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Klusch death ruled a homicide

2012-01-27T13:49:00.000-05:00

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

Never, EVER a good sign!!

2012-01-20T23:13:00.000-05:00

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

2012-01-11T16:25:00.000-05:00

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

2012-01-11T16:23:00.000-05:00

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.

Happy Birthday Michael Lee Williams

2011-12-17T23:39:00.000-05:00

Today I spent most of my day remembering Mike.
I went to his grave with Tabitha and we put up some nice flowers and little things we thought he would like.
Tabitha put little horses and a great big star, and I put a cross and of course Dragonflies.
There were other things left there by others.
We talked to him for a bit and of course I had to harass him a bit about the weather.
It was a bitter sweet day.
I miss him.
I miss him some days more than others. I miss his laugh and I miss his relentless picking on me. :)
I thought about my Aunt today and how sad she must be feeling.
I know everyday she misses him so very much. She doesn't have the "missing him some days more than others" days like I have. The sadness she feels is excrusiating every single day.
People should remember that. They should know that no matter how they go on with their lives, she can't lose that pain in her heart that will NOT go away.
The funny thing is, that thru all of this pain, she still always manages to make ME feel better and gives me encouragement that cannot be matched by anyone else.
I love you so much Aunt Char and I hope you know that always!
And to anyone reading this, if you know anything...anything at all, please come forward. Our family has hurt enough! My Aunt has hurt enough. Our family has been ripped apart by this and we DO NOT understand!!!
The time has come to do the right thing. It may be scary. It may feel like you are betraying someone...but, it is the right thing to do.
Think of our family. Think if it was yours.
Wouldn't you want someone to have the courage to come forward?
Somebody KNOWS Something and the time is now!
Please do not make us go into year number 8 without knowing what happened to someone we loved so much!

Mike...I love you and miss you like crazy. Another year of stupid holidays that are never quite right cuz you aren't here. Please continue to look down on us and give us strength. Our lives were touched by you and we are all better for having you in our lives. We are better because we knew you...and loved you..and were loved in return.

Happy Birthday Brat!

Last call for a good cop

2011-11-29T19:28:00.000-05:00

November 29, 2011

By JO ANN BOBBY-GILBERT - Staff Writer , Morning Journal News

EAST LIVERPOOL - From disabled vehicles and someone setting another person's belongings on fire, Monday was a typical day at the city police department as calls go.
Then, as night fell, a final call: "949-41." No answer from Unit #41, Chief Mike McVay.
Again, "949-41." No answer.
A third time, "949-41," and, finally, the answer from Patrolman Moose Ramsey: "Unit 41 is on special assignment."
"We love you, and miss you. Please watch over us," dispatcher Deb Fickes responded as nearly 200 officers listened to the last call for East Liverpool's long-time chief of police.
McVay, 62, died in the emergency room at East Liverpool City Hospital Saturday morning after a sudden illness, leaving his mother, Jackie; wife, Connie; daughters, Lauren and Hanna; and his fellow police officers to carry on.
During a Fraternal Order of Police ceremony last night at Dawson Funeral Home, it was apparent also left behind was a law enforcement community that admired and respected the veteran officer.
Officers from at least six counties and 24 departments, including state and county investigative units, paid their last respects to McVay, who served as East Liverpool's chief since 1994, longer than any other except Hugh McDermott.
Among the officers at the funeral home were former city Chief Milt Fowler and several retired city police officers as well as chiefs from many surrounding departments.
Following the recitation of the 23rd Psalm by Capt. Terry Faulkner, a memorial blanket was presented to Mrs. McVay by Patrolman Fred Flati on behalf of FOP Lodge 29 which represents city police officers.
His lifelong friend, Capt. Norm Curtis, who was appointed acting chief upon the chief's death, received visitors alongside family members surrounded by numerous memorial tributes from the community and those who worked with McVay daily.
"Our beloved chief; we will miss you dearly," declared a floral tribute from city officials, many of whom attended the ceremony, including Mayor Jim Swoger.
As the officers stopped at McVay's side to bid their last farewell, they offered up white carnations and salutes to their colleague, many obviously struggling with their emotions.
Afterward, as police officers often do in stressful situations, they talked and laughed with each other outside and, later, at the ELPD, shared stories about the chief.
Today, after funeral services at 11 a.m., McVay will be escorted to his final resting place in Riverview Cemetery by his fellow officers.
City Hall will be closed today in honor of the fallen chief, but in the police department, it will be a typical day, as calls go.

East Liverpool mourning

2011-11-27T18:14:00.000-05:00

Police Chief Mike McVay dead after becoming ill at home

November 27, 2011

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

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EAST LIVERPOOL - "He's one of the best things that ever happened to the city of East Liverpool."
Those were words used by Mayor Jim Swoger and echoed by others to describe city Police Chief Mike McVay, who died at 12:39 a.m. Saturday after becoming ill at home about an hour before.
Police officers in East Liverpool and surrounding departments spent most of Saturday coming to grips with the death of someone who was more than their boss and colleague.
"We're kind of stunned and shocked," said police Capt. Norm Curtis, who began his career in 1974, just one year before McVay joined the department as a rookie police officer.
"I think the whole department showed up at the hospital. That shows you the kind of guy he was," said Curtis, who was named acting chief.
As word spread, officers from surrounding police departments began to arrive. "It looked like a police convention," he said of the hospital emergency room and parking lot.
McVay, 62, was named chief in 1994, and only Hugh McDermott served longer (1916-1948) in that position. He had a bachelor's degree in business administration, a master's degree in law enforcement and was a graduate of the FBI National Academy.
"He had all of the assets," Curtis said of his friend.
Mayor Swoger said he came to admire McVay and became one of his biggest supporters. He believes McVay to be the city's best police chief during his lifetime.
"We got off to a rocky start, but I came to rely on him. What most impressed me was that Mike McVay wasn't just a police chief. He was also a police officer, he was a dispatcher (when needed). He always did what needed to be done," Swoger said. "He's earned my respect."
On one Christmas Day, Swoger stopped by the police department and found McVay on duty. "Mike was there so his guys could be with their families," he said. "I don't know how you're going to replace that."
Curtis said that was typical of McVay. "Even as chief he didn't think anything of pitching in and helping."
McVay's willingness to lend a helping hand extended to other police departments. "I remember when I became chief, a couple days later he called me and wished me well and gave me some pointers," said St. Clair Township Police Chief Don Hyatt.
While East Liverpool always worked well with adjoining police departments, the relationship became even closer during McVay's tenure.
"We gelled like one huge department," Hyatt said of the two departments. "When we needed help they provided it, and when they needed help we would provide it."
This sentiment was echoed by Liverpool Township Police Chief Charlie Burgess. "I don't know where to start. From the time I started out as an officer we worked together. He always help me out," he said. "The cooperation between departments was always strong because of Mike."
County Sheriff Ray Stone was among McVay's admirers. "I thought he was a great chief, and I think he'll be missed by the entire county," he said.
City Councilman Ryan Stovall served as a police officer under McVay for six years before joining the St. Clair Township Police Department, and he said McVay was always the consummate professional in his dealings with him both as an employee and councilman.
"He trained me and mentored me through my rookie years. He always watched out for the guys, and he was easy to work with from a council standpoint," Stovall said. "He's going to be tough to replace.
City Safety-Service Director Ryan Estell said the process of appointing a new chief will take three to four months. He said the department's four captains - Curtis, John Lane, Terry Faulkner and Tom Clark - are eligible to take the chief's exam, with the chief position going to the top scorer.
Curtis, who has said he will not be a candidate for chief, was chosen by his colleagues as interim chief. "Norm and Mike have been friends for a long time, and when I met with the captains last night it was unanimous that it should be Norm," Estell said.
Officer Patrick Wright was promoted to acting captain to fill Curtis' slot. Wright finished first on the most recent captain's exam, and his promotion will become permanent once a new chief is named.

Dead woman’s brother charged

2011-11-22T09:15:00.002-05:00

November 22, 2011

DEANNE JOHNSON - Staff Writer , Morning Journal News

LISBON - Two people were taken into custody Monday on charges related to the August shooting death of Holly Carosiello, according to Sheriff Ray Stone.
Jamie M. Adkins, Dresden Avenue, East Liverpool, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter, a first-degree felony. Detective Jeff Haugh said Adkins is Holly's brother.
Adkins faces further charges of burglary, a second-degree felony; complicity to burglary, a third-degree felony; and conspiracy to burglary, a second-degree felony. Haugh said those charges stem from incidents both the day before and the day of Carosiello's death.
Adkins was taken into custody Monday afternoon on the secret indictment, which was issued by the Columbiana County Common Pleas grand jury last week.
Earlier in the day Monday, Anthony Carosiello, Hillcrest Road, Wellsville, a brother-in-law of the victim, was also taken into custody by deputies, according to Haugh.
Carosiello was charged for allegedly failing to cooperate with deputies during the course of the investigation. He is charged with three counts of third-degree felony tampering with evidence and obstruction of justice, which Haugh said is also a felony three because the misinformation provided hindered a murder investigation.
Details from the indictments were not available Monday.
Holly Carosiello, 22, was found dead from a gunshot wound behind the home of her estranged husband, Nicholas Carosiello on Township Line Road on Aug. 12.
At the time of the death, Nicholas Carosiello's stepfather had reported a shooting and burglary. Neighbors reported hearing multiple gun shots. Holly Carosiello was found dead when deputies arrived.
Sheriff Ray Stone had reported deputies took several guns from the home during the investigation, but were waiting to determine which gun if any led to her death.
djohnson@mojonews.com

Positive ID made on Klusch

2011-11-22T09:13:00.002-05:00

November 22, 2011

DEANNE JOHNSON - Staff Writer , Morning Journal News

LISBON - The body of the man found Friday has been confirmed as Gerald G. Klusch by the coroner's office in Summit County.
A cause of death of the farmer and businessman has not yet been identified.
Detectives with the Columbiana County Sheriff's department continue to investigate what has been considered a suspicious death since Klusch's disappearance seven weeks ago.
Detective Andy Sweeney went to Summit County Monday to go over the preliminary autopsy of the body with investigators. The body was found Friday afternoon down a wooded hillside off Hazel Run Road.
Sheriff Ray Stone said the area was isolated with only one vehicle going past throughout the evening while investigators were there. He believes it is likely the body has been there throughout the past seven weeks.
Sweeney and Klusch's son, Ryan, were led to the area Friday by following up on some information. Stone said Monday it was not a new tip brought out by the offer made last week by the family of a reward for $20,000. Instead, the information was from a developing lead investigators had been working on prior to the reward.
Deputies had believed the body to be Klusch's since it was found Friday, due in part to a wallet found nearby with Klusch's identification and credit cards inside. Stone said the wallet has been turned over to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, which was also there the night the body was found taking photos.
BCII previously had determined the blood found in the back of Klusch's truck was his. The white pickup was found with new damage off Beacon Light Road the day after he had disappeared. The body was found more than 15 miles away in an area without nearby homes. Investigators and volunteers had searched properties belonging to Klusch extensively. The property where the body was found did not belong to Klusch.
Stone said he spent more than an hour with Klusch's family, who now has an answer to one of their questions. Investigators now will continue to seek the answer to what happened.
Klusch, 71, U.S. Route 30, Lisbon, was last seen alive by his employee Matt Bailey when Klusch dropped him off at his home on Dungannon Road on Sept. 29.
djohnson@mojonews.com

Body found believed to be that of missing man

2011-11-20T16:31:00.002-05:00

November 19, 2011

By KATIE SCHWENDEMAN - Staff Writer (kschwendeman@mojonews.com) , Morning Journal News

LISBON -A body found by the Columbiana County Sheriff's Office Friday afternoon just outside of Salineville is believed to be that of Lisbon area resident Gerald G. Klusch, 71, who was reported missing by his family Sept. 30.
Sheriff Ray Stone said Detective Andy Sweeney and Klusch's son Ryan located the body on Hazel Run Road at 3:20 p.m.
Sweeney was following up on a lead when he spotted the body near the rural road, Stone said.
It was found about a mile east of the Clarks Mill Road intersection in a rural area with no houses nearby.
Stone said the one lane gravel road did not appear to have been traveled frequently and that there were no fresh tire marks leading to the body. A sign posted along the road indicates it does not receive winter maintenance.
He also said that although the death appears suspicious, nothing unusual was found with the body and that it appeared to have been there for quite some time.
Evidence such as Klusch's credit cards and an identification card were found near the body, however.
"We are 99 percent positive it was him," he said.
The Cuyahoga County Coroner's Office is conducting the autopsy, and the sheriff's department has no "clear-cut" suspects at this time, although deputies are still conducting interviews, he added.
Klusch, who lived on U.S. Route 30 and owned six properties in the area, was reportedly last seen by one of his farm employees around 1:30 p.m. Sept. 29.
His abandoned pickup was found the following afternoon by his family off Beacon Light Road in Center Township, which is one of the several tracts of land in the area owned and farmed by Klusch.
Ryan Klusch called the sheriff's office Sept. 30 to report his father missing. A search immediately ensued, aided by the family, volunteer firefighters from area departments and a local search-and-rescue group.
The search was also assisted by helicopter and on the ground with search dogs.
Earlier this week the family offered a $20,000 reward for new information or leads that would help officials locate him.

Dalton

2011-11-17T17:26:00.000-05:00

Today is the 11th anniversary of Dalton Springers murder. R.I.P little Dalton and know that you will never be forgotten...Not by me...or the decent people in your family. Thinking of all of you today! And PLEASE!! If you have any info about this case...please contact the Sheriff's Department or St. Clair Township PD!!

Reward offered in Klusch case

2011-11-15T14:45:00.000-05:00

November 15, 2011

By DEANNE JOHNSON - Staff Writer , Morning Journal News

LISBON - Desperate to know what has happened to their loved one, the family of Gerald George Klusch announced Monday they are offering a $20,000 reward for new information or leads.
Since Klusch's disappearance on about Sept. 29, the county sheriff's department, volunteers, members of the Search Rescue, Recovery and Response and K-9 units have searched the properties owned by Klusch west of Lisbon. A plane flew above his properties on a clear day looking for any signs of Klusch or a disturbance in the area on Oct. 6. A dump area off Lisbon-Dungannon Road was searched. Sheriff's detectives have interviewed Klusch's employee, whom he dropped off at home nearby before he disappeared.
Chief Deputy Allen Haueter said the "splattering" of blood in Klusch's pickup was confirmed as his by the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation. The white pickup had been found at 3 p.m., Sept. 30, damaged and sitting on his property near Beacon Light Road about six hours after the family had reported Klusch did not come home overnight.
At this point, deputies are hitting dead ends in the investigation.
"We feel bad for the family," Haueter said "Our hearts break for them. We just don't know where to turn anymore. We're hoping this money will bring someone out of the woodwork. Money talks."
The family hopes the person who may know something will not wait too long. They have set a deadline of Dec. 19 for someone to contact Detective Andy Sweeney at the sheriff's department, 424-7255, with any reliable new information leading to the return or location of Klusch.
Leah Klusch, his wife, said she hopes the deadline creates a sense of urgency. She said they hope for any information, someone who saw him that day or remember seeing anything in the area.
His daughter, Katherine Klusch, said she would like to know something before Christmas, adding this in never going to be a good Christmas without her father.
The family members talked about each of their relationships with Gerald Klusch. His son, Ryan, was also his business partner and the two spoke probably daily, according to Leah Klusch. Katherine Klusch, who is 24, had just recently moved back home while she attended school. Leah Klusch said Gerald "was so tickled she was at home."
With emotions welling up, Katherine Klusch pointed out her daddy will not be there to walk her down the aisle one day or to see his future grandchildren.
"It feels like a Law and Order episode," Katherine Klusch said, adding it is one of her favorite shows. "This is what you see on TV. You never think this is going to happen to you or your family. You think your family is invincible."
Ryan Klusch said he would like to encourage anyone who knows anything, who may be holding back information to think about how they would feel to lose a family member and then step forward. Katherine Klusch added it is "scary" to know someone can disappear in broad daylight.
"This is a burden we are carrying as a family and individually," Leah Klusch said. "It's getting heavier and heavier. People don't disappear off the face of the earth. They don't just evaporate."
Additional information about the case is available at a website created by the family www.findjerry.net or the facebook site www.facebook.com/GeraldKlusch.
djohnson@mojonews.com

Meet Holly Carosiello

2011-11-10T18:21:00.002-05:00

Last week I had the opportunity to meet a great lady. Her name is Soni Reed. For those of you that do not know, she is the mother of Holly Carosiello. Holly was murdered on August 12, 2011 in Wellsville, Ohio.
Holly leaves behind 2 small daughters. Nikki age 4 and Jordyan age 3.
Holly loved shopping. She collected dolphins and would always be the first one to text a "Happy Birthday" at 12:01 am on someone's birthday.
She was a Mom. She wanted to become a Nurse. She was compassionate and loved spending time with the elderly.
Her family and friends most remember her sparkling eyes and laugh.
Holly loved holidays and looked forward to the holiday season with her girls.
Holly had a very strong relationship with her Mom that became stronger just a few months before her death.

I wanted you all to see Holly and hear about her life. The life that someone stole from her.
Please click on the links that I have here and read her story.
Although this is NOT one of our cases, and her case is NOT unsolved, there have been no arrests yet. (Please keep in mind that this case is still relatively new)
Anyhow, I wanted you all to meet this lovely young woman and felt the need to share her story.....

http://www.wkbn.com/content/news/communitynews/wellsville/story

http://www.reviewonline.com/page/content.detail/id/548082/Columbiana-County-Municipal-Court-for-9-30.html?nav=5188

http://www.wtov9.com/news/news/memorial-held-for-shooting-victim-no-arrests-1-mon/nD5Ns/

http://www.wtov9.com/news/news/questionable-death-under-investigation-in-columbia/nDjzS/

As Always, if you have any info on this case, please contact;
Wellsville Police Dept 330-532-1522
or the Sheriff's Dept 330-424-7255

http://www.salemnews.net/page/content.detail/id/545131/Death-cause-is--questionable-.html?nav=5007

Missing Person.....

2011-10-02T17:19:00.001-04:00

Farmer missing

Pickup found on farm tract in Center Twp.

