Bar Argument Turns Deadly
Police: Murder suspect was upset over condition of neighbor’s apartmentBy IAN HICKS Staff Writer
Article Photos
WEIRTON - Michael Scott Truax is behind bars after a January argument over a neighbor's dirty apartment turned deadly.
Truax, 47, of 1412 Pennsylvania Ave., Apt. 2, was arrested without incident at about 5 p.m. Saturday, according to Weirton police Sgt. Greg Moodie. Truax is accused in the Jan. 20 death of 51-year-old Frank Barone.
Truax and Barone occupied separate apartments above Big Al's Bar and Grill. Moodie said Truax reported finding Barone's body at the bottom of a staircase leading up to the apartments - hours after the two were seen arguing in the downstairs bar.
According to Moodie, the investigation began after an autopsy revealed blunt force trauma as the cause of Barone's death.
"That changed the focus of the investigation toward homicide," said Moodie.
According to the criminal complaint filed in Hancock County Magistrate Court, bar patrons told investigators Truax and Barone were engaged in an argument throughout the evening of Jan. 19; the dispute reportedly was over Barone "having an unclean, stinking apartment." The document also states Truax made several threats toward Barone, and neighbors said the disagreement continued in the stairwell in the early morning hours of Jan. 20 after the bar closed.
Truax admitted that during the confrontation on the stairs, Barone "stepped in front of him ... he elbowed Frank (Barone) knocking him down the steps," the complaint states.
Truax said he then returned to his apartment and went to sleep. He told investigators he knew Barone had fallen down the stairs but did not render aid, and he said he did not leave his apartment again until about 5 p.m., when he discovered Barone's body at the bottom of the stairs.
Truax was lodged Tuesday in the Northern Regional Jail at Moundsville on $250,000 bond, charged with murder. Moodie said Truax is scheduled to appear Friday for a hearing in magistrate court.
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true2bun
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02-10-10 2:57 PM
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bar must have been cleaner tahn there apartment, sad circumstance for both
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Shark88
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02-10-10 2:28 PM
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Truax looks a bit like Eric Clapton.
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walksabout
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02-10-10 1:32 PM
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in a bar one evening where some folks made a choice to shoot beer cans off a willing drunks noggin. ( I know I know. Oh my, everybody hasn't spent their lives warm and sipping hot cocoa ) did not turn out the way they likely thought it would. The shooter went to the slammer and the shooted went where ted and elvis went.
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walksabout
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02-10-10 1:22 PM
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meanstreak. you are correct. nobody has to follow their feet and eyes with their mind. right is in you or never lived there. if guilty, smoke the culprit.
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MeanStreak
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02-10-10 10:39 AM
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was their choice to drink the alcohol.
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Zipperhead
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02-10-10 10:36 AM
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A good lawyer could get him out of this one.
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Shark88
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02-10-10 9:22 AM
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One drunk complaining to another drunk about having an unclean, stinking apartment. I'm sure the bar that they got soused in smelled great too. Plenty of stats concerning the dangers of tobacco and drug abuse but none compare to the stats concerning the endless tragedies surrounding the abuse and use of alcohol. Probably not one person reading this that hasn't been adversely imnpacted by its devastating effects. Homicides, deaths, murders, disabilities and health issues, infidelity, broken homes & families, divorce, child abuse, and the list goes on and on with the tragedies surrounding alcohol. Do the victims have a choice? Having eyes that can't focus, a brain that can't think, and a thick tongue that can't speak, what else would you expect? Regardless of the cost, the public and politicians will still vote for a wet ticket and defend its use and abuse 'til their dying day. Too bad ole' Frank Barone can't come back and tell us what waits on the other side.
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acousticportal
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02-10-10 9:01 AM
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Not about alcohol....about stupid decisions. Drugs and alcohol are not scapegoats for bad choices in life.
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MeanStreak
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02-10-10 8:38 AM
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grim that is not how prisons are in WV Quite the opposite. Own room own bathroom. Walks alcohol does change things but ultimately it was THIER choices that landed these two in their demise.
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grimreaper
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02-10-10 7:51 AM
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If he thinks the apartment was bad, wait till he gets to prison and there are fifty camodes setting in rows of 25 facing one another that he may have to stand in line to use one.
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walksabout
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02-10-10 1:38 AM
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alcohol changes everything doesn't it ? Two lives wasted .
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