Originally published May 28, 2019 at 12:05 a.m., updated May 28, 2019 at 1:06 a.m.
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
During a spate of violence last year that saw the city record 13 homicides in the last two and a half months of the year, police stressed patience — saying that they had good evidence and suspects and they expected some arrests.
That patience has borne fruit since the first of the year as detectives have made arrests in five homicides from 2018, a year that saw 26 homicides in the city.
The arrests also bump the department’s solve rate for the year up to 50 percent, as police have now solved 13 of 26 homicides in 2018.
Chief Robin Lees said other open cases from last year await lab results.
Two of the five homicides from 2018 that were solved this year are both killings that happened in separate shootings on Dec. 30. Lavontae Knight, 22, of Leo Street, was charged Jan. 3 in the death of Trevice Harris, 37, and the wounding of woman who was with him when they were found at a Market Street gas station.
Also Jan. 3, Christian Ortiz Jordan, 23, was charged in the shooting death of Bobby Robert Gonzalez Torres, 30, inside the Sons of Borniquen Club, 720 Williamson Ave.
Since then, Knight was indicted in March in the Oct. 25 killing of Josh Donatelli, 25, who was shot to death in an Imperial Street home during a drug transaction, police said. Charged in February with involuntary manslaughter in Donatelli’s death is George Gutierres, 29, of Pasadena Avenue.
On May 16, Stephon Hopkins, 22, and Brian Donlow, 24, were both indicted on charges of aggravated murder in the June shooting death of Brandon Wylie, 30, at the Plazaview Court housing complex.
Hopkins also was indicted in February on a charge of aggravated murder in the Nov. 18 shooting death of Christopher Jackson, 21, of Warren, who was found shot to death in a car in a field on Bennington Avenue on the East Side.
On May 2, Antonio Davis, 17, was indicted in the March 22, 2018, slaying of Damon Marinoff, 15, who was shot during a botched robbery on Sherwood Avenue.
Of the 10 homicides recorded in the city in 2019, detectives have made arrests in four of those cases. All of those defendants have been indicted as well.
Although the familiar axiom says if police don’t have leads within the first 48 hours of a murder case they will not be able to make an arrest, Lees said that is somewhat of a fallacy. He said while time is critical in an investigation, finding evidence and interviewing suspects and others connected with a homicide make that time frame important.
Just having a suspect and some evidence is also not good enough, Lees said. Detectives have to have a case that can go to court.
“It may take more time for us to connect this information and to put it all together for a prosecutable case,” Lees said.
Assistant Prosecutor Dawn Cantalamessa, who prosecutes murder cases, said the No. 1 thing she needs to take a case to a grand jury is a connection between the defendant and the scene of the murder. She said it could be through fingerprints, DNA, a weapon recovered and traced to the suspect, video evidence or a combination. That is what detectives need to show her before they can indict someone.
Chief of Detectives Capt. Brad Blackburn said people don’t realize how important it is to have a case ready for court. He said there may be scuttlebutt on the streets that often has at least some truth to it, but without evidence, a case can’t go forward.
Blackburn and Lees also said the collection of DNA and ballistic evidence right away is also key. To send those items away to be tested takes time, because labs are also backed up.
Lees and Blackburn both said investigators also have to operate under pressure of friends and family of victims, who don’t really care too much about evidence and testing. They just want someone locked up right away.
Blackburn said he sympathizes with them and said if he were in their shoes, he would feel the same way. But he said they would feel worse if police rushed the investigation and a suspect was set free.
That is where a human touch comes in, Blackburn said. Of the seven detectives who investigate homicides, all are veteran police officers who previously spent years on patrol.
Because of that experience, they are used to dealing with people in all kinds of situations, and that comes in handy when dealing with friends and family of homicide victims and relating to them in a personal way.
“One of the best traits a detective can have is the ability to communicate with people,” Blackburn said. “A lot of people know information. If you come off the wrong way, why would they want to give you information?”
From 2001-2018, the city has recorded 477 homicides and has solved 252 of them. From 2011-2018, the city has recorded 188 homicides and has solved 120.