2-year-old's death ruled a homicide

A temporary headstone for the boy's grave should be installed this week.
& lt;a href=mailto:hill@vindy.com & gt;By IAN HILL & lt;/a & gt;
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
AUSTINTOWN -- The picture on Dorothy Simpson's coffee table shows 2-year-old Jesse Wolfe smiling slightly as his beaming sister, Chelsea, 6, wraps her arms around him from behind.
Jesse's hair is mussed, and his blue eyes sparkle. On his forehead, above his right eye, is an inch-long yellow bruise.
Police said Jesse's body was noticeably bruised when he was found not breathing Oct. 23 in his mother's Compass West apartment. He later died at St. Elizabeth Health Center.
Tuesday, the Trumbull County coroner ruled the boy's death a homicide and said he had been asphyxiated.
Heartbreaking
"It's broken our hearts," said Simpson, who lived next door to Jesse and his mother. She said her family had a close friendship with Jesse.
"My son would go over there constantly and get him and ride his bike and take him for a walk," she said. "My daughter went there every day to see him.
"It was like he was their boy," Simpson said. Her son is 14, and her daughter is 8.
Police are investigating the slaying and did not say if they had any suspects. They are not releasing the name of Jesse's mother or her boyfriend, who found the boy in his bed about 7:35 p.m. Oct. 10.
There was no answer at the Compass West apartment or at the boyfriend's home Tuesday afternoon.
Police report
The boyfriend told police he had arrived at the apartment and found that Jesse was not breathing and his skin was blue. Jesse also had blood in his throat, police said. The boyfriend said he performed CPR on the child until paramedics arrived.
Chelsea was in the apartment at the time; the mother was next door at the Simpson apartment returning a cooking dish.
Simpson said she raced next door when she heard the boyfriend call for help. She said Jesse "was just lying on the floor, lifeless."
Jason and April Wolfe, Jesse's aunt and uncle of Struthers, said the boy's mother called them that night from the hospital and said Jesse had died.
"The day before he died, he was running around, happy," Jason said. April added, "he didn't even have a cold."
The couple had Chelsea sleep at their house the night Jesse died. April said the next day, the mother called and said she would not be picking up the girl. Instead, she and her boyfriend went bowling, April said.
Chelsea "was so horribly upset," April said.
April said she and Jason later received a call from a Mahoning County Children Services Board official who said that if they did not take custody of Chelsea, she would be placed in foster care. Courts have since given April and Jason custody and ruled that Jesse's mother can visit the girl for one hour each Tuesday at Hope House, a facility designed to provide a safe, supervised setting for visits among family members who have trouble interacting, April said.
Both Jason and April said Chelsea has questions about how Jesse died. The couple said they have been frustrated that they have not been able to give her more answers, and they added that they are upset the investigation has taken so long.
"We can't answer [Chelsea's] questions until we get our questions answered," April said.
Funeral
A private funeral was held for Jesse last winter, and the boy is buried in an unmarked grave in Youngstown's Calvary Cemetery. Austintown Detective Sgt. Frank Tomasino and Kathy Blackstone, the owner of Blackstone Monument Co. in Girard, said they will donate a small temporary marker for the grave.
The temporary marker is expected to be installed this week and will remain until Wolfe's family decides if it wants a headstone.
Jason Wolfe said the mother hasn't paid the $2,500 bill for the funeral. Some of the funeral cost has been paid with donations, he said.
& lt;a href=mailto:hill@vindy.com & gt;hill@vindy.com & lt;/a & gt;