Man found dead in vacant house

By Joe Gorman | March 29, 2019 at 12:05a.m.

Police seek help in identifying victim

YOUNGSTOWN

Police are asking for help identifying a man found dead late Wednesday inside a vacant 771 Willow St. home on the East Side.

Police are investigating the death as a homicide. If the Mahoning County Coroner’s Office rules it is a homicide, it would be the sixth in the city this year.

Capt. Brad Blackburn, chief of detectives, said officers on the street found the man while answering another call.

The home where the victim was found is the only home on the street.

Blackburn did not say what the other call was, but a police report said an officer who was on McGuffey Road near Willow was approached about 10:45 p.m. Wednesday by a man who was covered in blood.

The man told the officer he was walking on McGuffey Road when someone grabbed him and dragged him to the vacant home. The man said he gave the person his money and was then hit in the back of the head twice with a brick and was then struck with a machete.

The man had a large cut on his head, and an ambulance was called for him.

Blackburn said the man found in the home had some kind of trauma, but he did not reveal what kind.

Blackburn said coroner’s investigators will have to examine the man’s body.

Detective Sgt. Michael Cox, one of the investigators, said the victim had been there a few days and possibly up to a week.

The coroner’s office said Thursday it was working on identifying the man.

The victim is a middle-age black man, about 6 feet tall, 170 pounds, with a beard and mustache. He was wearing blue sweatpants and a black jacket that had “Penguin Beer” written on it.

Anyone with information is asked to call detectives at 330-742-8911, 330-742-8929 or CrimeStoppers at 330-746-CLUE.

In 2018, Youngstown had 26 homicides. At this time last year, the city had five homicides.