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FARMDALE KILLING | Crowd attended auction at property day before
By Ed Runyan
FARMDALE
A large crowd of people were at the Wakefield Creek Road home and business of Ricky D. and Janell D. Green on Saturday, one day before Ricky, 59, purportedly shot and killed Janell, 56, inside their home.
Auctioneer Ken Layne says the couple sold off large amounts of Green’s business and farm equipment and smaller amounts of her possessions Saturday and seemed to be getting ready to split up amicably.
“They were cordial about it. There was no fighting in front of me,” Layne said.
But on Sunday, about 11:30 p.m., Green called 911 and calmly said, “I just killed my wife,” and said the reason he did so was because his wife had been in a relationship with someone else since Dec. 6 and “came home tonight and told me she [cheated] on me again.”
Janell Green, who was from Geauga County, was found dead at their home a short time later. An autopsy was conducted Tuesday, but the results were not available. Green is expected to be arraigned on a murder charge today in Central District Court in Cortland.
Layne said hearing Monday morning what had happened to Janell Green “was a total shock to me.”
According to websites, Green ran a telecommunications business called Ricky David Green Co. A sign in front of the rural home calls the business R.D.G. Group and contains an image of a cellphone tower.
A neighbor said Green’s business involved erecting and dismantling cellphone towers and changing the lights on the tops of them.
According to court records, the Greens got a marriage license in 1999 and were married in Geauga County, where they were both living then.
There are no records in Geauga or Trumbull counties indicating that either one had ever filed for divorce, but a person close to the couple said Ricky Green had spoken with an attorney about it.
Jail and court records say Ricky Green was born in Franklin, Tenn.
He bought the Farmdale property – about 25 acres – in 2003 and added a 2,000-square-foot home in 2005. The property, including barns, a second house and other outbuildings, has a valuation of about $300,000, according to the Trumbull County Auditor’s office.
Over the 10 years the couple lived in rural Farmdale, the police were rarely called to their house, and there was no record of domestic violence between them.
Marc D. Green, then 24, son of Ricky Green, was charged with domestic violence in 2003 after Ricky Green reported to deputy sheriffs that Marc assaulted him. Marc Green was sentenced to six months in the Trumbull County Jail after pleading guilty to domestic violence.