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West Side man found dead in his home after Vindy carrier calls police
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Youngstown police vehicles wait behind a car Wednesday in Calvary Cemetery that police say belonged to an elderly Oakwood Avenue man who was found dead in his home Wednesday morning.
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Betty Lynch trusted her instincts — and her instincts were right.
A newspaper carrier for The Vindicator, she thought it was strange when she pulled into the drive of 1752 Oakwood Ave. on the West Side about 5:30 a.m. Wednesday and saw the front door open and all the lights on, so she called police.
When they arrived, they found the body of 84-year-old Mike Iwaniuk by the front door with several blunt-force injuries to the back of his head.
His death is being investigated as Youngstown’s first homicide of 2015.
Lynch said when she pulled in the drive, the screen door was shut but the storm door was open.
“I think it was strange for the lights to be on and the door to be open, and it is winter time,” Lynch said.
Dr. Joseph Ohr, Mahoning County forensic pathologist, said that Iwaniuk had been dead for more than a day. An autopsy is expected for today.
Detective Sgt. John Perdue said it is hard to tell early on if Iwaniuk was killed as part of a home invasion.
He said the house is disorganized and it was hard to tell if anything was missing.
One item that was missing was Iwaniuk’s car, which was found by officers in Calvary Cemetery covered in fresh snow a couple of hours after Iwaniuk’s body was found.
It was towed to be processed for evidence.
Reports show that Iwaniuk reported two burglaries at his home in December 2012.
On Dec. 12, 2012, he reported a BB gun was taken while he was away at church by someone who broke a window to get inside.
Drawers were opened, and cushions on the furniture were flipped over, according to a police report.
On Dec. 24, 2012, police were called to his home again, where Iwaniuk told them he had just returned home from church about 11:30 p.m. and found a back window kicked in and his house ransacked.
Reports said two watches and two bracelets belonging to his granddaughter were taken.
Police tracked footprints in the snow to the 100 block of South Maryland Avenue, where they faded.
The home is near the bottom of the street near the entrance to Interstate 680, and motorists navigating rush-hour traffic gawked at the contingent of police and coroner’s vehicles on both sides of the street.
An elderly next-door neighbor was in tears and was supported by another family member as Iwaniuk’s body was wheeled out of his home and placed in a van to be taken to the county morgue at the Oakhill Renaissance Center.
A next-door neighbor on the other side of the home, who did not want to give his name, said the neighborhood is not good.
He said there are a lot of problems in the area with drugs.