A 34-year-old Yates County man has been formally indicted on murder charges in connection with the fatal July stabbing of a 77-year-old resident inside a Rochester residence, authorities announced. The indictment marks a significant development in a multi-month investigation into a violent attack that claimed the life of a solitary senior citizen in Monroe County.
Jonathan Shearin, a resident of Dundee, faces a charge of second-degree murder following a Monroe County grand jury indictment. The formal charging document was unsealed on Monday, September 14, in Monroe County Court, bringing public closure to weeks of intensive detective work that spanned multiple neighboring jurisdictions in upstate New York.
During his court appearance on Monday, Shearin entered a plea of not guilty to the homicide charge. Following the proceeding, the judge ordered him remanded to the Monroe County Jail, where he is currently being held without the possibility of bail as the legal process moves forward.
The homicide investigation originated on July 3, when Rochester emergency personnel and law enforcement officers were dispatched to 149 N. Union St. First responders arrived at the location after receiving a report expressing serious concern that an individual might be deceased inside Apartment 1 of the building.
Rochester Police Department Capt. Frank Umbrino explained that the welfare check was initiated by an acquaintance of the tenant. The friend had grown alarmed after Stekloff repeatedly failed to answer multiple telephone calls, prompting a personal visit to the residence that led to the notification of local authorities.
Upon making entry into the first-floor apartment, responding officers discovered the residence's sole occupant, 77-year-old Marc Stekloff, who was determined to be clearly deceased. Investigators examining the crime scene determined that Stekloff had endured a catastrophic physical attack, sustaining more than three dozen stab wounds across his body.
Detectives working to reconstruct the victim’s final hours established that the deadly chain of events began two days earlier, on July 1. According to investigative findings, Stekloff was outside his residence retrieving garbage cans from the curbside when he engaged in a brief, chance encounter and friendly verbal exchange with an individual walking nearby.
Law enforcement officials noted that this brief neighborhood interaction was the final recorded instance of Stekloff being seen alive. Investigators allege that shortly after the brief exchange at the curb, Shearin illegally entered Stekloff’s apartment and launched a brutal, physical assault that culminated in the senior citizen being stabbed dozens of times.
Following the fatal attack inside the apartment, the assailant reportedly ransacked the premises, located Stekloff’s vehicle keys, and fled the immediate area in the victim's automobile. The vehicle had previously been parked behind the North Union Street apartment building prior to the deadly confrontation.
The victim's stolen vehicle remained missing until July 4, when Rochester police located the car abandoned in a commercial parking lot situated along Hudson Avenue. The discovery of the vehicle provided investigators with critical physical leads that helped clarify the perpetrator's movements following the homicide.
Detectives were able to definitively link Shearin to both the stolen vehicle and the fatal stabbing by reviewing and cross-referencing extensive video footage. Investigators gathered visual evidence from a network of private security cameras as well as municipal surveillance equipment positioned throughout the surrounding Rochester neighborhoods.
While Rochester detectives were piecing together the timeline of the North Union Street homicide, Shearin was already in police custody in a neighboring county. On July 2—only one day after Stekloff was killed—authorities in Wayne County arrested Shearin in connection with an entirely separate series of violent crimes.
According to Capt. Umbrino, Shearin is accused of fleeing directly to Wayne County shortly after committing the Rochester homicide. Once in Wayne County, he allegedly carried out three distinct home invasions that resulted in violent physical assaults against six elderly victims.
Following his July 2 apprehension for the Wayne County home invasions, Shearin was remanded to the Wayne County Jail, where he remained incarcerated while Monroe County prosecutors presented their homicide case to the grand jury.
State records maintain that Shearin is classified as a predicate felon with an extensive criminal record. According to the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, he was on active parole at the time of the killing, stemming from previous convictions for burglary, attempted burglary, and grand larceny across both Yates and Schuyler counties.
Department of Corrections records further indicate that Shearin had spent significant time entering and exiting the state correctional system since October 2016. He had been released from state prison in April 2026 after completing his latest term of incarceration, only months before the July homicide and subsequent crime spree took place.
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