Arrest made in 2001 homicide

The suspect was released from state prison 41/2 months ago.
YOUNGSTOWN -- A suspect has been arrested in a 2001 cold murder case, police say.
Shon D. Rankin, 27, is accused in the June 9, 2001, shooting death of Raymond Hayes, 32, of Mistletoe Avenue. Vindicator files show Hayes was shot about 2:40 a.m. in parking lot of Larry's Lounge on Hillman Street on the South Side and found across the street in the parking lot of Fran's Hilltop II, 2326 Hillman St.
Police Chief Jimmy Hughes announced Rankin's capture at a press conference at police headquarters downtown Thursday. The chief commended Detective Sgt. Ron Rodway, lead investigator, for working hard on the case.
Rankin was arrested Wednesday afternoon at a house on Breaden Street by members of the FBI/Mahoning Valley Violent Crimes Task Force. He had been secretly indicted Feb. 1 by a Mahoning County grand jury on charges of murder, having a weapon under disability and parole violation.
He will be arraigned today in county common pleas court.
Rodway said Rankin's mother and Hayes once dated and there was some talk that she had been slapped by him a year before the shooting. An ongoing year-long grudge ended when Rankin followed Hayes outside the bar and shot him in the back, the detective said.
Initial investigation
Rodway said Rankin's name surfaced immediately after the crime but some witnesses, including one on parole, for example, were reluctant to talk. The murder investigation faced delays and then Rankin went to prison in an unrelated robbery case. When he got out several months ago he went on the lam, maybe to Cleveland, the detective said.
A few months ago, a man in jail provided information that helped City Prosecutor Jay Macejko get the case presented directly to a grand jury, Rodway said.
Rankin, convicted of robbery with a gun specification in Cuyahoga County, was admitted to the Mansfield Correctional Institution Aug. 1, 2002. He was released Sept. 24, 2006, and placed on three years' parole to be monitored by the Ohio Adult Parole Authority in Youngstown.
The prison Web site shows him as a "violator at large" and says he should be considered dangerous and possibly armed.
Records show Rankin pleaded guilty in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to possession of cocaine in October 1998. Two months later, Judge Jack Durkin sentenced Rankin to two years' community control, commonly called probation, to be monitored by the APA.
Rankin violated his probation -- his whereabouts were unknown -- in September 1999, and Judge Durkin issued a warrant. In November 2000, a motion was filed to extend or revoke Rankin's probation and he was sentenced to 60 days in the Mahoning County jail.