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Police stay on trail of unsolved homicides
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Gavalier
By Elise Franco
Austintown
The township police department’s two most recent homicide cases are also its first to remain unsolved in a decade.
Since 2003, the township has had 10 homicides and one manslaughter. The most recent, Odomie A. Wellington in December 2010 and Stephen Shonn in January 2011, remain open and active on the desks of Austintown detectives.
Police Chief Robert Gavalier said of the nine solved cases, two were classified as aggravated murder, two as murder, three as aggravated vehicular homicide, one as negligent homicide and one as involuntary manslaughter.
The unsolved homicides, which happened about six weeks apart, are not related, Gavalier said.
Gavalier said detectives spent a year investigating both cases, but he recently decided their best bet in finding the killers was to start fresh.
“What we’ll do after a while is reassign the cases,” he said. “We want them to work it as if it’s a new case, re-interviewing everyone and reviewing all of the evidence involved.”
Gavalier said this approach can succeed because one detective may have a different interviewing style or pick up on something a previous detective missed.
“Sometimes people we interview give up more information when they’re re-interviewed later on,” he said. “It’s a fresh set of eyes and ears on the case.”
Wellington, 31, of Austintown, was found dead Dec. 4, 2010, with multiple gunshot wounds. He was in the driver’s seat of a white Cadillac parked outside Westchester Executive Apartments, 4884 Westchester Drive, where he lived.
Alekum N. McLendon, 21, of Youngstown, was in the passenger seat when he was shot in the lower back. He has since recovered.
Capt. Bryan Kloss said evidence suggests the killing was drug-related.
“This case led to the interruption of a lot of narcotics coming into the area from California,” he said. “This case was drug-related, big time.”
The second unsolved case is the murder of Shonn, 76, of 3412 Bentwillow Lane, who was strangled inside his home on Jan. 19, 2011.
His 71-year-old wife, Judith Shonn, found her husband’s body in the basement of their home, police said. Shonn was laying face down with his hands at his sides. His pockets were emptied, and no wallet, cell phone or car keys were found near the body.
Police said she’s not a suspect.
Gavalier said detectives have conducted interviews, reviewed surveillance tapes from the former Brudders Restaurant on state Route 46, where his car was found the next morning, and are following several leads.
“We got some information back from BCI [state Bureau of Criminal Information and Investigation] and definitely have more to go on with Shonn’s case, evidence-wise,” he said.
Gavalier said in the Wellington case evidence is sparse, and neither victim knew the shooter’s identity.
“It’s more common that there’s a relationship between the victim and killer,” which is one reason he said the township has had so few cases left open.
Kloss said though it’s more difficult to identify a suspect who has no other ties to a victim, detectives do have some leads on the Wellington case, but releasing that information could compromise the investigation.
“It’s possible it may never be solved, but it’s also possible that it could be with the right information,” Kloss said.
Kloss said detectives will continue to work these cases until the trails run completely cold.
“Every effort is being made to solve both homicides,” he said. “There’s no time frame on when a case is considered cold. It’s when the leads run out.
“Fortunately, we don’t have a lot of those in our township.”