NORTH SIDE SLAYINGS Police hope forensic clues help identify who killed 3 people

All three victims had brushes with the law.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Forensic evidence -- such as fingerprints -- could play a significant role in determining who shot a woman and two men to death on the North Side, police say.
Once investigative leads turn up a suspect or suspects, forensic evidence could be used as corroboration, Lt. Robin Lees, Youngstown Police Department spokesman, said today. He said fingerprints, for example, might be found on 9mm shell casings found at 123 New York Ave., the site of last week's triple homicide.
"They could be on a doorknob or shell casings. What did they touch?" Lees said. "If you can pick up something like that, it puts the suspect there."
Lees said fingerprint evidence might be analyzed at YPD or sent to the state Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation.
The victims were Danyale Oliver, 30; David Johns, 22; and Nicole Scott, 26, all of Youngstown. The three, discovered at 7:45 p.m. Thursday, had likely been dead about 24 hours, police said.
Suspects drugs
Capt. Robert Kane, chief of detectives, has said the shootings could be drug-related. The house had video-surveillance equipment and ironwork on the windows.
With no signs of forced entry, it's obvious that the shooter or shooters were let into the house by someone inside, Lees said today.
He said the motive is wide open. It could have been robbery, an argument, rivalry of some kind or a romantic entanglement, he said.
Over the three-day Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, Detective Sgts. Ron Rodway and Jose Morales followed leads that trickled in, talking to people who may know something about the crime, Lees said. As of this morning, no arrests had been made and the detectives were back out tracking down tips.
Tips wanted
Lees said anyone with information for Rodway or Morales is asked to call (330) 742-8911 before 4 p.m. and (330) 742-8926 after 4. Calls will be held in strict confidence.
Records show that all three victims have had brushes with the law.
In January 1999, Oliver, who had pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine, was sentenced in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to two years' community control by Judge R. Scott Krichbaum, the clerk's office said. Oliver's charge had been reduced from trafficking in cocaine by a motion of the prosecutor.
In April 2002, Johns, who had pleaded guilty in common pleas court to possession of cocaine, received treatment in lieu of conviction and was placed in a rehabilitation program by Judge Jack Durkin. The charge had been reduced from trafficking in cocaine by a motion of the prosecutor.
After Johns completed the program, his charge was dismissed in July 2003.
Scott's municipal court records show that she was placed on three years' probation in September 2003, after pleading no contest to charges of falsification, passing bad checks and driving under suspension. Judge Robert P. Milich sentenced Scott to 180 days in jail, suspended 120 and gave her credit for 24 days served.
The jail time was to run consecutive to a sentence imposed in Boardman county court. The nature of that crime was not immediately available.
meade@vindy.com