NEWTON FALLS Man is found dead in vehicle

The man had not been identified by midmorning.
By SHERRI L. SHAULIS
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
NEWTON FALLS -- An autopsy scheduled for this morning should give investigators a better idea of what happened to a man found dead behind the wheel of a 40-ton construction vehicle.
The white male, believed to be in his late teens or early 20s, was found early Sunday in the truck in a cornfield on Newton Falls-Bailey Road after neighbors called police to complain that the vehicle had been there for several hours with its lights on and the engine running.
The man, who has not yet been identified, was found hunched over the steering wheel. Blood was found in the truck.
Apparently stolen
The vehicle, a Volvo earth mover, was apparently stolen from Lafarge North America, less than a mile away on Newton Falls-Bailey Road in an area where Lafarge crews are developing a construction and demolition debris landfill.
Sheriff Thomas Altiere said deputies were called by the Ohio State Highway Patrol, which initially received the call shortly before 9 a.m. He said Lafarge officials were unaware the vehicle had been stolen.
Tim Page, operations manager for Lafarge, said no one was working Sunday morning at the facility, which covers more than 400 acres.
"We had construction crews working this weekend, but they left at 10 p.m. Saturday," he said.
Page and Altiere did do not know this morning if the man was an employee of Beaver Excavating, the company doing the work at the site.
"We have no idea who it is," Page said.
Page said the entire facility is fenced in, but the truck was driven through a steel gate, which workers were to begin replacing today.
According to reports, the vehicle was driven onto the road before it swerved across a ditch and into the cornfield.
Dr. Humphrey Germaniuk, forensic pathologist for the Trumbull County Coroner's Office, was scheduled to conduct an autopsy this morning to determine what caused the man's death.
slshaulis@vindy.com