Black And Whitey

So I'm going to see "Black Mass" tonight. I can hardly wait.

I read the book. 

I read the papers when it was happening. 

I live in the city that was terrorized.

I remember the pain it caused the families of the victims; mine included. 

Whitey Bulger is urban legend around here.

I'm fascinated by this moment in history that was captured on film and looking forward to seeing-and almost being there-while the story unfolds. Evil like that has a way of mesmerizing the psyche, which is how Whitey intimidated his victims. Make no mistake, I'm not endorsing a Hollywood glorified Whitey Bulger character, but what I am doing is immersing myself in the story of this crime lord who was enabled by a corrupt FBI agent. I am extremely mindful of the damage that this story has caused, yet I am unable to look the other way. 

Johnny Depp's performance as the cold blooded killer is being hailed as "scary good" which lends itself to the legend of this evil man. Boston Herald scribe Peter Gelzinis explained the truth of Whitey's core evil quite eloquently this morning. He was relaying a story about the murder of a bookmaker 30 years ago who had pissed Whitey off. Gelzinis and his colleague Paul Corsetti were working the story.

"In the course of asking questions, Corsetti got a call to meet a tipster in a bar near Quincy Market. Paul waited until almost one in the morning and was about to leave when a rather ordinary-looking guy approached and asked, "You're Paul Corsetti, aren't you?"

When Corsetti nodded, the stranger asked, "Do you know who I am?"

Paul shook his head, and the stranger told him: "I'm Whitey Bulger, mother (expletive)." Though Whitey announced that he killed people, what he told Corsetti was far more terrifying. He described the make, model, color and license plate of the car Paul's wife used and the name of the daycare center where she dropped their daughter off." 

That's Whitey and who he is. History can be rewritten, but evil is evil, regardless of who is telling the story. 

WTF?

I'm saddened over yesterday's news of the tragedy in Virginia. Three young people snuffed out because of hatred.

It's unfathomable that a mentally and emotionally disturbed person ONCE AGAIN kills because he/she feels he should, or could. This headline is becoming more and more common in our society. What is this world coming to? This time a young, accomplished duo of journalists and the woman they were interviewing were gunned down. Three lost their lives and the other is fighting for hers. I say three because the shooter killed himself and although it's easy to not care about his life, we must.

Were there warning signs?

Yes, the shooter was fired from jobs multiple times for "disturbing behavior" but how are we to predict he would turn his anger into a deadly tragedy? The Shooter reportedly faxed a 23 page "suicide note" to ABC News two hours after the shooting. In his missive he claimed to be upset over the recent racially charged, deadly church shootings in South Carolina. He said he admired the shooters of Columbine High School and Virginia Tech and called one "my boy right there".

The question we are left with today is how do we prevent this? Can we?

Because a journalist should be able to report from the field without fear, students should be able to learn in a safe environment and church goers should be able to worship in their sacred place without a lock on the door.

And one more deadly shooting headline is one too many.

I Was Just Thinking....

It was twenty years ago today....June 17th 1994.

It will always be a "where were you?" moment. And when you think about it..it was nothing short of crazy. Every time you see a white Ford Bronco, you have to think of that historic moment. ( the Ford Motor Company discontinued the line of cars two years after that infamous day) All the major networks cut into their regular programming to give credence to the madness that was unfolding in front of us. And the birth of a Kardashian on reality TV happened...

The prime suspect in his former wife's brutal murder 5 days earlier, OJ Simpson was expected to turn himself in to police. Instead he decided to run. We all know how that turned out. He and his friend Al Cowlings took to the California freeway. Cowlings was driving and OJ was supposedly in the back with a gun to his head. It was surreal how the events unfolded that day. We watched with rapt attention, an estimated 95 million of us, as Robert Kardashian, the now deceased patriarch of those crazy Kardashians, read a note on live television that OJ penned for "the people". Today it would be the equivalent to "going viral" except we didn't have as many social media outlets as we do today. It was like a live TV show. It was meant to be a suicide note, but Simpson was too cowardice to take his own life. Instead he turned all of ours into a circus.

