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911 call indicates kidnapped woman slipped away from killer at Warren gas station
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Though police said Monday they have not made an arrest in a Friday homicide on Stephens Avenue Northwest or found one of the women the killer kidnapped, a 911 recording helps to explain what happened.
A woman living on West Market Street called police at 6:53 p.m. Friday saying that a young woman was at her house, and the young woman was saying someone had been shot on Stephens and needed an ambulance.
As the call unfolded, the woman told the dispatcher that the young woman told her that “someone forced her into a vehicle, and he went to Rocky’s,” which is called Rocky’s AM PM Food Mart, a gas station on West Market Street near Iowa Avenue, “and she got away and came here,” the woman said.
“So she’s afraid he’s looking for her now,” the caller said.
The young woman told police later that a man had committed a home invasion at the Stephens address and shot John P. Kellar, 41, of Niles. The intruder then kidnapped the young woman, 22, and Nicole M. Binion, 36, who lived at the Stephens address.
The young woman said the suspect took the women from Stephens Avenue in a white GMC van that belonged to one of the women.
Police on Saturday released a surveillance photo from inside Rocky’s showing a “man of interest” in the case. It apparently was taken around the time of the 911 call. A second surveillance photo shows a white van while it was parked at the gas pumps at Rocky’s.
It was taken at 6:48 p.m. Friday, according to the time stamp on the image.
The man in the image appears to match the description the young woman gave police: large-build black male wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, black vest and dark jeans.
Police radio communications referred to the suspect as “armed and dangerous.”
Kellar, 41, of Stanton Avenue, Niles, was pronounced dead Friday evening. An autopsy was being conducted Monday, but results were not available. Warren police also refused to update reporters late Monday on the case.
Early Monday, Sgt. Joe Kistler said there had not been any new developments in the case since Saturday, but identifying the man in the surveillance image was high on their priority list.
A police report indicates police believe the home invasion began about 6:30 p.m.
Records at Trumbull County Jail show Kellar has a lengthy arrest record. In May 2015, he pleaded no contest to misdemeanor theft after a run-in with loss-prevention officers at Eastwood Mall after they tried to stop him after a robbery at the mall.
Binion was sentenced to 12 months in prison a year ago after being convicted of cocaine possession and failing to successfully complete drug court.
The woman who escaped from the van was convicted Nov. 3 in Warren Municipal Court of misdemeanor attempt to commit an offense after being charged initially with felony drug possession, according to court records.