Friend IDs blanket found with body

The victim was not seen after a 2 a.m. trip to the store last November.
& lt;a href=mailto:meade@vindy.com & gt;By PATRICIA MEADE & lt;/a & gt;
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The blanket used to wrap David Greer before his body was tossed into McKelvey Lake came from his neighbor's apartment in New Castle, Pa., his girlfriend says.
Shot in the head, Greer, 32, of Sankey Street, New Castle, was spotted a week ago in the lake by a fisherman. His name was released Monday by Coroner David M. Kennedy, who ruled the death a homicide.
At the morgue, 31-year-old Sebrina Taylor positively identified the clothes she last saw Greer in -- down to his blue boxer shorts -- when he left their apartment around 2 a.m. Nov. 21. Greer went with a friend who had called several times.
"Dave didn't say why [the friend] wanted him to go," Taylor said. "I didn't get in his business."
Bought cigarettes
He told Taylor he'd bring her back cigarettes from a nearby convenience store. She found cigarettes on the bedside table when she woke at 7 a.m., but Greer wasn't there. She called the friend who took Greer to the store and learned that he had dropped Greer off in the apartment complex parking lot.
"I just can't get over somebody disappearing from a parking lot," Taylor said Monday. "We didn't have a car."
Taylor waited until Nov. 24 to report her live-in boyfriend of 11/2 years missing to New Castle police. She said police told her the store's video surveillance shows her boyfriend had been there with the friend who called.
When asked if she and Greer knew anyone from Youngstown, she gave the name of their neighbor, originally from Youngstown, whom she said was picked up on a probation violation after Greer's body was discovered. She said the blanket that wrapped Greer's body once hung in the neighbor's apartment -- used to temporarily cover a bedroom window.
"I told the detective about the blanket," Taylor said. "It's all different colors -- burgundy, blue, tan -- you would think it's an oriental rug."
She said others remember the distinctive blanket, too.
Questioning planned
Detective Sgt. Ron Rodway, who is investigating the case, said he intends to question Greer and Taylor's neighbor's girlfriend about the blanket. Rodway said he suspects Greer's death is drug related.
Taylor said Greer had no enemies and didn't bother anyone. He was not working but was looking for a job. About the only time he went out was to go to the store, she said.
"Now I'll have to sit down and tell my kids that Dave is not coming back," Taylor said. "My 9-year-old got football and basketball trophies from Dave's help."
Taylor also has a 12-year-old son and two daughters, 11 and 7.
"Whoever it was shot him, I don't know. I don't know what went on in the streets," Taylor said. "I'm scared. I got a board across my back door. I'm scared they might try to do the same thing to me."
The young mother said she's thankful to the fisherman who found Greer.
Taylor said Greer is from Detroit and will be buried there. He also lived in Dayton, where he spent time in jail for selling drugs, she said.
Youngstown homicides
Unless investigators are able to prove that Greer was shot elsewhere, he will be Youngstown's eighth homicide victim of the year. At this time last year, the city had recorded 10 homicides.
A ruling is still pending in the death of Michael L. Jordan, whose body was found in March, buried in the cellar of a rental house on the North Side.
& lt;a href=mailto:meade@vindy.com & gt;meade@vindy.com & lt;/a & gt;