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Woman’s death ruled homicide
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
The Trumbull County coroner has confirmed that Valerie L. Warren, 42, died of a single gunshot wound to the head and neck, and her death is a homicide.
Dr. Humphrey Germaniuk issued those rulings Friday afternoon after an autopsy.
Warren’s body was found beside 7th/Howard Street at Highland Avenue Southwest, just south of Warren, early Thursday by a newspaper carrier.
Police believe her body was along the side the road beside a vacant factory for about six hours.
Warren, who had a history of drug arrests, battled her drug problems without recent success, a Warren woman who knew her said Friday.
“She was at Neil Kennedy [Recovery Center] a year ago,” said Laurie Pizzulo, who knew Warren because Warren dated Pizzulo’s cousin.
She spent about a month at the facility, but the treatment was not successful, Pizzulo said, adding that Warren had a lot of medical problems.
Police believe Warren was shot about 11 p.m., when neighbors heard gunshots. Her body was found about 6 a.m. The area is not lighted and is very dark at night, said Lt. Don Bishop of the Warren Township Police Department.
Bishop said the area was so dark that investigators with his department and the Trumbull County Homicide Task Force were unable to spot a shell casing right away. It wasn’t until the sun started to come up that they found it, Bishop said.
Bishop could not be reached to comment on the investigation Friday. As of Thursday afternoon, police didn’t have a suspect in Warren’s death.
Pizzulo said she found it “weird” that Warren was killed in the remote, low-income area just south of the Highland Homes apartments.
“I don’t know what she was doing on this side of town,” Pizzulo said, adding that she knew Warren’s last address to be in Girard. Bishop listed Warren’s last address as being on Pearl Street Southwest in Warren.
“To me, she’s always been really good to me and my family,” Pizzulo said of Warren. “I would say she was a good and caring person.
“Everybody has problems, but it’s not always what they make it out to be,” Pizzulo said.