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Suspect, 44, indicted in slaying of West Side man, 84
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
The chief of the city’s police detective bureau said the TV an elderly West Side man was killed over last month was “just a run-of-the mill television.”
A Mahoning County grand jury on Thursday indicted Joseph Faunda, 44, of Maryland Avenue, on charges of aggravated murder, murder, receiving stolen property and aggravated robbery in the death of 84-year-old Mykola Iwaniuk.
As of now, he will not face the death penalty.
Capt. Brad Blackburn, chief of detectives, said Faunda knew Iwaniuk, but he would not say how. He said there were no signs of forced entry into the home, and officers who found Iwaniuk’s body said he was right by the front door.
The crime was senseless, Blackburn said.
“I don’t understand why [Faunda] did what he did,” Blackburn said. “But it could be so [Iwaniuk] couldn’t identify him.”
Iwaniuk was found dead in his home in the 1700 block of Oakwood Avenue on the West Side about 5:30 a.m. Jan. 21. A Vindicator newspaper carrier called police after she noticed Iwaniuk’s door was open and all the lights in the home were on.
Authorities on the scene said Iwaniuk had been dead more than a day, and he had suffered several blunt-force injuries to the back of his head.
Although Faunda could have qualified for the death penalty because Iwaniuk was killed during the commission of another felony — in this case an aggravated robbery — the case was not presented to the grand jury with death-penalty specifications.
County Prosecutor Paul J. Gains said that for Faunda to be eligible for the death penalty, prosecutors have to prove he had prior plans to kill his victim. Gains said there is no evidence in this case to support any prior planning, and that the elderly man’s death probably was committed on the spur of the moment.
Gains said a superseding indictment can be issued with the death-penalty specification if evidence comes up there was prior calculation and design to kill Iwaniuk.
Faunda can still be sentenced to life in prison if convicted of aggravated murder.
A police report said informants told police Faunda was seen in Iwaniuk’s car, which was found in Calvary Cemetery a couple of hours after Iwaniuk was found in his home.
Detectives took Faunda into custody Jan. 26, questioned him and then booked him into the county jail on a charge of receiving stolen property. He has remained in jail in lieu of a $100,000 bond since his arraignment Jan. 28 in municipal court.
Neighbors told police shortly after Iwaniuk’s body was found that they had seen his car leaving his driveway late Jan. 19. Police reports said Faunda initially told the informants he had found the car “running” on Evanston Avenue, another West Side street, but then said his girlfriend gave him the vehicle, and it had a television in the back seat when he got into the car.
Blackburn said it appears robbery was the motive for Iwaniuk’s death. As far as detectives know, the only two things taken from the house were the television and the car.
Friends who worked with Iwaniuk at Holy Trinity Ukrainian Catholic Church on West Rayen Avenue said he was dedicated to the church and a hard worker who deeply cared for his family.
Blackburn credited the two investigators on the case, detective sergeants John Perdue and David Sweeney, for their work, especially in getting and following up leads quickly.