43
Suspect in SUV murder arraigned
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Prosecutors said at the arraignments for two suspects in a Feb. 20 homicide that an earlier attempt to kidnap the victim went awry before he was found dead in his vehicle.
City Prosecutor Dana Lantz made the remarks Friday during the arraignments for Terrell Martin, 37, of Tod Lane, and Lyric Moore, 21, of Tyrell Avenue, charged with aggravated murder in the death of a man found in a burning sport utility vehicle behind a vacant home on Knapp Avenue on the far East Side.
Judge Robert Milich set bonds at $1 million each for both defendants.
The body was burned so badly it has yet to be identified, but police are working under the assumption it is Zachary Howell, 40, who is the registered owner of the SUV and had been missing since just before the SUV was found.
Lantz declined to elaborate after the arraignments on her remarks that a previous attempt had been made to kidnap Howell, but she referred reporters to a criminal complaint.
The complaint says shortly after police were called to the Knapp Avenue home about 7:20 a.m. Feb. 20 for the burning SUV, they found a cellphone nearby that later turned out to be Moore’s. Detectives then called Moore and she agreed to an interview and a search of her apartment. The complaint said officers found a gasoline can inside the pantry.
The complaint said Moore admitted being with Howell at his Campbell home until 3 a.m., but the GPS on her phone contradicted that statement.
Moore actually was in Howell’s home early Feb. 19, and the plan was for her to leave the door unlocked so Martin could come in. The plan backfired, however, because she did not leave the door unlocked, according to the complaint.
The next morning, early on Feb. 20, Moore was inside Howell’s home again and this time left the door unlocked, according to the complaint. The complaint said investigators read texts that showed she went back to the home and that Martin was asking Moore about a gun Howell had. Moore responded that Howell was asleep and the gun was not near him.
The GPS in the phone showed the phone traveled from Howell’s house to the crime scene, where it was somehow dropped or left behind.
Police still have not commented on a motive.
An autopsy revealed the person found in the SUV was killed by two gunshot wounds to the head and was dead before the fire started. Police also found three shell casings at the crime scene.
After Martin’s arrest Wednesday and an appearance in municipal court on a traffic charge, police said he tried to cut his wrist in an interrogation room, banged his head into a wall and left a note on the wall apologizing to his mother and girlfriend.
Reports said after Martin was taken into custody after his court hearing, he was taken to the detective bureau. While he was in an interrogation room, he broke off a device on the wall used to store folders and tried to cut his wrist.
Detectives came in the room and tried to restrain him. He then rammed his head into the wall and cut himself. An ambulance was called, and he was taken to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital to be examined before being booked into the jail.
Several Howell family members were in the courtroom, but they declined to speak to a reporter after the arraignments.