By Shannon McFarlin News Director
The woman who is charged with the shooting death of Weakley County Deputy Derrick Bonham worked for the Ohio Corrections Department, according to Northeast Ohio news media.
Khristi Dawn Cunningham is 44 and from Stark County, Ohio. She is charged with First Degree Murder and being held without bond.
According to News5 of Cleveland, she worked as a manager at Indian River Juvenile Correctional Facility and as a corrections officer for the State of Ohio.
Indian River Juvenile Correctional Facility is in Massillon. A neighbor told News5 she saw law enforcement outside Cunningham’s Canal Fulton home on Saturday (after the shooting) but there hasn’t been anyone at Cunningham’s home for a couple of weeks.
News5 reported that according to records from the State of Ohio State Personnel Board of Review, Cunningham filed a complaint alleging a violation of the state’s whistleblower protection. In the 2021 filing, it identified Cunningham as an operations manager for the Ohio Department of Youth Services.
The Board dismissed Cunningham’s appeal.
A spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Corrections said Cunningham worked as a corrections officer at Richland Correctional Institution from December 2023 until she resigned in September 2025, according to News5.
According to the Canton Repository, Cunningham and her husband were described as Akron residents when they were featured in a 2011 ABC News story about having Black and White twins.