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YOUNGSTOWN -- A 68-year-old Windham man's death was being investigated after the Windham police chief told the Mahoning County Coroner's Office the man may have been a victim of a homicide.
The coroner's office, however, ruled the death of Ronald Welcome was from natural causes. Still, police Chief Rick Garinger said he has not closed the door to the investigation.
"This is still an open case," Garinger told the newspaper last week. "But I can't say much more since it is an open investigation."
Garinger had reported that Welcome died Oct. 18, 2022, at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital.
In a report written by the Mahoning County coroner's investigator, Theresa Gaetano, Garinger told the coroner's office that Welcome was beaten with a metal bar at his home around May 2, 2019. He was taken to University Hospital – Portage Medical Center in Ravenna with a traumatic brain injury.
Since then, Welcome had been in a nursing home, unable to eat or drink. Garinger said he was notified in late October by Welcome's brother that the man had died. A doctor had signed Welcome's death certificate as the man dying of natural causes.
The police chief, however, told coroner's office officials he believed the death was a result of the assault because "Welcome never returned to his baseline of health."
CORONER'S REVIEW
Gaetano said she discussed the Welcome case with coroner Dr. David M. Kennedy.
"He asked me to review the case records and transport the body to the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office for an autopsy," Gaetano said.
The autopsy was conducted Oct. 27, 2022, by Cuyahoga County forensic pathologist Joseph Felo. Photographs were taken of the body and a DNA blood standard was made. Specimens were obtained for toxicology.
When the test results came in, the cause of Welcome's death was reported on Feb. 10 to be from heart disease and Kennedy reported the death to be of natural causes.
POLICE AND AMBULANCE
According to the police chief, multiple witnesses reported Welcome was assaulted by a neighbor in an apartment. The chief said the victim was carried to his apartment and placed on the floor where he laid for several days before being found.
Initial reports, according to Garinger, had Welcome falling and striking his head on a television.
A Windham police report noted that officers were dispatched on May 2, 2019, to 9584 Greenmeadow Road SE for a welfare check. Officers had to force their way into the residence and found Welcome lying on the living room floor. The report stated the man had labored breathing and mucus coming from his nose with a bleeding wound found on the right side of his head and forehead.
A fire department ambulance report noted Welcome was unconscious and barely breathing with his upper extremities and face cyanotic (marked by or causing a bluish or purplish discoloration) and his pupils in a fixed, upward gaze. Skin tears were noted in his arms and legs. A hospital record showed after admission, CT scans showed no fractures or internal injuries but doctors diagnosed him in septic shock, aspiration pneumonia and renal failure, among other maladies.
By May 6, 2019, a responsive Welcome was able to answer questions, telling medical officials "he believed he fell on April 28." He initially stated he tripped and hit his head on the VCR but later said something vaguely about "someone hitting him on the head."
On May 21, 2019, Welcome was transferred to Continuing Healthcare at the Ridge in Mineral Ridge.
By Oct. 18, 2022, at 2:30 a.m., Welcome ran a low-grade fever and had trouble breathing. He was given Tylenol and began feeling better, asking to be disconnected from oxygen and feeding tubes. Some 30 minutes later, however, he asked to be taken to the hospital. While nursing home attendants were making the 911 call, the report showed Welcome had turned blue.
Nurses began administering CPR before paramedics arrived. He was taken to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 4:41 a.m.
Welcome's obituary said he was a gifted athlete at Windham High School, lettering in football and basketball. He was a roofer by trade and worked for many different companies throughout the years.