Warren cops surprised by accidental ruling in Walker death

WARREN

In a surprising twist, Michael C. Walker, one of 13 people who was thought to have been murdered in Warren in 2017, has been ruled an accidental death.

It surprised Warren police detectives, who investigated the death as a homicide.

Walker’s body was found July 24 in a burned out minivan on a nearly abandoned part of Pershing Avenue Southwest, a few streets west of the former Warren Western Reserve High School.

The van was registered to Walker, but his body was found in the back seat. There were indications that Walker had been assaulted, but not enough to kill him.

A Pershing resident called 911 at 10:08 a.m. that day to report the burned-out minivan off the edge of the road. Walker’s body was part way out of the vehicle. The fire consumed the part of Walker’s body in the car and all but the metal parts of the minivan.

Firefighters determined that the fire had probably occurred overnight and believe it was possible for the fire to have gone unnoticed because of the small number of homes nearby.

Read more about it in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.