YOUNGSTOWN – The body of a man who went missing on Sunday was found by Youngstown Police detectives at Mount Hope Veterans Memorial Cemetery, 1945 Liberty Road, on Wednesday – the day after detectives asked local media to report on the case.
Isiah J. Helms, 22, was located using public information and an independent investigation, according to a Youngstown police news release. Helms was last seen leaving his Plaza View Court apartment on the east side just before 3 a.m. Sunday, according to the missing person’s report. He was allegedly picked up by an unidentified person in an unidentified vehicle.
The Mahoning County Coroner’s Office positively identified Helms on Thursday and ruled he died of gunshot wounds. It’s the second murder of the year in the city.
Following an investigation, a warrant for the murder has been issued for Jamiyah Brooks, 18, of Lillburn Drive. He had not been incarcerated in the Mahoning County Jail as of Thursday night, records show.
Brooks was indicted Jan. 13 for tampering with evidence, carrying a concealed weapon, and obstructing official business. Help from the public and technology also made arrests possible in this case, police said.
The incident began at 2:44 p.m. on December 28 with a call from two men firing guns at a house on Ivanhoe Avenue on the south side. Officers spoke to people who wished to remain anonymous and who said they videotaped the incident. The video showed two men running from the street past the house and then into a house.
Officers spoke to those in the house, including Brooks, and were told that someone in a vehicle drove past the house and fired, possibly just in the air. Officers found several shell casings of two calibers on the road.
Officers were told by concerned residents that while collecting shell casings, two men came out the back of the house. Officers drove in that direction and arrested a minor and Brooks, who was returning to the original home, according to a police report.
Meanwhile, someone called 911 to report they had video of a man throwing a gun nearby. The person said their motion sensor alerted them. The person provided a video of the man putting a gun into a sweatshirt. The person found the sweatshirt and the gun hanging from a nearby tree. Officers recovered the items and also determined that the man in the video was Brooks, the report said.
A resident then informed officers that his dog had been alerted to the presence of a bag under a bush. Officers checked it and found a rifle and ammunition inside. Gunshot residue tests were performed on Brooks and the miner, and both were arrested. Brooks turned 18 just nine days before the Ivanhoe incident, police said.
The unidentified minor was charged with carrying a concealed weapon, tampering with evidence and discharging a firearm within city limits.
Brooks posted $2,500 bond and was released from jail on Dec. 29, according to Youngstown City Court records. A Mahoning County Common Pleas Court judge upheld that connection after his arraignment.
