Probe continues into death of man at motel

Staff report

WARREN

Warren police and the Trumbull County coroner’s office continue to investigate the death of James F. Pizzulo III, 32, of Adams Avenue Northwest, whose body was found Friday under a mattress in the Best Western Motel on Mahoning Avenue.

Police are investigating Pizzulo’s death as a homicide, though there was no physical evidence at the scene indicating what caused his death.

Police said an employee discovered Pizzulo’s body at 11:15 a.m. in a motel room after going there to investigate a smell. The body was between the mattress and a wooden, hollow box that holds the mattress, police said.

Police and the coroner’s office are awaiting toxicology results conducted on Pizzulo’s body before determining whether Pizzulo’s death was a homicide.

Dr. Humphrey Germaniuk, Trumbull County coroner, conducted an autopsy Saturday, but a ruling in the cause of death is pending lab results.

Police said it appeared Pizzulo had been dead for a day or more when the body was found and that he had checked in at the motel, 777 Mahoning Ave., a few days earlier.

Pizzulo was sentenced to prison twice — a seven-year sentence in 2000 for aggravated robbery and felonious assault and one year in 2009 for theft.