Woman's whose body found by North Side church custodian known to police

YOUNGSTOWN

Police say a 28-year-old woman who was found shot to death this morning in an alley behind a North Side church likely had been there 12 to 36 hours.

Also, investigators do not believe she was killed somewhere else and left there, said Lt. Doug Bobovnyik, lead investigator on the case.

The woman, whose name investigators did not release late Friday, was found at about 9:30 a.m. by a custodian at Centenary United Methodist Church in the 1400 block of Belmont Avenue.

The custodian alerted other church staff members, who then called police, said the pastor of the church, the Rev. Dawan Buie.

The woman’s death is the 16th homicide in the city this year and the first since a man was found shot to death Sept. 21 in a home on Kensington Avenue.

Bobovnyik said the victim had not been reported missing. He said she was “known to police” but would not be specific.