WARREN - The man police say murdered a restaurant owner and wounded his son last month during an attempted robbery was indicted Thursday on charges that could carry the death penalty.
A Trumbull County Common Pleas Court grand jury indicted Ardeed Mitchell, 28, of Livingston Street in Youngstown on charges of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder and attempted murder, four counts of kidnapping, five counts of aggravated robbery, a single count of aggravated burglary and having weapons while under disability.
All the charges include a specification that a firearm was used to commit the crime.
He will be arraigned at 11 a.m. Monday before Judge John Stuard.
Mitchell can receive the death penalty if convicted of the murder of Fred DeVengencie, 90, during a robbery at Freddie's Diner on Aug. 12.
Police said Mitchell entered the back of the diner on North Park Avenue that leads to an adjoining Sons of Italy club. After a struggle, owner Fred DeVengencie was shot in the neck and died. His son, Anthony DeVengencie, 71, was shot through the hand, the bullet piercing his mouth and lodging in the back of his head. He remains in a coma.
The kidnapping counts, according to police, stem from his making the DeVengencies and two employees go into a back room while he tried to rob the restaurant.
One of the five robbery counts is for the robbery of a Dairy Queen on West Market Street on Aug. 11.
Detectives collected blood samples at the crime scene after the DeVengencies struggled with the robber, who got cut after being hit over the head with a bottle, and got a match with Mitchell's DNA through the Combined DNA Index System. Warren detectives were notified of the match Sept. 5, and Mitchell was arrested at a Palmyra Road S.W. home the following day by members of the U.S. Marshals Northern Ohio Fugitive Task Force.
According to court records, Mitchell has multiple convictions in Pennsylvania, including a robbery at a bakery in Sharon, Pa., April 6, 2002. He was released from prison Jan. 6 and was on parole until 2010.