HOMICIDE CASE Preliminary hearing set for man

EAST LIVERPOOL -- Brandon W. Johnson, 19, of East Liverpool is being held in the Columbiana County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bond in the death of Tiffany Faulk, 21, of West 9th Street.
Johnson appeared Monday in East Liverpool Municipal Court and will have a preliminary hearing at 2:30 p.m. Aug. 25.
East Liverpool Police Chief Mike McVey said police responded to a call of a fight in the street on the city's West Side. They arrived to find Faulk lying on the pavement at Edgewood Street and Grape Alley. She was pronounced dead.
McVey said he is waiting on a ruling from the Columbiana County coroner on what caused Faulk's death.
McVey commended Edgewood Street and Grape Alley residents who alerted police to the assault in progress. He said Capt. Terry Faulkner and Patrolman Kelsey Hendrick later responded to a tip and found Johnson around 2:30 a.m. in a wooded creek bed between state Route 11 and Claiborne Street.
The officers took Johnson to East Liverpool City Hospital for treatment of a minor head injury, cuts and bruises that McVey said Johnson suffered as he fled. Police believe Johnson slid and fell down two steep hills to reach the creek bed.
East Liverpool police, Columbiana County prosecutor's office and the county coroner's office are continuing the investigation.