Youngstown police ID man found slain

staff report

YOUNGSTOWN — Police checking out an abandoned car on Miltonia Avenue found the body of a Bennington Street man who had been missing for two days.

Marvin Chambers, 35, of 1338 Bennington Ave., died of a single gunshot wound to the abdomen, according to the Mahoning County coroner’s office, which ruled the death a homicide, the sixth of the year, compared with nine in the city at this time in 2008.

Police said Chambers’ body wasn’t found immediately.

The officer checking the car around 3 p.m. Thursday looked around the area, including around some bleachers in nearby Nick Johnson Park, for anyone who might be connected to the vehicle but found no one.

A check of the car registration showed that it is owned by Laponica Lampley of 1338 Bennington Ave., so the investigating officer went to that address to ask her about the car.

He said she told him that her boyfriend, Chambers, had been missing and was last seen with her car around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday.

The officer returned to the Miltonia Avenue with other officers to expand the search. Chambers was found in a pavilion in the park. He was lying on his back and had an apparent bullet wound to the abdomen, police said.

No arrests had been made in the case as of Friday afternoon.