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City begins third homicide investigation in three days
By Justin Wier
YOUNGSTOWN
Police, detectives and firefighters huddled under umbrellas Thursday afternoon on East Earle Avenue after city wastewater workers alerted them to a dismembered body found in a ravine.
It marked the city’s third homicide investigation in as many days.
The workers were walking along railroad tracks checking manhole covers when they came across the body shortly before 2 p.m., Lt. Doug Bobovnyik said.
If the coroner rules the death a homicide, it would be the city’s 25th, up from a revised total of 19 in 2016.
Capt. Brad Blackburn, chief of detectives, said the city has averaged 24.8 homicides a year over the past 10 years, but 25 would be the highest in the last five years.
Bobovnyik said the body found Thursday appeared to have been there for a while, but it’s too early to determine the victim’s gender or how it was dismembered.
“We’ve got more than one piece,” Bobovnyik said.
Detectives are investigating the matter as a homicide. Bobovnyik said they will look at recent missing persons cases.
Neighbors told The Vindicator they hadn’t noticed any recent disturbances.
The remains will be sent to the Cuyahoga County Coroner’s office for examination. Mahoning County has lacked a forensic pathologist who can perform autopsies since the death of Dr. Joseph Ohr in April.
Earlier this week, Colin Brown, 45, was shot and killed about 11:15 p.m. Tuesday in the restroom of a South Avenue bar.
That followed the shooting death of Jerry Franklin, 26, of Struthers in the parking lot of a Logan Avenue gas station Tuesday morning.
Police arrested Johnny Wallace III, 23, for Brown’s murder Wednesday night. Detectives have no suspects in Franklin’s killing.
On Saturday, Tyler Kitchen, 19, was fatally shot by a man police said he was trying to rob. The shooter has a concealed carry permit, police said.