October 2, 2011

Please click the link to see photo from The Sheriff"s Department!

http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=10150335668589633&set=a.391334629632.157497.253097259632&type=1&theater

By TOM GIAMBRONI
Staff Writer
LISBON - The search is scheduled to resume today for an area farmer who has been missing since Thursday.
Gerald G. Klusch, 71, of U.S. Route 30, was reportedly last seen by one of his farm employees about 1:30 p.m. Thursday. His abandoned pickup was found Friday afternoon by his family off Beacon Light Road in Center Township, which is one of the several tracts of land in the area owned and farmed by Klusch.
"We're working it as a missing persons case at this point," said Detective Alan Young of the Columbiana County Sheriff's Office.
Klusch's son, Ryan, called the sheriff's office at 9:24 a.m. Friday to advise them they had not seen the elder Klusch since the day before. Ryan said he spoke with Matt Bailey, who works for his father, and Bailey told him he was with his father until 1:30 p.m. Thursday. That is when Bailey said Klusch dropped him off at his home on Dungannon Road, which is owned by Klusch.
Attempts to contact Klusch through his two cell phones went straight to voice mail. His 2008 Sierra 4x4 pickup truck had OnStar but the company was unable to trace the vehicle through the GPS device.
The family began searching some of the properties, and they found the truck at the Beacon Light Road location about 3:30 p.m. Friday, according to Detective Andy Sweeney.
Firefighters from the Hanover Volunteer Fire Department searched the property on Friday and were joined by a helicopter. The search-and-rescue organization SRRT arrived on Saturday with search dogs, and the search is scheduled to resume this morning.
Sheriff Ray Stone said they are short on clues at this point, but confirmed what appeared to be some dried blood was found in the truck bed. He cautioned it could very well be from an animal, however, since Klusch is an avid hunter. A sample was taken by agents from the state crime lab, officially known as the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation.
While the property was being searched, Stone said his staff began interviewing Klusch's family and anyone else who may have had contact with him on Thursday. One of those is his wife, Leah Klusch, who implored anyone with information about her missing husband to contact the sheriff's office (330-424-7255).
"We would like anyone who had any contact with Jerry on Thursday at any time" to call, she said. "Right now it looks like he walked off the edge of the earth."
Mrs. Klusch described her husband of 44 years as as a loving and gentle spouse, father and grandfather. "We're just totally baffled. It's an enormous shock to us," she said.
Stone said Klusch had no major medical conditions or any history of going missing. Klusch is described as 6-foot tall, 185 pounds, with brown eyes and grey hair.

Coroner: Woman strangled, body burned off Egypt Road

2011-09-14T13:09:00.001-04:00

September 13, 2011

By MARY ANN GREIER , Salem News

PERRY TOWNSHIP - The death of a Salem woman whose burned remains were found just off of Egypt Road last October has been ruled a homicide, with strangulation the cause.
The Columbiana County Coroner's Office issued its final ruling Monday in the case of 60-year-old Ardes Ruth Bauman, whose body was discovered Oct. 25, 2010 by a Perry Township Police officer who noticed a small fire and a van in the closed off area known as Cry Baby Bridge.
Chief Mike Emigh said once Sgt. George Mlinarcik came upon the scene, he realized there was a body. A van titled to Bauman was parked nearby, with the remains found outside of the unoccupied vehicle.
The cause of death had been termed under investigation by the coroner's office for several months, pending completion of testing and study of the autopsy results from the Cuyahoga County Coroner's Office, On the death certificate signed by Coroner Dr. William Graham Jr., the date of death was listed as Oct. 25, the day the remains were found, but the date of injury was estimated as Oct. 24, 2010, with the time of death and place of death listed as unknown.
The immediate cause of death was listed as asphyxia by cervical compression, with a description of the injury saying she was "strangled causing asphyxia and death." The amount of time between onset of the injury and death was listed as "minutes."
No arrests have been made, but Emigh said "we have people of interest." He wouldn't go into more detail about the people or the evidence.
"From the start, we had our reasons to believe it was a homicide. We just needed the coroner to confirm it," he said.
As far as he knows, this is the first homicide for the Perry Township Police Department.
Emigh said they've been handling it as a suspicious death and violent death and have tried to gather as much information as they can. An officer was specifically assigned to work full-time on the case in May, to work with the prosecutor's office.
When asked if he thought the fire was set to cover up the homicide, he said he couldn't comment on that.
Salem Police had been called on Oct. 13 to a residence on West School Street listed as Bauman's address after her brother visiting from out-of-town found their mother, Ruth Ziegler, malnourished and emaciated. The report was referred to Adult Protective Services, an arm of the Department of Job and Family Services.
An emergency guardianship case was filed by Adult Protective Services on Oct. 22 in county Probate Court regarding Ziegler, who had been taken to Salem Community Hospital for treatment. Just a few days later, Bauman's remains were found. Ziegler, who was 91 years old, later died in January this year in a nursing home facility.
Anyone with information about the Bauman homicide case should contact the Perry Township Police Department.
Mary Ann Greier can be reached at mgreier@salemnews.net

Balloon Launch pix

2011-08-30T17:10:00.000-04:00

Thank you everyone that came out to our balloon launch last Thursday! Your support means more than you know and a special thanks to all of the board members and volunteers that were present and spoke and John Soldano for speaking.....

CCFHV Annual Balloon Launch

2011-08-14T20:56:00.000-04:00

Please join us on Thursday, August 25th at noon @ the gazebo in Lisbon for our yearly tribute to the murdered and missing. The families need your support. The balloons will be provided and it is a "family friendly" event. Bring your family and support our families!

Families push for homicide task force

2011-08-14T20:52:00.000-04:00

August 14, 2011

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

LISBON - A local group dedicated to keeping the spotlight on unsolved murders and those who died suspicious deaths wants local law enforcement agencies to create a homicide task force to help each other out.
The suggestion was made at this week's meeting of the Columbiana County commissioners by Belinda Puchajda, head of the county Families of Homicide Victims.
She envisions a task force consisting of detectives from local police departments who could be called upon to assist during the first 72 hours of any murder or suspicious death investigation.
"The police departments are all understaffed, plain and simple. There are not enough detectives in our county, and when a homicide does occur they cannot be properly investigated if the detective has to leave to, say, transport a prisoner, has to take his vacation or work on something else," Puchajda said.
She was spurred to action after recently stopping at the county sheriff's office to pass along a tip her organization had received. Puchajda said she sat for 20 minutes waiting to talk with someone before being told no one was available because the detectives and deputies were all busy.
While Puchajda said she understands the sheriff's office is understaffed, "this is unacceptable."
Law enforcement experts say the first 72 hours of any investigation are the most critical, and Puchajda said a task force would be able to help solve the manpower problem by providing a number of detectives to conduct the probe during its initial stages.
Puchajda indicated the departments could assign personnel to serve on the task force, much like the county drug task force works, except they would only be called upon on an as-needed basis instead of being assigned to the task force permanently.
She said having a "great team of collective investigators that are on the scene from the very beginning" will increase the chances of solving the crime.
"We can once again be proud of Columbiana County and maybe murderers will think twice before committing murder if they know this is in place," Puchajda said.
Although Puchajda believes the task force would take very little money to run, she was before commissioners seeking up to $5,000 in seed money to get things started.
Commissioners, who are facing $500,000 in funding cuts next year, said nothing following Puchajda's presentation other than thanking her.
Puchajda said she had sent letters to all local enforcement seeking their support, and she said county Prosecutor Robert Herron is on board.
The homicide task force idea was actually brought up about 10 years ago but never got anywhere due to lack of interest. County Sheriff Ray Stone, who attended the meeting, said he does not intend to pursue the matter.
"It'd be a good idea, but I can't get people to stay on the drug task force," he said.
The sheriff's detectives already hold periodic meetings with detectives from local departments to share information, and the police chiefs also meet.

Columbiana County Fair 2011

2011-08-08T17:59:00.001-04:00

Getting signatures

A great group of volunteers

The Queens

Morning crew

One of our favorite Police Officers

Always have to deal w a storm or 2

Volunteered all week long!

Large crowd

Marian getting signatures

And!! We had silly string

Sydney & Senator Wilson

Me and Barb

The girls w Froggy Mascot

Brian & Paula

We had a great time at the fair and managed to get all 5000 letters for Dalton signed! Thank you all Board Members, Volunteers and family and friends that helped us make this such a success... You are appreciated more than you know!

Gearing up for the fair...

2011-07-27T21:36:00.000-04:00

We are very excited to be getting up for this years Columbiana County Fair!!!
We are in the same spot as last year on the main walkway right outside the grandstand! I will post a lot of pictures so don't forget to stop by and say hi!!!

Thank You for Donating!! 2011 Auction Sponsors

2011-07-20T21:33:00.001-04:00

A great big "Thank You" to all of the people that donated items for our Penny Auction.

Your genourosity is so much appreciated!
Thank you for showing your support for what we do!
CCFHV Inc.

Linda Coe
Karen’s Bakery
Today, Tomorrow & Forever Jewelry
Barb Davis
Rylee Farmer (Mary Kay Cosmetics)
DeRunizo’s Italian Foods
The Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Pirates
Miami Dolphins
Cincinnati Bangles
Tiny Tots
Wellsville Pharmacy
Dutch Village Store
Christy Welch
Hawaiian Joe’s
Wal-Mart
Allen Coe
Dog-Gonne
AAA
Home Delivery Health Care
Kimble’s Jewelry
Marc’s
Alcatraz Tattoos
Subway
Italo’s
Movie’s 8 Cinema
East Palestine Dairy Queen
Tom’s Barbershop
Fashion Forward
Steel Trolley Diner
Taste of Country
Mountaineer Racetrack & Casino
Steven’s Jewelers
Bob & Robins
Joe’s Pizza
Columbiana Roadhouse
Kolby’s
Morgan’s Drugs
Promo’s Unlimited
William GD Printing
Quick Cash
Maximum Motorsports
Heart of the Country
Dutch House Pantry

Don't Forget!! Our Penny Auction this Saturday!!

2011-07-05T20:55:00.000-04:00

Worth Re-Posting!!

2011-06-22T11:49:00.001-04:00

Practices Known to Improve Homicide Investigations

By THOMAS HARGROVE, Scripps Howard News Service

While homicide clearance rates have declined across the nation from about 90 percent in the 1960s to below 65 percent in recent years, some police departments have bucked the trend.
Many of those police departments, including those in Durham, N.C., Santa Ana, Calif., and Polk County, Fla., are using cutting-edge murder-investigation techniques.
"We think that all departments could improve their clearance rates if they would provide a priority to homicide clearances and begin to use these best practices that are slowly emerging from the research base," concluded University of Maryland criminologist Charles Wellford.
Among the most common recommendations by criminology scholars and Department of Justice researchers to improve homicide investigations:
-- Make homicide clearance a priority. Keep track of the department's clearance rates. Apply additional resources such as increased manpower or improved training for investigators to clear a backlog of cold cases. If necessary, create a specialized cold-case squad or, better, a multi-departmental cold-case task force.
When clearance rates dropped to 42 percent during the 1990s, Santa Ana asked for federal grants to hire extra detectives to work the growing numbers of unsolved homicides. The clearance rates rose to 69 percent since 2000 -- the third-best improvement for any major police department, according to a Scripps Howard News Service study of FBI homicide records.
"We had a federally funded cold-case project about 13 years ago. Everyone saw how successful it could be," said Santa Ana Police Chief Paul M. Walters.
-- Make sure homicide supervisors keep track of open cases through so-called "compstat" analysis -- usually, computer-based tracking to provide a multilayered approach to personnel and resource management of local crime. Hold regular meetings with homicide investigators. Departments making effective use of Computerized Case-Management Systems (CCMS) were documented to have at least a 5 percent improvement in homicide clearance rates, according to one FBI study.
"Accountability is the key," said Philadelphia Deputy Police Commissioner Richard Ross. "Homicide departments don't run themselves. There's nothing like having to sit in front of your captain and explain the status of every case."
Philadelphia adopted its own compstat system when city officials declared a crime emergency after homicide clearances dropped to 56 percent in 2006. They rose to 75 percent by 2008.
-- Make sure there is sufficient manpower at the crime scene, especially during the first minutes after the discovery of a killing. The latest Justice Department recommendations suggest that a minimum of two, two-person teams be sent to the scene as quickly as possible. Large police departments that regularly send eight or 10 experienced investigators to the scene have produced above-average clearance results.
"We know that the longer the period awaiting an arrest, the less likely that arrest will be," said Polk County, Fla., Sheriff Grady Judd. "We send a team of four to eight supervisors, homicide detectives and crime-scene technicians to the scene. And we work the cold cases, too."
Detectives in Polk County east of Tampa were solving only 56 percent of homicides during the 1990s. But new priorities and investigative techniques pushed clearance averages to 84 percent in recent years -- the second-largest improvement in the study.
-- Make sure investigators get the time needed to solve murders. Don't be stingy with overtime, especially when investigators are in hot pursuit of evidence. Departments that allow senior detectives to approve their own overtime have a 9 percent higher clearance rate, according to FBI data.
"That's something I've been yelling about for years. So now we authorize the payment of overtime so investigators don't have to worry about being compensated while working the big cases," said Durham, N.C., Police Chief Jose Lopez.
Durham experienced the nation's largest improvement in homicide clearance rates, rising from 39 percent in the 1990s to 78 percent since 2008 thanks to a number of reforms.
Crime experts and veteran cops also recommend:
Be generous with training. Make sure investigators know the current best practices through so-called "in-service" training rather than assuming they learned everything at the police academy.
Make sure the first responders -- beat cops who usually are the first to a homicide scene -- know how to protect evidence, identify witnesses and assist in neighborhood canvasses for witnesses. It is critical that they know whom to call -- detectives, medical examiners and crime-scene technicians -- in the first minutes of an investigation.
Make best use of information technology. Probably most important is automated information-sharing between homicide detectives, narcotics investigators, gang specialists and street intelligence units. Killers and associates of killers often have a long and detailed history with local police.
Utilize new

evidence technology. DNA matching of blood or almost any other physical evidence from an assailant's body is a powerful tool. But so are less prominent techniques such as voice-stress analysis and statement analysis, blood-stain-pattern analysis and criminal investigative analysis also known as profiling.

Posted by Belinda Puchajda at 5:51 PM 0 comments

Clever Jury

2011-06-22T11:40:00.001-04:00

Thought this was interesting..................

Clever Jury.....

The Jury.....

In a criminal justice system based on 12 individuals not smart enough to get out of jury duty, here is a jury to be proud of:
......
A defendant was on trial for murder. There was strong evidence indicating guilt, but there was no corpse.

In the defense's closing statement, the lawyer, knowing that his client would probably be convicted, resorted to a trick.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I have a surprise for you all," the lawyer said as he looked at his watch. "Within one minute, the person presumed dead in this case will walk into this courtroom." He looked toward the courtroom door. The jurors, somewhat stunned, all looked on eagerly.

A minute passed. Nothing happened.

Finally the lawyer said, "Actually, I made up the previous statement. But you all looked on with anticipation. I, therefore, put it to you that you have a reasonable doubt in this case as to whether anyone was killed, and I insist that you return a verdict of not guilty."

The jury retired to deliberate. A few minutes later, the jury returned and pronounced a verdict of guilty.
"But how?" inquired the lawyer. "You must have had some doubt; I saw all of you stare at the door."

The jury foreman replied:
"Yes, we did look, But Your Client Didn't."

Penny Auction

2011-06-17T18:23:00.002-04:00

We are having a Penny Auction Fundraiser on July 9th from 2-6 at The Lisbon Education Center in Lisbon.
(Across the street from new courthouse. Grey building w blue roof)

Lots of great items! Please try to attend!!

Judge won’t quit Salem murder case

2011-06-11T16:38:00.000-04:00

June 11, 2011

By DEANNE JOHNSON , Salem News

Save | Post a comment |

LISBON - Columbiana County Common Pleas Judge Scott Washam denied a request by the prosecutor's office Friday that he step down as the judge for future hearings involving the murder, involuntary manslaughter and endangering children charges against Miranda V. Todd.
Prosecuting attorneys Timothy McNicol and Tammy Jones had filed the request May 23, asking Washam to transfer the case because of at least one previous time he had dealt with Todd during his time as a magistrate for juvenile court.
See TODD, 5A
"The state is attempting to prevent any appellant issues in the future," McNicol said in court, adding a similar motion was allowed in a case involving Randy A. Wylie. He is an East Palestine man charged with endangering children and a motion made by his attorneys for Washam to transfer the case happened.
Washam said the difference in that case was that it was Wylie's attorneys who filed the motion and not the state. He also pointed out in the case of Wylie, the child lived, while Todd's son, 7-month-old Derek Dennison, had died.
Todd's attorneys, Charlie Kidder and Jennifer Gorby, also had filed a response to the motion asking that Washam deny the request and remain. Washam asked Todd directly if she agreed with the motion her attorneys had filed, which she affirmed.
Gorby also indicated the defense has been attempting to get a medical expert to look at the evidence, but had yet to be able to do so. She pointed out there may be a need to reschedule the trial, which is currently set for Aug. 15. A status hearing on the issue was set for June 30.
Todd faces 30 years to life in prison if convicted of all three charges. She remains in custody.
On July 23, 2010, Todd had taken her son to the emergency room at Salem Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The autopsy report included numerous injuries to the child's skull and rib fractures, according to Salem Detective Dave Talbert.

