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WARREN -- A Liberty man on Tuesday was indicted by a Trumbull County grand jury on capital murder charges connected to the April 24 slaying of his elderly female neighbor.
The grand jury also indicted a 23-year-old man on aggravated murder charges in connection to the April 26 fatal shooting of a woman in Mesopotamia.
Sean Clemens, 33, 420 Churchill Hubbard Road, faces two counts of aggravated murder with specifications of aggravating circumstances, one count of aggravated robbery, one count of aggravated burglary, arson and tampering with evidence.
The aggravated circumstance that makes this a death penalty case is that the victim was killed during the commission of another aggravated felony, in this case, two aggravated crimes, according to Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins.
Clemens is accused of killing Jane LaRue Brown, 84, 503 Churchill Hubbard Road, while she was in her bed, according to a court affidavit.
The defendant is scheduled to appear at 1:30 p.m. today before Trumbull County Common Pleas Judge W. Wyatt McKay for arraignment, court officials said.
Brown was found dead by Liberty police officers who went to check on her after her 2017 Cadillac sports utility vehicle was found on fire about a block away in an empty wooded lot on East Street.
According to the affidavit filed in court by investigators, the elderly woman fought for her life when the man who once mowed her lawn attacked her in bed and killed her with her own knife before robbing her.
Officers found Brown's front door unlocked and a glass back door shattered, with a sledge hammer left nearby, according to the affidavit. Brown was in her bed, bloodied with apparent stab wounds around her head and neck, the document states.
The affidavit also states Clemens used gasoline taken from Brown's garage to start a fire in her SUV.
Also indicted by a grand jury Tuesday was Douglas Scott Day, 23 of Roaming Shores, who faces aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder charges, both with firearm specifications.
Day is accused in the April 26 shooting death of Cathryn Lambert, 48, and the wounding of her daughter, Tiffany Lambert, 26. He will be arraigned Friday before Trumbull County Common Pleas Judge Peter J. Kontos.
In this case, an affidavit written by Trumbull County Sheriff's Detective Michael E. Yannucci detailed the chain of events leading to the April 26 murder. According to the court document, Day and Tiffany Lambert were living together in an apartment at 4383 Kinsman Road (state Route 87), and Tiffany called her mother asking to be picked up following an argument with Day, who she said had been drinking.
When Cathryn arrived, Day followed Tiffany outside with 9 mm and 45-caliber handguns, firing at least 13 times at his girlfriend and her mother, the affidavit states.
Tiffany suffered gunshot wounds to her left shoulder and lower left side, while Cathryn suffered a wound to the left side of her neck. Cathryn drove across the street through two fences and into the porch of a home at 4398 Kinsman Road, where she was pronounced dead by police, the affidavit states.
Township sources said this was the first shooting death in Mesopotamia in more than 60 years.
gvogrin@tribtoday.com