`Relative charged in slaying`

By The Herald staff

Police have charged 18-year-old Russell Root with the Saturday morning bludgeoning death of his great-uncle, Harold V. Root, 70, at 39 Pullam Drive, Shenango Township, and have recovered a tire iron and knife they believe could be murder weapons.

Sharon police received a tip about the younger Root, whom Shenango Township police named as a suspect, and arrested him at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in a house in the 400 block of Ellsworth Street.

Root's address is a Brookfield post office box, though police said he had been staying in Sharon.

Root, arraigned Saturday night before District Justice Henry J. Russo in Hermitage, was charged with criminal homicide, burglary, robbery, theft and criminal conspiracy.

Two doors at the elder Root's home were forced open at about 6 a.m. Saturday and a television and videocassette recorder were stolen, Shenango Township Police Chief Ronald Preston has said. Preston speculated that a confrontation took place in the living room which led to the murder _ the township's first since 1979.

One of Root's two daughters went to the home in the afternoon and found his body in the living room. She notified township police, who arrived at 1:46 p.m.

Root's body was taken to Ellwood City for forensics tests and an autopsy. Deputy Coroner Dr. Charles Zeigler ruled the cause of death as blunt force trauma to the head.

There were at least three to five major skull fractures, Preston said.

Southwest Mercer County Regional Police detective, Sgt. Thomas Kantner, questioned Russel Root's girlfriend, Brandi Wills, 19, of Sharon, who was reportedly in the car outside the Pullam Drive home at the time of the crime.

According to her statement, Root began driving and allegedly ordered her to toss out a tire iron and a knife not far from Pullam Drive.

Police found the tire iron first; it ``appeared to have blood on it,'' Kantner said, adding that tests will be conducted by the state police crime lab in Erie.

Police learned Sunday morning that the autopsy indicated a knife could also have been used, so they searched again and at 11:39 a.m found, with help from a passing jogger, a kitchen knife on the Route 718 bridge berm.

It also had what appeared to be blood on it. Police believe it came from the victim's house, Kantner said.

``We went to the area where we found the tire iron and searched backwards,'' he said.

Ms. Wills also told police Root allegedly threw something else from the car, Kantner said, but evidence is still being collected.

Ms. Wills has not been charged, Kantner said, adding, ``In my opinion she was a victim of circumstance.''

He credited the cooperation of police departments, including Hermitage's crime unit, with the quick arrest.

``The investigation went very well,'' Kantner said. ``Everybody got together. There was no showboating going on.''

Root is being held in the Mercer County Jail without bond. His preliminary hearing is set for 4 p.m. Feb. 23.

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Updated Feb. 16, 1998
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