As she did almost every day, Dorothy Royal slipped on her blue coat early Friday morning and pulled her small wire cart across the city from Arbor Hill to the South End, collecting bottles and cans along the way that she would trade for pocket change at Price Chopper
Royal -- who was nicknamed "Sugar Gal," or "Shu-gal" for short, by her friends and family -- stopped at the apartment of her close friend, Joyce "Tooty" Terry, and they chatted over coffee and shared some laughs. For Royal, a 59-year-old mother of three adult children, the morning coffee ritual along Morton Avenue would be her last
A short time later, according to city police, Royal was beaten and sexually assaulted by a former boxing heavyweight contender, Jo-el Scott. He has been charged with her murder.
The attack unfolded at about 8 a.m. after Royal said goodbye to Terry and pulled her cart up Morton Avenue under beaming sunlight. The air was crisp and morning joggers and a few lifeguards who were working on the park's pool were buzzing around the hilly, 58-acre park.
As Royal descended a set of steep, concrete steps under trees and at the edge of a rugby field, she was allegedly confronted by Scott, 33, a former amateur boxing champion whose meteoric rise through the professional ranks had once ignited the region's fight fans.
Scott, a convicted rapist who prosecutors contend was high on crack cocaine following an all-night binge, allegedly grabbed Royal and began pummeling her, breaking bones in her face as he sodomized her on the ground. A passer-by heard Royal's screams and called 911, but two arriving officers who said they saw Scott standing over her body were unable to prevent her death.
Scott ran about 50 yards with the officers on his heels but was quickly handcuffed after a brief struggle, police said. He was allegedly covered in Royal's blood, according to sources close to the case.
Detectives quickly swarmed the park and crime-scene technicians sealed off the area around Royal's body. But just over the hill and down Morton Avenue, Royal's friends and her youngest child, 39-year-old Mary Ann Royal, gathered on the steps in front of their apartments chatting and oblivious of the events unfolding nearby.
When told of the attack just after 10 a.m., Mary Ann Royal and Terry, who said she has known Dorothy Royal for almost 40 years, both began crying.
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=256631&category=REGION&newsdate=6/12/2004
Royal -- who was nicknamed "Sugar Gal," or "Shu-gal" for short, by her friends and family -- stopped at the apartment of her close friend, Joyce "Tooty" Terry, and they chatted over coffee and shared some laughs. For Royal, a 59-year-old mother of three adult children, the morning coffee ritual along Morton Avenue would be her last
A short time later, according to city police, Royal was beaten and sexually assaulted by a former boxing heavyweight contender, Jo-el Scott. He has been charged with her murder.
The attack unfolded at about 8 a.m. after Royal said goodbye to Terry and pulled her cart up Morton Avenue under beaming sunlight. The air was crisp and morning joggers and a few lifeguards who were working on the park's pool were buzzing around the hilly, 58-acre park.
As Royal descended a set of steep, concrete steps under trees and at the edge of a rugby field, she was allegedly confronted by Scott, 33, a former amateur boxing champion whose meteoric rise through the professional ranks had once ignited the region's fight fans.
Scott, a convicted rapist who prosecutors contend was high on crack cocaine following an all-night binge, allegedly grabbed Royal and began pummeling her, breaking bones in her face as he sodomized her on the ground. A passer-by heard Royal's screams and called 911, but two arriving officers who said they saw Scott standing over her body were unable to prevent her death.
Scott ran about 50 yards with the officers on his heels but was quickly handcuffed after a brief struggle, police said. He was allegedly covered in Royal's blood, according to sources close to the case.
Detectives quickly swarmed the park and crime-scene technicians sealed off the area around Royal's body. But just over the hill and down Morton Avenue, Royal's friends and her youngest child, 39-year-old Mary Ann Royal, gathered on the steps in front of their apartments chatting and oblivious of the events unfolding nearby.
When told of the attack just after 10 a.m., Mary Ann Royal and Terry, who said she has known Dorothy Royal for almost 40 years, both began crying.
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=256631&category=REGION&newsdate=6/12/2004