Documentary details Ohio cold case from 1973

2011-06-10T16:04:00.001-04:00

Documentary details Ohio cold case from 1973

Monday, January 03, 2011

By Torsten Ove, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

EAST LIVERPOOL, Ohio -- Thirty-seven years after a vicious triple homicide just blocks from the police station in this once-bustling river town, police are still trying to figure out who did it and how he got away.
A documentary airing on WQED has generated renewed interest in the 1973 beating deaths of elderly store owner Earl Tweed, a 22-year-old pregnant woman named Linda Morris and her 4-year-old daughter, Angela.
Police believe Mrs. Morris and her daughter were killed when they walked into Mr. Tweed's used-furniture store on a hot summer day and witnessed a robbery in progress.
"We're still getting tips," said Detective Donald Fickes. "I just got a tip this morning. A guy had a dream."
This cold case seems destined to remain cold, but the police say they won't give up.
The killings inside Mr. Tweed's ramshackle shop at 759 Dresden Ave. on July 30 stunned the city, destroyed one family, damaged another and, as the decades passed with no arrest, took on the status of an urban legend.
Inevitably in today's online age, the incident and its aftermath also have cropped up on websites devoted to ghost-hunting and the paranormal.
The detectives who worked the case are dead. But the homicide file, contained in two thick binders, is still consulted now and then, and just last year the department submitted blood samples from the scene to the FBI's nationwide Combined DNA Index System in the hopes of finding a match.
The police force is down to 18 from the 30 it had at the time of the killings, but everyone in uniform knows the story of what happened on Dresden.
"Sooner or later, every new officer here learns about the Tweed case," said Mike McVay, the police chief. "It's a case we would give anything to solve."
David Dunlap is hoping to help in that effort with his documentary, "759 Dresden."
An airline pilot in Florida who makes films on the side, Mr. Dunlap grew up in nearby Calcutta and had long been intrigued by the killings. He spent two years on the project with the help of his nephew, Shane Dunlap, a photographer for the Daily Record in York County, and Bo Bradshaw, a friend in Florida who served as editor.
The documentary aired Nov. 20 as part of WQED's "Filmmakers Corner," hosted by Minette Seate. The station has the rights to show it five more times, although the dates aren't set.
The film features archival footage and interviews with those who were close to the events, including Donna Ferguson, Mr. Tweed's daughter, and the late Lew Morris, husband of Linda Morris and father of Angela.
It also discusses some 20 additional unsolved murders in Columbiana County and a local group's efforts to solve them, but the Tweed case is the focus.
As a boy, David Dunlap traveled regularly with his mother to visit the library and to shop in East Liverpool, at the time a thriving pottery-making center of about 25,000 people, but the population has since dwindled to less than half that.
"I had always heard about the story," said Mr. Dunlap, 46, of Orlando. "East Liverpool is a small town. A murder of three people is a big deal there. I always thought it was sad that they couldn't solve this."
The bodies were discovered at 1 p.m. July 30 when Frances Dugan, a nurse visiting from Chicago, was shopping for antiques and stopped into National Furniture, the store run by the 75-year-old Mr. Tweed. She found Mrs. Morris and her daughter covered in blood on the floor amid a rat's nest of junk and old furniture, then ran outside and shouted across the street for someone to "Call the police, something terrible has happened!"
Mrs. Morris, who was four months pregnant, was dead at the scene, her body lying just outside Mr. Tweed's office. Angela, found next to her mother, died about an hour later at the hospital. Both had been beaten with a hammer. Mr. Tweed, whose body was found outside his office not far from that of Mrs. Morris, had been beaten with a hammer and stabbed 27 times with carpet shears.
The killings occurred around lunchtime. Police determined that the last person who saw Mr. Tweed alive was a man named Charles Inman, who did part-time work for Mr. Tweed and visited him that morning, leaving about 11:30 a.m.
Mrs. Morris had gone to see Mr. Tweed because she planned to rent a house from him. In addition to his used-furniture business, he owned eight or nine low-rent apartments in town. Mrs. Morris and her husband, a city street department employee who was working with a road crew nearby that day, had recently moved from the Poconos area of Pennsylvania to East Liverpool, where Linda had relatives, and were looking for a bigger place to live.
News accounts at the time indicated that Mr. Tweed may have been attacked as he prepared to eat lunch; police found slices of bread with bologna on a chair next to the cluttered roll-top desk in his office.
Officers searching the streets outside later found his empty wallet on some city steps leading up to West Ninth Avenue. In a nearby trash can, they found a bloody claw hammer and a pair of shears, believed to be the murder weapons.
Several witnesses reported a man running from the scene, but details are sketchy. One witness, a young boy, gave police enough of a description for a composite sketch of a red-haired man.
Police surmise that Mrs. Morris and her little girl were killed because they happened on the robbery and could identify the suspect. The victims were nearly helpless. Mr. Tweed, although described as somewhat stern and toughened by the Depression some 40 years earlier, probably couldn't have put up much of a fight at his age. Lew Morris described his wife as a friendly and old-fashioned "country girl," who stood 5 feet tall and weighed 110 pounds at the most.
Maybe the killer panicked. Maybe, some suggest, he was high on drugs. No one knows, but he ran away and disappeared into history.
Agents with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation helped police with their investigation, collecting some 40 pieces of evidence, including bloody fingerprints from a cabinet in the store that have repeatedly been submitted to the national Automated Fingerprint Identification System.
Police conducted hundreds of interviews in the weeks that followed. News accounts said detectives even flew to another city to interrogate someone. A reward was offered for information.
In the end, nothing came of those efforts.
In some ways, the case was handled differently than it would be today. For one thing, many people were allowed access to the crime scene, possibly compromising evidence. That was common in the 1970s; today, homicide scenes are usually sealed up tight until the forensics experts arrive.
Lew Morris, who died in August at age 63 in St. Marys, W.Va., says in the film that the East Liverpool police were "overwhelmed" by the case because they weren't accustomed to such mayhem. Another triple homicide would occur in the town six years later.
In looking back with the hindsight of the 27 years he later spent as a police officer in Michigan, Mr. Morris said he was puzzled as to why authorities never questioned him or other relatives in any detail.
Mrs. Ferguson, now 72 and living outside of Cambridge, Ohio, said police never questioned her, either.
Today's officers couldn't speak to the specifics of who was or was not interviewed, but Mr. Fickes said a review of the old file showed that police did hundreds of interviews of potential suspects and witnesses.
The case is somewhat unusual in that the killings happened on a busy summer afternoon, with many people on the streets or in their yards or on porches, and yet the killer escaped on foot.
"He would have had to have been covered with blood," said Dave Mumaw, a retired officer who helped with the case briefly and is now a court bailiff. "I've always felt that the person lived in that area and knew the area."
Some have speculated that the suspect was passing through or that the slayings could be the work of a serial killer. But another retired officer says in the documentary that an out-of-town robber would have been more likely to hold up the gas station down the street than to rob Mr. Tweed's shop, a nondescript storefront.
Mr. Tweed, however, was known to carry cash, usually at least $200.
Yet if the killer was a local, how is it that he has stayed hidden for so long? A murderer can disappear in Chicago or New York or even Pittsburgh, but it's more difficult to hide in a small town where everyone knows everyone. Mr. Mumaw said the secret could be "locked up in a family," but he thinks that by now someone would have said something.
His theory is that the killer is dead.
"I think that's entirely possible," Mrs. Ferguson agreed.
"I can't imagine somebody doing that kind of thing, that much violence, and then going on and living a completely normal life after that," she says in the film. "That kind of person is going to continue with that kind of behavior."
After the killings, she said she continued on as best she could. She loved her father and remembered him as a generous businessman who doted on her, helped people who needed it and always wore a flower in the buttonhole of his suit. His death was hard on her and her children, she said, but she still had her own family to raise. It was much worse for the Morris family, she said. They lost a child, an unborn baby, a young mother. Mr. Morris eventually remarried and had five children with his second wife, but some of Linda Morris' relatives never recovered.
Mrs. Ferguson said she's been reluctant to dwell on what happened. She'd like to see the crime solved, certainly. But she's kept some distance from a local group, Columbiana County Families of Homicide Victims, and the vigils they've held for murder victims.
"You have to pick up and move on with your life after something like this," she said. "Otherwise it takes over the rest of your life."

Torsten Ove: tove@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1510.

First published on January 3, 2011 at 12:00 am

Music Festival at Jerzees

2011-05-22T13:15:00.000-04:00

We had a great time yesterday at the All Day Music Festival!!
We were there from 9am til almost 2am..
Great bands, great food (that we prepared of course), and my very favorite part.....talking to the public!
It always makes every event worthwhile because the people of this county are truly amazing!
I hear the most interesting opinions, get great support for the cause, and get to spend time with some of my favorite people in the process!

A special thanks, as always to the awesome volunteers and Board Members that come out to work...Tabitha Kemp, Brian & Paula Vaughn, Barb Brown, Shirley Winn, Barb & Sheena Davis, Amy & Sarah Fraser, Brian Adkins, and Adrianna. Thank you all so much for staying loyal and working in the blazing hot sun (or rain, wind, hurricaine, etc.) and helping to keep the public informed on the unsolved murders and missing persons! And I owe a GREAT....HUGE...THANK YOU to Jerry and Zack for ALWAYS putting up with me especially...and also working very long hours with no pay in sight, all just because you believe in what I am doing... I am VERY fortunate to have such amazing people in my life!!

Columbus!! 2 Days in May.....

2011-05-16T21:22:00.001-04:00

I have to say taht we are having a blast in Columbus at the 2 days in May! It is the 20th anniversary and we have met some amazing people down here! I think this is really going to be the start of something wonderful. We love coming down here! Everyone is so helpful and it was a HUGE honor to be asked to teach a workshop. Jim Ciotti co-taught with me. I was scared to death and so nervous, but got a GREAT response when I was done and people came up to me later in the day when I was at other classes and talked to me. I had lunch with a girl that was in my class and she said I did great. :) This is definately something that I want to do every year! It's exhausting, but a great time!!!

Practices Known to Improve Homicide Investigations

2011-04-25T17:51:00.000-04:00

By THOMAS HARGROVE, Scripps Howard News Service

Woman charged with lying about stabbing incident

2011-04-15T11:34:00.002-04:00

Unbelievable!!! this kind of thing makes me crazy!!!

April 9, 2011

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

WELLSVILLE - A Yellow Creek Township woman has been charged with lying when she told sheriff's deputies her estranged husband stabbed her in the back Wednesday morning.
Judy M. Winski, 52, of Sprouse Road, was charged Friday with falsification in regard to the alleged crime. Bond was set at $1,000, and Winski is scheduled to be arraigned Monday morning in Columbiana County Municipal Court. The charge is a first-degree misdemeanor, and carries a maximum possible sentence of six months in the county jail.
Judy and Daniel Winski are in the process of divorcing, and at 9:29 a.m. Wednesday the security alarm at her home went off and automatically alerted the county sheriff's office. Deputies arrived and spoke with Winski's son, Richard Pelley, who came to the home when his mother called him at 9:31 a.m. to say she had been attacked by her estranged husband after he showed up with a gun in his hand.
Winski was taken by ambulance to the emergency room at East Liverpool City Hospital, where she was treated for a stab wound that was described as three-quarters of an inch long and about a half inch deep. The weapon was believed to be a kitchen knife Richard Pelley found outside the house near the porch.
While at the hospital, Winski told investigators her husband came through the door with something silver in his hand. When Dan Winski reportedly raised his hand, Winski said she fled and he stabbed her in the back.
Daniel Winski told investigators he was working at Von Roll WTI in East Liverpool when the attack supposedly occurred, which was confirmed by witnesses and surveillance cameras.
"Obviously, WTI is well surveillanced. They have excellent surveillance photos," Sheriff Ray Stone said of the hazardous waste incineration plant where Dan Winski works.
Surveillance tapes and witnesses at other locations also confirmed Dan Winski's whereabouts prior to when the alleged attack occurred. "Every place he said he was at, he was there," Stone said.

Child Abuse Awareness

2011-04-01T19:39:00.000-04:00

Wednesday was the start of Child Abuse Awareness Month!!! There were pinwheels all over the square in Lisbon. Each pinwheel represented a child saved. If you know a child is being harmed in ANY way, it is your duty to speak up!! Detective Dave Talbert from the Salem Police Department spoke of many times when something happens, a bystander will tell him that they wished they had spoke up. 2 of our 3 child murders are a result of abuse!! Do NOT keep silent! A child's life may depend on it!

A special thanks to the following people who helped make this a great success.

Eileen Dray-Bardon
Columbiana County Commissioners Jim Hoppel and Penny Traina
Tina Dilworth
Carrie Mitchell
Andrea Mistovich
Detective Dave Talbert Salem PD
Leetonia Chief of Police John Soldano & Sheriff Ray Stone

Democrat and Republican banning together to support this cause! Leetonia Chief John Soldano and Sheriff Ray Stone. :)

Pinwheels

Commissioners Penny Traina and Jim Hoppel

Detective Dave Talbert

April is Sexual Abuse Awareness Month

2011-03-29T14:36:00.001-04:00

Please download and read the following pdf for information on how you can help!
http://www.nsvrc.org/sites/default/files/Publications_NSVRC_Booklets_Engaging-Bystanders-in-Sexual-Violence-Prevention.pdf

Lawyers for Salem mom accused of killing son seek experts for trial

2011-03-19T11:46:00.002-04:00

March 19, 2011 - By DEANNE JOHNSON

LISBON - Attorneys for Miranda Todd, 23, the Salem woman charged in the death of her 7-month-old son, filed two motions Thursday morning.
The first was for the court to appropriate money for experts to review the evidence in the case. Defense attorney Jennifer Gorby asked for money for both a defense investigator and for a medical expert. The medical expert would be charged with reviewing both the medical records and autopsy from the death of Derek Dennison.
The boy died on July 23. Salem police were called to the emergency room at Salem Community Hospital when medical officials reported the deceased infant had "multiple bruises and swelling to his head," according to an affidavit by Detective Dave Talbert. Todd had taken him to the emergency room in an unresponsive state from the residence where she lived at the time on Ellsworth Avenue in Salem.
Talbert also said an autopsy "revealed numerous injuries including skull and rib fractures," with it appearing that some injuries happened over time.
Todd faces charges of murder, involuntary manslaughter and endangering children in connection with the death of her son. If convicted of all three charges, Todd could be facing between 30 years and life in prison.
The second motion filed Thursday was for a reduced bond. Todd has remained in jail on a $250,000 cash or surety bond since her arrest in December. Her attorneys argued she is a lifelong resident of Columbiana County and Salem with family in the area and no criminal history. They asked for a personal recognizance bond with electronic monitoring.
However, prosecuting attorney Tim McNicol argued Todd is unemployed, moved four times during the investigation, has two children in the area she does not have custody of and has a father in Oklahoma.
Judge Scott Washam said he would take the motions under advisement.
djohnson@mojonews.com

Pool Tournament at Jerzees was awesome!!

2011-03-13T20:34:00.000-04:00

The pool tournament was awesome today! 1st place went to William Long. 2nd went to Sam Stacey and 3rd went to Tom Boscarillo.
Casey and I are discussing doing this every couple of months.
We had a great turn out and I had a blast!
Our Board members were so awesome and really worked great together in getting it all organized.

Thank you Tabitha, Cassidie, Marian, Brian, Amy and Sarah, Paula, and Casey for everything!!

Pool Tournament/Chinese Auction Fundraiser Tomorrow at Jerzees!!

2011-03-12T19:46:00.001-05:00

Don't forget tomorrow at Jerzees (formally Czonkas Sports complex in Lisbon) we are having a fundraiser!!
Pool Tournament- $200 cash prize for 1st place...(and a trophy) $100 for 2nd place
Chinese Auction....50/50...great food...entertainment...door prizes... and more!!
Bring the whole family!

You do NOT have to enter the tournament to come and there is NO admission fee for anyone not playing pool..
Doors open at 11am and goes until ?????
All proceeds benefit CCFHV....

Knoblock’s cause of death unknown

2011-03-10T09:55:00.002-05:00

March 10, 2011 - By KATIE SCHWENDEMAN (kschwendeman@reviewonline.com)

LaCROFT - A Columbiana County coroner has ruled the death of a Liverpool Township woman as "unknown" after several months of investigation.
The body of Tracy D. Knoblock, 40, of Seventh Avenue, was found July 29 in a creek in the area of Coal Hollow in LaCroft.
Her family reported her missing on July 24, after not being able to contact her for two days.
Police Chief Charlie Burgess was the first official to arrive on location after the department received a call from someone who saw the body in the remote location off Park Place.
He said Knoblock was found lying on her back and appeared to have fallen nearly 86 feet down a ravine before landing in the creek.
Dr. William Graham, Columbiana County coroner, said Wednesday autopsy results and other information indicated the fall wasn't responsible for her death.
"There is evidence she may have fallen, but that didn't kill her ... the theory may be right, but we can't prove it," he said.
He also said she suffered bruises and several broken ribs.
The autopsy was performed by the Cuyahoga County Coroner's Office.
Burgess said last summer and again on Wednesday that it didn't appear foul play was a factor in her death.
"Nothing at this point has led us to foul play as an indication," he said.
Less than a week after Knoblock was found, the Columbiana County Common Pleas Court issued a court order against Spring Legal Compliance in order to secure Knoblock's phone records from July 19 through July 29.
County Chief Assistant Prosecutor John Gamble filed the motion for the records request, stating then that the court wasn't looking for "anything in particular," although he believed they could aid in the investigation.
The cell phone was recovered with her body. The Liverpool Township Police Department interviewed several people during the investigation, hoping to piece together information about her death, but no information surfaced that changed the department's original findings, Burgess said in early August.
The police department received the phone records that month.
"They (the Cuyahoga County Coroner's Office) did everything to determine why she died but they couldn't," Graham said.
Staff Writer Tom Giambroni contributed to this report.

Coroner rules Young’s death a homicide

2011-03-10T09:54:00.000-05:00

March 10, 2011 - By TOM GIAMBRONI (tgiambroni@reviewonline.com)

LISBON - It's official: Last summer's shooting death of 69-year-old William S. Young Jr. has been ruled a homicide.
Columbiana County Dr. William Graham Jr. issued the cause-of-death ruling after receiving the results this week of the autopsy performed on Young by the Cuyahoga County Coroner's Office.
Young was found shot to death Aug, 11 in the woods behind his home on Spring Valley Road, Wayne Township, after the county sheriff's office had been contacted by Huntington National Bank officials trying to contact him because of suspicious activity on his bank account.
Charles R. Bogart Jr., 35, later was identified as a person of interest in the case by the county prosecutor's office after he was stopped while driving Young's pickup truck and also found to have his wallet. A search warrant found more of Young's property at Bogart's home on Hazel Run Road, Salineville. Then Young's PT Cruiser was found across the road from Bogart's property, parked in the middle of high weeds and shrubs.
Since then, Bogart has been held in the county jail after being charged with a host of property crimes involving property belonging to Young. The coroner's ruling clears the way for the county prosecutor to pursue charges in regard to his death.
Among the new information contained in the autopsy report is the fact Young was shot "multiple times" but at least twice, including in the torso and left leg. Graham believes one of the shots was to his head based on his interpretation of information contained in the autopsy report, but investigators were unable to officially determine that given Young's advanced state of decomposition, which forced them to confirm his identity through dental records.
The autopsy also established the date of Young's death as about 10 a.m. Aug, 2, 2010, nine days before his body was discovered. This would have been one day before Bogart reportedly tried to pass himself off as Young in an attempt to cash a check from his account in the amount of $3,500 at the Calcutta branch of Huntington National Bank. This resulted in Bogart being charged with receiving stolen property.
Bogart also has been charged with using Young's credit cards six times to make purchases between Aug. 3 and Aug. 9.

Bond still $1 million for Ieropoli

2011-03-03T13:59:00.002-05:00

March 2, 2011 - By MATTHEW SCHOMER (Special to The Review)

LISBON - Bond will remain at $1 million for at least another week for a Lisbon-area man accused of making a threat on his father's life.
A trial date for Jesse Ieropoli, 20, state Route 45, on a first-degree misdemeanor charge of aggravated menacing, is scheduled for 9 a.m. March 16. An additional pretrial and motion hearing will be held 1 p.m. Tuesday.
Public Defense Attorney Eric Kibler requested Tuesday Judge Mark Frost lower Ieropoli's bond to the original amount of $5,000. He also requested Frost lift the bond condition that Ieropoli is to have no contact with his father, Nick Ieropoli.
Frost had set the bond at $1 million last week after county Prosecutor Robert Herron revealed that Jesse Ieropoli had admitted to having accidentally shot his mother in 2008. His mother's death was determined to be a homicide by the county coroner, but the investigation is still pending.
"My client has not gone away since that time. He has never fled the area," Kibler noted Tuesday.
But Herron noted when Nick Ieropoli called the county Sheriff's Office after receiving the alleged threat, he was in fear for his own safety.
"This defendant still poses a risk, in our judgment, not just to his father but to the public," Herron told the judge.
Kibler at a previous court appearance had noted Jesse Ieropoli's grandmother and aunt were willing to take him into their shared home. Herron argued the grandmother is elderly and suffering from dementia and he does not feel the aunt can oversee Ieropoli based on interviews held with her in different cases.
Kibler said he spoke with the aunt over the telephone and she appeared to be competent.
Frost noted the information revealed last week regarding the death of Jesse Ieropoli's mother coupled with the alleged threats on the life of his father and his own assured him the bond should remain at $1 million and the no-contact order should stay in place.
"I think all these factors mitigate that the bond should remain where it is," he said.
Nick Ieropoli was in Frost's courtroom in county Municipal Court Tuesday afternoon for the pretrial.
He did not, however, show up Friday at the County Court of Common Pleas, for a hearing on a temporary protection order he had filed against his son. The petition for the protection order has since been dismissed and the temporary protection order has been dissolved.
Youngstown-based attorney John Juhasz is expected to replace Kibler as Jesse Ieropoli's attorney at subsequent court appearances in the case.

Why NOT Murder????

