Shafer accused of choking adult home resident

A man involved in a fight at an adult group home that left a man dead has been charged with murder.

On Sunday, Jan. 15, the Ironton Police Department got a call about a fight between two residents at Fout’s Adult Group Home, located at 803 S. Sixth St.

When officers arrived, they found Faran Sebring lying face down on a rear porch of the residence. Upon closer investigation, they found that the man was dead.

Si Shafer, 47, was arrested on a charge of murder and taken to the Lawrence County Jail.

He had a pretrial hearing on Jan. 16 and pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Ironton Police detective Capt. Brian Pauley said the two men had gotten into a verbal altercation earlier in the day and “then it ended up progressing into a physical altercation with Shafer basically choking Sebring.”

He said Shafer was still on the scene when police arrived and he was interviewed by the detectives before he was arrested.

In an affidavit filed with the Ironton Municipal Court, it says that Shafer “did purposely cause the death of another by placing his arm around the victim’s throat during an altercation at Fout’s Group Home” and that Shafer and Sebring got into a fight and Shafer “got on top of the victim while the victim was lying on his stomach and placed his arm around (Sebring’s) neck” which caused air flow restriction.

Pauley said that despite what has been on social media, Fout’s Adult Group Home is not a drug rehabilitation facility.

“It is for people with psychiatric and mental issues, things like that,” he said.

The case will be forwarded to the Lawrence County grand jury for consideration of charges.