BOARDMAN — When new township patrolman Ryan Jones took his oath earlier this week, he also saw exactly the standard of police work that will be expected of him.

Boardman trustees approved Jones’ hiring at Monday’s meeting, during which the police department also presented its Meritorious Service Award to Sgt. Michael Hughes, the detective whose investigative work led to the reclassification of a 1975 death as a homicide and ultimately brought the victim’s killer to justice.

In January, police identified Joseph Norman Hill as the killer of Brad Lee Bellino, who was 12 when his body was found in Boardman in 1972. Three years after Bellino’s death, police found the body of 13-year-old David Evans, less than a mile from where Bellino was discovered.

At the time, the Mahoning County’s Coroner’s Offfice determined Evans’ death was the result of a diabetic coma and found no criminal element present. Police did not agree and continued to investigate, but the case eventually turned cold.

Hill’s arrest for Bellino’s murder gave Boardman new reason to re-examine Evans’ death, and they handed the investigation to Hughes. After Hughes and Mahoning County Coroner Dr. David Kennedy determined there was enough evidence to reclassify Evans’ death as a homicide, they sent his clothing to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation for testing. The BCI lab linked DNA found on the clothes to Hill.

The Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office found there would be sufficient evidence to present a case against Hill, were he still alive, and said a grand jury likely would have indicted Hill for Bellino’s and Evans’ deaths. Hill lived on Shadyside Drive in Boardman at the time of the deaths. He died in California in 2019.

“The case’s designation as a death from natural causes precluded the potential for a lot of police work,” Chief Todd Werth said. “Sgt. Hughes’ experience, dedication, professionalism and investigative knowledge is the reason we were able to finally bring closure to this case after nearly 50 years.”

While Hughes sets a high bar, Werth said he is confident his new patrolman will live up to the standards of the department. Jones is a Boardman resident, 2013 Boardman High School graduate, a four-year veteran of the United States Navy and a graduate of the Youngstown State University Police Academy.

“Ryan has been No. 1 on our civil service list, and performed very well at the academy, and he’s hit the ground running,” Werth said. “He’s shown an excellent demeanor in his interactions with the community.”