Man found incompetent for trial in Lake Co. strangulations

CROWN POINT, Ind. (AP) - A handyman facing murder charges for fatally strangling two Lake County women has been found mentally incompetent to stand trial.

The (Northwest Indiana) Times reports (http://bit.ly/2sPtnfH ) 46-year-old James A. Lohnes of Crown Point will be held for 90 days at a mental institution following the finding Friday. Lake Superior Court Judge Samuel L. Cappas scheduled a status hearing for Oct. 25.

Lohnes faces two counts of murder in the January 2016 strangling of 86-year-old Velia Taneff and 63-year-old Lana Taneff.

Lana Taneff's body was found Jan. 17 in the basement of a home she shared with her mother in Calumet Township. Velia Taneff's body was found in an apartment of a building that she owned next door.

Lohnes had been arrested the night before in Ohio with Velia Taneff's car.

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Information from: The Times, http://www.nwitimes.com