At that moment we all knew the truth. He did it. He killed her and Ron Goldman in a brutal and unbelievably violent manner. He was the culprit and he was running. The chase began when police charged Simpson on June 17th with two counts of murder with special circumstance. Simpson was supposed to surrender himself, but he does not. Instead he remains at large and at 6:45PM police are tipped off to a white Bronco, reportedly belonging to Al Cowlings, on the freeway with Simpson in the back with a gun. The police then pursue the Bronco on a 60 MPH chase through LA which ends up at Simpson's Brentwood mansion at 8PM.

And we watched it happen in real time...

I was sitting in my condo with some friends playing cards. The TV was on, but we weren't really watching it, when the news broke in with the story. We were riveted. It was an amazing thing, and I remember thinking we are watching history in the making.

 Because if the glove don't fit, karma won't acquit! It will chase you down a California freeway or follow you around for the rest of your life until it catches your ass!
Karma has a really great way of catching up with you, doesn't it?

Black Mass

The great Johnny Depp is playing Whitey.

The notorious Boston gangster, Whitey Bulger, that is, and the people of Boston are curious. Beside Ben or Matt, I don't think there was a better choice for the elusive gangster. Depp is playing the title role in the movie adaptation of  the book "Black Mass: The True Story of the Unholy alliance between the FBI and the Irish Mob", written by Boston Globe scribes Dick Lehr and Gerard O'Neill. 

If you live in Boston, like I do, you would be hard pressed to find someone who does not know the story of the crimes committed by the Irish Mob for decades and the FBI men who allowed them the breathing room to commit them. It's an interesting story, and a book that I read with rapt attention.  Filming is going on now, and Johhny Depp filmed a scene yesterday In East Boston where he eerily resembled the aging, now incarcerated, legendary Boston gangster.  The scene, shot on the same street where a murder occurred just last week, was shot-quite literally-in Irish Mob fashion. According to the Boston Herald:

"in the scene shot yesterday Whitey/Depp and a couple of his henchmen walk with an unsuspecting victim near the water in Eastie. While Whitey shakes the man’s hand, he is whacked from behind by one of the aforementioned thugs. Whitey walks away and gazes out at the Tobin Bridge while the other two drag the body away."

Hollywood's take on this unbelievable story should be very interesting and the casting of Depp is brilliant. No one can take a character and make him believable, possibly even likeable, like Johnny can. (his portrayal of George Jung in "Blow" still remains one of my favorite Depp roles) Its a true crime story for the crime story lovers in all of us."Black Mass" is a best seller written by two Boston Globe writers who worked the beat and covered the Irish Mob during their horrific reign over the city which ends with the disappearance of Bulger in 1994 when he was tipped off by his FBI handler John Connley that the Feds were going to indite him on racketeering charges. He remained on the lamb for 16 years before being arrested in Santa Barbara, California in mid 2011. Bulger, at one time, was the FBI's most wanted man, right next to Osama Bin Laden.

Now he's getting the Holllywood treatment, albeit on screen only, but I wonder what old Whitey thinks of the casting of himself in his true crime story. These stories are the stuff that legends are made of. Lots of people died at the hands of these hardened criminals, and if justice is to be served, the families of the victims of the horrible crimes will share in the spoils of the movie's box office success. As for the real life cast of characters? Karma has taken care of them. And the rest is up to their maker, when they day comes for them to meet him. 

Tragic, Useless And Unbelievable

I was just thinking....
about the tragedy of Jennifer Martel's death.

Who is Jennifer Martel, you ask?
She was the girlfriend of Jared Remy, who Remy stabbed and murdered, while others watched, in the doorway of the Waltham, MA apartment they shared with their 4 year-old daughter last summer. I documented the tragedy when it unfolded HERE.  

A new Boston Globe article by Eric Moskowitz published on Saturday brings this tragedy back into the news, and paints a horrifying and startling picture of violence, entitlement, drug abuse and system abuse.