2011-03-03T13:57:00.002-05:00

More charges filed against Bogart

March 3, 2011 - By MARY ANN GREIER (mgreier@reviewonline.com)

LISBON - Another 13 felony counts dealing with receiving stolen property and misuse of credit cards have been filed against Charles Bogart Jr., the man identified as a person of interest in the William Young death investigation.
Bogart, 35, of 37509 Hazel Run Road, Hammondsville, was served with his third secret indictment since August on Wednesday.
This time the Columbiana County grand jury charged him with seven counts of receiving stolen property, three of which were fourth-degree felonies and four of which were fifth-degree felonies, along with five counts of misuse of credit cards, one a misdemeanor and the rest fifth-degree felonies.
He's scheduled to appear at 11 a.m. today before Judge Scott Washam in Common Pleas Court for a status hearing on the first indictment issued against him in August for one count of receiving stolen property. A jury trial remains set for March 14.
In the latest indictment, on the date of Aug. 11, he's accused of possessing three credit cards, a 2001 Chevy Silverado pickup, a 2010 Yamaha dirt bike and miscellaneous bank checks all belonging to the estate of William Young, along with a 2008 Massey Ferguson tractor belonging to Witmer's Tractor Sales. The indictment alleges he used the credit cards on Aug. 3-7 and Aug. 9.
The first indictment alleges that on Aug. 11, when law enforcement officers executed a search warrant on his property, he possessed a four-wheeler reported stolen from a St. Clair Township property.
An indictment issued in December charged him with two counts of receiving stolen property, a single count of forgery, and a single count of identity fraud. Court documents alleged he drove Young's PT Cruiser through the drive-thru at Huntington National Bank in East Liverpool on Aug. 3, passed off Young's driver's license identification as his own, pretending to be Young, and tried to cash a check on Young's account for $3,500 payable to cash.
The jury trial for that indictment was recently moved to May 2, with a status hearing at 2 p.m. April 28.
Young was found dead on Aug. 11 in the woods behind his own property on Spring Valley Road in Wayne Township, but during a recent hearing, it was revealed that the county coroner Dr. William Graham was estimating his date of death as Aug. 2.
No charges have been filed related to Young's death, but county Prosecutor Robert Herron identified Bogart as a person of interest in the death investigation during his arraignment on the first receiving stolen property charge.

Miranda Todd Gets Trial Date For Death of Infant Son....

2011-03-01T17:03:00.000-05:00

March 1, 2011 - By MARY ANN GREIER (mgreier@reviewonline.com)

LISBON - A trial date of Aug. 15 has been set for Miranda V. Todd, the 23-year-old former Salem woman charged with murder, involuntary manslaughter and endangering children in the death of her infant son.
Todd appeared Monday morning for a scheduling hearing and agreed to waive the time requirement for trying her case, giving her attorneys and the state more time to prepare.
The scheduling conference had been set for March 10, but was moved up due to the short try-by time. She's been in jail since being arrested in December, with a $250,000 cash or surety bond continued.
A status hearing was set for 9 a.m. Aug. 5 and a motions hearing was set for 9 a.m. March 18.
The charges all stem from the July 23 death of Todd's 7-month-old son, Derek Dennison. Salem Police were called to the emergency room at Salem Community Hospital that day for a deceased infant who had "multiple bruises and swelling to his head," according to an affidavit by Det. Dave Talbert.
She had taken him to the hospital in an unresponsive state from the residence where she lived at the time on Ellsworth Avenue in Salem.
Talbert also said an autopsy "revealed numerous injuries including skull and rib fractures," with it appearing that some injuries happened over a stretch of time.
Todd was originally charged with endangering children, then the grand jury issued an indictment for murder, involuntary manslaughter and endangering children. If convicted of all three charges and ordered to serve consecutive sentences, she could be facing 30 years to life in prison, with a sentence of 15 years to life for murder, a maximum 10 years for manslaughter and a maximum five years for endangering children.
The murder indictment alleges that on or about July 22, Todd purposely caused the death of her son, while the involuntary manslaughter indictment alleges that on or about the month of July, she caused his death as a result of committing the offense of endangering children.
The endangering children charge alleges that on or about the month of July, she created "a substantial risk to the health or safety of Derek Dennison, by violating a duty of care, protection, or support, when such violation resulted in Derek Dennison suffering serious physical harm."

BODY FOUND IN OHIO RIVER

2011-02-24T12:40:00.002-05:00

February 24, 2011

New Cumberland and Newell firefighters put boats in the water behind the New Cumberland fire station Wednesday afternoon after the crew of a passing barge reported a body in the river around 5:30 p.m. below the New Cumberland Locks. New Cumberland police and Hancock County Sheriff’s deputies and K-9 units from both departments also responded along with New Cumberland ambulance crews. Lester Skinner, New Cumberland police chief, said the body of a man was about 20 yards off shore of the Ohio side of the river. He said there was no evidence of foul play, and no local residents have been reported missing. Skinner said there was no way to tell the man’s age or how long the body had been in the river. Medical examiners in Charleston will work to identify the man, he said. (Photo by Nancy Tullis)

Irwin files appeal

2011-02-24T12:39:00.002-05:00

February 24, 2011 - By MARY ANN GREIER (mgreier@reviewonline.com)

LISBON - An attorney representing convicted killer Andrew Irwin filed a notice of appeal Wednesday, listing alleged prosecutorial misconduct, weight of evidence and sufficiency of evidence as probable issues for review.
Doug King, who was appointed to handle Irwin's cases at the appellate level, filed the notices in the murder case for the 2006 stabbing death of Emily Foreman and in a separate case for assault and harassment with a bodily substance related to Irwin's assault of jail personnel last year.
In the assault case, the probable issue for review was listed as consecutive sentence.
Irwin, 29, formerly of East Liverpool, was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison after a jury found him guilty of killing Foreman, 21, at her mother's Liverpool Township home on Aug. 23, 2006. She was stabbed multiple times.
Judge C. Ashley Pike of Columbiana County Common Pleas Court also sentenced Irwin to an additional 18 months in prison for assaulting one corrections officer and spitting at another one in July while awaiting his new trial for the murder charge.
He had already been convicted in March 2007 for Foreman's death, but the 7th District Court of Appeals overturned the conviction and sentence, ordering a new trial. The prosecution appealed to the Supreme Court of Ohio, but the high court declined to hear the case.
When told about the new appeal filings and the probable issues for review in the murder case, county Prosecutor Robert Herron said "those are standard assignments of error - that's what I would expect."
"We see those issues raised regularly in criminal cases. That doesn't mean they have merit," he said.
Herron said he didn't foresee any errors that occurred during the trial, but some are always attempted to be shown as part of the appeal process. That was pretty much what they expected.
The 7th District Court of Appeals agreed to overturn the previous conviction largely due to the actions of Irwin's first trial attorney, George Kafantaris, who was later disbarred for his dealings with clients in Trumbull County.
The judges on the three-judge panel said Irwin didn't receive a fair trial the first time around because his attorney provided ineffective assistance, although the court found no basis for numerous errors Irwin's first appellate attorney tried to claim happened during the trial.
The court also ruled that Pike abused his discretion when he denied Irwin's motion for a new trial based on alleged new evidence presented during a two-day hearing shortly after Irwin's conviction. One of the alleged errors they found no merit for during the first trial was prosecutorial misconduct.

Boyd sentenced to year in prison after violating probation

2011-02-19T11:17:00.002-05:00

February 19, 2011 - By DEANNE JOHNSON (Staff Writer)

LISBON - A Wellsville woman on probation for the death of her child in 2005 was sentenced Friday in Common Pleas Court to serve one year in prison after she was found to have violated her probation.
As part of her probation, Renee Boyd, 28, Main Street, had been ordered in 2007 to obey all laws, abstain from using illegal drugs, and abstain from associating with known criminals, including her co-defendant in the death of the child, the baby's father, Alan Jakes Jr. Additionally, she was to maintain employment and alert the probation department of any change of address.
But Cindy Scarabino, assistant chief in the probation department, testified Boyd failed to follow all those terms. Boyd and Jakes were just indicted last month on drug-related charges for their alleged involvement in the sale of crack cocaine and cocaine, as well as possession of cocaine and cash believed gained from drug sales. Boyd has been charged with two counts of trafficking in drugs and one count of possession of drugs. Jakes was indicted on four counts of trafficking in drugs and one count of possession. Scarabino further testified Boyd failed a drug test last April, but had passed all drug tests before and after the April test. She also testified Boyd gave birth to a son in March 2009. Scarabino had questioned Boyd about the identity of the father and, she testified, Boyd finally admitted in December 2009 that it was Jakes' child. On Dec. 13, she married Jakes, which Scarabino said she learned about on Dec. 14 and had also questioned Boyd about.
"She said she was in love with him and had a child with him," Scarabino said. Scarabino further testified Boyd had claimed to be staying on Montana Avenue in East Liverpool, but Jakes testified at a hearing he was living with Boyd on Main Street in Wellsville, an address Boyd had failed to give the court. Scarabino said she also knew Boyd had worked part-time for only a short time at Wendy's and possibly at a Subway.
Boyd's attorney, Richard Hura, noted Boyd had only violated her drug testing one time, which he asked Scarabino if she would call that "an isolated incident." He further said because Boyd and Jakes had a previous child together, in effect the court had ordered her to stay away from the father of her child. Scarabino pointed out that child is currently being raised by Boyd's mother in Florida.
Hura admitted Boyd had a problem in the past, but was successful in beating that problem for four years before the positive drug test, which she had admitted to Scarabino she had "slipped up."
Hura also asked the court to remember Boyd is innocent until proven guilty on the current drug-related charges, which she pleaded not guilty to in January. He asked Judge Scott Washam to wait until the outcome of that trial to make his decision.
Boyd became emotional when Washam requested prosecuting attorney Tim McNicol give him the background on the baby's death. Washam became a Common Pleas Judge in January and the original case was handled by now retired Judge David Tobin.
McNicol relayed how Boyd's daughter, Machaly, then 4 or 5 months old, was found dead in her crib at LaBelle Terrace and the autopsy found the baby died of dehydration and hyperthermia, with negligence leading to the child's death. Drug use was believed to be a factor, he said, with drug paraphernalia found by law enforcement.
Both Boyd and Jakes were convicted of reckless homicide. Jakes, now 29, served a year in prison, while Boyd was sentenced to four years probation in 2007, serving the first six months at the Eastern Ohio Correction Center. Tobin had reportedly warned Boyd at the time that if she violated her probation he would send her to prison for the maximum five years.
"She doesn't get it," McNicol said to Washam. "Send a strong message, you don't thumb your nose at probation."
Through tears, Boyd told Washam, "I don't feel like I should be punished anymore for my daughter's death."
Despite Washam reminding her she had lied to her probation officer, used drugs and had a continuing association with Jakes, Boyd denied she had violated her probation.
"I don't feel I did anything wrong," she said shortly before Washam sentenced her to one year in a state correctional facility.
"I believe Mr. McNicol is right," Washam said. "You just don't get it."

Mother pleads innocent to murder

2011-02-18T14:26:00.000-05:00

February 18, 2011 - By MARY ANN GREIER Staff Writer

LISBON - A former Salem woman accused of purposely causing the 2010 death of her infant son pleaded innocent to charges of murder, involuntary manslaughter and endangering children.
Miranda V. Todd, 23, whose last known address was listed as the county jail in Lisbon, cried as she appeared for arraignment Thursday afternoon in county Common Pleas Court before Judge C. Ashley Pike.
She was originally scheduled to appear through video arraignment from the jail, but due to technical difficulties, she was transported in shackles and chains by deputies so she could appear in person, along with some other defendants.
A $250,000 cash or surety bond was continued, ensuring she will remain in jail where she has been in custody since Dec. 14. She was found to be indigent and was appointed counsel at county expense, with Salem attorneys Jennifer Gorby and Charley Kidder named as her defense team.
Salem police were called to the emergency room at Salem Community Hospital on July 23 for a deceased infant who had "multiple bruises and swelling to his head," according to an affidavit by Detective Dave Talbert.
The infant was Todd's 7-month-old son, Derek Dennison. Todd had been living in a residence on North Ellsworth Avenue in Salem at the time and took him to the hospital in an unresponsive state. Efforts to revive him failed.
In the affidavit, Talbert said the autopsy performed on the child by the Cuyahoga County Coroner's Office "revealed numerous injuries including skull and rib fractures." He also said it appeared the injuries occurred over time.
Talbert had filed the affidavit when Todd was charged in December in county Municipal Court with endangering children after authorities heard she may be leaving town. She was indicted last month by the county grand jury for the other charges, along with the endangering children charge.
If convicted of all three charges and ordered to serve consecutive sentences, she could be facing 30 years to life in prison, with a sentence of 15 years to life for murder, a maximum 10 years for manslaughter and a maximum five years for endangering children.
The murder indictment alleges that on or about July 22, Todd purposely caused the death of her son, while the involuntary manslaughter indictment alleges that on or about the month of July, she caused his death as a result of committing the offense of endangering children.
The endangering children charge alleges that on or about the month of July, she created "a substantial risk to the health or safety of Derek Dennison, by violating a duty of care, protection, or support, when such violation resulted in Derek Dennison suffering serious physical harm." Talbert's affidavit alleged she failed to obtain appropriate medical treatment for injuries sustained by her son.
No hearing dates have been set.
Also among those appearing for arraignment and pleading innocent to charges were David Wright Jr., 25, of 1766 Clark Ave., Wellsville, and Erica Coil, 24, whose last known address was Wood Alley, East Liverpool.
Wright is charged with aggravated burglary, a first-degree felony, for allegedly invading an elderly woman's home in Wellsville and injuring her on Dec. 28. Court documents alleged he pushed the 75-year-old woman, resulting in her suffering a broken rib, sprained wrist and bruised side. The charge carries a possible penalty of three to 10 years in prison if he's convicted.
Coil is charged with felonious assault, a second-degree felony which carries a possible penalty of two to eight years in prison. The indictment alleged she tried to harm James Plum Jr. with a knife on Oct. 24 at the Wood Alley residence.
mgreier@salemnews.net

Prosecutor:Jesse Ieropoli admitted ‘accidentally’ shooting mother

2011-02-18T14:24:00.000-05:00

February 18, 2011 - By MATTHEW SCHOMER

LISBON - A Lisbon-area man previously hinted to be involved in the 2008 shooting death of his mother has admitted to having accidentally shot his mother, county Prosecutor Robert Herron revealed Thursday in county Municipal Court.
Bond was set at $1 million for Jesse Ieropoli, 20, state Route 45, on a first-degree misdemeanor charge of aggravated menacing. A charge of domestic violence against Ieropoli was dismissed on a motion of the prosecution.
Asked by Judge Mark Frost to clarify whether Ieropoli had admitted to accidentally shooting his mother before her death, Herron responded, "That was the story that was provided at the time."
The county Coroner's Office determined the death of Sherry Ieropoli on Aug. 24, 2008, to be a homicide but the investigation is still pending.
The aggravated menacing charge stems from an incident Tuesday morning in which Ieropoli is accused of saying he would "take out" his father and then "take himself out," according to an affidavit in the case.
His father, Nick Ieropoli, has testified under oath that he is in fear for his life and has filed a restraining order against his son.
"He felt that he could not sleep in his house as long as the defendant was there," the prosecutor said.
Herron noted both the father and son currently reside in the same home at which the mother was shot and killed. However, he noted Jesse Ieropoli cannot return to the home because of the protection order.
Public defense Eric Kibler said Jesse Ieropoli has a grandmother and an aunt on
See IEROPOLI, 5A
Chestnut Street who had agreed to take him in. He asked Frost to consider only the matter of the aggravated menacing charge when setting bond.
"We can speculate all we want to about other things extraneous to the matter at hand ... This matter should stand or fall on its own merits," he said.
Frost agreed with Herron's suggestion of the $1 million bond, saying safety is the critical issue at hand.
"I'm not as worried about the defendant fleeing as I am about the risk to the public here," he said.
Herron noted Jesse Ieropoli is unemployed and is not currently attending school.
Kibler, after conferring with Jesse Ieropoli, said he sees no reasons to ask for an evaluation of the defendant's competency.
Jesse Ieropoli will appear again in the court for pretrial at 1 p.m. Thursday. Speedy trial limits in the case have not been waived, so Frost noted the court will need to move along quickly in the matter.
mschomer@mojonews.com

Man arrested; allegedly threatened to kill father

2011-02-17T19:48:00.000-05:00

February 17, 2011 - By TOM GIAMBRONI

LISBON - A 20-year-old Lisbon-area man believed involved in the 2008 shooting death of his mother has been arrested for threatening to kill his father.
Jesse N. Ieropoli, 10984 state Route 45, was arrested at his home at 8:45 a.m. Tuesday by Columbiana County sheriff's deputies called to the residence by his father, Nick, who said his son had just threatened to kill him and then take his own life after he was done.
Deputies arrived to find Jesse locked in his bedroom, but he came out after a while to speak with them and was taken into custody. His father said he truly feared for his life and went on to obtain a protection order against his son.
Jesse was charged originally with domestic violence, a low-level misdemeanor offense, but the county prosecutor's office advised the sheriff's office to also file a charge of aggravated menacing, a first-degree misdemeanor. He is being held in the county jail on a combined $6,000 bond pending a hearing today in county Municipal Court.
Jesse is the son of Sherry I. Ieropoli, 47, who was shot to death at her home on Aug. 24, 2008, a death later ruled a homicide by the county coroner's office. Investigators said two shots were fired, and that a .22-caliber rifle kept at the house and found at the scene is believed to have been used.
County Prosecutor Robert Herron said at the time the only people at home were Mrs. Ieropoli, her husband and their son, Jesse, who was 17 at the time. Nick Ieropoli is believed to have been in another part of the house when the shooting occurred.
Herron identified Jesse as being involved in the shooting but declined to provide any more details, other than to say witness statements conflicted with the evidence.
A homicide ruling means the coroner determined one human being killed another, but it is up to the prosecutor's office to determine the charge to be sought when it presents the case to the county grand jury for possible indictment.
No indictments have been issued in the case to date, however, and Herron said last March he recently had asked investigators to go back and take another look at some of the evidence and to re-interview witnesses.
When asked Wednesday if the incident that resulted in charges against Ieropoli stemmed from the shooting, Herron declined comment.
"I can't comment on evidence in the case at this point," he said.
tgiambroni@mojonews.com

The cost of Irwin's trial

2011-02-06T12:07:00.000-05:00

February 6, 2011 - By MARY ANN GREIER (mgreier@reviewonline.com)

