Belmont County Sheriff Dave Lucas has not released any additional details in the past three weeks concerning the tragic double homicide that occurred on Sept. 21 along Trails End Road near Morristown.
Tom and Angela Strussion were discovered deceased soon after a neighbor reported to 911 dispatchers that smoke was spewing from the couple’s home in the early morning. Initially, Lucas labeled the incident as “suspicious,” and then one day after the murders, the sheriff released that it was a double homicide.
On Sept. 27, the Belmont County Sheriff’s Office released information on the arrests of Anthony Michael Bibacco and Maylyn Smith on charges of extortion. The sheriff did state additional charges could be filed against the two individuals in the future. Lucas would not elaborate at the time how investigators collected evidence against Dibacco and Smith.
Since Sept. 27, though, no further intelligence has been supplied by the sheriff’s office.
“Anyone who knows me knows I like to release information to the public whenever I can and as much as I can, but sometimes the investigation just actually prohibits that,” said Marshall County Sheriff Bill Helms. “There is a risk with letting out too much information because you can compromise the whole operation. The investigators are finders of fact and sometimes we have to be closed-lipped.
“That’s just the way it has to be and that’s how they are treating their investigation into the double homicide,” he said. “It will likely come later than sooner, but I am sure there will come a time when their department puts out a press release.”
Kevin Kettler, a veteran of 18 years with the Wheeling Police Department who now serves as the chief of security for Roxby Development, agreed with Helms.
“If law enforcement were to release key details like the name of the suspect or suspects they may have, or if they have witnesses, they could jeopardize the investigation,” Kettler explained. “If a suspect is brought in and he or she knows what the police are looking for, that gives them the advantage and law enforcement never wants to give up the advantage.
“You also want to hold onto those details until they become concrete,” he continued. “As far as that case is concerned, we do not have the exact causes of death for the two victims because they have refused to release the coroner’s reports to the public, and that’s a prime example of what law enforcement has to do while investigating a case like this one. Our desire to know the facts does not trump the investigation ever.”
An Impatient Public
The Strussions owned and operated two restaurants, Salsa’s Joe’s 740 in Belmont, and Salsa Joe’s 304 in the Elm Grove area of Wheeling. The couple once resided in Texas where Tom founded Salsa Joe’s in Arlington, Texas, but according to the eatery’s Facebook page, it closed “temporarily” on June 29. Strussion reportedly sold the Arlington location before returning to his native Belmont County.
A reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Jessika Harkey, published an article on Oct. 8 that quoted a similar article released by The Times Leader in Martins Ferry a week earlier.
“Even though there is a lot of speculation because that’s what people do in these cases, law enforcement will hold on to the information they’ve collected because they are still working the case,” Kettler said. “Now, they have said there is no threat to the community, and what that means is what happened to these victims were not just random attacks. Perhaps at that time, it put the public at rest.
“But I know people want to know the facts and the details, but that’s not how you run an investigation,” he explained. “If there are facts and details that can be released without hurting the investigation, OK, but otherwise, forget it. The investigation is what is most important so that is why they are going about it the way they have over the last month.”
Most recently, Sheriff Helms was forced to withhold information from the public after a man was pushed from a vehicle near the emergency room entrance at WVU Medicine Reynold’s Memorial Hospital in January 2020. Randy D. Strawn, a 60-year-old resident of Cameron, was discovered deceased, and two men were later convicted of the crimes.
Helms, however, remained mum for months to allow for the investigation to continue uninfringed.
“It’s human nature to be curious, and hey, I want to know, too. ” Helms admitted. “If the Belmont County Sheriff’s Office reached out to me for some kind of help, of course, we would offer them whatever resources they might need, but they have not. They are keeping it very internal and I am sure for good reason.
“So, that means we’ll have to wait just like everyone else, and that’s OK to me,” he said. “If that’s the way it has to be right now, then that’s the way it has to be, and I hope people realize that.”
Tragic but Rare
Murders have taken place in the Upper Ohio Valley, and unfortunately local residents have realized an increase in recent years. Most recently, on Sept. 17, police were called to 8 South Frazier Run Road in Mozart where they found Anorah Charlene Schostag had been killed by large deep wounds to her neck and chest.
William Carman was quickly apprehended by Wheeling Police officers and charged with murder. The case has been bound over to the next term of the Ohio County Grand Jury.
Last month, an Ohio County Grand Jury returned indictments for Wheeling residents Gerald Wayne Jako and Dana Marie Bowman on three counts of murder and two counts of concealing a deceased human body. The charges, authorities believe, stem from the 2018 deaths Trevor Vossen, Lauren “LuLu” Jenkins and her unborn child.
More than three years ago, dismembered and burned human remains were discovered along Sullivan Road in Raleigh County, W.Va. The remains were identified using dental records. Wheeling authorities have told local media it is believed the two victims were somehow lured into a house, killed, and then dismembered before being transported more than 240 miles to Raleigh County.
“I’m not saying that crazy, shocking things have not happened in this area, but we are very unfortunate crimes like these two murders do not take place very often,” Helms said. “In relation to other areas, we’re still a very small community overall and when these kinds of crimes do take place, I think the police and the people have learned to be very patient because we understand how important and how delicate these kinds of investigations are.
“What is most important is that justice is served and that’s what those investigators in Belmont County are doing now,” he added. “They have their reasons, trust me on that.”
