Wednesday, November 30, 2005
The Sept. 12 deaths of Lena Cross and her two children have been ruled homicides.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Family members of a murdered Girard woman and her two dead children attended a flag-raising ceremony on their behalf Tuesday on Courthouse Square.
Miriam Fife, Trumbull County Common Pleas court advocate, organized the morning ceremony for Mason Cross and Christian Pizzulo, who died of smoke inhalation in their duplex at 413 Dearborn St. on Sept. 12.
Dr. Ted Soboslay, the Trumbull County coroner, has ruled homicide in the deaths of the boys and their mother, Lena Cross.
Fife said the flag is raised whenever it becomes apparent that a Trumbull County child under age 18 has been killed. The event can sometimes "bring the victim's face out," because most of the time the perpetrator gets all of the attention, she said.
Fife said the flag would fly in Warren this week and a second flag will fly at the Girard Police Department.
Dr. Soboslay ruled that Cross, 22, died of multiple stab wounds, and her young sons died of smoke inhalation.
Recap of crime
Girard firefighters found all three victims in the home. The children were found upstairs in their beds. Their mother was found after the fire had been extinguished, lying on a couch in the downstairs front room.
At the ceremony, family members watched as the flag, which Fife bought from the national Child Welfare League, was raised on a flagpole outside of the Trumbull County Sheriff's Department. The flag shows a child in red, symbolizing a child lost to bloodshed.
Afterward, Joe Pizzulo, fiance of Lena Cross, spoke to the media, saying he wants the investigation into the deaths to "come to a conclusion."
Nora Cross of Niles, Lena Cross's aunt, said she felt the ceremony was important to bring attention to justice. "I'm sure that's what they [investigators] are working on, by steps."
"You never know when something like this can happen, and it makes you love them [children] all the more," said Willa Cross, step-grandmother of Lena Cross.
Girard police have treated the case as a homicide from the beginning, said Chief Frank Bigowsky.
He said the department is continuing to investigate the crime with help from the Trumbull County Prosecutor Office's Homicide Task Force, which includes members of the Hubbard Township, Warren and Liberty police departments, and the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation.
In a statement, Bigowsky said the investigation is "progressing in a positive direction and we expect a successful conclusion."
runyan@vindy.com