East Liverpool man pleads innocent to obstruction in 2021 shooting death case

LISBON -- An East Liverpool man accused of lying to investigators related to the 2021 shooting death of Brycen Douglas entered a not guilty plea to obstructing justice.

Travis Kidder, 25, Bradshaw Avenue, appeared for arraignment Thursday in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court for the third-degree felony charge. Jim Wise was appointed as defense counsel and Kidder's recognizance bond of $50,000 was continued.

The case was assigned to Common Pleas Court Judge Megan Bickerton, with a pretrial set for 1 p.m. Feb. 13.

According to the indictment, Kidder did on July 22, 2021 with purpose to hinder the discovery, apprehension, prosecution, conviction, or punishment of another for a crime, or to assist another to benefit from the commission of a crime, communicate false information to any person, noting that the crime committed was aggravated murder, murder or a felony of the first or second degree.

When contacted about the indictment earlier this week, Columbiana County Prosecutor Vito Abruzzino said the charge was related to the Douglas death, which was ruled a homicide.

Abruzzino alleged that Travis Kidder "presented facts and circumstances that appear to be fabricated. He lied to investigators."

Elvin EJ Tisdale, 34, Newell, W.Va., and Allen N. Tisdale, 24, Lisbon, were each charged with aggravated murder, murder and firearm specifications for allegedly killing Douglas, 20, who was found shot to death on the front porch of a Pennsylvania Avenue home in East Liverpool on July 15, 2021.

Elvin EJ Tisdale is also facing an additional charge of having weapons while under disability, due to being prohibited from having or using a gun due to a previous felony conviction. Their cases remain pending and they remain in jail under $1 million cash or surety bonds.

Tisdale recently pleaded guilty to aggravated possession of drugs, a fifth-degree felony, for possessing methamphetamine on Aug. 2, 2023 while he was an inmate at the county jail for the murder indictment which was issued in January 2023. Sentencing on the drug case was set for June 24.