•  How did this perpetrator get away with his history of violence against women for as long as he did? 
• This monster had years-long rap sheets, ladled with violence, abuse, restraining orders(which he continually violated) and death threats, yet he got off with no more than probation and the promise of therapy and good behavior, then released to his parent's custody time and time again.
• In Moskowitz's piece he clearly states that Remy got off SIX times on charges of violence against women. He then notes that it is unusual for a documented violent offender to get off on charges twice-let alone six times. Remy seems to be the record holder. 

Again, I have to ask how this could have happened? 

And in my backyard! Remy grew up in my town, which is the starting point of his long rap sheet, and continues to the next town over from us-where I would attend criminal court too (If I had to). I know all those cops. Does this mean that I somehow share in the blame? 

Reading this article brings to mind so many emotions. Yes, something certainly was amiss here. Jared father, Jerry Remy is a beloved, hometown Red Sox sports figure, whoes influence in our town was greatly underestimated by us all. That much is evident by Moskowitz's article. I just learned that MY TAX DOLLARS paid for Jared schooling at a local school well known for emotionally troubled teens, because he couldn't make it at our public school. I then read about the intimidation and the chaos he created while he was there, supposedly being "encouraged and nourished" into becoming a contributing member of society. 

Am I pissed off? YES I am, so now I look to blame. I think not only do we blame the system that failed Jennifer, but we blame the entire village here. People I have trusted to educate, protect and serve it turns out are people who were influenced by celebrity and I blame all of them. Yet that won't bring Jennifer Martel back, will it? 

No it won't and there is blood on a lot of hands today. And this time it's not going to be so easy to just wash it away. I say it's about time. 

Moments Of Madness

This story is very sad. It's not reported  here to gossip or point a finger at anyone. I share it becausre maybe someone will learn something. Maybe this madness will stop. Maybe no but maybe yes and that one maybe makes it all worthwhile.

Jared Remy, son of beloved Red Sox announcer and former player Jerry Remy, murdered his girlfriend in cold blood last Thursday. An enraged Jared stabbed Jennifer Martel several times in a struggle that went from inside the apartment they shared to the outdoor patio. Two of their neighbors tried to stop Jared from stabbing her to death outside their Waltham, MA apartment. Sources say they punched, kicked and screamed for him to stop, but his fury continued and didn't stop until she was dead.

Their 4 year old daughter was in the house at the time.

Herein lies the caveat:
Jared was arrested for assault and battery the Tuesday before the slaying,  for smashing Jennifer's head into a mirror. The DA released Jared Remy on his own recognizance. Today the fingers are pointing all over the Middlesex DA's office and they are firmly denying any wrong doing. The facts of this case are blinding: Jared has a long rap sheet filled with violence. Since 1998 Remy has 15 counts of violence, six if them assault and battery on three different women.

Now the community wants to know how this happened. Middlesex DA, Marian Ryan, is attempting to explain this away by saying the victim herself is the best judge of saftey.

“Everything we know, both from the research and from 
experience in doing these cases, is in the 
majority of these cases, the best assessor of safety is the victim herself,” Ryan told the Herald, referring to Jennifer Martel, the mother of Remy’s 4-year-old daughter. “Miss Martel was declining to extend the restraining order that had been issued the night before.” Ryan said.


I'm not a DA and I don't play one on TV, but I'm thinking this monster slipped through the cracks somehow. I understand that Jennifer didn't want to extend the restraining order, even I can see that she was scared. LOOK AT THE GUY!!! He looks like a bad guy and I don't say that to make you giggle. There is nothing funny about him or this. It's obvious to me that his guy has a roid/rage problem. He looks terrifying and most certainly is terrifying, but why did it take the senseless death of a young woman to solidify that?

Lots of people are saying lots of things about Jerry Remy, his father who is a very public figure here in Boston. Things like that's why Jared got away with it so many times before. If that is true then we all share in the blame for Jennifer's death. I find it hard to believe that Jerry Remy's name carries that much weight in the court system or that we hero worship ourselves into looking the other way, but the facts here are the facts. There is no way that monster should have been alowed to live with a woman, let alone a woman and a child. Their village failed. No one saw this coming? Maybe they were afraid of him too but this family breakdown is a cautionary tale.

