CANTON A woman who died in a crash after a reported carjacking Monday has been identified.
Stark County Coroner s Office investigators say the woman is Darling Ove, 34, of 13th Street NW in Canton.
Police said on Monday that she was driving an orange Pontiac Grand Am that a man claimed she d stolen from him after pointing at gun at him several blocks away.
She was found dead in the mangled car a few minutes later in the 1100 block of Fulton Road NW. Police said she struck a tree and then a utility pole.
Lt. Dennis Garren, police spokesman, said their investigation into the incident and resulting crash continued on Tuesday.
The number of overdose deaths jumped 22% from the previous year.
Countywide, 126 people died compared to 103 deaths the previous year, according to records at the Stark County Coroner s Office.
That number could be even higher.
Coroner s office records show rulings are pending for the deaths of 27 more.
Then-Coroner Dr. Anthony Bertin told The Canton Repository in November that 2016 had been the deadliest year with 119 accidental overdose cases.
The victims last drug of choice seems to vary, according to investigators. And often the victim had taken more than one type of drug. Fentanyl shows up quite a bit. Methamphetamine alone, no. We re seeing meth in combination with something else: cocaine, fentanyl, heroin. . A combination of multiple drug ingestions is routine, investigator Harry Campbell said. A majority (of the deaths) have been a combination of drugs.
That s not the case at the Stark County Coroner s Office.
Republican Coroner-elect Ron Rusnack, who s decided to be a part-time coroner and keep his job at Aultman Hospital, is hiring Democratic Stark County Coroner Anthony Bertin to be his chief deputy.
Starting 12:01 a.m. Monday, Stark County will have a new coroner, clerk of courts, prosecutor and recorder, all Republicans succeeding Democrats for their first four-year terms.
That many county agencies (four or more) have not transitioned parties in at least 44 years. President Donald Trump, a Republican, won the Stark County vote by more than 18 percentage points.
Rusnak, a 58-year-old former emergency room physician, wanted to keep his job as a chief of informatics at Aultman and be a part-time coroner, which is allowed under Ohio law. Rusnak s salary will be $78,233 for working part time versus $143,099 if he opted to be full time.
PLAIN TWP. Four years of grief and frustration has Jessie Herring taking a cynical view of local law enforcement s efforts to locate the driver responsible for his daughter s death.
Jessica Herring, 33, was struck while walking on U.S. Route 62 near Rowland Avenue NE on the evening of Dec. 10, 2016. Her injuries were fatal.
Stark County sheriff s deputies have yet to identify the motorist who failed to stop at the scene. As far as I am concerned, it has been a cold case all along, Jessie Herring said. They won t even talk to me. What kind of case do you see where the person (investigators) won t talk to the deceased person s parents? Yeah, I am getting the run-around.
CANTON A 21-year-old Akron man has been ordered to spend to up to nine years in prison for fatally shooting a Canton man who had broken into a home where the defendant was asleep in bed with the other man s ex-girlfriend.
Lamont M. Buchanan had previously pleaded guilty to attempted murder, felonious assault and having a weapon while under disability.
Stark County Common Pleas Judge Kristin Farmer sentenced Buchanan on charges stemming from July 27, when he shot 25-year-old Isaiah Heard multiple times from behind, striking him in the back area and in the rear of his leg, said Stark County Assistant Prosecutor Donovan Hill.