Cops continue to probe murder

Staff report

WARREN

It’s been three weeks since a newspaper carrier found the body of Valerie L. Warren, 42, dead of a gunshot wound beside 7th Howard Street Southwest in Warren Township, but police say they are making progress in the case.

“We’re getting information, we’re working on it, but it’s going to be some time,” said Lt. Don Bishop of the Warren Township Police Department.

Investigators are still interviewing people and filling in gaps of the timeline leading up to Warren’s death.

They are also deciding today what physical evidence to take to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation lab in Richfield for analysis, Bishop said.

As for Warren, who lived on Pearl Street Southwest and had a history of drug abuse, Bishop said she didn’t have one specific place where she spent her time.

“She was all over,” Bishop said.

Police believe Warren, who died from a gunshot wound to the head and neck, likely was killed about 11 p.m. April 4, when neighbors heard gunshots.

Her body apparently remained along the edge of the street in a dark area next to a former factory for about six hours before the newspaper carrier spotted it, police said.

The location is just south of the Warren City limits and the Highland Terrace apartments.