Police receive more tips in rape

By IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
CANFIELD -- During the past week, city police Detective Andy Bodzak has received around a dozen tips about the beating and rape of a Poland woman last November.
He's also been asked to take three aluminum baseball bats out of concern that each bat was the weapon used in the attack.
Police, however, already have the bat they think was used to beat the woman.
That bat, which is blue and about 30 inches long, was one of a 1,000 souvenir bats given to fans at a Mahoning Valley Scrappers game July 8. It was found in a yard near North Broad Street shortly after the attack.
Phone number: Anyone who cannot account for the loss of a souvenir bat they received that day is asked to contact police at (330) 533-4903.
The 30-year-old woman was attacked Nov. 27 as she got out of her car to go to work at Schroedel, Scullin & amp; Bestic LLC, an accounting firm on North Broad Street. She was beaten with the bat and raped in a wooded area near the business.
Bodzak said that after information about the bat was released last week, three individuals came forward to turn aluminum bats over to the police. Each of the bats appeared to be stained with blood, he said.
Police later determined that two of those bats were stained with what looked like red paint. The third bat was turned over to police by a landlord who owns an apartment near Youngstown State University.
The landlord found that bat after his last tenant moved out. Police are investigating the blood on the bat.
The Scrappers bat was found the day after the attack. DNA test results of blood on the bat confirmed that it was used to beat the woman.
On May 22, city council voted to offer a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the man responsible for the attack. Bodzak said that in the two days after the vote police received around a dozen calls with information about the Scrappers bat.
"None of the people who called expressed any interest in the reward. The whole issue is about the bat," he said.
Bodzak said that six of those leads did not provide any additional information about the bat. Police are investigating the remaining six leads. Bodzak would not discuss details.
hill@vindy.com