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Authorities continue to investigate suspicious death
By ROBERT CONNELLY
BOARDMAN
Detectives on Sunday afternoon began investigating a suspicious death in the township.
Chris Craft, 48, was identified as the victim at a home on Alverne Drive, but how he died has police perplexed.
Capt. Donald Hawkins said police initially thought a wound to the jaw and neck area was an exit wound from a gun. But they didn’t find a gun or splatter that would result from a gunshot.
Detectives took the computer that Craft was found in front of on the first floor of the home, noting nothing at the desk had been disturbed.
The scene “is immaculately pristine. There’s no splatter,” Hawkins said. “It’s big ... there’s a lot missing, and we don’t know what caused it.”
The Mahoning County Coroner’s office is conducting an autopsy, and police have spoken to a person of interest, the same person who originally called police. They have the cellphone from this person, who was identified as a friend of the victim’s, as well as Craft’s cellphone.
The autopsy results are expected sometime today while police continue to interview people.
Authorities said the last activity on Craft’s phone was around 11 a.m. Sunday, and they were called to his home at 1:19 p.m. Detectives were on the scene for more than an hour Monday morning.
Craft lived alone with three small dogs. His wife has been living in Tiffin, Ohio, for work. The dogs were picked up by a family member.
State crime-lab personnel also were to join the investigation, and Hawkins said this mostly was to use some of their lab-processing equipment.
Authorities drained Craft’s pool because the pool was covered over with algae and leaves. “We drained the pool to see if anything was thrown in there,” Hawkins explained.
Relatives of Craft were at the house earlier but did not wish to comment.
Residents from the neighborhood, Amy Saculla and Sarah Courtney, spoke to reporters while detectives were collecting evidence Monday. Saculla said that on Sunday she “saw a lot of police cars. ... They were here for seven hours plus.” She added that the neighborhood is “normally really quiet. People don’t know where this is” because it’s quiet, she said.
Courtney said it’s a neighborhood where she leaves her door open, as she did last night even with the investigation ongoing. “Everybody comes out [of their homes] and talks. ... Everybody knows everybody,” she said.