MANSFIELD — Two Mansfield men and a teenage boy are now all charged with a 2025 murder that apparently developed from a fight that occurred a year earlier.
Yaounde Hawthorne, 25, Elijah Taylor, 21, and a 15-year-old boy now all face aggravated murder charges in the the Aug. 17 shooting death of 18-year-old Ja’Myrion Hobbs.
Information surrounding the case was one of several indictments discussed Tuesday during a media interview with Richland County Prosecutor Jodie Schumacher.
“The indication is that the juvenile (defendant) and the victim had a fight, of sorts, the summer before and the victim had maybe got the best of the juvenile and it’s essentially never been forgotten,” Schumacher said.
The shooting death occurred in an alley between Lexington Avenue and South Main Street. Schumacher said all three defendants carried guns and at least two of them fired.
Were they looking for Hobbs in the alley on that Sunday morning?
“Yes,” Schumacher said.
— Hawthorne was indicted Oct. 23 and is scheduled for trial on May 15. He remains in the Richland County Jail.
— Taylor was arrested on Dec. 19 and his case was bound over Dec. 31 for consideration by a Richland County grand jury. No indictment has been made public in that case and no trial date has been set.
— The 15-year-old remains in the Richland County Juvenile Court Detention Center as the prosecutor seeks to have him moved into adult court for trial.
(Below is a PDF showing an indictment returned by a Richland County grand jury against Yaounde Hawthorne.)
The murder indictment against Hawthorn includes a “criminal gang activity specification.”
The murder indictment is not the only criminal allegation against Hawthorne. In addition he was indicted in October for allegedly firing eight shots into a Westwood Avenue house, according to Schumacher.
Hawthorn has also been charged with felony vandalism for damaging a commissary kiosk in the Richland County Jail since he has been behind bars. That charge was filed Jan. 5 and is pending in Mansfield Municipal Court, according to online court records.
When Hawthorne was arrested Aug. 22 for the homicide, Mansfield police Chief Jason Bammann credited the public for providing information needed to help solve the case.
“This case demonstrates the impact that can be achieved when law enforcement and the community work together,” Bammann said then. “By working together, we can continue to enhance the safety and security of our community.”
Schumacher echoed the chief’s comments on Tuesday, citing the “cooperation of witnesses.”
“People who had an awareness and information provided that to law enforcement,” she said. “Their statements assisted in leading to certain items of other evidence, ultimately that were substantiated through forensics.”
Among other indictments discussed Tuesday:
— Lenael Smith, 43, of Mansfield is scheduled to stand trial March 5 on charges of attempted murder; rape; kidnapping; abduction; felonious assault; strangulation (three counts); having weapons while under disability (three counts); specification for
forfeiture of a weapon; and specification for forfeiture of a weapon while under disability.
Smith was indicted in August 2025 for the alleged assault in July.
(Below is a PDF with a grand jury indictment handed down against Lenael Smith.)
Schumacher said he was arrested by Mansfield police after a 911 hangup call from a residence on Superior Street. She said officers were met at the door by a woman who had been severely beaten and sexually assaulted.
Schumacher said the victim knew Smith, but there had been no relationship between the two. The defendant remains in the Richland County Jail.
— Corey Tappel, 35, of Butler, is scheduled to stand trial March 26 for sexual battery (six counts); gross sexual imposition (three counts); attempted gross sexual imposition (five counts); and importuning.
(Below is a PDF with a grand jury indictment handed down against Corey Tappel.)
Schumacher said the crimes occurred between August of 2019 and September 2023 involving a female victim under age 13. He was indicted by a county grand jury in October 2025.
The prosecutor said the Butler Police Department investigated the case after the victim told her family of the incidents.