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Cops seek leads in city’s 20th homicide
YOUNGSTOWN
Police are looking for leads in the city’s 20th homicide of 2010.
A 27-year-old man found dead late Thursday morning was last seen alive Tuesday. The victim was identified as Andre Whitlor of 2632 Hunter Ave. Anyone with information on the Whitlor case is asked to call the police department.
Police were dispatched to that location at 11:30 a.m. and found Whitlor on the dining room floor with blood around his head, and a female friend kneeling over him, crying and holding a cellular phone.
Another woman told police she and the woman kneeling over Whitlor had gone to the house because they hadn’t heard from Whitlor since Tuesday. Whitlor’s father told police he arrived at the scene five minutes after the two women.
One of the women told police she looked through a window and, after seeing chairs and other furniture tipped over, kicked in the front door. The women then went inside and found the victim.
All witnesses told police the victim’s blue 1990 four-door Chevrolet Caprice was missing. Police filed a stolen-car report.
The crime lab and detectives were called to the scene. Capt. Rod Foley, chief of detectives, said the motive for the homicide is unknown.
Witnesses who were the last people to see the victim before his death were interviewed at the police station, but no suspects were in custody as of late Thursday, Foley added.
Foley said detectives have an idea what type of weapon was used, but declined to release that information. He estimated the victim had been dead for at least 24 hours before police arrived at the crime scene.
The Mahoning County Coroner’s office has ruled the death a homicide, saying Whitlor died from at least one gunshot wound.
This is the city’s 20th homicide this year. At this point in 2009, there were 22 homicides. The last city homicide was the Sept. 25 drive-by shooting death of 74-year-old Thomas Repchic, also on the South Side.