Victim's family pushes for more action on case

Police didn't interview all potential witnesses, the deceased's family spokesman says.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The brother of a woman who suffered fatal stab wounds said his family will press for continued pursuit of the criminal case in connection with the death.
"We just hope justice gets done, and we're just not going to stop until justice is done," said Mark Young, 40, of West Chalmers Avenue, brother of Katherine Favors, 50, who was fatally wounded Sept. 15 in her residence at 17 E. Auburndale Ave.
Young said he was satisfied with the outcome of a one-hour meeting Tuesday morning, in which he and seven other members of his family conferred with Steven Shandor, the assistant Mahoning County prosecutor handling the matter.
Young said he hopes new evidence can be presented and a grand jury can reconsider the case, in which it previously declined to indict Ernestine Gowdy, 44, of the same address, on a murder charge.
Gowdy, who had been in the county jail since Sept. 17, was released after the grand jury declined to indict her.
Shandor declined to discuss specifics of this matter. But Young said police have not interviewed all potential witnesses, including some members of his family, and that laboratory results from DNA tests are still awaited.
Where a grand jury has declined to issue an indictment, the panel is permitted to reconsider a case and issue an indictment if new evidence emerges.
"What we're just hoping for is for everybody to get to be heard and for something to get done about this case," Young said.
'Productive' meeting
Young said he is convinced the prosecutor's office still wants to pursue this case.
The meeting, which Young characterized as "very productive," occurred in the same room where the grand jury decided not to issue the indictment Nov. 16.
Shandor said the case needed to go before the grand jury quickly with whatever evidence was then available because a state rule of criminal procedure says the grand jury must hear a case within 60 days after a defendant is bound over from a municipal court.
A neighbor said he heard a loud argument in the house and a loud scream before Favors was found dead on a living room couch at the Auburndale Avenue address.
Gowdy told police she acted in self-defense and in defense of her 9-year-old daughter.
Gowdy told police that Favors lunged at her with a knife, and that she grabbed the knife from Favors and stabbed her once, police reports said.
Young has said he doesn't understand how Favors, who suffered a stab wound to her right shoulder that severed an artery, and Gowdy, who had a cut on her right hand, could both have been wounded on their right sides if they were facing each other in the confrontation and if Gowdy acted in self-defense.
milliken@vindy.com