Cops struggle to ID beating victim

Cops struggle to ID beating victim
By Marie Szaniszlo  |   Wednesday, November 17, 2010  |  http://www.bostonherald.com  |  Local Coverage

‘NOTHING EVER HAPPENS HERE’: Milton police officers scour the ground around Brierbrook Street yesterday after a mutilated body was discovered there Monday.
Photo by Matt Stone

Milton police yesterday made a public plea for help in identifying a young man whose badly battered and mauled, half-naked corpse was found on a leafy, affluent street.

The victim, a black male in his mid-teens to his early 20s, was wearing only jeans when his body was found about 9:30 p.m. Monday by a passer-by on Brierbrook Street at Parkwood Drive, said Chief Richard G. Wells Jr.

The young man was about 5-feet, 4-inches to 5-feet, 5-inches tall and weighed no more than 120 pounds, with an athletic build and close-cropped hair, Wells said. He had no wallet or tattoos, the chief said.

“Right now, we need the public’s help,” he said. “Whoever this young man is, yesterday he got up. But at 9:30 last night, his body was found in a very gruesome condition.”

The victim’s entire body was mutilated, Wells said. Police returned to the scene yesterday after more of the young man’s remains were found scattered on the sidewalk.

It was unclear, however, whether the young man had been dragged or dropped in the street.

Police had hoped to identify the victim through fingerprints, but he had no criminal record, Wells said. Some of his teeth were also missing.

Police have since received some calls about missing people, Wells said, but the man’s identity and cause of death so far are unknown.

“There’s a multitude of possibilities,” he said. “I really don’t want to speculate.”

The grisly discovery stunned residents in the secluded, suburban neighborhood, not far from Route 28 and the Blue Hills Reservation.

In the 15 years Laurie Macintosh has lived on Parkwood Drive, the only crime she can remember being reported was the theft of some cash from a car several years ago.

“Nothing ever happens here,” said Macintosh, 55. “We’re all mostly small-business owners. . . . I just think of the poor family somewhere that lost their son. It’s creepy that (whoever did this) chose this neighborhood.’’

Chris Tosi, another longtime resident, said he suspects the young man’s body was dumped there by someone looking for a quiet, secluded street.

“I just feel so bad for the boy,” he said.

“The quality of life people enjoy here is truly magnificent,” Wells said. “But . . . crime is mobile. We’re not immune to that.”

Police are urging anyone with information to call them at (617) 698-3800 or, anonymously, at (617) 698-COPS.

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