3 men found dead in boarded-up home in Toledo, Ohio; police call deaths a triple homicide

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) -- Three men were found dead inside a boarded-up house Tuesday, the latest in a wave of killings that has plagued the city in recent weeks, police said.<br/><br/>Two victims had been

Tuesday, October 24th 2006, 9:44 pm

By: News On 6

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) -- Three men were found dead inside a boarded-up house Tuesday, the latest in a wave of killings that has plagued the city in recent weeks, police said.

Two victims had been shot and the other had been stabbed, Chief Mike Navarre said. They appeared to be in their early 40s.

A neighbor reported hearing shots about 4:15 a.m., Capt. Diana Ruiz-Krause said. One witness saw two people leaving through the backyard, she added.

Tuesday's discovery brought the number of killings in the past five weeks to 12 in the city of about 300,000. Police have tied several to drug deals.

Neighbors believed there was drug activity at the house, Ruiz-Krause said.

One victim may have been a squatter at the house, which was mostly empty with no furniture, neighbor Richard Christien said.

Christien said that since the house was boarded up last spring he had occasionally seen a stretch limousine drop people off there.

"I saw that all the time," Christien said. "They were pretty quiet about what they were doing."

Neighbors would occasionally call police, and officers stopped by at least once a month, he said.