Unsolved Youngstown Murder Project: Brother of man killed in 2004 says his worst fears came true

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — Chuck Doran’s brother, Tim, had a great job and a wonderful family.

Then Tim’s wife died and he became addicted to cocaine.

It was hard to watch, Chuck recently said on the phone, and at one point he warned his mother not to give in to Tim’s pleas for help, because he usually turned around and used whatever she gave him to satisfy his addiction.

Chuck hoped that perhaps Tim, a Girard high school graduate, would be pushed into getting help if he was shunned.

“I thought this was going to end up with me going to the hospital and identifying his body,” Chuck said.

Unfortunately, Chuck was prescient; Tim, 43, was shot dead on October 20, 2004 on Dupont Street in the northern part of the city, where he went with another man to buy drugs.

His case has not been solved.

“They called me,” Chuck said of the aftermath of his brother’s death. “I had to go to Northside Hospital and identify him.”

“It was just a really bad time.”

According to newspaper reports at the time, Tim and another man were in Dupont Street, which is in Briar Hill, to buy drugs around 9:30 pm.

When the car containing the men entered the entrance, about 10 people surrounded it after they got out of the car. They managed to get back into the car before someone fired a few shots.

Tim received a gunshot wound to the head. The man who was with him took him to Northside Hospital, where he died of his wounds.

The police found three 9 mm shell casings at the scene, but nothing else.

Chuck said his brother was killed by mistake. Lead detective on the case, now retired detective Sgt. Ron Rodway said by phone from Florida that the Briar Hill projects at the time were a dangerous place for those who wanted to buy drugs.

“It’s just a tragedy that someone is so addicted that they risk their life to get drugs,” Rodway said.

Chuck said his brother wasn’t always the person his addiction turned him into. He said that Tim was “a super guy who would do just about anything for anyone”.

But everything changed for the worse after Tim’s wife passed away.

“After his wife died, he really went crazy,” Chuck said of his brother. “From then on, it was just a downward spiral.”

His brother had a well-paid job as a handyman at the former Youngstown Tool & Die factory, where he worked for more than 20 years, but lost that job due to his addiction, Chuck said.

When Tim asked for something from their mother, he always worded his request for help with the “one more time” clause, Chuck said.

Chuck said he tried to explain to their mother that by “helping” Tim, she was actually making his addiction worse.

“I told her to consider him already dead and maybe we’ll get him back,” Chuck said.

According to Chuck, it has been almost 20 years since his brother died.

“Obviously we all miss him,” Chuck said.

Chuck also had one final piece of advice for the courts; drug addicts must turn to schools as part of their sentences. He said that perhaps their bare bones paraphrasing their addictions could take young people away from drugs, from seeking that high that turns into an almost lifelong search for others.

“Maybe they need to go back to schools,” he said.

Anyone with information about the murder of 43-year-old Timothy Doran on October 20, 2004, or any of the murders listed below, can call the Youngstown Police Department Detective Bureau at 330-742-8911 or CrimeStoppers Youngstown at 330-746 -CLUE. If someone is a friend or relative of a person killed between 2001 and 2023 and would like to speak with a journalist, please send your contact information to joseph.gorman.com.

UNSOLVED KILLS SINCE 2004

January 15: David Jones, 22, Danyale Oliver, 20, and Nicole Scott, 27, were found shot to death in a house on New York Avenue for drugs. Scott had a bag packed as if she was going on a trip before she was killed.

March 12: Christopher Hodge, 28, found shot to death in his home on Almira Avenue.

26 April: 33-year-old David Greer, missing, found in Lake McKelvey.

May 4th: Henry Blue, 37, and Taiwan Tillis, 29, found shot to death in a car on Overland Avenue.

August 17: Roberto Rodriguez Lozano, 26, died in a drive-by shooting in North Trousdale after being shot at on August 17.

25-th of August: Raoul Elliot, 35, shot several times on Foster Street.

The 20th of October: Timothy Doran, 43, found shot in the head in his car on Rue du Pont.

November 28: James Rosenblood Jr., 23, was shot dead at his home on North Bruce Street.

5th of December: Jerome Miller, 31, shot to death in a car on Gina’s driveway in North Garland.

December 18: Benedict Santana, 36, found shot to death in his home on Nilson Avenue.

December 24: Raymond L. Ford, 23, was found shot through the head in a house on Rosedale Avenue.

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