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Suspect returns from Niagara Falls, is arraigned in municipal court
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Bond was set at $2 million for the suspect in an August homicide who was brought back to the city last week.
Jeshawn Elliott, 28, of Outlook Avenue, was arraigned Tuesday in municipal court before Visiting Judge David Fuhry of Geauga County on a charge of murder in the death of 27-year-old Anvia Mickens on Aug. 9.
Elliott was in a jail in Niagara Falls, N.Y., where he was since he was arrested by police there after he arrived and they found Mickens’ body in the trunk of his car.
Elliott waived extradition last week. U.S. Marshals picked him up Friday and returned him to the Mahoning County jail.
Assistant City Prosecutor Kathy Thompson asked for a bond of $5 million, saying Elliott traveled out of the city with a body in his trunk. Elliott’s lawyer, J. Gerald Ingram, called the bond request “ridiculous.”
Ingram asked for a more reasonable bond, saying his client has never been arrested before, has ties to the community because his family lives here and he has never owned a firearm.
Police say Elliott killed Mickens, his girlfriend, somewhere in Youngstown, then drove to Niagara Falls with her in the trunk. Officers were first called to his Outlook Avenue home Aug. 9 after family members talking to Elliott on the phone called 911 and told them a crime may have been committed at Elliott’s home.
Youngstown police went to Elliott’s home, where neighbors saw him about 9 a.m. Aug. 9, and had firefighters break down a door to the house and garage to search for Mickens, but she was not there.
Police notified their counterparts in Niagara Falls to be on the lookout for Elliott and his car.
The car was found by Niagara Falls police in a parking lot with Mickens’ body in the trunk, but Elliott was not there.
He was arrested a short time later on a rented bicycle.
The case has yet to be presented to a grand jury.