KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – There are new details surrounding the recent murder of Dr. Thomas Aye, a retired oral surgeon who served the Kalamazoo area for almost three decades.
56-year-old Scott Sterffy is the son of Aye, who was arrested after a national manhunt had been underway. Court documents say Sterffy shared a home with Aye.
Sterffy is accused of killing Aye, and was arraigned on charges of open murder and the mutilation of a dead body earlier this week.
During that arraignment, Sterffy denied the charges.
Dr. Thomas Aye. (Photo courtesy Building Functional Esthetics).
Now, new details have been made available through court documents.
Aye’s body had initially been found on July 25 in his home by his daughter. She had gone to check on him when he missed a meeting the day prior. Police determined that he had been killed sometime on the 24.
His daughter told police that Aye had been beaten to the point of being unrecognizable. She added that Sterffy has mental health issues, having been previously diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.
Sterffy had also been institutionalized while he was in his late teens. He alleged that he had been abused during his stay, of which he blamed Aye.
Aye’s daughter also said that Aye would sleep with a baseball bat near his bed. She noted that Sterffy stood to benefit from his estate, which she described as being “substantial.”
In the weeks leading up to Aye’s death, he had informed Sterffy that he would no longer give him money, since he often asked for large sums at a time.
Neighbors reported that Sterffy had knocked on doors asking to use a phone, with one allowing him to do so. He made a call to a ride sharing program which took him to the airport, at which point he bought a one-way ticket to Seattle. He boarded that flight the following day.
After arriving in Seattle, investigators say he got on a bus to Chicago, then immediately flew back to Seattle. He was later arrested last Saturday after returning to Kalamazoo.
He is currently held without bond at the Kalamazoo County Jail, and will return to court on August 12.
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