Bottom line: If it looks like a bad guy, talks like a bad guy and walks like a bad guy, then it's a bad guy.
If only it were that simple. Jennifer would be alive today.

"Rat a tat tat, Whitey."

Steven Davis, the brother of Debra Davis, who the jurors were hung in her murder, reacts after yestereday's verdict. 

The verdict is in. As anticlimactic as the announcement that the Bulger jury had reached a verdict yesterday;  it is, in fact, big local history in the making and bears mention here.

Is  it the bombshell that we expected? No. It wasn't. 

But nineteen people who will no longer have a voice were finally given the chance to tell their story. Maybe their families will find peace in the verdict, maybe they won't. 

Was justice served?

I think there will always differing opinions when it comes to justice being served. If we look at it academically, the split verdict breaks down this way:

Bulger was found guilty of 11 of the 19 murders

2 counts of  racketeering, 

3 counts of conspiracy to commit  murder 

7 extortion counts

1 drug count

6 money laundering counts

Of the eight murders he was not found guilty of , the jury was  hung on only the murder of Debra Davis his ex partner's beautiful, young girlfriend. Her brother, a fixture on the trial daily, vowed to avenge his his sister's death urging prosecutors to persue state murder charges. "It's not over for me until I am in the ground, " he said. 

Bulger will be sentenced on Nov 13 in a process that is expected to take several days. His attorney's say they will appeal on the immunity claim. It's a long shot, but Bulger's got nothing else to do. He faces a life sentence plus. Somewhere, through all the BS there has to be some justice in that, right? The 84 year old gangster will never be a free man and most likely will die while incarcerated. Some of the victims family members, when asked by the press what they thought of the verdict outside the courthouse yesterday said he already "got away with it", walking around a free man for all of his life, only to spend his last days in prison. 

For those of us who spent our lives in Boston, living the legend of Whitey and his thugs,  some of our lives being affected dramatically by Whitey and his thugs, it's  somewhat of a rip off. Had we been able to see the trial; actually see the man that is Whitey Bulger with our own eyes, and seen the courtroom expletive laced exchanges between Bulger and his former partners, Kevin Weeks and Steven Flemmi, we might have had a different feeling about all of this. I guess we will have to wait until 60 Minutes, 48 Hours or Barbara Walters gets the interview. Only then will we get a bit of closure and a small sense of knowing exactly who this monster is. 

Or should I say RAT. 

Like when it was all over yesterday and Bulger was being led out of the courtroom, a woman yelled out, "Rat a tat tat, Whitey!" 

You can bet that captured on tape, it would have been a sound bite that would have stuck like glue to the rat. 

I Was Just Thinking....Test your Legalese

With the Whitey Bulger trial coming to a close, today it was reported that the Bulger defense team submitted several photos of the gangster throughout his life in Boston. The question everyone wants answered is this:

Will Bulger take the stand?

In a trial that sizzled at times and fizzled at times, the highlight being an f-bomb laden exchange between his two former crime partners from the defense table, I have to ask what's really at stake here? We know the guy is corrupt and dangerous. We also know that he's NEVER going to get out of jail; so why take the stand? Why now? Insiders say he's fighting for his reputation.? He's fighting for a reputation that he's a gangster with morals who wouldn't kill a woman and that he was never a rat. That John Connelly tampered with informat files to make it look that way. It seems a moot point.

I pose this question to you:

With today's submission of photos, do you think the Bulger defense is preparing for Whitey to take the stand? If so, what is their strategy?

And,
If you were the defense what would be your strategy at this point?

Discuss...

Killer Instinct

There's been a lot of talk of murder going on in these parts. What with the trial of the century taking place in Boston, the tales of cold, calculated and useless killings scatter the pages of my morning newspaper daily. Aaron Hernandez's alleged killing spree, seemingly playing on a continuous news loop, leave me to think about the motive for so much murder.

For Whitey and the boys, killing was an everyday part of their business. And they were running a very fruitful business. It was a simple means to an end. A" do what we say and nobody get's hurt" type of thing, but far too many people got hurt. They ended up dead because killing was their business. It wasn't personal it was business and they were very good at it. What was another kill when you had already killed so many?

