North Bloomfield man arraigned on Bristolville murder charge

Staff report

NEWTON FALLS

A North Bloomfield man was arraigned Tuesday in Newton Falls Municipal Court on a murder charge, accused of killing a former friend at the Bristol Inn on Thursday night.

William J. Helmuth, 45, of Creaser Road, remains in the Trumbull County jail on $1 million bond after Judge Philip Vigorito arraigned him.

The charge carries a possible sentence of life in prison with parole eligibility after 15 years.

Major Thomas Stewart of the Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office said deputies took Helmuth into custody about 45 minutes after witnesses at the Bristol Inn, at state Routes 45 and 88, called 911 regarding a knife fight and knife injury.

They reported about 9 p.m. that Craig C. Neighhor, 41, of Corey Hunt Road in Bristolville, had been stabbed during an argument with Helmuth and that Helmuth had left the tavern with a knife and gone north on Route 45.

Deputies found Helmuth at his brother’s house on Hyde-Oakfield Road in Bristol Township, Stewart said. No knife was recovered.

Helmuth and Neighbor had been friends at one time, but “had words, nothing physical” more recently, Stewart said.

The men had been drinking, but there’s no indication that either one was intoxicated, Stewart said.

Helmuth was not required to enter a plea at the hearing, which involved his remaining at the jail and communicating with the judge by video. Helmuth is scheduled for a second hearing Thursday if he isn’t indicted by a Trumbull County grand jury before then.

Helmuth, of Creaser Road, has been named in several police reports from the sheriff’s office in recent years, some of them involving alcohol and drug intoxications that required hospitalization.

In January 2013, deputies were called to his parents’ house on Creaser Road, finding him face-down on the floor, intoxicated. Police had to put him in restraints to take him to St. Joseph Health Center for treatment, a police report said.

Neighbor was arrested in 2012 and 2013 on incidents involving the woman who lived with him.

He later was convicted of disorderly conduct in both cases in Newton Falls Municipal Court.