T-L File Photo/JENNIFER COMPSTON-STROUGH Police tape surrounds the Belmont-area home of Thomas and Angela Strussion on Sept. 21 – the day they were murdered. The investigation of the crimes continues.

BELMONT — Murders – including two double homicides – occurred in both Belmont and Monroe counties in 2021, leaving residents of those communities stunned.

In the Belmont area in September, an early morning report of a structure fire Sept. 21 led to the discovery of a husband and wife dead inside their home on Trails End Drive, located off National Road east of Morristown.

Thomas Strussion, part owner of two local Salsa Joe’s restaurants, and his wife, Angela, were determined to be victims of a double homicide. No detailed information about the Strussions’ deaths has been released.

However, a Bellaire man already has pleaded guilty to extorting Thomas Strussion. Anthony Michael Dibacco, 31, and Miana Maylyn Smith, 25, of Guernsey Street in Bellaire were charged in September with extorting him.

Investigators uncovered the alleged blackmail plot in the course of the murder investigation.

Dibacco pleaded guilty earlier this month to third-degree felony extortion before Belmont County Common Pleas Judge John Vavra.

“He entered a plea and received a three-year prison sentence, which is the maximum,” Belmont County Prosecutor Kevin Flanagan said of Dibacco.

Smith is set for trial Jan. 2, also before Vavra. According to officials at the Belmont County Jail, on Oct. 15 she posted $25,000 bond and was released.

According to Chief Deputy James Zusack of the Belmont County Sheriff’s Office, there is no new information available about the double homicide investigation.

Another double homicide occurred in October, when a Woodsfield man allegedly shot and killed two men to who he had ties. Jacob Wilson, 38, of Woodsfield is charged with the murders of 24-year-old Daniel E. Franzoi of Beallsville and of 20-year-old Malakai Devon Curry of Caldwell. Wilson allegedly shot both men to death Oct. 30 outside the Wilson Farm just off of Ohio 26 on Wilson Lane in Woodsfield.

Monroe County Sheriff Charles Black Jr. said Wilson’s daughter was dating one of the victims, and his sister was dating the other victim. However, police are still investigating the motive for the crime.

The murders were reported to police around 10 p.m. Oct. 30, when a caller stated that three men had left the residence to take trash to a dump site just over the hill on the property and only one of the men — Wilson — had returned. Law enforcement discovered the deceased bodies of Franzoi and Curry after conducting a search of the family farm and dump area. Both victims had sustained multiple gunshot wounds. Wilson was found a short time later outside his Woodsfield residence, where he was arrested.

Wilson is charged with two counts of aggravated murder with gun specifications, two counts of tampering with evidence and two counts of abuse of a corpse. He remains held without bond in the Monroe County Jail.

An additional homicide in Monroe County was reported in May in the Beallsville area.

Sheriff Charles Black said the department received a 911 call around 9:30 p.m. May 18 from a female caller who said she had found her son, possibly dead, inside their home on Varner Ridge Road.

Once deputies arrived on scene, they discovered 39-year-old Timothy Frame deceased inside the home. Published reports indicate he suffered multiple gunshot wounds.

By the end of the month, though, Black announced that the case had been solved.

On May 19, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office received phone calls stating that an unknown male was walking on Varner Ridge before the time of the homicide. Detectives received the pertinent information that could best describe that individual. They also learned that the unknown male identified himself by the name of another subject who lived nearby.

Later, while still trying to identify the unknown male, the sheriff’s office received a call from the Lincoln County Coroner’s Office in Colorado, asking for deputies to perform a death notification on a Tristin Ensinger. Detectives talked with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office about details surrounding Ensinger’s death due to his family owning property close to where the homicide of Frame took place.

Lincoln County reported that Ensinger had shot a Lincoln County sheriff’s deputy while committing a theft from a tractor-trailer. The deputy returned fire; Ensinger then fled into a nearby field and committed suicide, according to Colorado law enforcement. Lincoln County deputies also said some evidence they had collected matched some evidence from the scene of the homicide on Varner Ridge Road.

Two Monroe County detectives flew to Douglas County Colorado to further investigate the connection between Ensinger and the Frame homicide. While they were in Colorado, detectives in Monroe County provided a photo lineup to witnesses who had observed the unknown male. The witnesses positively identified Ensinger as the unknown male seen walking in the area before the homicide took place.

This information was relayed to the two detectives in Colorado. They executed a search warrant on Ensinger’s vehicle. During that search, the Monroe County detectives collected evidence that placed Ensinger at the residence where Frame was killed. According to Black, that evidence indicates that Ensinger was the gunman who shot Frame to death.