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After quick arrest, probe continues into slaying on East Side
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Although police arrested a suspect Wednesday in an East Side homicide about 10 hours after the crime happened, the case is still not closed.
Capt. Brad Blackburn, chief of detectives, said there is still more work to do regarding the slaying of Jason Fonseca, 20, who was shot to death about 3 p.m. Wednesday in the middle of the street in front of a 176 Ayers St. home.
Arrested about 11:40 p.m. in a home in the 900 block of Cameron Avenue on a charge of aggravated murder for Fonseca’s death was Kimani Hodges, 20, of East Auburndale Avenue. He is in the Mahoning County jail and expected to be arraigned today via video hookup in municipal court.
The two investigators working the case, detective sergeants Rick Spotleson and Darryl Martin, had several more witnesses come in for interviews Thursday at the detective bureau, including members of Fonseca’s family.
After they got the call to go to the crime scene, both investigators worked long into the night to get the arrest warrant for Hodges and interview him after he was arrested, then were back early Thursday to do more interviews.
Investigators said the shooting came from a dispute over a woman with whom both men were involved.
It is hoped making an arrest quickly will clamp down on any retaliation, Blackburn said, a problem that plagued the city for years after homicides.
“Obviously there’s a lot of emotion and, hopefully, a quick arrest will stop any spinoff violence,” Blackburn said.
One of the reasons for such a quick arrest was the fact that Fonseca was gunned down in broad daylight in the middle of the street in front of plenty of witnesses, who were cooperative, Blackburn said.
Blackburn also thanked U.S. marshals for their help in tracking down Hodges on Wednesday evening.
Reports said marshals, as well as patrol officers and two members of the vice squad who were on duty, went to the home where Hodges was staying. Two men came out of the door and told them Hodges was in a back room and on his way out of the home to give himself up. Hodges was taken into custody without incident.
A car at the home was towed for detectives, and another car was towed from Lincoln Park on Wednesday shortly after officers cleared the homicide scene. Blackburn said that car may be indirectly tied to the crime.
Hodges has a minimal criminal record. In June 2015 he was arrested for disorderly conduct at Choffin Career Center. As he was booked into the jail, corrections officers found a .32-caliber bullet and a bag of marijuana in his underwear. Municipal court records show he pleaded no contest and was found guilty of the disorderly conduct charge and fined.
Hodges also was arrested in July and spent two days in the Columbiana County jail on a charge of disorderly conduct there. He pleaded no contest in that case as well and was sentenced to 28 days jail, with those days suspended, and placed on probation.