So if Whitey's gang killed to keep business going, what was Aaron Hernandez's business? These two men are a lot more alike than one would think. They killed because they could. And they got away with it because they both believed that their "business" made them untouchable. Their money and their "positions" gave them power. Whitey was the ruthless head of a crime organization that nobody wanted to mess with. What we now know is that although their gang had the intimidation factor on the streets covered, they really were untouchable. They had the Fed's in their back pockets. It's amazing what a couple of career Feds will do for unlimited amounts of cash and drugs and what a group of ruthless thugs will do when the system looks the other way.

But Hernandez? He seemingly had it all.

He had been gifted athletically and worked hard physically, then coddled because of his football ability. That kind of ability puts butts in stadium seats and sets advertiser's hearts aflutter which translates into big dollars. So much so, that Hernandez, at the ripe old age of 23, was paid a $40 million dollar king's ransom to show up and play. $12 million of it, just for putting his signature on a piece of paper.

One has to wonder why throw that away?

It is no secret that Hernandez had questionable dealings with bad people. His name entered into the NFL draft with high hopes, but his reputation for trouble preceded him. His appeal was tainted and many teams took a pass on him. They didn't want the trouble. The Pats thought they could change him. They thought that 40 million would rehab his gangsta ways and that he would play nice now that he was a valued member of the team. But 40 million and "NFL star" attached to his name has a funny way of bringing with it hero worship and a feeling of entitlement. It could almost be argued that it made his taste for blood more ravenous.

Both men killed because they could. It's that simple. In Whitey's case, intimidation and Federal backing made him untouchable and he never thought he would need to worry about the consequences. He owned the consequences. Hernandez thought the same thing. If he didn't own the consequences, he could certainly buy them.  He had covered his tracks before, what would make this time different?

Money, power, fame. A lethal combination. And all for what? The thrill of the kill? Look at them now.

I can think of $40 million reasons not to.

Fade To Black

• He will always be remembered as Tony Soprano. With yesterday's news of the passing of actor James Gandolfini in Rome, Italy (how fitting) at the young age of 51, it's as if Tony Soprano got whacked. And now we will never know what really happened after that "fade to black" moment at the end of the series finale of "The Sopranos". It seems so tragic that the actor's life was cut so short. Somehow, Tony Soprano had more to do. In a way, he was every man's Tony Soprano. 

• Strange goings on here involving New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez. Police found the body of a 27 year old Dorchester man who was shot in a car less than a mile from Aaron Hernandez's North Attleboro home. The car the man was found in was rented to the Patriot's tight end Hernandez. Police later spent hours searching the Hernandez home. He has not been named a suspect in the ongoing investigation...yet. Discuss...

• I'm exhausted from staying up watching all the Bruin's overtime games! We lost a tough one last night, but the B's comeback to put the game into overtime showed heart and courage and skill!! I'm enjoying every minute of it and I predict a cup VICTORY!!

• "Kimye" baby, spawn of Kanye West and Kim Kardashian still has no name! Or no name that we know of yet. Which is HA-LARIOUS! This whole "we need privacy please" thing is just not working for them. The Kardashian's would have an enema on TV if it meant lots of dollar$$$ and now Kimmy has decided that she and Kanye's baby are going into hiding? I can't say I blame her. This is the way it should be. All I'm saying is the machine that is Kardashian will put pressure on Kimmy to have baby in the spotlight more often, causing Kanye to back away from Kimmy even more than he already has, leaving Kimmy alone as a single mom.  AND I also predict that "Donda" will appear somewhere in baby Kimye's name. (Donda was Kanye's mom's name. She passed during a routine cosmetic procedure in 2007)

Please, discuss amongst yourselves..

America's Got Whitey

And so it begins....tomorrow. I can hardly believe it.

Even if you don't come from Boston, chances are you know who Whitey Bulger is. The man pictured above is nothing like the image that is conjured up when Whitey's name is spoken in mixed company. And that's exactly the way he wanted it. He lived in obscurity in a beach community in California for years, yet he really lived right under our noses. Whitey had a knack for that.

