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Fact Box

The Victims

The following list is taken from the Columbiana County Families of Homicide Victims Web site. It represents the currently active list of victims:

- Michael Williams - murdered Aug. 30, 2005, in Rogers. Michael was found beaten to death in his car.

- Craig Roberts - found in his bed shot to death on Aug. 26, 2002.

- Dick Altomare - found shot to death at Crestview School on Sept. 19, 1999.

- Charlie McKinnon - found shot to death on Dec. 15, 2006.

- Tracy Hill - disappeared on June 7, 2001.

- Tonia Amato - killed by her husband on July 1, 2007. He is claiming self-defense.

- Tim Cline - found in the Hocking River on April 17, 1973.

- Louise Davis - missing since 1979.

- Joey Gilmore - a victim of a hit and run in October of 2000.

- Gene Lysle - disappeared on June 13, 2004.

- Linda and Angela Morris - Linda and her 4 year old daughter Angela as well as her unborn child were murdered in East Liverpool in 1973 during an apparent robbery in progress at The Tweed Furniture Store. Earl Tweed was also killed in that robbery.

- Terry Ballard - left his house with a friend on Sept. 21, 1995. He was found at the BFI in East Palestine.

- Walter Valentine - died from multiple gunshot wounds and his trailer was set on fire in February of 2003.

- Earl Tweed - murdered in East Liverpool at his store on July 30, 1973.

- Frank Daniels - found on Sept. 8, 1974, on a bank of the Ohio River. He was 14 years old.

- Irvin Keefer - shot during a robbery at his gas station/mini mart in Glenmoor on Jan. 14, 1976.

- Dick Hubbard - murdered outside his apartment behind Loudon Ford in Salem on June 6, 1986. He died from a gunshot wound. He owned Hubbard's 7 & 14 Truck Stop.

For Belinda Puchajda, the formation of the Columbiana County Families of Homicide Victims (CCFHV) was a personal issue, driven by the loss of her cousin, Michael Williams.

"Really, it started about two years ago when Mike was murdered," Puchajda said. "I met with other families and we felt like something needed to be done to remember the victims and let those who did this know we will not give up."

Williams was born in Huntington Park, Calif., on Dec. 17, 1967. He was murdered on Aug. 30, 2005, in Rogers, found beaten to death in his car.

Like others who have joined the CCFHV, Puchajda wants an answer to the two most basic questions - What happened and why?

"Sometimes a family just wants some sort of answer," Puchajda said, adding that even an arrest may be secondary to having a sense of closure and understanding.

In the meantime, the CCFHV offers a place where family members can gather, share their stories about their loved ones and remember.

"It gives people a place to go if they know something, but it also gives the family members the feeling and opportunity to know they are doing something," Puchajda said. "The victims are not forgotten."

The group gathered last Wednesday along Dresden Avenue to remember the July 30, 1973, murders of East Liverpool businessman Earl Tweed and Linda and Angela Morris. A memorial service was held and family members had a chance to grieve and call out for help in solving the case 35 years later.

"We are not investigators," Puchajda pointed out. "We're not trying to solve crimes, but give people a place to go if they do have information and to just talk to members of the families and share stories about knowing the victims."

Puchajda said the group is not "dime store detectives" but want to help in the only way they can.

Gatherings like the one last Wednesday are one way to put a spotlight on the unsolved crimes. A candlelight vigil is scheduled for Aug. 23 at the gazebo in Lisbon for all the victims and their families.

The event is open to the public as well, according to Puchajda.

The CCFHV had a booth set up at the Columbiana County Fair and is at the Rogers Flea Market every Friday trying to spread the word and gather information, if possible.

"We're strictly a non-profit organization and we are using our own money and rely on donations to help us out with fliers and other material," Puchajda said. "We feel so strongly about this and it's such a very important problem."

The group has a Web site it maintains at http://victimsofhomicide.blogspot.com designed to keep an updated list of confirmed cases of unsolved murders and missing persons from out of the county. Currently, 18 names are listed.

"This week, we've verified two more cases to be added and we've been given six additional names while at the fair, but we need to confirm those," Puchajda said.

CCFHV member Kimberly Mitchell and Puchajda along with a host of other members have manned the booth at the fair, handing out information packets.

But for all of the family members and friends of the victims, it still all comes down to the questions of what and why.

"No one needs to think they can get away with murder," Puchajda said. "We want to know what happened and why."