Police: Victim was strangled before fire

YOUNGSTOWN -- A man whose body was found near a burned-out car in a Crandall Park ravine was strangled and taken to the park before the vehicle was set on fire, a police detective said.
Detective Sgt. John Kelty said the man was likely killed at another location, placed in the trunk of the car and driven to the park. His body was then put outside the car near a gas tank before the fire was started.
The man's body was found on the ground behind the car about 5 a.m. Thursday with his right leg under a rear bumper.
Investigators at the Mahoning County coroner's office are attempting to positively identify the body, which was badly burned. Preliminary investigations show it may be a 20-year-old Dean Street man, police and coroner's office personnel said.
Police reports indicate the car is a 1992 Pontiac Bonneville registered to the Dean Street man.
Related shooting: Kelty said investigators believe that those responsible for the death also shot up a house on Berwick Avenue. The East Side home was surrounded and shot around 5 a.m., Kelty said. He added that a friend of the Dean Street man lives in the house.
A witness has told police the man was killed by a drug dealer who believes the victim had broken into his home and stolen drugs, police reports say.