$1M bond for suspect charged in Warren man's murder

NEWTON FALLS — Austin T. Burke of Bristolville, charged with the murder of Brandon Sample of Warren, was arraigned today on one count of murder.

Judge Phillip Vigorito set bond at $1 million. No plea was required. Though a second hearing is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, it's also possible Burke will be indicted by a county grand jury in the case before that and appear in common pleas court instead.

Burke, 18, of Miller South Road, also appeared Wednesday in Central District Court on misdemeanor charges of obstructing official business and failure to disclose personal information.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges and Judge Thomas Campbell set bond at $1,000.

Those charges were filed by Cortland police, apparently in relation to the search police from several agencies conducted Tuesday night for Burke after the Pizza Joe’s restaurant on West Main Street in Cortland was robbed by a man with a gun and a mask at 10:12 p.m.

Burke was arrested shortly after that at an apartment across the street from the pizza shop. But investigators and a canine officer from the Warren Police Department and officers from the sheriff’s office were part of the group that made the arrest because they had already been given information that Burke was in Cortland and were in search of him to arrest him on the murder charge.

Burke is charged with killing Sample, 22, of Garfield Drive Northeast, who died of a gunshot wound to the head.

Sample’s body was found in a remote area of Bristol Township on Thursday.

Meanwhile, a 2014 police report out of Girard shows that Burke was a suspect in a Dec. 4, 2014, burglary at a home on East Main Street in Girard in which nine firearms and other items were stolen.

Police said the rear door of the kitchen had been kicked in, and the entire home had been ransacked.

In addition to Burke, who was then 16, the report says one other juvenile and two adults were charged with the burglary. They were a boy, 14, from Girard; a man, 25, of Warren; and a man, 21, of Girard.

According to a sheriff’s report from Dec. 5, 2014, Burke was arrested and taken to the Trumbull County Juvenile Justice Center in the case, but the juvenile court administrator, Scott Bombeck, did not return a call seeking information on the outcome of charge. Information about most juvenile court cases are not released to the public.