Suspect's arrest relieves victim's kin

Science not available 13 years ago led to an arrest.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Crystal Code has been waiting 13 years to find out what happened to her mother, Priscilla Code, killed in Warren on Jan. 15, 1994.
She hopes murder and rape charges against William K. Gunther Jr., 35, formerly of Cortland, will answer some of the questions and bring justice.
"I've been grieving for 13 years. I've been wondering 13 years," said Code, of Warren.
"God wants you to not worry," she continued. "He is in control. He doesn't want you to suffer in your heart, but it's hard ... "
Priscilla Johnson, the victim's mother, also spent years wondering what happened to the 48-year-old mother of three. Family members take some comfort in knowing that, before Johnson died last month, they were able to tell her someone had been charged.
Richard Johnson of Warren, another of Priscilla Johnson's children, said the killing and not knowing what happened to Priscilla Code "bothered her quite a bit." Family members told the 85-year-old woman about Gunther while she was on her death bed.
"She wasn't quite awake," Johnson said, but everyone felt that telling her helped bring closure to her life.
"I believe God had a reason for that," Code said. She died a few days later.
"The last thing that goes is the hearing," Code said; family members felt she understood what was being said.
What happened
Priscilla Code had called her mother the night of her death, saying she was "on her way home" to the Highland Avenue residence.
A few hours later, her partially clothed body was found nearby on Peerless Street near the present Western Reserve Middle School. She had been shot multiple times and raped. The case went cold for 13 years with no one charged.
Then, a federal database matched semen obtained as evidence in the investigation with the DNA officials gathered from Gunther while he was serving an Ohio prison term from Aug. 6, 1998, to April 2, 2004, on a felonious-assault conviction. People convicted of certain crimes in Ohio are required to give a sample of their DNA.
Gunther is in Trumbull County jail in lieu of 500,000 bond. If convicted, he faces 18 years to life on a murder charge with a gun specification and eight to 28 years on a rape charge.
On Wednesday, Gunther was appointed a new attorney, John Fowler of Warren, to replace an Ohio public defender, because a relative of the victim works locally as a criminal investigator.
Local officials spent about the last two years trying to gather additional evidence, said Chris Becker, an assistant Trumbull County prosecutor.
How things appear
Johnson said he was glad that science was able to identify a suspect. He said he understands that the technology used in the case wasn't available in 1994.
Prosecutors have told him they think they have a good case, he added.
The family said Priscilla Code was a Delphi Packard worker for many years, good mother to her three children and grandmother to five.
"She was loved by everybody," Code said. "She was a good grandmother. She was there for them."
Describing her relationship with her mother, Code said: "She would talk any time I needed. She would be there for me."
runyan@vindy.com