18-year-old Bristolville man indicted in murder, robbery

WARREN — Austin Burke, 18, was indicted today on aggravated murder and two counts of aggravated robbery in the death of Brandon Sample and a Cortland pizza shop robbery.

Burke, of Miller South Road in Bristolville, was arrested Tuesday in Cortland, the same day murder charges were filed against him in Newton Falls Municipal Court.

Burke has remained in the county jail in lieu of $1 million bond.

He’s accused of shooting to death Sample, 22, of Garfield Drive Northeast. Sample was reported missing by his family June 12.

Sample’s body was found in a remote area of Bristol Township June 15. Warren police detectives were aided in the search for Sample’s body by information they received from an informant.

The indictment also charges Burke with the Tuesday robbery of the Pizza Joe’s restaurant on West Main Street in Cortland a short time before Burke was arrested in an apartment near the pizza shop on the murder charge.

Restaurant employees said a man with a gun and a mask robbed the restaurant Tuesday night. Cortland police said later on their Facebook page that they recovered a handgun and cash believed to have been involved in the pizza-shop robbery and expected to charge Burke with that crime soon.