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WARREN – A 25-year-old Bristolville man convicted in the 2017 murder of Brandon Sample and the armed robbery of Pizza Joe’s in Cortland is the main suspect in the death of an inmate at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol said Austin T. Burke and the now deceased Ruben Melendez, 65, of Arizona were involved in a fight with each other. After the two were broken up, Melendez had to be taken to a local hospital suffering from trauma to his head. He later was pronounced dead.
The patrol report states the injuries to Melendez may have played a role, but an autopsy will be conducted to determine the official cause of death. Once that report is completed the case will go before the Scioto County grand jury.
Burke was sentenced to life by Trumbull County Common Pleas Court Judge Andrew D. Logan for the murder of Sample, whose body was found June 15, 2017, in a wooded area off Peck Leach Road in Bristol. He had been found shot once in the head.
He was set to be eligible for parole March 15, 2075, according to Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction records.