In the first week of July 2020, in Warren County, Ohio, Daniel Delehanty, a 16-year-old, called 911, claiming he had not seen his sister, Stormy Delehanty, and her husband, Roman Roshchupkin, in two days. When he went into their bedroom, he found the remains of the 34-year-old Roshchupkin with visible injuries on his body. What followed was a dayslong country-wide search for the killer. The harrowing case forms the basis of an episode titled ‘They Named Me Stormy’ on Investigation Discovery’s ‘Signs of a Psychopath’ and details the authorities’ search for the killer, the arrest, the investigation, and the eventual trial and conviction.
Roman Roshchupkin’s Remains Were Found Wrapped in Blankets at His Home
Roman Roshchupkin emigrated to the US from Veronish, Russia, for a better future. His close friends described him as kind, caring, hardworking, and someone who had a great sense of humor. In August 2018, he met Stormy Delehanty at a bar in the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood in Cincinnati, Ohio. They got into a relationship in January 2019, and after a few months of dating, Roshchupkin asked Delehanty to marry him in March. The two eventually tied the knot and were excited to start their lives together. However, tragedy struck on July 6, 2020, when Daniel Delehanty, his brother-in-law, found his body at his residence in Deerfield Township in Warren County, Ohio.
When the police and the coroner arrived at the scene, they determined that Roshchupkin had been stabbed at least 38 times. The detectives had found blood evidence in the apartment and a knife block in the kitchen that was missing knives. They also found trash bags and a bucket full of red liquid in the bedroom’s ensuite bathroom. An autopsy of the body showed stab wounds to the neck, back, chest, and in his left arm. The stab wound in the back had pierced his lung, and the neck wound had hit his jugular vein. The forensic pathologist concluded that Roman Roshchupkin’s cause of death was multiple sharp-force injuries.
Roman Roshchupkin’s Killer Escaped to Las Vegas to Evade An Arrest
Immediately after Roman Roshchupkin’s body was discovered, the police began their investigation. The first witness they spoke to was Daniel Delehanty. He told the detectives that he had last seen his sister and her husband on July 5th. He and Stormy Delehanty worked at the same restaurant, but Stormy never arrived for work. He assumed that she and Roshchupkin had likely been drinking and were hungover. When he returned home that night, he noticed sheets and paintings covering the windows but did not ask Stormy about it. He did not see Stormy and Roman for the entire day of July 6th.
Later that same day, intending to do laundry, he was searching for quarters and found Stormy and Roman’s room locked. When he managed to open the door, he saw blankets on the floor and assumed someone had passed out. When he took a closer look, he realized it was Roshchupkin’s remains. Daniel further mentioned that he couldn’t locate his sister. Subsequently, the police launched a nationwide search for Stormy Delehanty. They began by examining the surveillance cameras near the residence, which indicated Delehanty’s movements leading up to her disappearance.
They also found footage of Delehanty making purchases for cleaning supplies at a hardware store on July 5th, just a day before Roshchupkin’s body was found. On July 11, her car was spotted at the Boulder Station Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. She was taken into police custody without incident. A handwritten note was found in her bag with the message, “On July 4th, I killed my husband accidentally.” Other objects found included a pillowcase and two knives, which indicated Delehanty’s potential involvement in Roshchupkin’s murder.
Stormy Delehanty Denied Remembering the Details of the Fateful Night
Daniel Delehanty, during his interview with the investigators, stated that Stormy Delehanty had behaved oddly before he discovered the Roshchupkin remains. He had said that she was out on parole after she was placed on probation in April 2020 for a DUI (driving under the influence) incident from 2019. He also claimed to witness Stormy Delehanty often being violent with Roman Roshchupkin. Stormy, during her own interview with the detectives, came across as willing to cooperate with them. She eventually confessed to killing Roshchupkin on July 4 and said she could not remember anything due to intoxication.
She claimed she had no memory of attacking Roshchupkin other than them listening to music and Roshchupkin throwing her off the bed and holding her wrists back. The next thing she remembered was seeing Roshchupkin’s body in a puddle of blood by the front door. Delehanty tried to clean the crime scene before her brother, Daniel, arrived on July 5th and wrapped blankets around Roshchupkin. She claimed that she wanted to hide the remains but couldn’t go through with it and ultimately decided to leave. She wrote the handwritten notes found during her arrest when she was holed up at the Radisson Hotel in Kentucky.
Stormy Delehanty Gave Varied Accounts of the Murder
Stormy Delehanty’s trial began on March 22, 2021. During her testimony, she changed her story and claimed to have remembered new details. She claimed that she had previous experiences of trauma and abusive relationships. This, coupled with her alcoholism and tensions in her and Roman Roshchupkin’s marriage, had allegedly contributed to the events of July 4, 2020. According to her, she and Roshchupkin had been drinking, and he was worried about his finances and allegedly became violent toward her.
Later in the bedroom, she went through Roshchupkin’s phone and allegedly found an image of a woman in a towel. When she asked Roshchupkin about it, he apparently dismissed her. When she kept persisting him about the image, he allegedly lost his cool and injured her, causing her to black out. Upon regaining consciousness, she claimed that she found Roshchupkin lying at the entry door of the living room with stab wounds. Delehanty further claimed during her testimony that Roshchupkin was very controlling and had previously hurt her and even tried to kill her with his car, but she could not provide evidence for these claims.
Stormy Delehanty is Serving Her Sentence in an Ohio Prison Facility Today
The marked differences in her story to the detectives and later in her testimony weakened her defense. Stormy Delehanty also backed off her admission to killing Roman Roshchupkin during cross-examination and brought up the possibility of someone else being responsible. After deliberation, Stormy Delehanty was found guilty on four counts, with the charges including murder, assault with a deadly weapon, assault causing serious bodily harm, and tampering with evidence. She was sentenced to 18 years in prison on March 31, 2021. The court also ordered post-release supervision by the adult parole authority for the rest of her life, and she was also required to register in the Violent Offender Database.
In February 2023, Delehanty appealed her conviction in the 12th District Court of Appeals in Middletown, stating that the court shouldn’t have admitted the violent crime scene photographs and that the jury hadn’t been given a self-defense instruction. She also appealed against the post-release supervision and the order requiring her to register on the violent offender list. The court rejected her first appeal because no evidence suggested a possible self-defense angle. However, the appellate court sent her case for re-sentencing concerning her appeal against post-release supervision and registration on the violent offenders list. As of today, she remains in the Ohio Reformatory for Women, serving her 18-year sentence.
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