10-Year-Old Ohio Boy Suspected of Killing His Mother

Authorities in north-central Ohio have charged a 10-year-old boy as a juvenile with murder in the fatal shooting of his mother.

According to the Holmes County Sheriff's Office, a police dispatcher received an emergency call about 6 p.m. Sunday. The caller told police that a neighbor boy had come to the caller's home and said he just shot his mother, a police press release said.

Holmes County Sheriff

Deborah McVay, 46, of Big Prairie, Ohio, was found dead of a single gunshot wound to the head Sunday night.

Police and emergency medical responders were sent to the boy's home on Route 511 in Big Prairie, an unincorporated community about 75 miles south of Cleveland.

When they arrived on the scene, they discovered the victim, 46-year-old Deborah L. McVay, face-down inside the home. McVay had been shot once in the head with a .22-caliber rifle and was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

The 10-year-old boy, who is not being identified because of his age, was taken into custody and transported to the Richland County Juvenile Detention Center in Mansfield. The victim's body was being examined by the Stark County Coroner's Office.

The victim's 15-year-old daughter has been placed in the care of relatives, police said. Her whereabouts at the time of the shooting remain unclear.

The boy appeared today in Holmes County Juvenile Court, where his attorney entered the juvenile equivalent of a not guilty plea, The Associated Press reported. A judge ordered that the boy remain in the juvenile detention center while the investigation continues.

Contacted by AOL News, the Holmes County Sheriff's Office said the investigation is ongoing and it had no additional information to release on the case.