Grand jury indicts man on four deaths

Grand jury indicts man on four deaths

YOUNGSTOWN — A Center Street man has been indicted on four counts of aggravated murder, all with firearm and death penalty specifications in the deaths of a woman and her unborn baby and 8-year-old son last week.

The Mahoning County grand jury today indicted Curtis Young, 24, in the deaths of Helen Moore, 29, of Cassius Street, the nearly full-term baby he fathered, and her son, Ceonei Moore, on the afternoon of July 31 on North Center Street. Detectives believe the bullet that passed through Moore’s neck entered Ceonei’s head in the car the victims occupied.

The shooting followed what police said was a domestic dispute and what witnesses called a love triangle. Young surrendered to authorities Aug. 2 on the Mahoning County Courthouse steps.

Young had been at Moore’s home, where they argued. What followed was a rolling argument from Cassius Street to North Center Street, involving Moore, her sister and Young, all in separate cars.

The indictment consists of one aggravated murder count each regarding Moore and Ceonei and two counts for the unborn child, one alleging unlawful pregnancy termination and the other listing the victim as Baby Moore.

Timothy Franken, chief trial lawyer in the county prosecutor’s office, who presented the case to the grand jury, explained that the indictment offers two alternative charges, one alleging the fetus was killed by prior calculation and design, and one without the words “prior calculation and design.”

If Young were to be found guilty of both charges concerning the fetus, the two charges would merge, Franken explained.

A viable fetus is a person under the law, he said. “We covered all the bases,” Franken added. All four counts allege purposeful killing.

For more on this story, see Friday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com.