| Author | Message | ||
     Chrishayden "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Chrishayden Post Number: 1369 Registered: 03-2004 Rating: N/A |
There was this local poet and musician, Oscar Washington (he helped write the hit "Night Train" used to call me up and propose different projects and plans for promoting poetry in the area. He also had a poetry column in one of the local black weeklies. After a while he stopped calling me, and for a while, people started mentioning they hadn't seen him in a while. Go to the following story--check on folks now and then and see what's happening with them Tip leads police to human bones in backyard By Bill Bryan Of the Post-Dispatch 08/10/2005 An anonymous phone tip to police Wednesday afternoon led to the discovery of human remains found buried in the backyard of a vacant house in north St. Louis, authorities said. The remains, found in the 4700 block of Leduc Street, are believed to be those of a 93-year-old man who had lived in the house and had disappeared more than a year ago, St. Louis police said. North Patrol detectives had recently been in the neighborhood looking for the missing man's son for questioning in connection with the cashing of Social Security checks made out to the missing man by a second party, police said. The Social Security Administration had asked for the police investigation. The missing man's son, Farand Washington, 29, was killed in a one-car crash about 4:15 a.m. Saturday. Police said he lost control of his speeding car on westbound Interstate 70, went down an embankment, through a fence and struck a tree in the 5700 block of North Broadway. "It's too early to speculate on anything right now," Capt. James Gieseke, commander of the crimes against persons division, said Wednesday outside the house. The house, a two-story gray brick flat, is about three blocks north of Martin Luther King Drive and one block of east of North Euclid Avenue. Gieseke said he is hoping the medical examiner's office can positively identify the remains today and determine the cause of death. "There's a lot of mystery here to unravel," he said. Gieseke said his detectives received an anonymous call Wednesday afternoon telling them that a body was buried in a backyard on Leduc. The caller gave a specific name and specific address, Gieseke said. Homicide detectives took off their shirts and began digging in the yard. After about an hour of digging, they found something suspicious, and a backhoe was brought in to uncover the decomposed body. It had been buried about three feet deep. The stench of the remains could clearly be detected by inquisitive neighbors and reporters nearby. Neighbors and police sources identified the man who had disappeared as Oscar D. Washington. Gieseke would not confirm that information. Neighbors described Washington as something of a loner. "For the last several months, everybody around here thought he was in an old folks' home," said one neighbor. Several neighbors said that Washington's son would drop by the house from time to time, purportedly to pick up the mail. The elder Washington was married but estranged from his wife for more than a year, police said. He also had two daughters, neighbors said. | ||
| Kola_boof "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Kola_boof Post Number: 412 Registered: 02-2005 Rating: N/A |
Well, Chris. This could make the basis for an interesting novel. | ||
| Rondall Moderator Username: Rondall Post Number: 68 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
Chris, I am ashamed that I do not do a better job of keeping up with my elders (local and otherwise). It is sad story that should serve as a tragic parable about what we should do while the opportunity is here. Thank man.... |
