ELYRIA — Daniel Kovarbasich confessed to stabbing Duane Hurley moments after taking the stand this morning in his own defense during the fourth day of his murder trial.

Daniel, 16, is accused of killing Duane Hurley by beating him with a pickle jar and stabbing him 55 times with a kitchen knife on Jan. 22.

Daniel, who is being tried as an adult, said he was molested by Hurley, whom he met a few years before near a school while Hurley was walking his dog.

Hurley “progressed” from jokes about male genitalia to touching and then oral sex and sodomy, Daniel said.

Earlier today, North Ridgeville police Detective Randall Young testified that among the images found on Hurley’s computer were photos of Daniel, including a photo of the teen sleeping.

But none of the pictures of Daniel were pornographic, Young said.

Police found numerous images of gay pornography on Hurley’s computers, including many that appeared to feature underage teens engaged  in graphic sex acts.

Check back at Chroniclet.com for more on this story.

CT photo by Bruce Bishop.

ELYRIA — One person has been taken to the hospital after a three-vehicle accident at state Route 57 and East Broad Street a little after 1 p.m.

A blue Chevrolet 3500 pickup truck hit a beige Buick LeSabre, sending that car into the side of a truck that was hauling windows and sheets of glass.

The glass truck was hauling glass for W.A. Wilson Glass Plus, an out-of town glass distributor.

A total of four people were in the vehicles. Three of them were unhurt. An elderly woman who was driving the Buick was taken to the hospital as a precaution.

Westbound traffic on Broad Street was blocked for a time.

Elyria police, the Elyria Fire Department and LifeCare responded.

ELYRIA TWP. — Lorain County Coroner Paul Matus said Tuesday that the woman whose severed limb was discovered March 29 has been identified, but her name won’t be released until a news conference today. The woman’s family still needs to be fully notified, he said.

The news conference will be streamed live hear at Chroniclet.com starting at 2 p.m.

DNA taken from the limb — a right foot attached to the lower calf — was compared with a sample from a 56-year-old Lorain woman who was last seen around 4 a.m. March 26.

The woman was last seen walking to work from her Lorain home.

The severed limb, still clad in a dark-colored sock, was found by four teenagers near the abandoned railroad trestle that crosses state Route 57 just south of state Route 254.

The teenagers spotted the foot while walking to a friend’s house and at first believed it to be fake.

When they passed the foot again on their way home, they took a closer look and poked it with sticks, which convinced them it was real. One of the teenager’s mothers called deputies.

County sheriff’s deputies investigating the limb have not found the rest of the woman’s body, despite using a helicopter and dogs to scour the area near where the limb was found. No other blood or tissue was found either.

Matus has said the limb appeared to have been severed by a traumatic impact with a car bumper, guardrail or road sign. It would have been a fatal injury without immediate medical attention, he has said.

Investigators have received numerous inquiries from around the country, but Matus said last week that the missing Lorain woman was the best lead. She was white, like the severed limb, and was about the right age and height he suspected the owner of the leg had been based on his examination of the limb.

Calls to sheriff’s deputies were not returned Tuesday.

EDIT:Unable to broadcast live, We will have video coverage soon.
Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.

CLEVELAND — The Indians heard plenty of “boos” at their home opener Monday afternoon, but there also were quite a few fans chanting “Choo.”

Right fielder Shin-Soo Choo — the object of the sellout crowd’s affection — was the lone offensive bright spot for Cleveland as it lost 4-2 to the Texas Rangers in 10 innings.

The South Korean scored both Tribe runs in a perfect day at the plate, going 3-for-3 with a single, double and home run. He also walked and stole a base.

“There is a reason why he hits third in our lineup,” Indians manager Manny Acta said. “He is a guy that is one of the main keys to our team and he’s been swinging the bat much better the last couple of days.”

After starting the season in a 2-for-18 slump (.111), Choo’s bat has come alive in the Indians’ last two games. He belted a solo home run Sunday in Detroit, then ripped another in the team’s 2010 debut at Progressive Field.

The latter blast was especially impressive as the rest of the Wahoos went 4-for-31 against Rangers pitchers Rich Harden, Dustin Nippert, Darren Oliver, Frank Francisco and Neftali Perez.

“I had a really good spring training, but when the season started, I tried too hard,” said Choo, who hit .393 with 16 RBIs in Cactus League play. “Guys like (Mark) Grudzielanek and (Mike) Redmond gave me a lot of help, and I feel a lot better at the plate.

“Today is just one game, but I saw the ball better. I put my front foot down a little quicker and was able to find the fastballs, instead of starting late and fouling them off like I have been.”

The performance upped Choo’s season average to .250 and helped him take over the team lead in homers (two), on-base percentage (.419) and slugging percentage (.542).

Those numbers should have added up to a great day for the 27-year-old, but the Indians’ bad karma even prevented that from happening.

Choo made a major mental mistake in the third inning after working Harden for a one-out walk. Travis Hafner followed with a routine fly out to left field, but Choo never headed back to first base. In fact, he was standing at third when the ball was thrown back to the infield to complete the double play.

“Hopefully I’ll never make a play like that again,” he said sheepishly. “It was my mistake. I thought there were two outs. After the inning, I told (the team) it was my bad. I felt very bad about it.”

So did Acta, but not for the reason one might expect.

“The mistake he made, it happens in the game a lot,” the first-year Indians skipper said. “I feel bad for him because it happened here in our home opener, but it’s nothing to worry about. He’s a good player for us and he’ll continue to be all season.”

Contact Brian Dulik at brisports@hotmail.com.