Month: September 2025

By Catherine Ross

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    AVON LAKE, Ohio (WEWS) — Avon Lake and the Ohio EPA are monitoring the city’s waterways after a chemical spill into a creek blocks away from Lake Erie.

During an Avon Lake City Council meeting Monday night, Mayor Mark Spaetzel and councilmember Rob Shahmir shared details about an “environmental release” on Sept. 16.

“The discharge of liquid of a diluted product entered our storm system and exited to the outfall into Powdermaker Creek at the Lake Road culvert,” Spaetzel said.

Shahmir said a resident first spotted the issue and alerted the city. The city then notified Avon Lake manufacturer Lubrizol Corporation, which determined the leak was the result of human error.

A viewer photo showed a milky-white liquid flowing from a storm drain into Powdermaker Creek near the Lake Road culvert.

Lubrizol said 10-20 pounds of a polyurethane polymer dispersant mixed with stormwater had leaked into the creek. The Lubrizol product is a commercial-grade polyurethane coating.

“We’re not anticipating any risk to our residents, but we are working collaboratively with Lubrizol and [the Ohio] EPA,” Spaetzel said.

The city said its public works employees assisted Lubrizol with containing the spill. The company initially used pieces of driftwood to stop the creek flow before Lake Erie and then improvised a contamination boom with plywood, plastic, fabric, clay and rebar.

“There’s actual buffers that they could’ve been using, versus driftwood. They needed to have those other items in stock. They needed to have their response team within moments of discovery,” Council President Jennifer Fenderbosch said during Monday’s meeting.

The Ohio EPA and U.S. Coast Guard both responded to assist with cleanup and remediation. The Ohio EPA said its Office of Emergency Response found the spill consisted of 20 pounds of polyurethane polymer mixed with 6,600 gallons of storm water.

It said Lubrizol and Avon Lake used vacuum trucks to remove the affected water from the creek before it reached Lake Erie. The Ohio EPA was still monitoring the area as of Tuesday afternoon.

Neighbors near the spill were concerned to hear about the incident so close to where their families were enjoying a lakefront park.

“It’s unfortunate to hear,” said Brandon Snyder, who lives in a nearby city and was playing with his son at Miller Road Park.

Anne Rister from Sheffield Lake added, “It’s a big concern and I think it should be taken seriously and investigated. And then come to a conclusion so it doesn’t happen again or at least prevent it.”

City leaders raised additional concerns about the company not realizing the spill had occurred.

“What needs to be looked at is what sort of controls, procedurally, need to be put in place so nothing like this occurs in the future?” asked Shahmir.

Some neighbors echoed a need for more safeguards to respond and prevent future issues.

“We do have that social responsibility of making sure that we protect the people that are living here, that visit here,” Snyder said.

Rister added, “Things will happen, but they need to investigate it and have prevention for it for the next time.”

Lubrizol Corporation sent the following statement to News 5 regarding the incident:

On Sept. 16 a dilute solution of water and a polyurethane polymer dispersant was released into a storm sewer nearby our Avon Lake facility due to an unexpected valve issue. Lubrizol swiftly mobilized our internal teams, as well as external experts, to assess and address potentially affected areas. By the following day, all potentially impacted areas were visually clean. During the response, Lubrizol notified and closely coordinated with relevant authorities.

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By Maya Lockett

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    MANSFIELD, Ohio (WEWS) — It’s been nearly a year since Amanda Craft’s oldest son went missing, and the family spent days looking for 16-year-old Trentin Isaac.

“It was the sickest feeling kicking leaves over, hoping my son wasn’t laying underneath of them,” said Craft.

But the search would end when his body was discovered on November 15, more than 80 miles away from his Mansfield home, in Harrison County.

“His body was burned, and they wouldn’t let me see him because of how he looked and smell. I never had a chance to truly say goodbye,” said Craft.

Since then, the family has lived with many unanswered questions.

“Police have told me they have evidence; I don’t know exactly what evidence because they don’t share evidence with us. However, our detective has been amazing, as far as like calling me back, and the detective in Harrison County has also been amazing. I just feel like it is very timid here and if they don’t have a slam dunk case, they will not take it to the grand jury,” said Craft.

Mansfield Police say it is a complicated case because it involves two counties.

However, they do have people of interest and say prosecutors in both counties are working on figuring out possible charges.

But waiting for justice was not an option for the family. Michelle Isaac wanted to do more for her nephew and to help bring closure to her family, so she started organizing rallies. “It gave us an outlet and a chance to come together and lean on one another,” said Isaac.

A chance to honor Trentin, who they say was the best big brother, always laughing and known as the light of his mother’s life.

“He was so funny, he could make a stale-faced person smile and laugh in a second and he was amazing,” said Craft.

Eventually, they invited other Mansfield families who are also seeking justice, like Brandi Matthews, whose son, Joey Matthews, was shot seven times.

“Police say they will tell us they’ll get a hold of us when there’s something in the case that we need to know and that I call too much. I don’t understand because I’m a mother and I just want to know what happened to my child,” said Matthews.

Matthews says she has felt discouraged the last few years.

“It’s discouraging that there’s so many families that are seeking the same thing. You can’t find any peace, and you can’t get a night’s sleep. These are our kids and our teenage babies that we will never get back,” said Matthews.

Over the years, the cries for answers have grown, but so has the support.

Twelve pictures of Mansfield victims lay across Isaac’s dining room table, and together their families find comfort in each other.

“It gives me peace and it’s comforting that I’m not alone in this,” said Brittany Osterland.

Osterland still remembers the day she found her sister Kayla Osterland’s lifeless body.

“I was angry, because how could somebody do her like that? She was 75% decomposed,” said Osterland.

The cause of death was ruled undetermined by Richland County Coroner, and the last few years without answers have been difficult for Osterland.

“We were ride or dies and I just want to know what happened. I can’t put into words what that would mean for me,” said Osterland.

But until then, the families plan to keep fighting on November 15, they will unite for a justice rally in Mansfield.

“I think it would bring me just a bit of peace knowing that somebody has suffered the consequences for what they’ve done to my son. He deserves that and I’ll never get my son back, only thing that I can get for him is justice and I want it,” said Craft.

Isaac started a memorial page for murder victims in Mansfield, hoping to bring awareness and closure for families.

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