LISBON - Columbiana County residents paid to prosecute convicted killer Andrew Irwin twice for one murder - not a cheap task - but Prosecutor Robert Herron said its the unmeasurable costs that really add up.
"The most considerable cost here was the tragedy to the many lives he inflicted," Herron said after the sentencing.
He was referring not only to the victim, 21-year-old Emily Foreman, but also to her family members and friends, including the 7-year-old daughter left behind by her death.
The defendant's family also suffered. Irwin's own mother had to testify at length about how he treated her, how he was shooting up drugs in her van and how he stole a check from her purse.
Herron said there's also the untold, uncompensated manhours for his staff members in preparing for the case, not once, but twice, working nights, weekends and holidays while still taking care of their other cases and the day-in, day-out prosecution of criminals in Common Pleas Court.
Besides Herron, the staff working on the case included three attorneys, two investigators and a victim witness coordinator. There's also the clerical staff which prepared documents necessary for trial.
"It requires a pretty extraordinary commitment by staff members when you're involved in a case like this, extremely capable attorneys willing to put whatever it takes to get justice in a case like this," he said.
And it's still not over. Irwin, 29, has the right to appeal, again at the expense of state taxpayers, all while eating food, wearing clothes and living under a roof all provided at state expense. If he fails at the appellate level, he can approach the Supreme Court of Ohio. Each time he appeals, that's more time spent by members of the prosecutor's staff preparing briefs, answers and motions.
The cost bill detail from the Clerk of Courts office for the Irwin murder case listed a total of $6,114 to date for fees from the Clerk of Courts, sheriff fees and a category known as "other" which covers notary fees for affidavits, steno fees and witness fees. These fees started with his indictment in 2007.
There are many factors, though, associated with prosecuting criminals, so it's difficult to put an exact figure on the cost for one particular case. Not all costs are reflected on the cost bill.
Cost can depend on whether the case was tried before a jury or to the court, the number of jurors involved, the length of the trial, the number of witnesses called, whether there was a jury view, whether defense counsel was hired by a defendant or appointed at state expense, and whether a special prosecutor was used due to a conflict for the county prosecutor.
For example, in the murder case against Jack "J.C." Amato Jr., there was no trial since he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter for killing his wife in 2007, so there were no jury fees.
However, there was a special prosecutor appointed to the chase, Lynn Grimshaw of Wheelersburg, due to a conflict for the county prosecutor's office. Amato's father, Dr. Jack Amato, serves on the county health board, which relies on the county prosecutor's office for legal representation.
County commissioners paid the cost for Grimshaw, which totaled $18,112, but according to Herron, the fee could have been much higher. Several hearings were handled via telephone conference, meaning less time and mileage. Wheelersburg is located about five hours away in the southern part of Ohio.
"He was extraordinarily generous with the county," Herron said.
In that case, Amato had hired counsel, so there was no cost to the county for his legal representation. The plea deal struck was jointly recommended by both sides, so there was also no appeal filed.
Herron said the prosecutor's office normally pays for a bus for jurors to ride if there's a jury view, where they're taken to the scene of a crime to get an idea of the geography, with the idea of getting reimbursed by the defendant, which in reality doesn't happen.
For the Irwin prosecution, the jury from the first trial didn't go on a jury view, but the jury from the recent trial did, at an estimated cost of $500 for the bus and a driver to travel from Lisbon to Liverpool Township.
Jurors get paid $20 a day for their service when they report, even those who show up and aren't selected for a trial. For the first Irwin trial in March 2007, the jury cost was $1,800 over a five-day span, with a smaller number of jurors ordered to report for jury selection. For the recent trial, the jury cost was $2,540 over a six-day span with a larger group ordered to report for the selection process.
Witnesses subpoenaed to testify for a hearing can also request payment, with $6 for half a day or $12 for a full day. They can also request mileage at a cost of 10 cents per mile. Witness fees for the first trial totaled about $60, with fees for the recent trial about $88.
For the first trial, Irwin had hired counsel. For the recent trial, he had appointed counsel at county expense. By law, the county must provide an attorney for criminal defendants considered indigent, without the financial means to pay for an attorney themselves. The county pays a contract of $405,500 per year to an organization known as the Criminal Defense Company (CDC), made up of local attorneys, to serve as public defenders for indigent criminal defendants in Common Pleas Court, county Municipal Court, East Liverpool Municipal Court and county Juvenile Court.
Attorneys receive varying amounts from the CDC, depending on which court they serve and the number of cases they pull.
Likely the biggest single expense related to the Irwin case was the cost of housing him at the county jail. From the time of his initial arrest to the time he left for prison and returned for a few hearings, he had spent at least 224 days in the county jail, give or take a few days. In 2006 and 2007, the per diam fee the county had to pay for housing prisoners was $52 per day per prisoner, meaning the cost for housing Irwin the first time was more than $11,600.
When he returned from prison to face his second trial, he spent about 310 days in the county jail. The county's cost now ranges from $58 per day per prisoner to $73 per day per prisoner, depending on how many inmates are being housed for the county on a particular day. Based on those fees, the cost for housing Irwin the second time cost at least $17,980 but may have been more.

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Of course.....

2011-02-02T17:24:00.001-05:00

Irwin says he’ll appeal

February 2, 2011 - By MARY ANN GREIER

LISBON - Convicted killer Andrew Irwin said he's going to appeal.
The 29-year-old former East Liverpool resident spoke on his own behalf again Tuesday, both before and after being sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for purposely killing 21-year-old Emily Foreman in 2006 and an additional 18 months for assaulting one corrections officer and spitting at another one in July while awaiting trial.
"From day one, I have always claimed my innocence...I'm just glad I got my side out there," he said regarding the murder and the fact that this time he testified.
Irwin first faced a jury trial in March 2007 for causing Foreman's stabbing death, but the conviction and 15 years to life prison sentence were overturned on appeal, largely because of his prior attorney's actions. George Kafantaris was disbarred while the case was being appealed, not related to the murder case, but for his dealings with clients in Trumbull County.
He didn't testify during that first trial, but this time around, he had plenty to say. The prosecution said during closing arguments that his testimony was choreographed to respond to the state's evidence, which he said made him look like a liar.
"Anybody who knows me knows I didn't do this," he said.
He also commented about the evidence in the case, particularly about the knife found on the blood-covered bed in Emily's bedroom in the home in Liverpool Township. During the jury trial which concluded last week with a guilty verdict, a forensic scientist testified that the only DNA profile found on both the blade and the handle belonged to the victim. "This is the second trial I've been through and they still can't put that knife in my hand," he told Judge C. Ashley Pike of Columbiana County Common Pleas Court.
Irwin commented about the prosecution poking holes in his testimony, but said their own witness from the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation said someone washed up in the sink of the house. Police and ambulance personnel testified about him being covered in blood at the scene. He said if he didn't wash up in the sink, then who did?
"You want to know why? Because I'm innocent," he said, alluding to the way Chief Assistant Prosecutor John Gamble kept saying during his closing argument that he did it.
Pike reminded him that 24 people found him guilty of murder over two separate trials.
"They found me guilty of being a drug addict, plain and simple," he responded.
In addressing the assault and harassment charges from the July incident at the jail, Irwin complained about the way he was being treated at the jail. In regard to a videotape shown to the judge, he questioned why they chose that videotape to show of him out of the thousands of videotapes made of inmates, saying it was prejudiced against him. He said he didn't spit on the one officer on purpose during the incident in July. He also said that while he was in prison, he had no violent incidents, but when he came back to the county for the new trial, the new warden had it out for him, keeping him in his cell 23 hours a day. "He went out of his way to mess with me," he said.
Prosecutor Robert Herron talked about the videotape shown to the judge before sentencing which depicted Irwin in a violent rage during an incident in August after he had already been charged for the assault and spitting incident in July. He said the video indicated Irwin's propensity to repeat his actions against corrections officers. He also told the judge that before Irwin spit on the officer in July, he told the officer to "f...off." "He's where he belongs," Herron said.

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Irwin’s actions impact sentencing

2011-02-02T17:22:00.000-05:00

February 2, 2011 - By MARY ANN GREIER (mgreier@reviewonline.com)

LISBON - A judge delivered a prosecutor-requested message to convicted killer Andrew Irwin and his fellow inmates Tuesday: attacks against jail personnel carry consequences.
For the 29-year-old Irwin, the consequence is 18 months in prison for assaulting one corrections officer and spitting at another one in July while awaiting his new trial for murder in the 2006 stabbing death of Emily Foreman.
That sentence is in addition to the indefinite term of 15 years to life he received for the second time for killing the 21-year-old Foreman on Aug. 23, 2006 in her mother's Liverpool Township home.
"He's where he belongs," Columbiana County Prosecutor Robert Herron said after the sentencing hearing.
Herron spoke little about the sentence for murder, noting to Judge C. Ashley Pike of Common Pleas Court that the 15 years to life term is dictated by law. For the other charges, though, he said the thinking of Irwin and other inmates in the same pod at the jail was that any sentence they received for actions inside the lockup would be concurrent, or served at the same time as the sentence for whatever crime put them into jail in the first place.
"The court should sentence the defendant so the defendant understands there are consequences for his conduct," Herron said.
Then he showed the judge a videotape of Irwin's conduct inside the jail on a day in August, after he had already been charged for the assault and spitting. Defense attorney Fred Naragon objected, calling the contents of the videotape inflammatory and noting his client had not been charged for any actions related to what the videotape showed.
Herron said the video would demonstrate the likeliness of Irwin's conduct being repeated. He also said Irwin had no remorse for his conduct. Pike overruled Naragon's objection and watched the video from a computer on the bench, his eyebrows visibly raising during a portion of the video which included sound of Irwin yelling at jail personnel and making threats like "you're in for it."
After the video was over, Herron said it "clearly shows the defendant in an uncontrollable rage."
He also said the shocking conduct, such as Irwin exposing himself to corrections officers during the tirade, was typical of him, according to jail staff.
Defense attorney Jennifer Gorby asked the court to make the sentence for assault and harassment charges concurrent, or served at the same time as the murder sentence instead of in addition to the murder sentence. She reminded the court that Irwin testified when he pleaded guilty to the jail charges that he did not purposely spit on the jailer, but as a reflex after being maced.
As for the video, she said that incident, the assault and a previous vandalism incident were the only incidents she knew of involving her client at the jail. During her visits with him, she said he was respectful of the correction officers.
Herron also asked that Irwin receive no credit toward the 18-month sentence for the time he's been serving in the jail, since he had a recognizance bond for that charge and was in the jail for the murder charge. Gorby claimed that he had refused to sign the recognizance bond.
Prior to sentencing, Kim Koerber, Emily's mother, expressed a wish that Irwin never be allowed to walk free again as justice for Emily and for Emily's 7-year-old daughter, Khia.
She said her granddaughter still has memories of her mother, but now she calls her in heaven.
"No 7-year-old should have to do that," she said.
Koerber asked Pike to put Irwin away forever.
"Let's just have justice for Emily's little girl," she said.
How long Irwin will have to stay in prison will depend on the parole board. He received credit against the murder sentence for the four years and 162 days he has already served, both in prison and in the county jail, leaving 11 years and 203 days to serve before he's eligible for parole on that charge.
He also has to serve the additional 18 months for assault and harassment with a bodily substance, since Pike ordered the 9-month terms for each charge served consecutive to each other and consecutive to the murder sentence.
"I think the court sentence sends a clear message that when we prosecute, and we will prosecute, these offenses in the jail, there will be consequences," Herron said. "We're not going to tolerate inmates making our corrections officers punching bags and assault victims."
Since the jury issued its verdict last week, Herron said Irwin hadn't been a problem.

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15 Years and then some....:)

2011-02-02T15:15:00.000-05:00

Irwin gets extra time for attacks on jail staff

February 2, 2011 - By MARY ANN GREIER

LISBON - A judge delivered a prosecutor-requested message to convicted killer Andrew Irwin and his fellow inmates Tuesday: attacks against jail personnel carry consequences.
For the 29-year-old Irwin, the consequence is 18 months in prison for assaulting one corrections officer and spitting at another one in July while awaiting his new trial for murder in the 2006 stabbing death of Emily Foreman.
That sentence is in addition to the indefinite term of 15 years to life he received for the second time for killing the 21-year-old Foreman on Aug. 23, 2006 in her mother's Liverpool Township home.
"He's where he belongs," Columbiana County Prosecutor Robert Herron said after the sentencing hearing.
Herron spoke little about the sentence for murder, noting to Judge C. Ashley Pike of Common Pleas Court that the 15 years to life term is dictated by law. For the other
charges, though, he said the thinking of Irwin and other inmates in the same pod at the jail was that any sentence they received for actions inside the lockup would be concurrent, or served at the same time as the sentence for whatever crime put them into jail in the first place.
"The court should sentence the defendant so the defendant understands there are consequences for his conduct," Herron said.
Then he showed the judge a videotape of Irwin's conduct inside the jail on a day in August, after he had already been charged for the assault and spitting. Defense attorney Fred Naragon objected, calling the contents of the videotape inflammatory and noting his client had not been charged for any actions related to what the videotape showed.
Herron said the video would demonstrate the likeliness of Irwin's conduct being repeated. He also said Irwin had no remorse for his conduct. Pike overruled Naragon's objection and watched the video from a computer on the bench, his eyebrows visibly raising during a portion of the video which included sound of Irwin yelling at jail personnel and making threats like "you're in for it."
After the video was over, Herron said it "clearly shows the defendant in an uncontrollable rage."
He also said the shocking conduct, such as Irwin exposing himself to corrections officers during the tirade, was typical of him, according to jail staff.
Defense attorney Jennifer Gorby asked the court to make the sentence for assault and harassment charges concurrent, or served at the same time as the murder sentence instead of in addition to the murder sentence.She reminded the court that Irwin testified when he pleaded guilty to the jail charges that he did not purposely spit on the jailer, but as a reflex after being maced.
As for the video, she said that incident, the assault and a previous vandalism incident were the only incidents she knew of involving her client at the jail. During her visits with him, she said he was respectful of the correction officers.
Herron also asked that Irwin receive no credit toward the 18-month sentence for the time he's been serving in the jail, since he had a recognizance bond for that charge and was in the jail for the murder charge. Gorby claimed that he had refused to sign the recognizance bond.
Prior to sentencing, Kim Koerber, Emily's mother, expressed a wish that Irwin never be allowed to walk free again as justice for Emily and for Emily's 7-year-old daughter, Khia.
She said her granddaughter still has memories of her mother, but now she calls her in heaven.
"No 7-year-old should have to do that," she said.
Koerber asked Pike to put Irwin away forever.
"Let's just have justice for Emily's little girl," she said.
How long Irwin will have to stay in prison will depend on the parole board. He received credit against the murder sentence for the four years and 162 days he has already served, both in prison and in the county jail, leaving 11 years and 203 days to serve before he's eligible for parole on that charge.
He also has to serve the additional 18 months for assault and harassment with a bodily substance, since Pike ordered the 9-month terms for each charge served consecutive to each other and consecutive to the murder sentence.
"I think the court sentence sends a clear message that when we prosecute, and we will prosecute, these offenses in the jail, there will be consequences," Herron said. "We're not going to tolerate inmates making our corrections officers punching bags and assault victims."
Since the jury issued its verdict last week, Herron said Irwin hadn't been a problem.
Mary Ann Greier can be reached at mgreier@salemnews.net

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Our Documentary...

2011-01-28T15:37:00.002-05:00

Documentary on Tweed murder case set for rebroadcast

January 28, 2011 - By MICHAEL D. McELWAIN (mmcelwain@reviewonline.com)

EAST LIVERPOOL - The documentary about the unsolved 1973 "Tweed Murders" that shocked the East Liverpool community will air again this Saturday.
The documentary film "759 Dresden" was the result of more than two years of research and filmmaking, according to David Dunlap, the film's producer and director.
The documentary first aired Nov. 20 on WQED, the Pittsburgh-based PBS station, as part of the "Filmmakers Corner" program hosted by Minette Seate.
Dunlap said due to the first reaction and the interest from the viewing public, WQED elected to rebroadcast the program this Saturday at 10 p.m.
"With interviews from the people that were there, previously unseen archival footage and a 3-D model of the crime scene, the facts and myths surrounding the murder are presented in the hope that new information will be brought forward from the viewing public," Dunlap said.
On a larger scale, Dunlap said the film is about more than the Tweed murders and is "also about the issue of unsolved murders in the Columbiana County area."
The news rippled through the community concerning the July 30, 1973, brutal death of all three, one a prominent city businessman, the pregnant woman and her daughter. Law enforcement officers from all over descended upon East Liverpool attempting to catch the suspect. With a few witnesses and even fewer leads, the murderer was never apprehended.
For a city unaccustomed to such a heinous crime, the initial news and the follow-up investigation continued for weeks.
Several East Liverpool residents were interviewed including police officers, crime scene photographers and reporters working that day. Mayor Jim Swoger is seen in the introduction.
Former Review reporter Lucille Huston is interviewed and gives her account about what happened that day in 1973.
Current police officers on the East Liverpool force are also interviewed, and the case remains open.
"This film is about a community coming together to help our neighbors find some long-sought answers, and, maybe, find some closure after all these years," Dunlap said
Dunlap, who grew up in Calcutta, has a few other projects underway.
Currently in pre-production is a documentary called "Our War."
Dunlap said the documentary will focus on East Liverpool's involvement in World War II with interviews from local participants, archival footage and photographs.
"If anyone has, or knows of, photos or film footage taken in the East Liverpool area during World War II, or if anyone locally wants to be interviewed for this documentary, they can contact me," Dunlap said.
Also, a feature film called "Ohio vs. the Saucer-men" is in development.
"It's a departure from our documentary films," Dunlap said. "This feature film, set in the 1950s, is planned to have a retro 'B film' sci-fi look. It will be filmed in and around the East Liverpool area and will use local actors, locales and businesses."
Dunlap said he can be reached at his productionteam@28thparallel.com e-mail address.

Andrew Irwin Murder Trial

2011-01-27T22:11:00.000-05:00

As I am sure most of you know that I was in court for the Andrew Irwin trial.
I have to say that sitting through a trial from start to finish was a very eye opening experience for me.
First let me say that I was impressed with the Prosecutor's Office, all 3 of them were amazing. The closing arguments were impressive by both John Gamble and the Defense Attorney, Jennifer Gorby.
I learned so much. For example, not all evidence that is sent to our lab is actually processed. Some is processed but not further tested, etc. The BCI Special Agent Ed Carlini is a very knowledgeable man, and I don't think I could do that job.., The Coroner from Cuyahoga County is a woman..., there are different departments in the lab for each task, IE: DNA, Blood, etc.., they usually test every victims hands with a chemical to see if there are traces of metal..., there are victims on both sides..., (although, I hate when the killers family says that "we have lost someone too" becuz I am pretty sure they can still go visit their loved ones in jail)..., If you are the defendant in a case, it is probably best NOT to argue with the judge..., I could NEVER be a Defense Attorney and represent someone that is a killer, I could never be a paramedic or the 1st one on the scene, I could never be a cop and keep my cool with some of these people..., I understand (sometimes) why the Prosecutor's Office doesn't like to deal with the families..., (we are an emotional bunch)..., and no matter what, Mike is still always with me every time I do anything at all remotely close to homicide..., and in the end, I have faith in the Justice System and letting a Jury decide the fate of the accused...

