Prisoner gets another 15 to life for killing Warren Correctional cellmate

The Youngstown man was previously convicted of murder in Knox County.
Warren Correctional Institution. STAFF FILE

Warren Correctional Institution. STAFF FILE

A 43-year-old Youngstown man accused of strangling his Warren Correctional Institution cellmate was sentenced to a minimum of 15 years in prison.

Jedidiah Hayes Lang was sentenced to 15 years to life, according to Warren County Prosecutor David P. Fornshell.

The sentence will run consecutively to a previous 15 years to life sentence for a murder conviction in a 2013 Knox County case.

Jedidiah Lang

Credit: Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Correction

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Credit: Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Correction

On Oct. 26, WCI staff members found 31-year-old Cody Bartimus of Newark unresponsive in his cell during range checks, according to the prosecutor’s office. He was taken to Atrium Medical Center and pronounced dead.

The Montgomery County Coroner’s Office determined Bartimus died by strangulation.

Ohio State Highway Patrol investigators responded and spoke to Lang.

“Lang told investigators that he had grabbed a towel from the clothesline and wrapped it around Bartimus’ head in an effort to ‘rip his head off,’” according to the prosecutor’s office.

He was reportedly on top of Bartimus with his knee pressing into Bartimus’ back.

“Lang stated that he was choking Bartimus for multiple minutes but wasn’t sure exactly how long,” the prosecutor’s office added. “He admitted that he could tell Bartimus was dead because he had ‘done this before.’”

Lang was previously convicted of the 2013 murder of 52-year-old Bradley Allen Grosscup in Knox County.

Grosscup’s body was found in his burned apartment. Investigators determined Grosscup let Lang and his girlfriend move in with him because they were homeless. An autopsy revealed Grosscup died by strangulation, The Columbus Dispatch reported.

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