FREMONT, OH (Toledo News Now) - A grand jury ruled Wednesday morning that shooting death of 19-year-old Sandusky County teen Jacob Limberios was self inflicted and accidental.
The grand jury determined there was no evidence proving that anyone else was involved in the shooting, or that a crime had been committed.
Limberios's death was originally ruled as suicide in March of 2012. Friends told authorities Jacob shot himself in the head. His family refused to believe Jacob would have killed himself intentionally, later hiring their own forensic pathologist, who ruled there was reasonable doubt Jacob shot himself, due to the angle of the bullet.
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine opened an inquiry into the case in June, saying his office would consult with forensic experts in an attempt to determine what happened to Jacob Limberios.
While grand jury proceedings are private, DeWine said witnesses claimed Jacob brought his own gun to a party with friends the night of the shooting and suggested he and others go outside to fire a few rounds. After coming back inside, friends say Jacob appeared to be scratching an itch on his head with the gun in hand when it went off, killing him.
"We will never know every single fact," DeWine said.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, run by the Attorney General's Office, interviewed 59 people as part of their investigation, some of whom were not questioned in the original inquiry. Attorney General DeWine says his office presented more than 286 documents to the grand jury.
A judge said investigators even recreated the crime scene, conducting a fire arms test to see if it was possible Jacob shot himself.
Brittany Bower and Will Lewis, both of whom were in the home the night Limberios died, appeared with his parents on Dr. Phil last week. Both Bower and Lewis say Limberios shot himself, despite failing lie detector tests on the matter.
DeWine said lie detector tests conducted by the BCI and the Dr. Phil show were not presented to the grand jury, citing several reasons polygraph tests are not admissible in court.
The Limberios family says were not looking to put anyone in jail; they just wanted to know the truth.
"I've claimed all along that even if one of them accidentally had done it, we weren't looking for any prosecution. We were looking to clear our son's name," said Shannon Limberios, Jacob's mother.
DeWine said he met with Limberios's family Wednesday morning to discuss the decision. He told those gathered at the press conference "there's nothing worse than to lose a child," and said there was "no indication Jake ever exhibited suicidal tendencies."
Even as it seems the investigation into Jacob's death is over, his mother says she may never have closure.
"I don't know if there's any such thing as closure when you lose a child. I think we're just going to start grieving now. I think we haven't had a chance," said Shannon Limberios.
The Attorney General did not specify what charges were sought during the grand jury proceedings, or whom they were sought against.
Shannon and friend Codey Dauch say there is still an ongoing civil suit to change Jacob's cause of death on the death certificate from suicide to accidental. They say Jacob's 4-year-old daughter Ella deserves to know the truth.
"What we're really doing this for is for his daughter. I mean she doesn't deserve to know or need to know that her dad shot himself, because there's no way he would have done that to her. She's a beautiful, funny girl," said Dauch.
Dauch and friends started the "Justice for Jake and Ella" Facebook group, which now has more than 18,000 followers.
Supporters are working to pass "Jake's law" which would require county coroners to be at the scene of any questionable crime or death.