The man, who at one time was the FBI's number one most wanted man, and became second to only Osama Bin Laden, was captured in Santa Monica, California, on June 22, 2011. We watched with rapt attention, as they pieced together the details of his 16 years on the lamb with his girlfriend, Catherine Greig. I thought they'd never catch him. I thought old Whitey would die out there, somewhere, if he hadn't already. After all, he was well into his 80's when he was captured. But Whitey's story isn't over. There's still plenty left to tell and he's going to have his last say.

And it all begins tomorrow with jury selection.

There are a million headline news stories out there today that unite us as human beings. Bostonian's recently have a lot to connect and commiserate about. Together we will watch the Bruins in their run for Lord Stanley's cup and we will read stories about the amazing recovery and resilience of the Marathon bombing victims.

And we will most certainly watch the trial of the century take place here at John Joseph Moakley US Courthouse. We will await Whitey's fate together.

He Said/She Said

Interesting stuff going on here in MA.

Convicted killer Michelle Kosilek, who at one time was Robert Kosliek, an MCI Norfolk inmate serving life for the 1992 strangling of his wife and disposing of her body in a North Attleboro mall, has spent many years waging a legal battle with the state to pay for a sex change operation. Kosilek's doctors have diagnosed the inmate with gender-identity disorder and say that his "mental illness" has caused him to attempt suicide and self castration. Those same doctors have prescribed gender reassignment surgery.

Yesterday, Kosilek scored a victory when US District Judge Mark Wolf ruled  that denying the surgery violates his Eight Amendment rights against cruel and unusual punishment and his/her right to adequate medical care.

"She really appreciates the careful consideration of the court and the respectful decision," said Kosilek attorney Frances S. Cohen.

But there are those who don't share in that appreciation.

State Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr said following the controversial ruling that it sets a bad precedent for future cases and is, "well beyond the scope of reason, and an unjustifiable expansion of the requirements of the Eight Amendment." Senator Scott Brown was more to the point calling it "an outrageous waste of taxpayers dollars." 

So the question lies in what constitutes "cruel and unusual punishment". Is it cruel to expect an inmate to serve his/her time trapped in the body of someone they are not? Or unusual for a "woman" to serve her time in the "male" inmate population when a 2009 University of California, Irvine study found that a transgendered inmate is 13 times more likely to be sexually assaulted.? Yet is it cruel and unusual to deny proper medical treatment to any inmate; transgendered or not?

Yesterday Kosilek scored a legal victory but I'm thinking this war is not over. Wether he gets his surgery or not,  20 years ago his wife Cheryl had no legal recourse when he chose to end her life. There was no appeal to Kosilek's ruling that he was going to kill her. No "careful consideration" to strangling her and dumping her body in a mall.

And all because he chose to utilize cruel and unusual punishment and murder her.

Could The Signs Have Been There All Along?

There's been a story in the news for the past few days and I can't seem to get it out of my head. I guess it hits a little too close to home for my comfort. In the simple little town of Mont Vernon, New Hampshire, a 42 year-old mom and nurse was slain savagely by teens with a machete, her 11 year-old daughter's throat slashed and leg broken, all because they just so happened to be at home. They were victims of a random attack by a group of teens who made a pact to commit murder at a home they chose at random. You can read the story here, or I'll do my best to give you a brief re-cap of this horrific crime.

Four male teens, ages 17-19, alleged "skinheads", decided they wanted to go on a thrill kill. They chose a home at random and agreed to kill anyone who was in the home. Unfortunately for 42 year-old Kimberly Lynn Cates and her 11 year-old daughter Jaimie, whose husband was out of town on business, the teens chose their home. Authorities report that Kimberly, who was slain as she lay in her bed, never had a chance as her precious daughter's throat was slashed and left for dead. Jaimie, somehow managed to call 911 and survive the attack. Today she is in critical condition at the local hospital.

This one sent chills down my spine. I decided to talk to my kids about this crime, not to scare them, by any means, but to make them aware of the possible signs of teens and "anti-social" behavior. Yes, these teens were labeled "skinheads", all with close shaven scalps. They were labeled, "troubled", and the picture of Steven Spader, 17, Christopher Gribble, 19, William Marks, 18 and Quinn Glover, 17, twists ever so curiously. But how do you really ever know what these troubled kids are capable of? And the question begs to be asked, how do you prevent it?

