Youngstown cops probe death of man found in South Side home

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Police are investigating the death of a 62-year-old man whose body was found about 7:40 p.m. Friday as a homicide.

A news release from the police department said the man’s body was found in a home in the 500 block of Dorothy Avenue on the South Side by members of the victim’s family.

The release did not provide any other details other than to say police are withholding the release of the man’s name until his relatives can be notified.

While detectives are investigating his death as a homicide, they are waiting for the Mahoning County Coroner’s Office to rule on a cause of death.

Should the death be ruled a homicide it would be the 16th in the city this year and second within a week. On Sept. 23, Charles Pargo, 27, was killed in his Belden Avenue home on the South Side while holding his 3-week-old baby boy. The man charged with his death is Louis Littlejohn, 61, of Logangate Drive, Liberty, the baby’s grandfather.

The Belden Avenue home was also the scene of a homicide slightly more than a year ago. On Sept. 6, 2016, Daniel Sanford, 28, was shot to death about 12:45 a.m. after a home invasion. Three men pleaded guilty for Sanford’s death, and all three are serving prison sentences.

In 2016, Youngstown had 18 homicides, according to Vindicator records.

At this time last year, the city had recorded 14 homicides. That 14th homicide was Sanford’s death.