Guilty plea in 1994 death

An assistant prosecutor credited Warren police for solving the cold case.

By TIM YOVICH

VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF

WARREN — Crystal Code suffers from asthma and was convinced she would have died before her mother’s killer was brought to justice.

But the 14-year-old cold case, solved through DNA, ended Monday in the Trumbull County Common Pleas courtroom of Judge W. Wyatt McKay where 35-year-old William K. Gunther Jr. pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter.

Gunther was sentenced to 13 to 28 years in prison for the Jan. 15, 1994, shooting death of Priscilla Code, 48, who lived on Highland Avenue at the time. In exchange for the plea, a charge of raping Priscilla Code was dismissed.

“I thought I would die before I knew who killed my mother,” Crystal Code, now 43, said after the sentencing.

She noted that she had never seen Gunther before Monday in the courtroom.

During her victim impact statement to Judge McKay, Crystal Code sobbed as she told the judge, “I loved my mother.”

Crystal Code, of Warren, is theolder of Priscilla Code’s two daughters. Crystal also has a brother.

Looking at Gunther, Crystal Code said she wanted him to know what grief he has caused her family.

Chris Becker, an assistant county prosecutor, said he was pleased with the outcome. He gave credit for solving the case to the Warren Police Department for assembling possible witnesses to testify if the case had gone to trial. It was supposed to get under way Monday.

Code was raped and shot to death near Western Reserve Middle School in what was one of the coldest days in winter. She died of multiple gunshot wounds.

It was a CODIS hit that led police to Gunther’s identity as a suspect in the case. CODIS is the acronym for Combined DNA Index System. It’s a national database designed by the FBI to store DNA profiles from convicted offenders as well as crime scene evidence.

All people who have been convicted of a felony after July 1, 1990, are required to provide blood or cheek cell samples for DNA analysis.

Gunther was in Ohio’s prison system from Aug. 6, 1996, to April 2, 2004, after being convicted of attempted felonious assault.

He was arrested in Miami, Fla., and waived extradition.

Gunther’s attorney, John Fowler of Warren, had said that Gunther claimed to have had sex with Code in a Warren crack house but denied killing her.

Judge McKay noted before sentencing that Gunther had failed a lie detector test.

yovich@vindy.com