Two people arraigned in separate Trumbull murder cases

Staff report

WARREN

Two people indicted Monday in separate murder cases were arraigned in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court on Tuesday, and both are being held in the county jail in lieu of $1 million bond.

Austin Burke, 18, of Miller South Road in Bristolville, was indicted on charges of aggravated murder, two counts of aggravated robbery and two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Burke is accused of killing and robbing Brandon Sample, 22, of Garfield Drive Northeast, who was reported missing by his family June 12. Sample’s body was found in a rural area of Bristol Township on June 15.

Burke is also charged with the June 20 armed robbery of the Pizza Joe’s restaurant in Cortland. Burke was arrested that same day.

In the other murder case, Lynette Talley, 64, of Southern Boulevard is charged in the May 8 death of Amari D. Allen, 3, who suffered a traumatic brain injury after being injured at a home on Clearwater Street Northwest on May 5.

Talley, a friend of Amari’s family, was serving as his guardian at the time.

Both Burke and Talley pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Talley’s charges are murder, felonious assault and two counts of child endangering.

Police said Talley told them Amari was choking and she grabbed the food out of his mouth, and he fell back and hit the counter and the floor.

Hospital officials said Amari’s injuries did not fit with the description Talley gave of how they occurred.

Diane Barber, assistant county prosecutor, asked for a $1 million bond for Talley. She said the “evidence [against Talley] is strong, including medical evidence, and a failed stipulated polygraph.”

That means Talley failed a lie-detector test that is admissable at trial.

The organization Trumbull County Parents of Murdered Children will raise the victim’s flag in memory of Amari at 2 p.m. today in front of the Trumbull County Sheriff’s office.