Man wanted in slaying caught in Tenn. restaurant

The message: You can run, but we'll catch you, a U.S. marshal says.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Terry D. Rozier, wanted in the killing of a South Side teenager, had his breakfast plans at a Waffle House in Nashville, Tenn., interrupted when law enforcement officers showed up to arrest him.
Rozier and his cousin, Anthony Cruse, who lives in Nashville, had just sat down and ordered coffee about 3 a.m. Saturday when U.S. marshals and Nashville police "swooped in and overwhelmed" them, said Timothy A. Hornung, a deputy U.S. marshal.
The hunt for the 28-year-old fugitive, aided by Tennesee Highway Patrol troopers, had been on since 6 p.m. Friday when tips that led to Nashville -- home of the Grand Ole Opry -- started to pan out, Hornung said. Cruse's 1999 green Cadillac DeVille with a 30-day tag turned out to be the key.
Hornung said he was on the phone with Kevin Koback, who runs the U.S. marshals fugitive task force in Nashville, when word came at 3:02 a.m. that the Cadillac had pulled into the Waffle House parking lot off Interstate 65.
Police had set up at a McDonald's restaurant nearby, a few blocks from Cruse's neighborhood.
Hornung said he and Willie Seay, a Mahoning County deputy sheriff, had developed leads in Youngstown that led to Nashville. "Willie and I didn't know if the leads would pan out and, then, bingo!" Hornung said Saturday.
A Mahoning County grand jury indicted Rozier, who listed a Woodford Avenue address, last month along with Latrell Jackson, 21, of Hilton Avenue and Odis Simmons, 19, of Hudson Avenue. Each is charged with one count of murder and two counts of kidnapping and aggravated robbery.
What's behind charge
The three, along with the victim, William C. Lee, 17, of East Dewey Avenue, lured an Aurora Drive couple to a house on Woodford on July 27 under the pretense of selling them car rims, police said.
Lee was accidentally shot when Jackson struggled with the man they robbed and the gun went off, police said.
Because Lee was killed during a robbery, the others were charged with his murder, even though he was their accomplice.
Cruse, wanted on a Tennessee probation violation, also was taken into custody, Hornung said.
After extradition proceedings, Rozier will likely be brought back to Ohio by Mahoning County deputies, Hornung said.
"[The arrest] sends this message: It doesn't matter where they run -- we're going to catch them," U.S. Marshal Peter J. Elliott, based in Cleveland, said Saturday of the capture. "I couldn't be happier with the job our guys are doing in Mahoning County."
U.S. marshals are members of the Gun Reduction Interdiction Project, a multiagency task force that targets high-crime areas in the city. GRIP, which began in late June, is expected to scale back after Labor Day.
In 1994, Rozier, who also goes by the name Terry Hudson, was convicted of aggravated robbery in Mahoning County. He was in the Trumbull Correctional Institution from May 6, 1994, to June 13, 2001, records show.
meade@vindy.com