I have put a few of the links below because I didn't want to comment during the trial and in case you missed something, it is all right here. That is of course with the exception of the fact that even though this case is now solved, the family of Emily Foreman will continue to miss her and have to deal with the fact that she is not coming back. My heart as always, breaks for them. R.I.P. Emily.....

http://www.reviewonline.com/page/content.detail/id/538427/Murder-defendant--I-am-not-a-killer.html?nav=5008
http://www.reviewonline.com/page/content.detail/id/538395/Jurors-challenged-by-weather.html?nav=5008 http://www.reviewonline.com/page/content.detail/id/538368/Coroner-describes-victim-s-injuries.html?nav=5008

GUILTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-01-26T07:46:00.000-05:00

Irwin guilty in 2nd trial

January 26, 2011 - By MARY ANN GREIER

LISBON - New trial, new defense team, same result - a guilty verdict against Andrew Irwin for murdering Emily Foreman.
"I think the verdict speaks for itself," Columbiana County Prosecutor Robert Herron said Tuesday.
A heavy security presence, including Sheriff Ray Stone, stood in the Common Pleas courtroom as the result was read to a packed gallery of family members for both the victim and the defendant, along with staff members from the prosecutor's office and court.
Irwin's mother, Cheryl Carpenter, let out a cry then quietly sobbed in the arms of her husband. As the 12-member jury was polled individually, each saying their verdict was guilty, Irwin himself sat with his head in his right hand, looking down.
When the jury was excused to leave the room, he just sat there instead of standing as he had done throughout the trial as a show of respect. Most of his family members and supporters, his attorneys Jennifer Gorby and Fred Naragon, the prosecution team and the victim's family members all stood.
The decision came one week after a new set of jurors started hearing the gruesome details about what happened to Emily, a 21-year-old woman who was stabbed multiple times in her mother's home on Anderson Boulevard in Liverpool Township on Aug. 23, 2006.
For the second time since 2006, a jury reached the same conclusion - that the 29-year-old Irwin purposely caused her death. Irwin was already convicted of the murder in March 2007 by another jury and sentenced to 15 years to life, but the 7th District Court of Appeals overturned the conviction and sentence, resulting in the new trial.
Judge C. Ashley Pike of Common Pleas Court, the same judge who presided over the first trial, presided over this one in his renovated courtroom. He'll schedule sentencing for a later date. Irwin will again face a possible sentence of 15 years to life, meaning he'll be eligible to request parole after 15 years. He can also file an appeal.
Attorneys for both the prosecution and defense presented detailed closing arguments Tuesday morning, with the judge then delivering instructions to the jury. Jurors received the case at noon, went to lunch, then started deliberations at 1 p.m., indicating a verdict had been reached at 4:20 p.m.
"Finally this is going to be over for awhile. The family is very, very happy with another guilty verdict," Emily's eldest sister, Lisa Rayl, said.
Emily's family members included her three sisters, her brother, her mother Kim Koerber, her grandmother, her sister-in-law, cousins and nieces and nephews. All or some were present throughout the trial proceedings, as were the family members for Irwin. Koerber and Carpenter weren't permitted in the courtroom during the trial since they were on witness lists. Only Carpenter testified.
Rayl said Irwin has affected the whole family in a lot of ways and they're hoping to have no more contact with him.
"We love Emily. We've all been here because justice needed to be served for Emily and for our family. We needed to see it for it to be over," she said. "She was not perfect, but we loved her."
Rayl also acknowledged the attorneys who handled the case, saying the prosecution was "awesome."
Herron acknowledged the efforts of all the agencies involved in the case, including Liverpool Township Police Chief Charles Burgess and his officers, the East Liverpool Police Department, the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation from the Ohio Attorney General's office and the Columbiana County and Cuyahoga County coroner's offices.
He also acknowledged the efforts of his staff, including Chief Assistant Prosecutor John Gamble, Assistant Prosecutor Tammie Riley Jones and Investigator Jim Brown.
When asked if the fact that Irwin testified this time around made any difference, Herron said "it certainly presented a different tenet to the case."
"These types of cases are particularly difficult because the defendant has had an opportunity for a year or more to pore over the transcripts of what was said, knows all the evidence and every word...so essentially they have our playbook," he said.
In this case, when Irwin testified, he touched on every part of the state's case, from the blood on his body to how his DNA ended up inside the victim's purse. In closing arguments, Jones described his testimony as "a story precisely choreographed to respond to the state's evidence."
"I think the jury saw through that," Herron said, commending them for their service and noting their time involved and the responsibility they held. "We are absolutely convinced that their verdict was consistant with the evidence."
A message asking for comment was left for Naragon, but was not returned.
The case followed a lengthy path to reach the second guilty verdict with a lot of twists and turns from the date of the stabbing to now. While awaiting the first trial, Irwin was convicted of vandalism for his part in a riot at the county jail and now he's awaiting sentencing for assaulting one corrections officer and spitting at another one since his return to the jail from prison.
While he was in prison, one of the victim's sisters, Rebecca Foreman, was convicted for smuggling drugs to him.
His previous attorney, George Kafantaris, was disbarred for some of his dealings with clients in Trumbull County. Kafantaris also served some jail time in Columbiana County for two contempt findings for his actions during the first Irwin trial, including waving a tape in front of jurors after they reached their verdict, saying here is your murderer, trying to claim someone else did it.
The actions of Kafantaris were part of the reason Irwin won a new trial, with an appellate court saying he had ineffective assistance of counsel. Irwin won't be able to appeal this verdict until after he's been sentenced. He remains in the county jail with no bond.
Mary Ann Greier can be reached at mgreier@salemnews.net

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In Court.....

2011-01-20T17:23:00.000-05:00

I have had several phone calls and requests from people asking about the Irwin trial. At this point, out of respect for the law, I cannot comment until the trial is over. I will then write a story for the blog. I hope everyone understands.
Belinda

Irvin Keefer Murdered 35 years ago today

2011-01-13T16:30:00.000-05:00

Irvin Keefer was murdered in Glenmoor on January 14th, 1976 during an apparent robbery of his gas station. His case is still unsolved.
Please think of his family and friends today and keep them in your prayers.

If you have ANY information on this case, please call the St. Clair Township Police Department!

Fairfield can’t find patrol partner

2011-01-13T00:23:00.000-05:00

Please contact your commissioners and ask them to reconsider giving the Sheriff's Dept more money! This is important to our safety!!

January 12, 2011 - By TOM GIAMBRONI

LISBON - Columbiana County Sheriff Ray Stone was disappointed to learn Fairfield Township trustees had dropped efforts to contract with his office for extra police coverage.
Trustee Barry Miner reported this week they were unable to find another township to partner with to help pay the $65,000 per year needed to pay for the cost of assigning a deputy full-time to patrol both townships. Miner had contacted trustees in Knox and Unity townships about joining with them to share the expense, but both declined to participate in the venture at this time.
Stone has been looking for ways to put more deputies on the road since taking office in September 2008 without incurring any additional expense because county commissioners have declined to provide him with extra funding to add several deputies.
That's why he was encouraged when Fairfield and Knox townships expressed interest in contracting with his office for extra police coverage. Stone believes such an arrangement could have worked, even if Fairfield and Knox townships had gone together, despite the 12 miles between both townships.
"It would have been better if the townships were next door (like Fairfield and Unity) but it still would have worked (between Fairfield and Knox)," he said.
If the contract was between adjoining townships, the deputy could easily spend the entire 40-hour week patrolling both townships. Stone said if Fairfield and Knox townships had contracted with him he would have likely scheduled the deputy 16 hours per week in one township and 24 hours in the other township, rotating the schedule on a weekly basis.
"It could have worked," he said.
Miner said Knox Township indicated to him the distance between the townships was a problem and they would prefer to contract with an adjoining township so the deputy could spend everyday paroling both townships instead of on an alternating basis.
Stone has been able to add two deputies to the road patrol by changing how he deploys his staff but that's about as far as he can go without any additional money from commissioners, who provided him with same level of funding as 2010.
The sheriff's office is likely going to need additional funding this year to cover an anticipated pay raise for its employees, who agreed to a pay freeze in 2010 under a three-year contract approved by Stone and commissioners. The contract contained a wage reopener clause for 2011, and negotiations are expected to begin soon.
The auditor's office reported last week the county general funded ended the year with a $1.2 million balance.
tgiambroni@mojonews.com

Remembering Emily

2011-01-08T20:56:00.000-05:00

Emily Foreman was murdered on August 23, 2006.
She was stabbed 17 times!!!
Andrew Irwin was convicted of her murder but was granted a new trial that begins on January 20th.
Emily's family must now go through this pain all over again.

She leaves behind a young daughter.
Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

New faces in courtroom but many cases same

2010-12-31T19:12:00.002-05:00

COLUMBIANA COUNTY

December 31, 2010 - By MARY ANN GREIER

LISBON - Some faces may change in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court as the new year begins, but the cases they'll deal with will remain the same, with a murder trial on the horizon, foreclosures aplenty and issues to decide.
Judge Scott Washam takes over where retired Judge David Tobin and visiting Judge Joseph Bruzzese left off in Courtroom No. 2 on Monday. Magistrate J. Bradley Allison will take over the domestic relations duties on that side of the hallway, taking over where longtime Magistrate Coleen Hall Dailey left off.
Neither will have much time to relax as the busy court schedule for 2011 kicks into gear. Washam inherits the two Charles Bogart Jr. cases, both dealing with stolen property, but a case that hasn't been filed remains part of the background.
Bogart had been identified last year as a person of interest in the investigation into the August death of William S. Young, a Wayne Township resident found shot to death in the woods behind his home on Spring Valley Road, according to county Prosecutor Robert Herron.
Bogart had been caught driving Young's pickup. Herron had also revealed that Young's wallet was found on Bogart, and other items belonging to Young were found on or near Bogart's property.
Bogart was first charged with receiving stolen property for his alleged possession of a stolen 4-wheeler out of St. Clair Township. A second indictment was issued in December alleging he forged a check belonging to Young, possessed Young's PT Cruiser and possessed Young's personal identifying information.
In Courtroom No. 1, Judge C. Ashley Pike may feel a sense of deja vu as jury selection begins for the Andrew Irwin murder trial scheduled for Jan. 18. Irwin already went on trial once for the same case before Pike in a temporary courtroom at Juvenile Court while the second floor of the Courthouse was being renovated.
In the first case, Irwin was found guilty of murder for the August 2006 stabbing death of Emily Foreman and sentenced to 15 years to life. The conviction though was overturned and the case returned to Pike for a new trial.
As with any other year, the caseload will vary from divorces, money issues and civil
squabbles to drugs, deaths and sexual assaults of every magnitude.
At the beginning of 2010, the most anticipated trial of the year ended with a plea. Jack "J.C." Amato Jr. pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter for killing his wife, Tonia, in 2007. His sentence was eight years in prison.
Amato, 39, had been charged with murder in the July 1, 2007 shooting death at their Commerce Street home in Wellsville. He told investigators he shot her in self-defense with a .45-caliber handgun after she fired a shot at him with a .22-caliber handgun during an argument. He could have faced 15 years to life in prison.
Another much-anticipated case remains pending before Pike, although the outcome most residents wanted to see has already happened.
The Ohio Attorney General's office filed a 20-count complaint and preliminary injunction request against A & L Salvage over its defunct dump on state Route 45 outside Lisbon in an effort to get the facility properly capped and punish the company for its numerous violations of environmental law in the operation.
The lawsuit also named Amato Properties LLC, Jack Amato and Jeffrey Aldrich, all of Wellsville, and the Amato Family Trust of East Liverpool as defendants who owned property the OAG identified as part of the site.
The case is on Pike's docket for a status hearing April 29 and a trial on May 31, but the project to cap the landfill has already been finished, much to the delight of neighboring residents.
The judges will deal with the usual suspects in some cases, as repeat offenders return for more drug charges or theft charges or burglary charges. They'll deal with disturbing cases and they'll deal with boring cases, but they'll deal with them all the same - just another day, another year in court.
Mary Ann Greier can be reached at mgreier@salemnews.net

the End of 2010

2010-12-30T18:41:00.000-05:00

Another year has come and gone and there is still very little hope for the families of the unsolved murders and missing in our county.
We were out all summer long still doing what we do. We received a lot of leads and tips as usual and so far, our efforts have been in vein.
None of our cases were solved.
Don't get me wrong, there were plenty of cases solved in this county, but I can't help feeling sad that none of ours were.
I recently discussed this with my Aunt and we both agreed that we are tired of saying "Well, maybe next year will be our year!"
Maybe next year.
We have been saying this for six years now.
Maybe NEXT year.
I have never and will never give up hope that Michael's killer/killers will someday be caught and punished for what they have done, but it does get very discouraging for us to always have to continue waiting.
We did have some good things happen for CCFHV, Inc. though.
We are now "Inc." having our Non-Profit Incorporation Status with the government.
We have had our documentary on the Tweed/Morris Murders aired on tv and will air 4 more times.
We had an awesome spaghetti benefit dinner, as well as working again almost all county events over the summer.
We formed our Board of Directors. We went to training in Columbus.

We had 2 Balloon Launches that were both successful.
But probably most important to me, we were out there. We continue on raising awareness about these cases and that is what we have to do.
Not one of these 22 murdered or 3 missing will be forgotten. Not ever!!
Waiting and hoping.
Maybe next year? Well, we will see and we will hope because that is all that we can do!!

Merry Christmas

2010-12-24T11:33:00.001-05:00

CCFHV wishes all of you a very safe and happy holiday.
Merry Christmas!!

Salem woman bound over in child endangerment case

2010-12-24T11:32:00.002-05:00

December 24, 2010 - By DEANNE JOHNSON (Staff Writer)

LISBON - The Salem woman accused in the death of her toddler will have the third-degree felony charge heard in Common Pleas Court.
Miranda Todd, 23, McCracken Road, Salem, was bound over to the court on an endangering children charge after she agreed to waive her rights to a preliminary hearing in County Municipal Court on Thursday.
According to court documents, Salem Detective David Talbert reported Todd's 17-month-old child was found to have multiple bruises and swelling to his head when pronounced dead at Salem Community Hospital on July 23. The coroner's report from Cuyahoga County also found the baby had skull and rib fractures among other injuries.
If convicted on the single charge, Todd faces one to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. However, County Prosecutor Robert Herron has indicated additional charges against Todd may be brought through the grand jury.

Happy Birthday Michael......

2010-12-17T20:10:00.000-05:00

The post below, I re-posted because most of those feelings remain true even now.
Today is Mike's birthday. He should be here to enjoy it. He is missed. He was stolen from
us and his murderer is still out there enjoying life. .
I love my Aunt. She has got to be the strongest person I know.
She plugs away day after day hoping for resolution and enduring this pain and through all of it, she is still one of the kindest people I have ever known.
Today I talked with one of the law enforcement officials on Mike's case. He said to me that he can't even begin to put himself in our shoes. He said that he thinks about Mike everyday and although he didn't know him personally, he feels like he knows him now. He knows him through all of us that loved him
He was very kind.
While we talked about Mike, I couldn't help but become more and more sad. I know this was not his intention, and that is my point...People, no matter how close to us they may be, have NO idea the pain that this causes us every single day. It does NOT matter what the conversation is about. It does NOT matter what we are doing at the time, or where we are, who we are with, etc. We drift off to that very sad place and feel very much alone. And it can happen at any time. Obviously, it will happen on his birthday, the anniversary of his death, the holidays.
Mike was a great guy. I don't know how to say it better than that.
I am usually so good with words, but how do you express something that you completely do not understand???
People assume things. They assume they know. They think we are being overly emotional or obsessive or ridiculous. To them, we are. But how do you explain something like this and more importantly, why the hell should you have to?
I know I am mean.
I know I am a bitch.
I know I am unreasonable, impatient, petty, childish, PMS'ish, and selfish.
I KNOW!!!
Now, ask me if I care.....or more importantly, is there anything I can do to change it?
Of course I don't mean to be any of those things, but I shouldn't be judged for it either.
I am still walking and breathing. My Aunt is too and you know what, I think that is pretty damn good considering the circumstances.
To me, it's NOT the end of the world if you break a nail, or if you are fighting with your spouse or kids. To me, the world won't stop if you get a speeding ticket or you have the Christmas blues.
To me, there are so many more important issues.
And if that makes me selfish, oh well.
I want Mike back! I want this to all be some kind of cruel joke! I want to see my Aunt truly smile again and look forward to things, and have joy in her life.

I want life to be the way it should be.....

C.C.F.H.V. Inc.: 5 Years ago on August 30, 2005

2010-12-17T19:36:00.000-05:00

C.C.F.H.V. Inc.: 5 Years ago on August 30, 2005: "I apologize for posting this so late but as I am sure you can imagine, today was not an easy day for me or my family. 5 years ago today, Mic..."

Way to Go Detective Dave Talbert!!! :):):)

2010-12-16T07:30:00.001-05:00

Salem woman faces endangering charge

December 16, 2010 - By MARY ANN GREIER

LISBON - The mother of a child whose death is being treated as a homicide has been charged with endangering children, but more charges are expected against her related to the boy's death.
Miranda V. Todd, 23, of 4735 McCracken Road, Salem, was taken into custody late Tuesday night at her current residence by deputies from the Columbiana County Sheriff's Office for the third-degree felony charge filed by Salem Police.
The July 23 death of 7-month-old Derek A. Dennison remains under investigation, according to county Prosecutor Robert Herron, but he's anticipating presenting the case to the grand jury soon.
He said he's expecting other charges will be filed against Todd through the grand jury related to her child's death.
When asked if charges would be filed against anyone else, he said, "I don't anticipate that at this point."
Salem Police Det. David Talbert said they had information that she was planning on leaving town, prompting them to file the endangering children charge. The charge filed in county Municipal Court alleges that as the parent of the child, she created a substantial risk to his health and safety by violating a duty of care, protection or support when the violation resulted in him suffering serious harm.
In an affidavit filed with the charge, Talbert recounted how he was called to Salem Community Hospital on July 23 in reference to a deceased infant who had "multiple bruises and swelling to his head." He said the autopsy performed on the child by the Cuyahoga County Coroner's Office "revealed numerous injuries including skull and rib fractures."
The affidavit alleged Todd failed to obtain appropriate medical treatment of the injuries sustained by the child. When questioned about the injuries, Talbert said they believed they happened over a period of time leading up to Derek's death. He would have celebrated his first birthday on Dec. 23.
Both Talbert and Herron said they'll be requesting a significant bond during Todd's arraignment, which was expected to happen this morning in county Municipal Court via video from the jail. Herron explained they had information that she has a relative out of state and there's been some consideration that she may leave the area. He noted she doesn't have a stable residence, maintaining numerous residences during the course of the investigation. She also recently lost a job of short duration.
"She knows she's the focus of the investigation," he said.
Todd was living at the McCracken Road residence with her boyfriend, John Ingledue, whom she claimed was the child's father during an incident at the child's funeral which resulted in Lisbon Police being called. In his obituary, the boy's father was listed as Greg Dennison Jr.
"It's a very emotional case, anytime a child dies, especially in a case where there's neglect or intent," Talbert said. "My heart goes out to the family, but we'll be driven to make sure justice is served on this."
He said the investigation has been a team effort, mentioning both the prosecutor's office and the coroner's office.
Talbert closed the books on another infant death being investigated by Salem Police, saying no charges will be filed in the death of 7 1/2-month-old Mackenzie Everly, who died Sept. 1. He said it was determined an underlying medical condition led to her death. Police had not considered the death suspicious, but any time a child under the age of 2 dies, an autopsy is performed.
Talbert said a third child death remained under investigation. Salem Police had said previously the Oct. 31 death of 21-month-old Braydon T. Eichler appeared to be accidental after an oven fell on him.
Mary Ann Greier can be reached at mgreier@salemnews.net

Film on unsolved EL murders from 1973 to debut Saturday

2010-11-20T13:05:00.002-05:00

November 19, 2010 - By MICHAEL D. McELWAIN (mmcelwain@reviewonline.com)

EAST LIVERPOOL - A documentary about the unsolved 1973 "Tweed Murders" that shocked the East Liverpool community will air this Saturday.
The documentary film "759 Dresden" is the result of more than two years of research and filmmaking, according to David Dunlap, the film's producer and director.
The documentary will air on WQED, the Pittsburgh-based PBS station at 10 p.m. Saturday as part of the "Filmmakers Corner" program hosted by Minette Seate.
"With interviews from the people that were there, previously unseen archival footage and a 3-D model of the crime scene, the facts and myths surrounding the murder are presented in the hope that new information will be brought forward from the viewing public," Dunlap said.
On a larger scale, Dunlap said the film is about more than the Tweed murders and is "also about the issue of unsolved murders in the Columbiana County area."
The headline on July 31, 1973, said it all.
"Police Hunt Slayer of Three" ran on the top of the front page of The Evening Review with a smaller headline underneath, "Man, Woman And Child Murdered."
The news rippled through the community concerning the July 30, 1973, brutal death of all three, one a prominent city businessman, the pregnant woman and her daughter. Law enforcement officers from all over descended upon East Liverpool attempting to catch the suspect. With a few witnesses and even fewer leads, the murderer was never apprehended.
For a city unaccustomed to such a heinous crime, the initial news and the follow-up investigation continued for weeks.
Dunlap said the project turned personal.
"I grew up in Calcutta. However when I was younger, we did most our shopping downtown. That was before all the stores that we have now in Calcutta," Dunlap said. "My mom would drop me off at the Carnegie Library while she shopped because I loved to read, especially history, so I knew about the Tweed case from a young age, and I always thought it was a tragedy that they couldn't solve that case."
Dunlap said he wanted to shoot a documentary that would give something back to the community and thought that if his team could shoot a documentary on the Tweed case, maybe it could engage the community to try and help solve the case or one of the other unsolved cases in Columbiana County.
"To me, Earl Tweed, and Linda and Angela Morris were not just faces in the newspaper, but these were people from our community ... people that had family that loved and missed them, and I felt that we needed, as a community, to give this case and the other unsolved cases our best effort," Dunlap said.
Several East Liverpool residents were interviewed including police officers, crime scene photographers and reporters working that day. Mayor Jim Swoger is seen in the introduction.
Former Review reporter Lucille Huston is interviewed and gives her account about what happened that day in 1973.
Current police officers on the East Liverpool force are also interviewed, and the case remains open.
"This film is about a community coming together to help our neighbors find some long-sought answers, and, maybe, find some closure after all these years," Dunlap said.

