Family to hold remembrance celebration on two-year anniversary of Zent family murders
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WPTA) - The family of the 26-year-old woman and her three children who were tragically killed in 2021 are marking the two-year anniversary of their deaths on Friday.
Sarah Zent, 5-year-old Carter Zent, 3-year-old Ashton Zent, and 2-year-old Aubree Zent were killed in their home on June 2, 2021. Cohen Hancz-Barron, 23, was found guilty of four counts of murder in the crime and was sentenced to life without parole on August 5, 2022.
Family members say they are meeting at the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Cemetery in New Haven at 4 p.m. on Friday to hold a prayer in remembrance of their loved ones.
Following the prayer, a motorcycle procession will head to the Zent family’s former home on Gay Street. Family members tell 21Alive that once there, they will have a remembrance celebration, which they say is centered around giving back.
The celebration will include family-friendly activities and food and drinks.
CASE BACKGROUND
A probable cause document filed in the case details a timeline of the investigation, but any semblance of a motive remained unclear.
As police made it to the scene in the 2900 block of Gay Street on June 2, 2021, the two initial witnesses who discovered the victims immediately identified the suspect as Hancz-Barron.
Detectives then used digital intelligence to track Hancz-Barron to an apartment complex in Lafayette hours after the crime. Detectives say they found he had a bloodied knife and Sarah’s credit card in his wallet.
He was then taken into custody, and on his way back to Allen County, he reportedly asked the detective in the car if he would “do my time for this case before the time I had on the other case.” Hancz-Barron was serving the remainder of a robbery conviction at a drug rehabilitation center in Tippecanoe County. A warrant was issued for his arrest after he walked away from the facility in April of 2021.
Hancz-Barron was then charged with four counts of murder and was sentenced to life without parole.
“I can recall no other circumstance that has been as horrific as this crime,” Judge Gull said during his sentencing hearing on Aug. 5, 2022.
He then filed an appeal to overturn the sentence, but the appeal was turned down by the State in April of 2023.
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