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Trumbull coroner won’t detail reason for homicide ruling involving bones
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Dr. Humphrey Germaniuk, the Trumbull County coroner, said he can’t discuss what type of evidence was found in the bones of Thomas L. Pickens to indicate that his death is a homicide.
But he and Dr. William Rodriguez of the Maryland Medical Examiner’s Office in Baltimore came to the conclusion that Pickens died as a result of “homicidal violence” after Rodriguez evaluated the bones, he said Wednesday.
Dr. Germaniuk learned the autopsy results July 20 and began talking to Warren police detectives about it then. The police department is carrying out a murder investigation.
The bones of Pickens, who would now be 60, were found in March in a crawl space of a building along East Market Street near the Sunrise Restaurant, which had bought the building and was preparing to renovate it.
Dr. Germaniuk said he took the bones to Dr. Rodriguez because he’s the best forensic anthropologist in the United States, “if not the world.”
The body included only bones, no flesh, Dr. Germaniuk said. Police estimate the body had been there at least five years.
Dr. Germaniuk said Pickens’ family was notified of the identification recently, and family members are making burial arrangements.
Pickens had an extensive record through Warren Municipal Court dating back to 1995, having been charged with about 15 traffic offenses and a criminal case involving domestic violence in 2004. The domestic-violence charge was dropped in 2005 because the woman involved failed to appear for court.
He was living at the Riverview Motel on Parkman Road in 2002 when he was convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. Another DUI charge was dismissed in 2002.
On Nov. 2, 2007, Howland police were called to his home in the Forest Grove mobile home park on Weir Road Northeast in Howland because Pickens told someone he had taken pills and had a gun and planned to kill himself.
“Mr. Pickens advised me that he was depressed over his son passing away two years ago this month from a Tylenol overdose,” the police report said.
“Mr. Pickens also stated, ‘Next time you guys come, bring a body bag. I’m ready to go. I have nothing to live for anyway.’”
He had other Warren-area addresses, according to court records, but he never listed an address at the East Market Street location where his remains were found.