Skeletal remains identified

DNA matches Youngstown man after 12 years

BAZETTA -- The identity of skeletal remains found in a wooded area 12 years ago near the spillway at Mosquito Creek Lake is known, but now police are tasked with finding out how he died.

There is an open investigation into the death of Gregory Griffin, 47, of Youngstown, whose identity was made public Monday by the township police department and the Trumbull County Coroner's Office.

"Now we have to start rewinding the tape of his life to figure out how he got dumped over at Mosquito Lake," police Chief Michael Hovis said.

Griffin's death has been ruled a homicide by Trumbull County Coroner Dr. Humphrey Germaniuk because of what he called the solid attempt to hide the body.

"As far as I am concerned, this is a homicide," Germaniuk said.

Police learned Griffin's identity March 20 but held off releasing the information out of compassion for the family, Hovis said. It was a member of the family who came forward about a year ago with DNA to test against the remains.

The badly decomposed remains were found July 23, 2006, by a man and his son crossing a marshy area on the west side of the spillway. It's believed the body had been there six to eight months by that time.

The skeleton was found without clothing and without skin tissue completely intact except for some of its small bones. On the left side of the head, a gold earring was found, but no other identifiable items were located.

The scene was preserved overnight and canvassed the next day, the chief said.

"We had nothing to go by," Hovis said.

The remains were turned over to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington, D.C., where further examination revealed the remains to be those of a black man about 50 years old and about 5 feet, 8 inches tall, plus or minus three inches.

In September 2010, the department and Germaniuk released a detailed reconstruction of the face done by the FBI's Special Projects Unit Forensic Artists.

Anyone with information is asked to call detective Shawn Rentz at the Bazetta Police Department at 330-638-5503.