Warren police treating death of man in remote area as possible homicide

WARREN

Warren police are treating the finding of the body of a Laird Avenue Northeast man on the edge of Halladay Avenue Southwest Saturday night as a possible homicide.

They identified the male today as Joseph C. Nall, 50.

Police Chief Eric Merkel said when there is no obvious indication of what killed someone, detectives treat it as a possible homicide. Mall’s body was found under the Reserve Avenue bridge near Deemer Park.

A woman called 911 at 10:12 p.m., saying she spotted the body while driving through the nearly abandoned area just west of the former Warren Western Reserve High School and former Westlawn neighborhood. Both were demolished years ago.

The woman had driven to another part of the city by the time she called 911, prompting the 911 operator to ask her a number of questions about the exact location of the body.

“It’s like right in the middle. If you all go over there, you will probably see it, because I wasn’t walking or nothing. I was just riding by. It’s visible. I think it was a black male. His shirt was like half off,” she said.