HOMICIDE CASE Brother's killer still at large

Family members have increased a reward for information to $15,000.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Zachary Baker has been waiting a long time to find out what happened to his brother.
He'll have to keep waiting, according to Mahoning County authorities.
"It's getting ridiculous," the former Youngstown man said. "Nothing is getting done."
Baker's 30-year-old brother, Kevin Dietz of Steel Street, was found dead Nov. 9, 2002, on Bundy Lane, which borders Austintown Township in Mahoning County and Weathersfield Township in Trumbull County. Dietz apparently had been beaten and run over by a car.
Weathersfield police originally handled the investigation and had charged 39-year-old Clayton Booker of Liberty with aggravated vehicular homicide.
Booker became a suspect after using his cellular telephone to call authorities and report finding the body. Investigators at the scene believed Booker was driving the car that ran over Dietz.
But in January 2003, the case was handed over to Austintown detectives after a jurisdictional problem was discovered.
What happened next
Once the case crossed the county line, the charge against Booker was dismissed.
No new charges in Dietz's death have been filed in Mahoning County.
"They haven't come up with crap," said Baker, who now lives in Florida. "They don't even know where Clayton Booker is now."
Timothy Franken, chief assistant Mahoning County prosecutor, said authorities are still investigating the case but don't have enough evidence to file charges.
"It's still an active investigation, but the leads just aren't panning out," Franken said. "There's some weird stuff going on in that case."
He said authorities are still trying to figure out what Dietz was doing on Bundy Lane, and why Dietz's infant daughter was found abandoned in a yard on Lee Avenue the same night Dietz was found dead.
Baker thinks his brother and the baby were kidnapped, though that has not been proved. The girl was placed in custody of Dietz's mother-in-law.
Reward
The victim's family has again increased a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for Dietz's death. The reward, which started at $500, was recently increased to $15,000, Baker said.
He hopes the amount will persuade someone to come forward with a tip that might help police crack the case. But that's the same thing he thought seven months ago when the reward was increased from $7,000 to $10,000.
"I figured $10,000 would make a crack addict tell on her own mother," Baker said. "We didn't hear a thing."
Baker said he wants to see the case solved so he and his family can have closure over his brother's death.
Franken said he would like to accomplish that too. "We're doing everything we can."
bjackson@vindy.com