Second suspect arrested in case of robbery-murder

Conviction of a charge of complicity to murder carries a possible prison term of 15 years to life.

WARREN — An affidavit unsealed last week says a videotape provided by the Elm Road Wal-Mart shows three men buying ski masks and gloves less than two hours before two men matching their description went to a Howland apartment complex and killed a 21-year-old man in an apparent robbery.

That evidence, coupled with an interview one of the three men gave police, reveals what police think happened Dec. 23 before Cameron Murray’s lifeless body was found in the doorway of his apartment building on Sandpiper Trail.

The apartment complex is off East Market Street a short distance west of Howland High School.

The evidence led to an arrest warrant for Oryan L. Miller, 19, of Hall Street Northwest, Warren, who was arrested at his home a short time later Friday afternoon.

Miller also made an initial appearance in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court later Friday on charges of complicity to murder and complicity to aggravated burglary. He is being held in Trumbull County Jail in lieu of $1 million bond.

He returns to court at 1 p.m. next Monday before Judge Andrew Logan. If convicted of complicity to murder, he could go to prison for 15 years to life. Conviction on the aggravated-burglary charge could add 10 years to that.

Michael Ahladis, 24, of Jefferson Street Southwest, Warren, was indicted in March on the same charges as Miller. His case is pending, with a trial date set for Aug. 31.

The affidavit said Ahladis has admitted to picking up Miller and Delshawn Scrivens, 25, of Wood Street Southwest, Warren, and taking them to Wal-Mart in preparation for a break-in at Murray’s apartment.

Ahladis also said he dropped off Scrivens, who is his cousin, and Miller at Murray’s apartment and returned after Scrivens called him, saying he’d been shot and to return to pick them up.

Ahladis said he helped Scrivens and Miller into his pickup truck and left.

Ahladis went to a man’s house and switched cars, borrowing a sport-utility vehicle owned by a relative of Miller’s to drive Scrivens to Forum Health Trumbull Memorial Hospital for treatment of a gunshot wound to the stomach. Scrivens died in February from his wounds.

Miller’s relative and another man drove Miller to St. Joseph Health Center for treatment of a gunshot wound to the buttock, the affidavit said.

Miller pleaded guilty in May to obstructing official business and falsification, misdemeanors, admitting he gave police false information about how he received his gunshot wound. He was sentenced to two years of probation.

Lab results from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation show that Miller’s DNA was found on stains in Murray’s house and on a hat found under Murray’s leg. Miller also had gunshot residue on his hands, the affidavit said.

Two guns were fired at the apartment, with eight bullets being recovered from the apartment and Murray’s body, plus one still in Miller’s body, the affadavit said.

Just after Murray’s death, Howland Police Chief Paul Monroe said there were no witnesses to the shooting, even though Murray’s body was found in the open doorway of his apartment at 4 p.m. A construction worker first noticed Murray’s body and called 911, police said.

Monroe said construction noise in the apartment complex might have prevented witnesses from hearing the gunshots.

The affidavit, however, says Howland police did interview a neighbor who said he saw two people wearing ski masks “wrestling” on the back porch of Murray’s apartment building.

One of the men was wearing a brown Carhartt-type coat, the witness said.

One of the things police found with Scrivens at the hospital was a Carhartt jacket and a receipt in his pocket indicating he’d been at Wal-Mart an hour or two before the shooting, the affidavit said.

runyan@vindy.com