YOUNGSTOWN — The body of a man, later identified as George Westhead, 63, was found under a bush behind a home at 634 Almyra Ave. on the South Side on Oct. 9.

Youngstown police were called there at 2:39 p.m. Oct. 9 for a dead body at a red-tagged house, meaning a house where people were no longer allowed to enter.

Officers saw the body of a man, 50 to 60 years old or more, clothed in a blue shirt and blue pants under a bush. His shoes were off, according to a Youngstown police report.

An ambulance worker at the scene told police a witness said he or she was cleaning up the property when they found the body.

A police supervisor took photos, and the Mahoning County Coroner’s office sent an investigator to the scene.

The report states a Youngstown detective had been working on the missing-persons case of George Westhead. Two detectives came to the scene and confirmed that the body was that of Westhead, the report states.

The Youngstown Police Department crime lab came to the scene to take photos and collect evidence, and the coroner’s office took possession of the body for further investigation.

No arrests have been made, and his death is being investigated as a suspicious death, Capt.ww Jason Simon of the Youngstown Police Department stated in an email Wednesday.

OTHER REPORTS

Two other Youngstown police reports regarding Westhead suggest the events leading up to his death began early Oct. 7 at Belleview and East Marion avenues on the South Side, two days before Westhead’s body was found.

At 2:45 a.m. Oct. 7, officers were sent to Bellview and Marion for a vehicle fire. When officers arrived, Youngstown firefighters were extinguishing the flames from a white Ford Escape in a grassy field.

The vehicle registration was connected to an address on Burbank Avenue in the northwest part of Youngstown.

Officers went there and spoke with a woman who said her brother, Westhead, was the last person known to be driving the Escape and that he left the residence about 5:30 p.m. the day before, Oct. 6, to meet up with his girlfriend.

After seeing his girlfriend, Westhead was going to meet up with some family members on Salt Springs Road not far from Burbank, the woman said. She contacted the Salt Springs Road family members, who said Westhead had left their home about 1 a.m. Oct. 7 and that “was the last time anyone had heard from or seen Mr. Westhead,” the report states.

Westhead had no cellphone, so officers were not able to try to call or otherwise track him, the report noted. The Escape was retained for an arson investigation, the report states.

FRIEND REPORTED

HIM MISSING

On Oct. 8, a friend of Westhead went to the Youngstown Police Department to report Westhead as a missing person.

The friend said he is in frequent contact with Westhead but had not had recent contact with him, and said he believed Westhead may have been killed. He said he spoke to Westhead’s family, and they were “worried.”

The man said Westhead “has been hanging around bad people.”

He described the people Westhead had been in contact with and described Westhead as having had contact with those people late Oct. 6.

He said Westhead borrowed a relative’s car and drove two people from an address on Salt Springs Road to a Circle K store, then took them to the South Side. The friend said he had not heard from Westhead since that time.

The car Westhead borrowed was found on fire early Oct. 7, the report states.

The man also said one of the people Westhead had been hanging around with had contacted Westhead’s sister, threatening that she would “end up dead like her brother” if the person did not “get the duffle bag back.”

The officers speaking to Westhead’s friend learned that Westhead had already been reported as missing or endangered earlier.

Westhead’s obituary states that he was in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1981 to 1983 after graduating from Chaney High School in 1980 and was the father of two sons.