Wrongful death suit filed over 2008 crash

2010-11-20T12:22:00.000-05:00

November 20, 2010 - By MARY ANN GREIER/Staff Writer

LISBON - The sister of a Salem man killed in a hit/skip accident two years ago on U.S. Route 30 near state Route 172 filed a wrongful death lawsuit Thursday against the people the family blames for the crash.
Lisbon resident Patricia L. Hall, administrator of the estate of her deceased brother, Gary Paulin, filed the complaint in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court, along with Paulin's car insurance provider, Motorists Mutual Insurance Company.
Defendants named in the lawsuit included Hallie House, now known as Hallie Whitman, of East Rochester, who owned the pickup which reportedly crossed the center line and struck Paulin's vehicle, her now ex-husband, Jeffrey L. House, of Hanoverton, who had allegedly been driving the truck the night of the accident, and J & K Services doing business as Night Court, a bar in downtown Lisbon.
Paulin was 53 years old when he died and was survived by his wife, Theresa, his sisters, Patricia Hall, Barbara May, Margaret Scullion and Judy Altman, and his brother, Donald.
The lawsuit alleges that Hallie House negligently entrusted her vehicle to Jeffrey House and also alleged that he was already intoxicated when he was served alcoholic beverages at Night Court on Nov. 23, 2008. The lawsuit claims Jeffrey House's intoxication led to the accident which caused Paulin's death.
No criminal charges have ever been filed related to the crash.
According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, Paulin was driving eastbound on U.S. 30 approaching the intersection of state Route 172 in Center Township in a 1990 Chevrolet Tracker when a westbound pickup reportedly crossed the center line and struck his vehicle at 1:47 a.m. Nov. 23, 2008. Paulin died at the scene and the unknown driver fled.
The pickup was then reported stolen at 2:37 a.m. to Lisbon Police by Jeffrey House, who had reportedly been driving the vehicle the evening of Nov. 22, 2008.
Troopers seized several pieces of evidence from the vehicle in December 2008 in an attempt to identify the driver who fled the scene, including the glass window from the right side passenger door, the steering wheel cover, the plastic dashboard panel from the driver's side interior and two individually packaged swabs of dust from the driver and passenger side dashboard.
According to an affidavit filed with the search warrant, an investigating trooper said the window glass included a palm print with distinguishing features and dust found on the dash "...may be consistent with that found within the palm print." He also said fabric fibers found on the lower dash indicated the driver had contact with the dash during the crash.
Night Court was accused of continuing to serve alcohol to Jeffrey House, even though he was already allegedly intoxicated.
Motorists Mutual filed its claim in an effort to recoup money paid out to Paulin's estate for personal injury and wrongful death. The lawsuit document said the amount paid to the estate totaled $50,000.
The lawsuit has been assigned to Judge C. Ashley Pike.
mgreier@salemnews.net

Film on unsolved EL murders from 1973 to debut Saturday

2010-11-19T10:39:00.001-05:00

November 19, 2010 - By MICHAEL D. McELWAIN (mmcelwain@reviewonline.com)

Vigil in Rememberence of Andrea Foster

2010-11-18T22:10:00.000-05:00

I had the pleasure of attending a candle light vigil in honor of homicide victim Andrea Foster tonight. Andrea was killed during a dispute between her best friend and her friends ex-boyfriend. i was asked to say a few words and my conversation centered around the holidays. The holidays are approaching us and I can tell you from personal experience that this is the hardest time for all of us left behind. There are no words to describe the pain you feel and I made no false accusations to the contrary. These families, all of them are in for a rough road ahead. It was an honor to meet them and to be a part of the vigil. A bunch of really, really awesome people!!

Documentary Airing on Saturday!!!!

2010-11-16T22:41:00.000-05:00

Documentary: 759 Dresden

Appearing on PBS - WQED's "Filmmaker's Corner"

on Nov. 20th at 10 PM

Also appearing at the Enzian Theater in Orlando

as part of FilmSlam, Nov. 14th at 1 PM

This documentary film is about the unsolved 1973 "Tweed Murders" that occurred in East Liverpool, Ohio. With interviews from the people that were there, previously unseen archival footage, and a 3D model of the crime scene, the facts and myths surrounding the murder are presented in the hope that new information will be brought forward from the viewing public. On the larger scale, this film is not only about the "Tweed Murders", but also about the issue of unsolved murders in the community surrounding East Liverpool, and beyond.

If you have any information about the "Tweed murder" case, please contact:

The East Liverpool Police Department: 330-385-1234

If you have any information about unsolved murders in Columbiana County, please contact:

The Columbiana County Sheriff's Office: 330-424-7255

For more information about family support organizations, or to offer support, contact:

Columbiana County Families of Homicide Victims: http://www.ccfhv.com/

Tweed/Morris Murders Documentary

Candle Light Vigil

2010-11-14T18:37:00.000-05:00

Please join family and friends of Andrea Foster who was killed by her best friends
boyfriend on September 22nd.
There will be a candle light vigil on November 18th, at 6 pm. down in front of

City Hall in East Liverpool.
This is NOT an unsolved case, but I have met with the family and obviously,
they are in pain and could use your support. Please try to attend!

Sheriff’s department makes dream come true

2010-11-11T08:56:00.002-05:00

November 11, 2010 - By MARY ANN GREIER (mgreier@reviewonline.com)

LISBON - Meeting Buzz Lightyear, Spiderman and other characters topped the favorites list for 5-year-old Justin Nichols during a dream trip to Orlando - a trip courtesy of all the sweet tooths in the Columbiana County Courthouse.
Visitors to the Sheriff's Office in the basement may notice the candy container beckoning on the counter - what they may not realize is the power of the quarter they slip in the slot.
Since June 2004 when Sgt. Kenneth Biacco Jr. first started collecting donations for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, about $18,000 has been raised and three wishes have been granted, the latest for Justin.
The East Liverpool preschooler who attends classes at the East Liverpool Head Start suffers from an extremely rare condition known as Blue Rubber Bleb Nevus Syndrome, described in his Wish Child profile as "an illness in which venous malformations cause massive hemorrhages and iron deficiency anemia."
According to his mother, Tammy, people wouldn't know it to look at him, but the condition saps the strength out of him at times and can be very painful, requiring him to take very powerful adult pain medications. His dad, Paul, said there are only 150 cases in the U.S. and he's 151. He also noted many of the doctors they see haven't heard of it, so they're learning along with the family.
When asked what he wished for, Justin told Make-A-Wish personnel that he wanted to visit theme parks in Orlando, Fla. That wish came true in September when Justin, his parents and his grandmother, Jenny Triner, traveled first class to Florida and stayed at Give Kids The World Village, where Make-A-Wish children can stay with their families.
They visited the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, Sea World, Universal Studios and Universal Hollywood and then enjoyed the activities at Give Kids The World where every night there was a different, themed party. A rabbit served as mayor of the village and tucked Justin into bed one night after spending some time with him. Justin also received gifts in his room every day.
Sheriff's Office personnel celebrated Justin's trip with a party for him Wednesday in their Courthouse office, where he received more presents, such as a Toy Story 3 DVD. The Fraternal Order of Police Quaker Lodge 88 Salem provided him with a $50 gift card to Walmart.
"I will never ever be able to pay forward enough for what these guys did," Tammy said, adding they went above and beyond, providing everything the family needed for the trip, even a limousine ride to the airport, first-class seats and a rental car on their arrival in Florida.
Tammy and Paul described the whole event as overwhelming, a blessing and very enjoyable. Justin said his favorite part was meeting characters, especially Buzz Lightyear and his favorite superhero, Spiderman. His parents couldn't find words to describe what the trip meant to them and to Justin.
"They have no idea what they do for a child's life," she said.
She tried to imagine how her son would react when he met the characters and said it was better than imagined - it was amazing.
"From the bottom of my heart, I want to say thank you," she said.
Biacco said seeing the results of their efforts is a good experience. When he started the program, he used to make juvenile offenders in his juvenile diversion program pay up as part of their punishment. The rule was that they had to raise the money themselves, either by working for someone or selling some personal property to raise the funds.
The department no longer has the juvenile diversion program, but the candy sales remain a source of income for Make-A-Wish. The Sheriff's Office also has a refrigerator stocked with donated pop and frozen treats to sell which Courthouse workers visit frequently, along with other visitors to the office. The treats are self-serve, with a container next to the refrigerator to collect the money.
Anyone wanting to donate to the efforts for a fourth wish can contact Biacco at 330-424-9519 or pony up at the counter in exchange for a sweet treat.
For information about Make-A-Wish, visit the web site at www.makeawishohio.org.

Kim's Mom...

2010-10-30T21:56:00.000-04:00

Today we suffered a great loss at CCFHV, Inc.
Kim Mitchell, our VP's mom Gloria Frazier passed away.
I had the privilege of knowing Gloria and she was a great, great lady
and very supportive of CCFHV and all that we do.
She will be greatly missed. Please keep Kim and her family in your
thoughts and prayers tonite.

DNA leads to arrest in '91 slaying of Far North Side woman

2010-10-29T12:02:00.000-04:00

This is one of those stories that keeps us family members hopeful!

Thursday, October 28, 2010 11:48 AM

Updated: Thursday, October 28, 2010 02:36 PM

By Theodore Decker

The Columbus Dispatch

File photo

Nancy Leslie was stabbed to death in 1991.

A man suspected for 19 years in the stabbing death of a Far North Side woman was arrested early today, after advanced DNA testing linked him to the crime, Columbus police announced.
Police arrested Richard Fugate, 46, early this morning at the West Side flooring business where he works. He is charged with murder in the death of Nancy Leslie.
Fugate is being held in the Franklin County jail, pending a court appearance on Friday.
Leslie, 44, was found stabbed to death, her wrists and ankles bound with duct tape, on Aug. 6, 1991, in her condominium on Cooper Bluff Drive on the Far North Side.
Sgt. Jeff Sacksteder said Fugate had been a suspect from the beginning. He said Fugate had done work at the victim's home, and cold case squad detective Russell Redman said Fugate knew Leslie through his ex-wife, who was friend's with the victim's daughter.
Redman said he took over the case when the original detective, Dave Morris, retired. Police compared DNA from the crime scene to Fugate shortly after the homicide, but testing techniques then were not advanced enough to make a comparison, police said.
After reviewing the case, Redman returned earlier this year to the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation crime lab to go over the evidence with investigators there.
The lab linked the DNA evidence to Fugate using the latest techniques, he said. Fugate gave a second DNA sample earlier this year as part of a felony child non-support case in Delaware County, Redman said.
"That was a second match that came through as well," he said. "Finally, the sciences in this particular area caught up to the suspect."

Salem

2010-10-27T11:15:00.000-04:00

SALEM - Investigations were incomplete after the body of a woman was found by Perry Township Police off rural Egypt Road Monday morning.
Police Chief Mike Emigh was not releasing the name of the woman Monday evening, although she had been identified because, he said, other police departments were in the process of notifying family members in other jurisdictions.
Emigh also would not comment on the cause of death, noting until he gets word from the coroner's office he would not discuss any speculations how the woman died.
The body was found after a police officer on patrol went down the road and found her unoccupied vehicle parked at the intersection of Egypt Road and East Pine Lake Road. The Bureau of Criminal Information and Investigation was called to process the scene and the vehicle, with the assistance of the county sheriff's department and state fire marshal's office.
Despite the fire marshal's office being called, Emigh would not comment on reports that the body may have been burned.
djohnson@mojonews.com

Great news!!! Go Richard Cordray!!!

2010-10-20T17:40:00.000-04:00

Robotic DNA testing

Helps law enforcement agencies get results back sooner.

By Colleen O'Neill, Newsradio WTAM 1100

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

(Richfield)- Robotic DNA testing at the state's crime lab has hit its first year anniversary with strong results.

Attorney General Richard Cordray tells Newsradio WTAM 1100 from October 2009 through August 2010, 122 out of 218 blood samples tested at the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation (BCI) in Richfield got a hit. So about 56% of the time, results pointed to a specific suspect.

Using robotics allows BCI to improve turn around time usually getting results back from blood samples in 30 days. This has allowed law enforcement agencies to submit evidence in property crimes which used to be a low priority says Cordray.

Here's one of the robotic machines.

In Cleveland, this type of technology was used in the break in of 10 vehicles at a used car lot that happened the day after Christmas 2009. Police Sgt. Sammy Morris says there was a blood sample left in one of the vehicles that they gathered, sent to BCI and that eventually led to the suspect being arrested.

A felonious assault case in Rocky River would not have been solved if it weren't for testing. Sgt. Carl Gulas says a resident was hit in the head with a 25 pound barbell by a female in May. The victim suffered severe brain injuries.

At the crime scene they found a trail of blood down Wooster Rd. near the victim's apartment. "We submitted it to BCI and they were able to process it using their new robotic DNA testing procedures. That gave us a hit to a female who had an extensive arrest record for crimes of violence, drugs, prostitution and theft."

Yashea Black-Hunter has a pre-trial set for Thursday.

The U.S. Department of Justice has given a $831,000 grant to allow BCI to add four more robots by next July. The robots will have new programming so DNA testing can be done on sexual assault cases.

Get breaking news sent to your mobile phone. Text "news" to 21095.

(Copyright 2010 Clear Channel, all rights reserved.)

Ohio Attorney General's Crime Victims Compensation Fund

2010-10-09T10:26:00.000-04:00

The Ohio Attorney General's Crime Victims Compensation Fund reimburses eligible victims of crime and their family members for medical and counseling expenses, lost wages and certain other costs. Last year, the Crime Victims Assistance & Prevention Section approved 4,597 claims. Nearly $10.7 million was awarded to victims of crime, or an average of $2,324 per award.
The online application for those seeking compensation was recently streamlined at www.OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov/VictimsCompensationForm.
Here is another link to check out for more information:
http://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/

Any questions? Ask. We will help you get the answers.

This is pretty Awesome! He's got my vote!

2010-10-08T22:40:00.002-04:00

Children

Working to provide a bright future for Ohio’s children.

As a father, public servant and children’s advocate, I believe strongly that we all have a shared obligation to ensure every child has the opportunity to achieve his or her full potential. In order to meet that obligation, it is imperative that we provide Ohio’s children with a quality education and a safe place to learn and grow.

When Lee and his wife Peggy were expecting their first child, Jason, they saw a TV show about the disappearance of a little boy in Florida named Adam Walsh. As a state legislator, Lee was disturbed to learn that Ohio had a better system for tracking missing cars than missing children. So he worked closely with John Walsh, Adam’s father, to write Ohio’s Missing Children law, which helps to prevent kidnappings and find missing children.
As Attorney General, he created the first-ever children’s protection section and established Ohio’s Missing Children Clearinghouse. He also created the Rapid Response Team to assist with the local prosecution of child abusers. Another program, “Project Safe Schools,” was established to combat violence in schools through education, mediation, and intervention.
As the head for seven years of the Center for Families and Children, a nationally-known family service nonprofit organization, Lee advocated for children, youth, adults and families throughout Northeastern Ohio. Lee made child care and early childhood education, behavioral health care, responsible fathering, and programs for at-risk youth his top priorities.
Lee knows that funding education for our children is the best investment we can make in the future of Ohio and the country. He and Governor Strickland have led efforts to fairly fund and improve our educational system, such as providing for early childhood education, lowering class size, making college more affordable and accessible, rewarding innovation in education, and reducing our over-reliance on local property taxes to fund our schools.

A Note To The Families of Recent Homicide/Suicide in East Liverpool

2010-09-28T13:38:00.012-04:00

After hearing the very sad news regarding last weeks murder/suicide on Avondale in East Liverpool.

I feel it is our job as board members to reach out to the families. Our families in the CCFHV know how it feels to have something as precious as life taking from them so soon. Unfortunatly, no one wins in this situation, and the people left here feel lost. The only thing that may comfort you now is the realization that there are people that can help guide you though this hard time.

To each family member, please keep your heads up and hearts open. The victims live on though you. If you need extra support please feel free to call us.
Thank you,
CCFHV

Third murder-suicide victim passes away

2010-09-27T21:26:00.000-04:00

EAST LIVERPOOL - The survivor of a shooting early Wednesday on Avondale Street has died, a coroner's investigator has confirmed.
Brian Fullum, a forensic investigator with the Columbiana County Coroner's office, said Rachael Wilcox, 22, died Sunday evening. Allegheny County will perform an autopsy.
Family members had previously said Wilcox had been improving. Fullum said checks he had made the past few days confirmed the same.
Fullum said Sunday he doesn't know what happened that caused Wilcox's condition to deteriorate, but said, "It's sad. Everyone's thoughts and prayers go out to the family. That's about all you can say."
East Liverpool police were called to 1126 Avondale St. at 2:38 a.m. Wednesday by a witness who placed a 911 call. Officers arrived at the two-story duplex to find two dead and Wilcox inside the front door of her mother's home, shot but still alive. She was flown to a Pittsburgh hospital.
Police found Andrea Foster, 22 of Salem, dead on the porch from a gunshot wound, and 25-year-old Liberty resident Steven J. Youngblood lying in the street about a block away, dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
When Fullum arrived on the scene, he and officers recovered the handgun likely used in the shooting underneath Youngblood's body.
Fullum said Sunday he doesn't know how long it will take for Allegheny County to complete an autopsy, but when the reports are completed, the coroner's office and police will have autopsy reports on all three victims to augment the investigation.
Preliminary investigations indicated the triple-shooting was a murder-suicide, East Liverpool police detectives said. Acting Chief Terry Faulkner said Youngblood was Wilcox's estranged boyfriend, and they had a confrontation on the front porch of the residence. Foster was Wilcox's friend and attempted to intervene when she was shot and killed. Wilcox then turned to run into the house and was shot as she entered the doorway, in front of her 14-year-old brother, who had been sleeping on a couch, officers reported.
Youngblood reportedly then ran from the house down Avondale for a block, where he shot himself, falling to the ground where another street intersects Avondale.
Fullum said it will take about four to six months for results to be known of the autopsies on Foster and Youngblood. Although Fullum previously said the case is "pretty cut and dried," he noted the autopsy on Wilcox is necessary because his office and law enforcement want the investigation to be as complete as possible.
"We don't want to leave any stone unturned," Fullum said. "Our goal is to have a complete and thorough investigation."

