Police seek aid to identify car likely involved in homicide

NILES — The Niles Police Department has released an image of a vehicle they believe was involved in the Oct. 6 Arlene Frasca homicide and is asking the public for help in identifying it.

Anyone with information on the vehicle or the case is asked to call Niles police at 330-652-9944.

Niles Police Chief Jason Holland said the department does not have a “named suspect” in the crime, “but we have information that has narrowed the field” through interviews and other information.

Holland, in a news release, said the investigation has “increased in size and complexity in recent weeks and is growing beyond the jurisdictional boundaries of Niles,” so he has formally asked the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation “to assist us in bringing this case to a resolution.”

BCI has been helping with the case by providing assistance from agents. It also has helped clarify a video obtained by Niles police showing a car the department believes was involved in the crime.

“This case will remain our top priority until it is resolved,” Holland said.

Frasca’s husband, Angelo Frasca, told a 911 dispatcher that two men with guns broke into their Hiram Street home at about 11 p.m., held guns to their heads and said his wife, 74, was on the floor and not breathing.

Angelo Frasca was treated at a local hospital for injuries he suffered.

Police have said they believe the couple was a specific target, but police won’t say whether the intruders took something with them when they left.

“It wasn’t random,” Holland said earlier.

Arlene Frasca worked 29 years at the Trumbull County Courthouse and auto title office before retiring in 2002 and also sold real estate.