Cleveland Daily Banner
Mrs Ola Turner, 33, her father, Ed Bell, 49, and her son Lloyd Turner, 18 yesterday were held to the grand jury without bond, charged with the murder of John Slack, 56 year old worker at the TNT plant.
The ruling was made by acting judge Martin Fleming Jr, as a climax to a dramatic hour long preliminary hearing in city court.
DIED FEB 25
Slack died in Physicians and Surgeons Hospital on Tuesday afternoon, Feb 25, as a result of a severe skull blow received when he was mysteriously attacked several days earlier.
Homicide detective EE Smith who has investigated the case since it was was discovered on the Monday before Slack's death, prosecuted the three defendants this morning. He was assisted by HGB King, attorney.
Police first learned of the case when hospital athorities telephoned detectives on Feb 24, and told of Slack's serious injuries, Smith told the court.
"I investigated and found he has been brought to the hospital on Saturday night by Mrs Turner, his housekeeper," Smith continued "Late Monday afternoon I went to Slack's apartment at 912 E Terrace and found Mrs Turner there packing up to leave."
The woman told him, Smith said, that she was Slack's housekeeper, and she and her son, Lloyd, had been living with the man.
On Friday night of the previous weekend, however, she said the two of them had spent the night with her father at his farm on Route 5. Slack had been drinking, she said, and they didn't want to stay with him.
"The next day sometime between 11 and 11:30 AM," Smith went on, "the three of them drove back to the apartment and found Slack badly dazed and bloody. He was in the bedroom, Mrs Turner told me, and he was trying to dress himself."
All three defendants claim they knew nothing of the attack on Slack until Saturday morning, Smith said.
That afternoon, Bell and the boy, Lloyd, took Slack to a Red Ban doctor, Smith said. He had a chin cut and abrasions on his head.
The doctor treated Slack and he was brought back to the apartment, according to the detective. That night (Saturday) Mrs Turner took Slack to Physicians and Surgeons Hospital, where he was x rayed and it was found he had a skull fracture.
On Monday afternoon, Smith arrested Mrs Turner, and the next day he jailed her father on charges of acessory to felonious assault.
County and city police searched for the son all day, Smith testified, but didn't find him until that night. County detective EE Fryar and Patrolman Raymond Hixson arested Turner as he was driving away from the Bell farm. Fryar told the court that Turner had tried to conceal his identity when he was arrested.