Michael Williams Featured on Attorney Generals Site

2010-09-24T19:55:00.000-04:00

Michael Williams is now the first one of our cases to featured on The Attorney Generals Open Cases Section. The information must be submitted by Law Enforcement and Michael and Tracy Hill have been submitted. Please encourage all of the Departments to get all of our cases on this HUGE website!! Hopefully, every one of our cases can be listed here! http://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/Enforcement/Unsolved-Cases/Cold-Case/Homicides/Williams

Judge:?Statements stand for Irwin murder trial

2010-09-24T19:52:00.001-04:00

By MARY ANN GREIER
Staff Writer
LISBON - A judge overruled defense efforts to suppress statements made by murder defendant Andrew Irwin and testimony by a dispatcher who answered the 911 call after Emily Foreman was stabbed in August 2006.
Judge C. Ashley Pike of Columbiana County Common Pleas Court released his decision on the motions this week, noting Irwin's trial remains on the docket as scheduled on Jan. 18.
He based the ruling on written arguments by the prosecution and the defense, saying he was siding with the state based on the reasons noted in the response of county Prosecutor Robert Herron.
Irwin, 29, of East Liverpool, had already been found guilty of murder for causing Foreman's death and sentenced to 15 years to life in prison, but the 7th District Court of Appeals overturned the conviction, ordering a new trial in Common Pleas Court. The state tried to appeal to the Supreme Court of Ohio, but the high court declined.
In his reply to the motion to suppress filed by defense attorney Jennifer Gorby, Herron said the admissibility of any statements made by Irwin had already been decided after a hearing on Oct. 5, 2006 regarding an identical motion to suppress. He said that Gorby participated in that hearing.
She had been appointed to represent him the first time around, but then private counsel was hired. That hired counsel, George Kafantaris, was part of the reason the appeal was granted, due to ineffective assistance of counsel. He later lost his license to practice law due to some of his dealings in Trumbull County.
Herron wrote that Irwin was not "...entitled to a 'second bite at the apple' on these legal issues."
He also argued against the motion to suppress the dispatcher's testimony about what she heard during the 911 call, writing it was not hearsay, but part of her recollection of the call in which she reported hearing a faint female voice in the background saying "help me."
Even though she can't identify who the person is, he said "a reasonable inference can be drawn that the victim for whom the ambulance is being summoned is requesting help."
Gorby tried to argue the voice wasn't part of the transcript of the recording of the call and couldn't be verified. She said Irwin's statements should be suppressed because he was interviewed by police at the scene before the Miranda warning was read to him.
A status hearing for the murder case is set for Jan. 14. Irwin is scheduled to face trial on Dec. 7 for another indictment alleging he assaulted one corrections officer and spit at another at the county jail in July. He's been staying at the county jail with no bond set since being returned from prison.
Mary Ann Greier can be reached at mgreier@salemnews.net

Johnny Appleseed Recap

2010-09-24T19:47:00.000-04:00

We wrapped up the Johnny Appleseed Festival and I have to say that it was the best one ever! There were so many people there and we got a lot of new information on the cases and met some really interesting people.. Congratulations Chelsea Stoffel, this years Johnny Appleseed Queen.. We know you will do a great job! This festival is my favorite event of the year! Thanks to all of our volunteers for their help!!!

New From The Attorney Generals Office

2010-09-16T22:37:00.000-04:00

New website for Ohio's Missing and Unsolved cases has been released..
Please visit and have a look around...
http://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/OpenInvestigations.

A person of interest

2010-09-16T10:59:00.002-04:00

A person of interest

Potential suspect surfaces in man’s death

September 16, 2010 - By TOM GIAMBRONI Staff Writer

LISBON - A person of interest has been identified in the case of the Highlandtown-area man found dead in the woods behind his house last month.
County Prosecutor Robert Herron not only identified Charles R. Bogart Jr., 35, as the person of interest in the William S. Young investigation, but he disclosed the 69-year-old Young had been shot to death.
This information came out at Wednesday's hearing in county Common Pleas Court, where Bogart was being arraigned on an unrelated charge of receiving stolen goods having to do with a stolen ATV from St. Clair Township found on his property.
The ATV was found after the county Sheriff's Office obtained a warrant to search Bogart's property on Hazel Run Road, Washington Township, in regard to "another incident" other than the stolen ATV. The warrant was obtained on or about Aug. 11, the same day Young was found dead behind his home on Spring Valley Road in Wayne Township.
Bogart was arrested and his bond was set at $250,000 cash/surety, which he was unable to post and has kept him in the county jail. During yesterday's arraignment hearing, county public defender Fred Naragon asked Judge Joseph Bruzzese Jr. that Bogart's bond be reduced, noting the charge was a low-felony property crime.
When asked by Bruzzese why the bond should remain at $250,000, Herron explained that Bogart was found driving a pickup truck belonging to Young, who Herron said had been found shot to death behind his house. This is the first time the manner of death has been publicly disclosed. The county coroner's office has yet to issue an official ruling in the case.
Herron also said Young's wallet was found on Bogart, and the search warrant turned up more of Young's property at Bogart's home, including firearms.
"I'm going with the $250,000 cash or surety," Bruzzese said after hearing this.
Young's badly decomposed body was found by sheriff's deputies who went to his property after being called by a local bank that had been trying to contact Young, who lived alone, because of concerns about suspicious activity on his bank account.
In addition to the pickup truck, Young's silver PT Cruiser was also determined to be missing. The PT Cruiser was found Aug. 19 hidden among six-foot high weeds and brush off Hazel Run Road, across the road from Bogart's property.
During the hearing on the receiving stolen property charge, Bogart said he was unemployed and lacked the money to hire an attorney, so the judge appointed the public defender's office to represent him. He was assigned attorney James Hartford.
Bogart pleaded innocent to the receiving stolen property charge, and the case will be scheduled for trial. No charges have been filed in connection with Young's death.

Our 2010 Balloon Launch

2010-09-13T14:21:00.000-04:00

Our 3rd annual balloon launch was our most successful yet! Over 100 people showed up to show their support to our families..
We have had a great year so far with many changes. First and foremost is our Non Profit Status. (And hoping that any day now, we will have our 501c3 status) We are very proud to now be a Non Profit Incorporation. we have also completely changed our set up and website to be more user friendly and of course we now have a complete Board Of Directors which has been instramental in helping us with all of our fundraising ideas for next year.
I would like to personally thank each and every one of you that attended our balloon launch. As a family member, I cannot tell you how much this means to us. It is a community problem and the members of the Columbiana County community are becoming more aware of this fact and we are so thankful for that! There are always ways that you can get involved. You can join as a member for $25 for an individual, $50 for a business, you can volunteer, put up fliers, or you can donate goods, money, or any special services that you may have. Contact me anytime at 330-424-5603 or on Facebook. (link on the right) Please enjoy the pictures from our launch and please contact me if you would like to get involved!

Belinda

Baby's Death Ruled Homicide

2010-09-08T11:02:00.002-04:00

Baby’s death ruled homicide

September 8, 2010 - By DEANNE JOHNSON/Staff Writer

SALEM - The death in July of a 7-month-old boy has been ruled a homicide, according to the report released Tuesday by the Columbiana County coroner.
Using descriptions including multiple injuries to the head and body caused by blunt-force trauma, the report verifies the cause of death suspected as a possibility early on by police.
"This child sustained multiple injuries," Talbert said, "in multiple stages of healing."
Talbert and police Chief Robert Floor both said from the beginning the case was being investigated as "suspicious." What followed were months of investigation by police. Talbert said he has interviewed and reinterviewed family members and others, reviewed the preliminary report of the coroner and met with doctors.
The official ruling of homicide is another step in the case, and Talbert said he has been going over it extensively, but no charges had been filed as of Tuesday afternoon. The case remains under investigation, however Talbert said it is progressing.
Derek Andrew Dennison died July 23, the day he turned seven months old. Salem police were called to Salem Community Hospital at 12:38 a.m. on that Friday to investigate the death of the child. His mother, Miranda Todd, 22, 264 N. Ellsworth Ave., Apt. 4, had taken him to the hospital herself. He was unresponsive, and doctors were unable to revive him.
Greg Dennison was the boy's father, according to his obituary.
During the child's funeral in Lisbon, police were called due to arguments between family members and other guests at the funeral. One police report at the time stated someone attempted to take a photo of the dead infant with a cell phone.
Talbert also commented Tuesday on the death of a 7 -month-old girl, who died Sept. 1. The death of Mackenzie Rose Everly, does not appear at this point to have been a case of foul play, according to Talbert. However, he still is awaiting the preliminary report from the autopsy.
Police tried to revive the infant in front of her home at 167 W. Seventh St., after someone called to report she was not breathing. Her parents are listed as Mark and Sonya Everly.
djohnson@mojonews.com

Video from WKBN

2010-09-01T00:46:00.000-04:00

http://www.wkbn.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoid=18702@wkbn.web.entriq.net&navCatId=10

5 Years ago on August 30, 2005

2010-08-31T01:18:00.000-04:00

I apologize for posting this so late but as I am sure you can imagine, today was not an easy day for me or my family. 5 years ago today, Michael Williams, my cousin was viciously and brutally murdered on his way home from work that Tuesday morning. Somehow, when we hit the 5 year mark, I thought it would be easier. I thought by now we would be used to it. I thought wrong. Tonite I am angry. I am angry that his case is unsolved and that his killer runs free. I am angry that the justice system has failed for Mike, I am angry that despite all of the hours that I spend out in the blazing sun, weathering the storms, etc., we are still waiting for answers. That is all we do. We wait. We wait for the phone to ring and say that Mike's killer has been caught. We suffer enormous highs and lows everyday., every time the phone rings hoping that it is the news we have been waiting for. We hold onto each other and pretend that everything is going to be okay. Well guess what? It is NOT okay. It will never be okay again. The public thinks we are crazy. We ourselves question that one. Are we gullible? Are we stupid? Are we desperate for hope? Maybe. Defiantly. I may be the head of this organization but I am also the family member of an unsolved murder victim. Does anyone get that?? I miss Mike. I go out in the public all of the time and spend hours talking about him. I hear every story imaginable and have to filter through the bullshit and try at the same time to remain professional and hopeful. And believe me, there are days when I just don't want to do that. I want to scream. I want someone to listen. I want someone, anyone to just hug me and tell me that it will all be okay. I want my memories back. The one's of my childhood with Mike and all of the good times we have had that are now replaced with this tip and that lead and this little bit of info... It is so hard to remain hopeful. How and more importantly, WHY should we have to do this? Why does Mike's killer deserve more kindness than we do? We have to be patient. We can't accuse anyone. We have to have every "t" crossed and "i" dotted. We have to have honest and reliable witnesses. We have to have evidence. We have to have this and that and this and that and in the meantime...don't get frustrated, don't get angry, try to understand, be supportive, don't give up hope, ride the emotional roller coaster. WHY???? So some Son of a Bitch can walk around free while we are forced to live inside this prison? Can someone please tell me how this is fair???

CCFHV Annual Ballon Launch

2010-08-29T00:24:00.000-04:00

Please join us for our annual balloon launch in Lisbon today at 1pm at the gazebo in the center of town. The event is FREE and balloons will be provided! Please bring your friends and families and show your support for all of the victims and their families. It is our biggest event and we will be there rain or shine!

Coroner report shows no homicides in 2009

2010-08-15T13:53:00.000-04:00

August 15, 2010 - By TOM GIAMBRONI (tgiambroni@reviewonline.com)

LISBON - There were no homicides in Columbiana County last year, the first time this has occurred since 1991, according to the county coroner's annual report.
This comes after six homicides occurred in 2008, which was the highest since five such deaths were recorded in 1995. The record for most homicides in a year over the past 50 years is 10 in 1979.
"Count our blessings," wrote county Coroner Dr. William Graham about the dearth of homicides last year.
In other developments, the number of drug-and-alcohol related deaths in the county declined from a record 69 in 2008 to 67 last year, marking the first drop in such deaths since 2002. The number of drug/alcohol related deaths had been steadily increasing over the past six years, and nearly doubled from 37 in 2007 to 69 the next year.
According to the coroner's report, the majority of the drug/alcohol deaths were concentrated in three communities - East Liverpool (12), Salem (14) and Wellsville (eight) - accounting for 34 of the 67 such cases. Thirty-four of the deaths occurred in people over the age of 50, with men out-numbering women 46 to 21.
The five most prominent drugs found in the deceased, in order of prevalence, were marijuana, alcohol, morphine, Hydrocondone (Vicodin) and cocaine.
Suicides also declined to 12 in 2009 after reaching 21 in 2008, which was the most since 1989, when Graham began compiling statistics. There were 32 accidental deaths last year, up from 30 in 2008, with drug overdoses and traffic accidents accounting for 24 of the deaths.
There were 987 deaths in the county last year, down from 1,132 in 2008, and of those deaths, 98 were investigated by the coroner's office. The most common cause of these 98 deaths was found to be natural causes (34). The following were the other causes of death: accidental, 34; suicide, 12; and undetermined, 8.

Body identified as homeowner

2010-08-14T11:59:00.000-04:00

August 14, 2010 - By MATTHEW SCHOMER / Special to The Review

HIGHLANDTOWN - The body of a man found Wednesday in an area behind a home on Spring Valley Road has been identified as the homeowner, 70-year-old William S. Young.
County Sheriff Ray Stone said the county coroner's office identified Young by checking a partial denture plate with a local dentist. Young's body had been in an advanced state of decomposition after being exposed to high temperatures for a prolonged period.
The sheriff's office is treating Young's death as suspicious in nature, but Stone noted the office cannot at this time consider the situation a homicide.
"Only the coroner can determine whether it was a homicide," he said, and the coroner's office had not made any announcement on the cause of death as of Friday.
Stone noted that his office has notified two of Young's siblings, who live in Pennsylvania. Young lived alone in the house at 16196 Spring Valley Road, he was not married at the time of his death and the sheriff's office possesses no knowledge of whether he was ever married or fathered any children.
Young's vehicle, a silver 2004 Chrysler PT Cruiser, remains missing, although Stone released the registered license plate number on the vehicle as EEG 1436.
The sheriff's office on Wednesday responded to Young's home after an employee of his bank called saying there was suspicious activity on his account and no one could get in contact with him. Stone was unable to provide additional information Friday on the nature of the suspicious bank account activity.
"They were just concerned because they couldn't make contact," he said.
As deputies were searching the property, a Hookstown, Pa., woman driving down the road flagged down deputies. She identified herself as a life-long friend of Young and said she was concerned because she had been unable to contact him by telephone or at his home.
She said she had last seen him two weeks prior when she had cut his hair. The woman was the one who reported Young's vehicle missing from his garage.
The county coroner's office, which is currently determining the cause of death, had no official word on the state of the investigation on Friday.

Our week at the Columbiana County Fair...recap..

2010-08-09T22:29:00.002-04:00

Our week at the fair provided some wonderful moments and of course some not so wonderful moments.. We received tons of leads this year which is what it is all about. Our brand new tent got damaged in the storm that went through here on Wednesday. We lost all of our posters, etc. and had to redo them... We had the normal amount of threats...We had a 50/50 drawing and Rick Smith from Calcutta was our winner of $101.50! We made new friends, saw lots of Politicians and Law Enforcement Officials...We saw family members after family members...and I still managed to meet some of Mike's friends that I had never met before.. Rumors were flying just like always and the newest homicide of 7 month old Derrik was brought up constantly. Kim and I worked the entire fair from open to close as usual and we had great, great volunteers that helped us out. Thank you Volunteers Sarah Fraser and Briana Carroll, Zack Puchajda and CCFHV Board member volunteers, Amy Fraser, Brian Vaughn, Marian Spack and CCFHV Officers, Cassidie Edwards and Barb Brown.. You guys were awesome and we are so lucky to have you! Thanks for your dedication to our cause!

The fair is exhausting but ALWAYS worth the heat, rain, drama, exhaustion, emotions, and all of the crankiness that comes along with it..

Oh, did I mention that we did weather 3 storms and also met Santa Claus, and had 2 cars in the Demolition Derby and we won 3rd place?? A great, great week!!

2010-08-02T00:05:00.005-04:00

The picture on the right is of our first tent for CCFHV. It served it's purpose well, though we got wet a lot or froze our butts off. The picture on the left is our new tent! We are so excited about our new look! This is your donations at work, allowing us to get out there into the public and tell the stories of our victims and their families! Please come out to the fair this week and give us a look!

Body found near creek identified

2010-07-31T16:04:00.003-04:00

Review Staff Reports

POSTED: July 31, 2010

Email: "Body found near creek identified"
*To:		<--TO Email REQUIRED!
*From:		<--FROM Email REQUIRED!

LaCROFT - A press released issued Friday by Liverpool Township Police Chief Charlie Burgess suggests a body found in a creek Thursday near what is known as Coal Hollow in LaCroft may be that of Tracy D. Knoblock, 40, of Seventh Avenue, who was reported missing July 24.
Liverpool Township officials responded to the area Thursday afternoon after receiving a call that a body was found in the remote location off Park Place.
According to the release, Burgess was first to arrive on the scene and was met by a family member of Knoblock. The woman was reported missing two days after she had not been seen by family members.
The release indicated family members, friends and law enforcement had intensified search efforts in the past few days in order to locate Knoblock. The family member was at the Coal Hollow location for that reason.
The Columbiana County Coroner's Office, Liverpool Township Police, Columbiana County Prosecutors Office, and agents from B.C.I. & I were on the scene until approximately 10 p.m. Thursday, according to the release.
The Coroner's Office of Cuyahoga County is performing an autopsy on the body, and no time frame has been set for return of preliminary findings, the release indicated.
The police department is continuing to investigate the death.
"I will not speculate the cause of death or comment on the findings until the preliminary reports are concluded by all agencies involved in the investigation," Burgess stated in the release. "However, at present it does not appear that foul play is involved."

Body found near creek

2010-07-30T16:08:00.002-04:00

Review Staff Reports

POSTED: July 30, 2010

Email: "Body found near creek"
*To:		<--TO Email REQUIRED!
*From:		<--FROM Email REQUIRED!

LaCROFT - Members of the Liverpool Township Police Department were investigating the discovery of a body near a Liverpool Township creek Thursday afternoon.
Investigators were still on the scene late Thursday, along with police Chief Charlie Burgess.
According to initial reports, the body was discovered along a wooded area on private property and likely at that location for at least a day.
Officers had to use Coal Hollow Road behind Convenient Food Mart to get to the specific area where the body was found. Early reports suggest it may be the body of someone reported missing several days ago.
The coroner was called to the scene late Thursday. Burgess is expected to release more details today.