The alleged ring leader, Spader, is a 17 year-old drop out who friends say had no fear. An 18 year-old who graduated from the same high school Spader once attended said anonymously:

“Because when you see a kid who looks like he has no fear, you become afraid. (Spader) said whatever he wanted to anybody. He didn’t care what the principal said. They’d tell him go to class. He wouldn’t. They’d suspend him. He didn’t care. Authority was nothing to him.”

So I ask you, was this a walking time bomb ticking? What are we, as a society, to do about something we have virtually no control over? Can we forsee, predict or better yet, prevent a senseless tragedy by looking out for the signs? Do we lock up all the goths or skinheads to protect ourselves, simply because a few deranged and evil apples spoiled it for the rest of them? I wonder. This is certainly not the first time teens have gone on a thrill kill mission, nor will it be the last, but for some reason, this one hit me like a ton of bricks.

Maybe because it could have been me. And it could have been you, or a loved one or a cherished friend.

Gone forever just for the thrill of it.

Small Town Murder

March 16, 2008.
Man fatally stabs Grandmother in Weston, MA.

(NECN: Brad Puffer, Waltham, Mass.) - A murder has shocked people in an affluent Boston suburb. A Boston man is charged with stabbing his grandmother to death in her home in Weston, Massachusetts. 22-year-old James Clark appeared in Waltham District Court today to face murder charges.
Clark is now charged in the murder of his 80-year-old grandmother, Eleanor Clark. Police say Clark stabbed his grandmother inside her Weston, Massachusetts home Sunday evening. It is the first homicide in Weston in more than 3 decades.
"There was an altercation there which resulted in James Clark stabbing his grandmother to death," says Gerry Leone, Middlesex DA.
Clark visited his grandmother’s house Sunday afternoon. He later showed up at a neighbors house with blood on his hands.
"The trail of blood led to the next door neighbor’s home. The neighbors learned that the trail of blood was from an injury to James McGuire Clark’s hand. He went to his neighbors house and said he had suffered the injury in a home accident.
District Attorney Gerry Leone says after being treated at a hospital, he showed up at a friend’s house, and apparently told them what happened.
"After telling his friends what happened, they called 911 to a report that a crime had been committed."
Clark appeared in Waltham district court Monday with a Shakespeare and Co. T-shirt and a bandage on his right hand. Prosecutors say Clark is a citizen of the UK but has been living in the US since he was two years old, most recently at a halfway house in Boston. His mother recently moved back to England.

What's going on in my little town? First, torrid and steamy stories of extra-curricular sexcapades with the service tech and now this? Let's just say the "joint is jumping". Talk of the first murder in 33 years sent this small community abuzz yesterday, with TV news trucks sprinkled all over town.

The Daily Dandy roving reporter spoke to neighbors who stated that James M. Clark, a drifter from Dorchester, was well known in the neighborhood and "seemed like a nice kid".

"I drove bye the house last night around 10pm and saw lights on in the house, " the neighbor said. "I thought that was a little late, you know, unusual for her, but I dismissed it."

Apparently, James Clark stabbed his grandmother to death after an altercation with her in the kitchen of her home. Police found the bloodied body of Eleanor Clark under the kitchen table in the breakfast nook with multiple stab wounds on her neck and face; her throat had been slashed. A bloody folding knife was found on the kitchen table and police then followed a trail of blood to the next-door neighbor's house. James Clark told the neighbor he had cut his hand slicing fruit in the kitchen, and the neighbor then drove him to the hospital for treatment. Clark then took a cab to a friends house in Newton, where he apparently confessed to the murder and a 911 call was made to police by his friends.

Clark told police he was "sorry for making them look at his grandmother like that and then requested that police give him a gun so he could shoot himself." Clark is in police custody and on suicide watch.

It's unsettling to think that less that 3 miles away from where my children sleep, a horrific crime like this took place. The Daily Dandy roving reporter will keep you updated on the latest on the story.