On September 30, 2023, the body of 74-year-old Leroy Emmanuel Johnston Jr. was found in a remote wooded area near the Royalview Picnic Shelter at Mill Stream Run Reservation in Strongsville, Ohio. The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the death a homicide, listing the cause as a gunshot wound to the head. Johnston was a resident of Shaker Heights.

Investigators say acquaintanceship between Johnston and 22-year-old Viktor Vendler led to an encounter on September 24, 2023, when Vendler allegedly lured Johnston to the park and fatally shot him before fleeing. A grand jury later returned multiple charges against Vendler, including two counts of aggravated murder, kidnapping, tampering with evidence, and gross abuse of a corpse. At arraignment he pleaded not guilty and was held on $1 million bond with a court order forbidding contact with Johnston’s family.

Are there readers who knew Johnston or who were in the Mill Stream Run area in late September 2023 with information to share?