MAHONING COUNTY Grand jury indicts man in 2 murders

Both victims are believed to have been killed because they owed money for drugs.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against a city man suspected in two drug-related murders late last year.
Lance Lynch, 23, of Chicago Avenue, was indicted Thursday by a Mahoning County grand jury on two counts each of aggravated murder and kidnapping, and one count of murder.
Each count contains a firearm specification, meaning he used a gun to commit the crimes.
The aggravated murder and kidnapping charges stem from the Nov. 13, 2001, killing of 39-year-old Robert Mahar of New York. City litter patrol workers found Mahar's body on Atkinson Avenue with duct tape on his hands and mouth.
Explanations: Assistant Prosecutor Timothy Franken said there are multiple aggravated murder and kidnapping counts because there are separate and distinct circumstances. Both aggravated murder counts have a death-penalty specification.
Franken said Mahar was a truck driver who bought drugs from Lynch when he passed through Youngstown. He owed Lynch $600 for drugs, for which Lynch threatened to kill him, Franken said.
Mahar telephoned relatives in New York and asked them to wire him money to pay Lynch. While they waited for the money to arrive, Lynch bound Mahar with duct tape, tied him to a pole in Lynch's basement and tortured him.
Franken said the torturing went on for at least an entire afternoon, which is why prosecutors chose to seek the death penalty.
Mahar eventually broke loose and ran from the house, but Lynch caught him, retaped him and shot him, Franken said. Mahar's body was then driven to Atkinson and dumped.
The murder charge in Lynch's indictment is for the Dec. 27, 2001, killing of 39-year-old Eddie Lenord, who was found shot to death on the living-room floor of his apartment on Willis Avenue, on the city's East Side.
Lenord had been shot several times in the chest. Franken said that killing was also over money owed to Lynch for drugs.
Lynch was being held in the county jail on unrelated charges of taking another person's identity. He is scheduled to be arraigned on the murder and kidnapping charges in two weeks in common pleas court.
Child's death: Also indicted was 45-year-old Mary Ann Barnett of Julian Street, for involuntary manslaughter and two counts of drug possession. Her 15-month-old grandson, Justin Hoschar, died Dec. 10 at Forum Health Tod Children's Hospital. He had been taken to the hospital three days earlier in a comatose state.
Authorities say the death was because the baby ingested oxycodone pills while being cared for by Barnett. Oxycodone is a prescription pain killer, known by the brand name OxyContin.
The Trumbull County Coroner's Office ruled the death accidental. The indictment says Barnett recklessly caused the baby's death as a result of child endangering by exposing him to loose OxyContin pills.
bjackson@vindy.com