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Info sought in ‘12 homicide
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Detective Sgt. Michael Lambert is looking for a happy medium.
It’s not that he doesn’t have any suspects in the June 22, 2012, slaying of Curtis Moses, 43, outside the Partners Jazz & Blues Lounge at Oak Hill and Falls avenues.
He has too many, and that leads to confusion in trying to investigate a homicide, especially one that has since gone cold.
“Getting a good suspect is great,” Lambert said recently from his desk in the detective bureau. “Getting 10? Not so great.”
Moses’ case is the second unsolved homicide to be featured this year by Crimestoppers of Youngstown and the city police department.
Moses, who managed the bar, was in a parking lot across the street from the bar as patrons were leaving about 2:45 a.m. when someone quickly walked up to him, fired several shots, then ran away. Police recovered 13 shell casings, and Lambert said someone who fired that many times amid a large crowd of people wanted to make sure the shots did not miss.
“He [suspect] could not wait,” Lambert said. “With the amount of people who were friends with him [Moses] around, someone had to see who actually did it. We’re looking for someone who had actual eyes on what happened. There were people who were right in front of him.”
Lambert said one of the reasons for the large number of suspects is that Moses came from a large family and was well-liked, so there were a lot of people willing to talk to police and give them some leads. Lambert said so many leads to track down, however, ate up time that could have been used to concentrate on one person.
Lambert said he believes Moses was killed for personal reasons. He said nothing was taken from him, and whoever shot him was not afraid to carry out the crime in front of a large group of people.
“There were a ton of people at the bar when this happened,” Lambert said.
Because the case is more than 4 years old, Lambert said besides a name, police also need to have physical evidence to back up someone’s identity. He said having a solid suspect could help if they can match that suspect with the physical evidence they have collected.
“In a case like this, we would have to combine it [suspect identification] with something else,” Lambert said.
Lambert said he has been in regular contact with Moses’ mother and would like to close the case for her and the family’s sake.
Anyone with information can call Crimestoppers at 330-746-CLUE. All information is anonymous, and a cash reward could be collected for information leading to a conviction. Those with information also can call Lambert at 330-742-8249.