Father of missing Warren girl charged with assault

Staff report

WARREN

The father of Alesha Bell, 18, whose remains were found in the yard of a home on U.S. Route 6 in Roaming Shores on Aug. 20, has been arrested on a warrant charging him with felonious assault.

Jonathan Owens, 33, of Southwest Boulevard Southwest and North Road in Niles, was arrested at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday by members of the U.S. Marshals Violent Fugitives Task Force.

He was stopped while driving a car on Parkman Road near the state Route 5 bypass and taken into custody. In addition to the felonious-assault warrant, he also had warrants for failure to pay court fines and costs and a possible probation violation.

The felonious-assault charge stemmed from an allegation July 29 by a woman, 22, that Owens had approached her at Surfwood Circle and Deerfield Avenue Southwest and pulled out a handgun.

He fired it near her, then placed it at her head and said, “You had better find my daughter” and left.

The woman said she was friends with Bell but didn’t know where Bell was. Bell had been missing about six days at the time.

A not-guilty plea was entered for Owens on Thursday in Warren Municipal Court, and he was ordered held in the Trumbull County Jail without eligibility to make bond.