Ashtabula police were called to a home on Adams Avenue at least 42 times in the last year, most recently to investigate the home’s connection to the kidnapping and death of a 13-year-old girl.
According to court records obtained by News 5, John Bove told police he killed Kara Zdanczewski on May 11 and set fire to her body.
Afterwards he went to the home on Adams Avenue where the resident Malachi Schultz, 20, allegedly gave Bove a change of clothing. Another man mentioned in the documents, Stanley Wilfong, agreed to dispose of the bloody clothes for Bove.
The documents said that Bove also disposed of a knife "used at the murder scene" that Schultz hid in an air conditioner at his home where it was later found by police.
Schultz was arrested in connection with the teen’s murder on May 18.
Neighbors near the scene tell News 5 his house been a problem on the street for years.
According to court records, Ashtabula police have been called to the home at least 43 times since August of 2014 when the current owners moved in.
Fifteen calls were for “disturbances,” in addition to harassment, theft, fighting, a stabbing, menacing, assault, and multiple felony warrants.
The calls also include domestic violence incidents. According to court records, Malachi was charged and convicted in an incident in which he assaulted his then-pregnant girlfriend.
“Do they need to wait until a bunch of these little kids out playing gets to be the innocent bystander that gets shot?” said next-door neighbor Nevada Moore.
But despite their calls to police, neighbors said they are frustrated, feeling like their safety concerns have not been remedied.
"I think somebody needs to help us," said neighbor Cheyenne Luther.
Ashtabula has a criminal nuisance ordinance for residential properties but the city’s solicitor told News 5 it only applies to rental properties.
RELATED: Coroner confirms body found in Ashtabula County is that of missing teen Kara Zdanczewski
His email said, in part:
"Since you apparently enjoy statistics, here are some: the Ashtabula Municipal Court serves the City of Ashtabula and 3 neighboring townships, which together contain around 50% of the County’s population. During the last 10 years this office has prepared and filed an average of 464 felony and 1718 misdemeanor cases per year. In addition the police agencies in this jurisdiction have filed an average of 241 DUIs and over 4513 other traffic tickets per year. In 2015, it rose to 637 felonies and 1963 misdemeanors, and while the final numbers for 2016 are not in yet, I am sure they will top 2015. Those cases all funnel through a court with one judge and one part-time magistrate. Those cases are all prosecuted by one part-time city solicitor and one full-time assistant solicitor. In addition the part-time city solicitor is the only attorney for a 30-million-dollar-per-year corporation called the City of Ashtabula, which does take up some of his time. Nuisance abatement and building code violations are part of that side of the job."
Malachi now faces charges of obstructing justice and tampering with evidence.
He is one of four people now charged in connection with the death of Zdancezewski.
