Clinton spent 13 years in prison after pleading guilty in 1999 to involuntary manslaughter in the strangling death of a woman in northwest Ohio's Wood County, about 50 miles from Sandusky.

SANDUSKY – A man released from prison six months ago was arrested Monday in the killing of a woman he knew and her two young children.

Officers found the bodies of 23-year-old Heather Jackson and her 3-year-old daughter and 18-month-old son Saturday night at their home inSandusky, a city in northernOhiothat sits along Lake Erie midway betweenToledoandCleveland. A family friend had told police they had not been heard from all day.

Sanduskyresident Curtis Clinton, who had knownJacksonfor about five months, was arrested on charges of aggravated murder, police said. It appears he acted alone, they said without disclosing details of how the woman and her children were killed.

Officers found the 41-year-oldClintonat a hospital in nearbyBellevueon Monday and took him in for questioning, said Lt. John Orzech, interim assistant police chief. He would not say whyClintonwas at the hospital.

Clintonwas being held at theErieCountyjail on Monday and could not be reached for comment. There's no phone listed for his home.

Clinton who also was charged with rape in a case unrelated to the killings, Clintonappeared in court Tuesday and was arraigned on three counts of aggravated murder in Sandusky Municipal Court. A judge set bond at $3,000,000. Clinton was also arraigned on a rape charge for an unrelated incident. A judge set bond at $25,000 on that count.

Clinton spent 13 years in prison after pleading guilty in 1999 to involuntary manslaughter in the strangling death of a woman in northwest Ohio's Wood County, about 50 miles from Sandusky.

Clinton did not enter a plea on any of the aforementioned counts. He is being held in the Erie County Jail, where he’ll stay until another court appearance next Tuesday.

Two people who knewJacksontoldToledo's The Blade newspaper before the arrest that they believed her death was drug-related. Amanda Thoren told the newspaper thatJacksonwas living out of her car and her children were staying with relatives before she moved into the house.

“She didn't keep good company,’ Thoren said. ‘She had a problem, but that never stopped her from being kind.”

Clinton is no stranger to the law. He is a registered sex offender and has served time in prison for involuntary manslaughter and other charges.