Two to be arraigned in Realtor’s death

Authorities have charged two men with killing a real estate agent who was showing a vacant house for sale, the first of two agents killed in a week in the region.

Youngstown Municipal Court said Robert Brooks, 25, of Youngstown, and Grant Cooper, 21, of Hubbard, were charged Thursday. They were expected to be arraigned this morning.

Youngstown Police Chief Jimmy Hughes told The Associated Press in an e-mail Friday that each had been charged with aggravated murder, aggravated robbery, aggravated arson and kidnapping.

The body of real estate agent Vivian Martin, 67, was found Monday in a vacant home Youngstown. The coroner said she had been strangled before her body was badly burned in a fire that gutted the house.

Brooks and his brother have been charged separately with robbing a real estate agent last week in Boardman just outside Youngstown.

Brooks and Paul Brooks, 27, pleaded not guilty Thursday to aggravated robbery and are being held without bond until a preliminary hearing scheduled for Tuesday. They do not have attorneys.

For more on this story, see Saturday’s Vindicator or vindy.com