Klusch death ruled a homicide

January 27, 2012

By DEANNE JOHNSON - Staff Writer , Morning Journal News

LISBON - The death last fall of Gerald Klusch has been officially ruled a homicide, with two gunshot wounds to the head from an undetermined range listed as the cause.
Sheriff Ray Stone said his department has been investigating the case as if it was a homicide since Klusch's disappearance in September. The official ruling will not change the investigation which continues to be ongoing.
Besides continuing to work with family members, Stone said investigators are waiting for results from the Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Identification. The sheriff's department had BCII investigators collect evidence from Klusch's pickup truck, which was found damaged and with blood inside the bed on Beacon Light Road the day after his disappearance. BCII was also given Klusch's clothing which was found with his body, and his wallet, which was found near the body with Klusch's identification and credit cards still inside.
Klusch's body, which was recovered on Nov. 18 in a wooded area off Hazel Run Road near Salineville, had been sent to the coroner's office in Summit County for examination. Following the results from that investigation, Columbiana County Coroner Dr. William Graham signed the death certificate listing homicidal penetrating gunshot wounds (2) of the head as the cause of death.
Klusch, 71, of U.S. Route 30, Lisbon, was last seen alive by his employee Matt Bailey when Klusch dropped Bailey off at his home on Dungannon Road on Sept. 29.
djohnson@mojonews.com

More on Klusch

Never, EVER a good sign!!

Please call the Columbiana County Commissioners and complain about this!!

Sheriff warns layoffs could be coming

January 15, 2012

By TOM GIAMBRONI - Staff Writer (tgiambroni@mojonews.com) , Morning Journal News

LISBON - There will undoubtedly be layoffs in the Columbiana County Sheriff's Office sometime this year unless additional funding is provided.
Sheriff Ray Stone said significant budget cuts, plus about $100,000 in additional expenses, equals layoffs at some point.
"It's just not going to add up. It's simple math," he said.
The sheriff's office spent $2.42 million last year, and county commissioners budgeted $2.31 million for 2012. Commissioners cut almost every county office to address the anticipated loss of $600,000 in state funding and other projected funding shortfalls.
Stone said that is bad enough, but he has three employees filing for retirement - Chief Deputy Allen Haueter, Sgt. Dan Bradley and administrative assistant Amie Hartman - which will cost him about $65,000. This represents accumulated unused sick/vacation time they are due. Of the three, only Bradley is retiring for good, while Haueter and Hartman will continue working, although their salaries were reduced 10 percent to save some money.
Bradley's position will go unfilled, however, because of budget cuts, which means there will be one less deputy available for road patrol. "That would be just one more person I'd have to lay off," Stone said.
Commissioners are also requiring a larger share of employee health insurance premium costs to come from department budgets instead of from commissioners.
Stone said his budget cut alone is the equivalent of two deputy positions, and his department is already woefully understaffed compared to other Ohio counties similar in size.
The sheriff and commissioners agreed to revisit the department's funding situation in mid year. "If there isn't going to be any more funding, I won't have a choice" but to make layoffs, Stone said.
Stone has been doing what he can to find more money within his budget to spend on general operations. In 2011 he received permission from commissioners to begin using money received for providing dispatching services to outside police and fire departments on dispatcher salaries/benefits instead of solely on equipment.
Stone has also begun tapping into an account previously used exclusively to purchase cruisers, equipment and for maintenance contracts. The money for this account comes from sheriff's fees.
The sheriff also restructured his civil division, which resulted in two more deputies being available for road patrol, but Stone said there is only so much he can do.
"I don't want to lay anyone off and I'll do what I can to not to," he said.

Teen accused of stabbing his father in the neck

January 8, 2012

By JO ANN BOBBY-GILBERT - Staff Writer (jgilbert@mojonews.com) , Morning Journal News

WELLSVILLE - A village man is in a Pittsburgh hospital after reportedly being stabbed by his teen-age son Saturday morning.
Andy E. Baptiste, 34, 1009 Riverside Avenue, was stabbed in the neck just before 11:30 a.m. while sleeping, according to police Lt. Ed Wilson, who said his 14-year-old son allegedly used a paring knife to inflict the wound.
"Supposedly, (Baptiste) threatened the boy earlier, then the boy stabbed him while he was sleeping," Wilson said, adding a 911 call was made to the police at 11:28 a.m.
Baptiste was transported by ambulance to East Liverpool City Hospital then taken by helicopter ambulance to the unnamed Pittsburgh facility. Wilson was uncertain of his condition Saturday afternoon.
No charges had been filed against the juvenile, who was transported to the Tobin Center after the incident. He had recently come from New York to stay with his father, Wilson said.
The Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Identification was called in to process evidence at the Riverside Avenue home, and the incident remains under investigation by village police.

Patrol still investigating accident that took tot’s life

 

By KATIE SCHWENDEMAN - Staff Writer , Morning Journal News

EAST PALESTINE Troopers with the Ohio Highway Patrol out of Lisbon are still investigating a traffic crash that killed an infant Friday night on state Route 14.
Fourteen-month-old Ryan Brown was instantly killed when he was struck by a vehicle driven by Michelle A. Jones, 38, East Palestine, shortly after 9 p.m.
Troopers at the scene said Brown had run out of a home just off the eastbound lane of state Route 14 in Unity Township.
Jones was traveling in the eastbound lane just west of the state Route 165 intersection when the accident occurred.
Trooper Brian Kavanagh said Monday it is unclear at this time whether charges will be filed since the post is still looking into exactly what happened that night.
"As to what happened, we are still trying to piece together how he got out into the road," he said.
Once the report is completed it will be sent to the county prosecutor who will file charges, if necessary.
Trooper and Traffic Reconstruction Specialist Todd Jester is handling the investigation and was out of the office on Monday.