Friends, authorities hope award of $5K will help to solve murder
The prosecutor has a new tip line: (330) 424-4502.
By D.A. WILKINSON
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- Friends of a slain man and the Columbiana County prosecutor's office hope a $5,000 reward will help solve a recent murder.
The prosecutor's office and friends of Michael "Rodeo" Williams announced the reward Tuesday at a press conference at the courthouse.
Williams, 37, of Greenwood Road, Rogers, was found in his car a short distance from his home about 9:23 a.m. Aug. 30. He had just finished his shift at a Youngstown manufacturing plant.
John Gamble, an assistant prosecutor, said that preliminary medical findings show that Williams' death was a homicide.
The results of an in-depth autopsy are pending.
Gamble said Williams died of blunt force trauma to the head that was inconsistent with a traffic accident.
Patterned after Yosemite case
The reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a killer is being provided by a nonprofit corporation, The Carole Sund/Carrington Foundation.
The fund was created by Frank and Carole Carrington after their daughter, Carole Sund, granddaughter Juli Sund, and a third woman, Silvina Pelosso, were killed near Yosemite National Park in 1999.
It was founded to help families without economic means offer rewards for information to help law enforcement officials locate missing loved one.
The fund has provided $175,000 in rewards to date.
Gamble said the foundation will get involved if it can work through local authorities.
Sunni Burnette of Darlington, Pa., who acted as a spokeswoman for the group, said she was, "a very good friend of Mike's."
Keeping quiet about case
The group, she said, plans to have a series of events to raise funds to increase the reward.
Authorities have been quiet about the progress of the investigation. The prosecutor's office along with the Columbiana County sheriff's office are working on the case.
But Burnette said the investigators were taking the case as seriously as if they were Williams' friends or family.
"I'm very happy with what they are doing," Burnette said.
Gamble said little information has been released to maintain the integrity of the investigation.
Burnette and Gamble indicated they have no main suspect.
But Gamble said someone in the community probably has information that can help the investigation.
The prosecutor's office has set up a new tip line at (330) 424-4502.
wilkinson@vindy.com