burglar glass,” Fleischman said, who expects the building must have been shaking.
While police were at the scene, the 911 center received a call from Cynthia Cashner’s adult son, who told dispatchers that his stepfather called and told him that he had just shot his estranged wife to death.
Portage police then contacted the Porter County Sheriff’s Police for assistance in going to the residence and talking to Fredrick Cashner.
Police believed from evidence at the murder scene and during the investigation, that Cashner owned an AK-47.
Once police obtained a warrant, the county SWAT team entered the residence and took him into custody without incident.
Cashner refused to answer any questions during interrogation at the Portage Police Department. Porter County Coroner Chuck Harris said a forensic autopsy of Cynthia Cashner is scheduled for 11 a.m. today. He expects results to be available about 4 p.m.
Harris declined to give a possible cause of the death or confirm reports that the woman had been both shot and stabbed.
Harris did say that she hadn’t been hospitalized after police discovered her.
Cynthia Cashner filed for divorce March 23. On April 5, Magistrate James Johnson’s court filed a provisional order that gave her a 1999 Cadillac and him two other vehicles. He was named responsible for all marital bills and required to keep her on his health insurance during divorce proceedings.
Caption: Cashner Sad day: Collette Montez (left) bags a purchase for customer Greg Egendoerfer on Monday at At Nature’s Door in Portage. Montez and fellow employee Pat Alexander (center) were still reacting to the news their co-worker Cynthia Cashner was found shot multiple times in the second floor of the building. | Andy Lavalley~Sun-Times Media Andy Lavalley Sad day: Collette Montez (left) bags a purchase for customer Greg Egendoerfer on Monday at At Nature’s Door in Portage. Montez and fellow employee Pat Alexander (center) were still reacting to the news their co-worker Cynthia Cashner was found shot multiple times in the second floor of the building. | Andy Lavalley~Sun-Times Media Stephanie Dowell
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