Shallow Grave in Local Park........
Wild Monkshood
the mother to alert her that her child was buried in a shallow grave.
The perp or a witness? A confident? Motive and manner of dead are still
pending, as is, obviously a suspect. I'm not familiar with this park as
it has no hiking trails. If there is interest I will follow-up, although
out local media is very slack in reporting anything but the original
story.
Wild Monkshood
Body of man buried in park is identified
19-year-old last spoke to mother on his cellular phone on May 24th
By Victoria Cherry
Journal Reporter
A man whose body was found in a shallow grave in Easton Park on
Saturday was identified yesterday as Hausan Devan Smith, authorities
said.
Winston-Salem police could not say how he was killed or when he
possibly died because the results of an autopsy performed at Wake Forest
University Baptist Medical Center were not available, said Lt. David
Clayton of the Winston-Salem Police Department.
Smith, 19, was reported missing by his mother Wednesday morning
after he had not called or visited family members in several days,
Clayton said. He was last seen May 23.
But their last conversation was on his cellular phone May 24, he
said. Since then friends and relatives have been unable to reach Smith,
whose cellular phone voicemail was full. Clayton said that police
officers spent the week talking with people who knew Smith. His
whereabouts were unexplained until Saturday when his body was found
inside the park off Glencairn Road in southeast Winston-Salem.
Dilthra Patton, an aunt who raised Smith, went in search of her
nephew after receiving an anonymous phone call Saturday, Clayton said.
The caller said that Smith was buried in a grave at Easton Park.
Patton and a friend searched around the park, an area close to
baseball fields and some woods. It was near a tree line that they saw a
spot covered in fresh red dirt. Some of the dirt had been washed away to
expose a foot and shoulder.
Last night, Patton said she was too upset to talk about Smith, who
lived with her most of his life. At her home on East Clemmonsville Road,
family members surrounded a photograph of him with fresh roses and a
picture of his infant son.
No motive has been established in Smith's death, which marks the
city's fifth homicide this year.
Smith, who was 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighed about 170 pounds,
was found in a grave that was about 3 feet deep.
Clayton said that it was unclear whether Smith was killed in the
park or somewhere else.
On Saturday, neighbors said that a gate to the park had been open at
night for the past couple of days. But Clayton said the officer who
arrived at the scene said that the chain that keeps cars out was locked.
Anyone with information should call CrimeStoppers at 727-2800.
Victoria Cherrie can be reached at 727-7283 or at
vche...@wsjournal.com
Dog3
"Wild Monkshood" <wild_mo...@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
news:3EDBF015...@bellsouth.net...
> This case is interesting for several reasons. I wonder who called
> the mother to alert her that her child was buried in a shallow grave.
> The perp or a witness? A confident? Motive and manner of dead are still
> pending, as is, obviously a suspect. I'm not familiar with this park as
> it has no hiking trails. If there is interest I will follow-up, although
> out local media is very slack in reporting anything but the original
> story.
>
> Wild Monkshood
Please follow up. This looks interesting. The chain to keep cars out was
locked. The gate was open. Hmmm... the mystery call to the aunt to tell
where the body was.
Michael
Wild Monkshood
Dog3 wrote:
She went to the park to search after the call. Upon discovery of body,
Police were called. Wonder why the police weren't called straight away?
Wild Monkshood
>
>
> Michael
Dog3
Makes you wonder doesn't it? Maybe she thought it was a prank call but
checked it out anyway.
Michael
SageJelly
>checked it out anyway.
>
>Michael
Or a general distrust of LE. Some people are skeptical of the authorities and
hesitant to get them involved in anything unless absolutely necessary.
Wild Monkshood
Dog3 wrote:
I scanned the paper, nothing new yet. Let's say if my brother had been
missing, i.e. incommunicado, and I received an anonymous call that he was buried
in a shallow grave in a local park, I would immediately call 911. Doubtless, I
would be in route to said Park post-haste, but not without alerting LE first.
However, maybe there was something hinkey going on, or mayhap the Aunt just has
a different mindset/life experience. I'm sure LE is questioning why she went to
the Park sans Law Enforcement.
Wild Monkshood
>
>
> Michael
Wild Monkshood
Dog3 wrote:
Nothing official yet. But I asked my co-worker if he had heard about it
and he said that his girlfriend's daughter used to date the guy. Said that his
fingers and toes where cut off and that it was said to be drug-related. This
is just scuttlebutt and gossip, but that's all I have................
