STRONGSVILLE, Ohio (WJW) – Video released to the FOX 8 I-Team takes you inside the investigation into a murder mystery in the Cleveland Metroparks.

The video sheds new light on a homicide where you go to relax.

It happened last month in the woods at the Royalview Picnic area in Strongsville.

Body camera video just released shows Metroparks rangers and others hiking to get to a man found shot to death. They had to hike for 15 minutes.

At one point, a firefighter there asked the man who called 911 to describe the distance to the scene.

“How far would you say we are from right here?” he asked.

“Ten minutes,” the witness responded.

“Ten minutes?” the firefighter said.

At other points on the video, you can hear, “you’re going to make a left down at the water,” and,
“no easy way in.”

Investigators have identified the victim as 74-year-old Leroy Johnston. He had been shot in the head.

The I-Team spoke to the man who called 911. He described the area.

“A good place to take your dog, to be a dog, without worrying about other people,” he said.

He told us he found the body while walking his dog with his girlfriend.

“There’s a lot that runs through your head when you find something like that. I was concerned after I learned the cause of death, how close was I to being hurt,” he said.

So far in this case, no one has been arrested.

The I-Team also requested records looking back. The last murder in the Cleveland Metroparks happened in 2020. A spokesperson tells us that also has not been solved.

Meanwhile, the families of Kate Brown and Carnell Sledge wait for justice, too. Back in 2019, someone murdered them in the Rocky River Reservation of the Metroparks. That case, also, has never been solved despite big rewards offered for tips to crack the case.

Back to this crime, that 911 caller always liked getting off the trail near the Royalview Picnic area, until now.

I never felt unsafe there, but, that being said, with what we went through, I don’t know if I’ll be going back to that park. Just because it’s kind of a fresh thing in our mind,” he said.

The Metroparks spokesperson has revealed little about the investigation, although we’re told the victim in this case had been shot with a handgun.

We’ll update this story when there are developments in the case.