Bond set at $1 million in Lorain's first homicide of 2021

Bond has been set at $1 million for a Lorain man charged with killing a Lorain woman in the city's first homicide of 2021. Robert Cruz, 54, of Gary Avenue, was being held in Lorain County Jail on an aggravated murder charge as well as a parole violation, according to jail records. It wasn't immediate clear if Cruz had an attorney. His next court date is scheduled for Wednesday in Lorain Municipal Court, according to court records. According to Lorain police, Cruz killed 46-year-old Michelle Opaliski in mid-January. Her family reported her missing Jan. 18. Opaliski was found dead Jan. 22 near an access gate to Sacred Heart Chapel on Pearl Avenue in Lorain. An earlier tip had led police to find Opaliski's missing red 1998 Ford F-150 parked on Shawnee Drive, where they also found "a large amount of blood." Cruz, whom Lorain police described as an acquaintance of Opaliski, was arrested after an investigation. The U.S. Marshals Service helped take him into custody. Anyone with additional information that might help the case is asked to call Lorain police Detective Sgt. Tabitha Angello at (440) 204-2105. Cruz has served time in both federal and state prisons on bank robbery and other convictions, according to records. According to Chronicle-Telegram archives, Cruz was sentenced to 10 years in prison in June 2011 after pleading guilty to federal charges of bank robbery for the Nov. 2, 2010, robbery of the First Federal Savings of Lorain on East 42nd Street and the Nov. 10, 2010, robbery of the First Place Bank near Midway Mall in Elyria. Cruz handed tellers notes and, between the two robberies, got away with between $8,800 and $10,000 before being arrested after an FBI investigation. At the time of the bank robberies, Cruz was on parole from an Ohio prison after having served time for previous robbery convictions, the Chronicle reported in a June 3, 2011, story. He also was convicted of felony breaking and entering, misdemeanor theft and criminal damaging in Lorain County Common Pleas Court in June 2011 and sentenced by Judge James Miraldi to one year in prison, to be served concurrent to the federal sentence he received in the bank robbery cases. Cruz also was ordered to pay $584 restitution in the Lorain County case, according to court records. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him @daveobrienCT on Twitter.