Wild Monkshood
>
>
> Michael
Dog3
>
>
> Nothing official yet. But I asked my co-worker if he had heard about
it
> and he said that his girlfriend's daughter used to date the guy. Said that
his
> fingers and toes where cut off and that it was said to be drug-related.
This
> is just scuttlebutt and gossip, but that's all I have................
>
> Wild Monkshood
Well hell. And I was hoping it would be a huge mystery. Looks like it may
be another drug deal gone sour.
Michael
Wild Monkshood
Picture of Victim Here... http://tinyurl.com/cbpx
About 1,000 people gathered yesterday to mourn a man who walked out of
Glenn High School last year with a hard-won diploma and the easy smile of
one proud to have been voted most popular in his class.
They couldn't stop their tears any more than they could forget the news
that had haunted them all week: Hausan D'Var Smith, a 19-year-old from East
Clemmonsville Road, had been found last weekend in a shallow grave at Easton
Park, with numerous stab wounds in his chest and head.
Friends say that Smith was streetwise but not street-hardened, a guy who
could charm thugs and teachers.
'He was the good, dawg,' said a man about Smith's age, crying as he
walked arm-in-arm with a friend away from Russell Funeral Home.
All week long, Smith's friends and family had wondered who killed him
and why.
Just before the funeral, police said they had an answer: Smith was
killed in an argument over the purchase of a car worth just a few hundred
dollars - an Oldsmobile manufactured the year before he was born.
Rodney O'Neal Miller, 35, of Jones Road was charged with first-degree
murder in the case and is being held without bond in the Forsyth County
Jail.
Miller's girlfriend, Lisa Shoats Jones, 35, faces a charge of accessory
after the fact of murder, and also is in the local jail, held on $500,000
bond.
The slaying was the latest blow to a family that has had its share.
Family members say that Smith was the son of Charlie Mack 'Poor Charlie'
Williams, a city drug dealer who has been in federal prison since 1991.
Charlene Witherspoon, a daughter of Williams and half sister of Smith, was
fatally shot the month before Smith was born. Her slaying remains unsolved.
Smith was raised by an aunt and his mother, and friends and family said
that he had little contact with Williams. Smith's record shows one charge of
possessing a stolen vehicle and three misdemeanor marijuana charges, all of
which were dismissed.
Detectives saw no connection between Smith's family history and his
death, Lt. David Clayton said.
For a while, they pursued a dead end: a statement from a woman who said
she saw Smith being beaten and kidnapped. Lakeisha Latrice Smith, 25, of 510
Mock St. later recanted her statement, and was charged with obstruction of
justice.
Detectives aren't sure why Smith gave that statement, Clayton said. She
is not related to Hausan, he said.
As detectives put together names of the last people Smith had been seen
with, Clayton said, Miller came up. They had been looking for him since
Smith's body was found Saturday night, he said, and learned late Wednesday
afternoon that he was in a house on Graham Avenue.
There, Clayton said, police also found Jones.
Police picked up the couple, Clayton said, and charged them early
yesterday.
He said that an argument on May 24 or May 25 over a 1983 Oldsmobile 88
that Smith was trying to buy from Miller led to the slaying. Miller
repeatedly stabbed Smith in the mobile home that Miller and Jones shared off
South Main Street, Clayton said.
Miller then drove Smith's body to Easton Park and buried it in a shallow
grave, Clayton said. Smith's family reported him missing on May 28.
Jones' role is still unclear, Clayton said.
'We have sufficient evidence to know that she had knowledge of what
occurred and didn't report anything to police,'' he said. 'We don't know yet
exactly what her part was.'
Detectives have gathered blood samples from the couple's mobile home, he
said, and are still looking for the murder weapon.
Miller's neighbors in the Three Rs Mobile Home Park said the only thing
they really noticed about Miller is that he was friendly and his girlfriend
sometimes read a Bible on her front steps. Now, they worry about what went
on in Miller's mobile home.
'That is very freaky,' Lonnie Steele said yesterday as he stood outside
the couple's trailer, which is backed up by a creek that rolls off into
woods.
Miller and Jones moved in several weeks ago. Until yesterday, they had
only misdemeanor records.
It's not known how Smith met Miller.
But those who knew him said Smith made friends easily.
At Glenn High School, teachers said he charmed them with his big smile
and his willingness to help. He struggled in school himself, they said, but
he sometimes took a few minutes to read to students in special education, or
to help them with a math problem.
'Everyone knew Hausan,' said Angela Jones, a special-education teacher
at the school. 'Everybody loved Hausan.'
• John Railey can be reached at 727-7288 or at
"mailto:jra...@wsjournal.com" jra...@wsjournal.com