Margaret T. Chain, an 18-year employee with the Sun Oil Co., was discovered dead around 4:30 a.m. Thursday in the Sunoco Mini Mart she managed at the busy intersection of Ohio 741 and Alex-Bell Road in Miami Twp.
Miami Twp. Police Lt. Keith Swihart said three of Chain's regular customers found the slain woman in an area known as the "cashier's cage" at the rear of the store.
Chain was shot twice in the temple and forehead by a small caliber handgun from about eight to 10 feet away, Swihart said. She was slumped on the floor next to the store's open safe. The bullet-proof safety window was open.
This is the township's first homicide this year. The last was in November 1995.
Police are looking for two young white men seen running from the Sunoco through the Kroger parking lot around the time of the murder. The men may be witnesses or suspects, police said.
Swihart said Chain's death doesn't fit the pattern of convenience mart homicides.
"Right from the git-go we didn't think homicide. The coroner said he wasn't sure we had a homicide. There's just stuff we don't understand. There are no signs of an apparent struggle."
Swihart also said robbery does not seem to be the motive, since large sums of stacked bills and a sack of coins were on the counter and floor.
Those who knew Chain said she was private but well-liked. Regular customers started their day with coffee, a newspaper and exchanged pleasantries with Chain, said Jim McClain of New Lebanon. His wife, Charlotte, is assistant manager of the mini mart and "like a sister" to Chain.
"They were like two peas in a pod," McClain said. "They were best friends."
He said Chain, a mother and grandmother, trained his wife seven years ago. He also said his wife worked Chain's shift a couple of nights ago. "This could have been her," he said.
McClain said whoever killed Chain must have known the store's routine because business is "shoulder-to-shoulder" starting at 5 a.m. when people are coming and going from work.
Asked if Chain had any known enemies McClain laughed. "Peggy? Enemies? She was nice to about everybody."
Chain had been a victim of violence about 17 years ago when her former husband entered her home and shot to death a man she'd been dating. The former husband is serving prison time, Swihart said.
There is speculation that Chain might have known whoever shot her because her safety window was open with cash in sight. Policy requires the window to be closed and locked during such times, said Bob Clemens of Columbus, Sun Oil Co.'s security representative.
Police Sgt. McBroom said 70 percent of Sun Oil gasoline stations have monitors and that the remaining 30 percent will have them by year's end.
The reason the Miami Twp. mini mart did not have one, she said, was that surveys found the store to be in an area were "crimes against people" were below the national average.
"In the past five years, there have been no incidents of homicides (in Sunoco stores) in the Midwest," she said.
"Safety is key to us," McBroom said. The company decided in late 1996 to put cameras in the other stores, but the Miami Twp. store was not a high priority, she said.
Anyone with information may call police anonymously at 434-TIPS.