Thursday, June 16, 2011
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House of Hope Center
YOUNGSTOWN
About seven months after a man died at a North Side group home, the Mahoning County Coroner’s office is ruling the death a homicide.
Michael J. Lambert, who lived at House of Hope, died from “manual strangulation and homicide” on Nov. 11, 2010, according to a June 3 coroner’s report.
House of Hope is a group home for the mentally impaired at 115 Illinois Ave.
Lambert, 59, was found dead in a bathtub. On Nov. 13, an autopsy was performed.
The autopsy report says another resident “made several incriminating statements that were highly suggestive that a struggle of some type had occurred.”
The police department investigated the incident when it occurred and is reviewing the case again, but haven’t made an arrest.
“It’s difficult because everyone there has special needs,” said police Chief Jimmy Hughes. “There was an altercation that went on, but the altercation didn’t appear to cause the death. Also, there was a gap between the altercation and the death.”
Hughes questioned why it took nearly seven months for the coroner’s office to make a homicide ruling.
“It’s been a long time,” he said. “Why now are we getting a ruling? We were pleading with the coroner for a report” when Lambert was found dead. “The cause of death was a major issue.”
Attempts late Wednesday to contact Dr. David Kennedy by The Vindicator were unsuccessful.
Lambert’s death increases the number of homicides in Youngstown last year from 20 to 21.
House of Hope, formerly Bryson Manor, was once affiliated with two residential mental-health facilities that closed on the North Side: Covington House and Illinois Manor.
Over the years, state and local officials have investigated two deaths, two rapes and numerous abuses that have occurred at the homes.
Covington House and Illinois Manor were closed in July 2007. But Hope, which opened in 1993 as Bryson, remains open after being acquired by its former adm inistrator and two others in January 2010. It is home to about 55 people with impairments such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
The Ohio Department of Health criticized House of Hope in December 2010 for conditions “that constitute a real and present danger,” and that the facility “failed to provide adequate supervision to ensure a safe living environment” in the Lambert death case. The state sought the home’s closure in February.
In March, Magistrate Daniel P. Dascenzo of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court issued a preliminary injunction allowing the group home to stay open, but ordered House of Hope officials to cooperate with the Ohio Department of Health to correct any violations found by inspectors. He also continued the ban on the admission of new residents and on staff reductions at the home, which he imposed in a Feb. 23 temporary restraining order.