OH OH - William 'Bill' Comeans, 14, Columbus, 7 Jan 1980 - #1

GoingByMyGut said:

Hi, Yoda. I actually think this was interesting and worth exploring. The first thing I wondered when reading your post was how far BC's paper route went. I wonder if we could get our hands on THAT route, because whether the Hand/WW case is a hit or not, it might tell us something.

I think strangulation and head-bagging are the strongest parts of this connection you made, but WW's MO had other elements in it too. Here are some things I see that work against the connection:

• I suspect "a few miles" is too far to be part of the same route, even though when mapped you can see that the two locations are startlingly close.
• The timing of the murder of Hand's second wife (September 9, 1979) comes after the first attack on Bill (Sept. 5.), so what would BC have seen? (Also, I think if it was WW laying in wait for BC, the previous attacks on a 14-year-old would NOT have been unsuccessful.)
  
• The motivation to "confuse" police does not seem strong enough to sustain three attacks and the specific targeting of BC across several months.
• WW -- the friend of Hand with the strangulation MO -- seems to have been a killer for hire vs. someone acting on his own (but who knows, WW's propensities may have been what led Hand to hire him).
• If BC had seen something, I think he would have told someone (unless he didn't realize the significance of what he saw).
• WW knew that Teresa Fountain overheard his plans to kill Donna Hand for his boss, but while WW threatened her, he didn't hunt down and off Theresa.

Almost too good not to be a hit! This was great find! Could more than one ruthless murderer lived in the vicinity? The proximity to Columbus suggests maybe so ...

Question: Why are these considered cold cases when they have evidence to suggest who committed the crimes? I thought the dox you provided showed this. Is it just because WW was killed before they could try and convict him? Even under these circumstances, do they have to keep the case open?

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Jmoose said:

I'm truly amazed that Billy's killing is not considered a cold case-are they (LE) kidding? Especially considering that he'd been attacked on at least 2 other occasions, and left to die on one of these. I think it's possible that Billy's family might have some idea who is responsible. I am illiterate as far as Twitter goes, so I'm not sure how people who don't have any connection to the Comeans family or their friends would see the tweets-apart from the publicity generated recently. Of course, maybe I don't know how it works-but it just seems to me that these tweets are focused, and not so much just thrown out there to see where it lands. It kind of reminds me of the letters that Lauren Spierer's mother has been writing publically to "whoever" was responsible for her disappearance-she is, in fact, writing them to the boys who were the last known to be with her, and she knows their names.

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• BC was found by his father a little after 9pm. He died at the hospital around 11pm the same day.
• The article says he was attacked previously by "two men" and his father believes the same men were responsible for his son's death.

pdxmama said:

OK - Hopefully this works. I've attached a PDF of an article titled "Death of William Comeans being treated as homiced" dated Jan. 18th, 1980.

Some key points:

• BC was found by his father a little after 9pm. He died at the hospital around 11pm the same day.
  
• The article says he was attacked previously by "two men" and his father believes the same men were responsible for his son's death.

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pdxmama said:

So, I actually asked a friend to pick up my kids so I could get these articles uploaded (I know, I know...) and when I click on the attachment button nothing happens. It worked perfectly for the first article and now nothing, any ideas? I've logged out and back in and it didn't seem to help.

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• Police initially suspected suicide but BC's parents disagreed so the FBI's Behavioral Sciences Lab performed a "personality analysis." This is, essentially, a series of interviews with relatives, friends and school officials to determine "personality traits and habits" of a victim. A similar analysis was done my NYCPD.
• Dad was working on the car in the garage. BC brought him coffee twice then wandered into the yard, he never returned. He was gone nearly 20 minutes before it was realized. His father said he would not have left the yard without telling someone.
• First attack (this info is different from what we had previously): Took place behind Prairie-Lincoln Elementary School at 4900 Amesbury Way at 8:30pm while he was on his paper route. He was on his bike and attacked from behind.
• Second attack: BC was walking near Maple and Beacon Hill Rd. when two men jumped from a car and attacked him (time of day not mentioned.)
• The notes he received were found in his locker. They were typed and cut from pieces of magazines. His best friend and girl friend also received notes.

pdxmama said:

That worked! Thank you!

Here is the second article. Titled "Coroner Says New Rome Boy Murdered" published April 23rd, 1980.

Key points:

• Police initially suspected suicide but BC's parents disagreed so the FBI's Behavioral Sciences Lab performed a "personality analysis." This is, essentially, a series of interviews with relatives, friends and school officials to determine "personality traits and habits" of a victim. A similar analysis was done my NYCPD.
  
• Dad was working on the car in the garage. BC brought him coffee twice then wandered into the yard, he never returned. He was gone nearly 20 minutes before it was realized. His father said he would not have left the yard without telling someone.
  
• First attack (this info is different from what we had previously): Took place behind Prairie-Lincoln Elementary School at 4900 Amesbury Way at 8:30pm while he was on his paper route. He was on his bike and attacked from behind.
  
• Second attack: BC was walking near Maple and Beacon Hill Rd. when two men jumped from a car and attacked him (time of day not mentioned.)
  
  [*]The notes he received were found in his locker. They were typed and cut from pieces of magazines. His best friend and girl friend also received notes.

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• This article says his body was found around 9:45pm (other articles stated it was 9:00pm)
• BC's parents posted signs in their neighborhood offering a $3000 reward for info, no leads as of the writing of the article.
• Second attack - additional info: BC was out collecting money for his paper route and didn't return home until 1:00am. "He had rope burns on his neck and told his parents two young men in an aqua-colored car stopped him, tied a rope around his neck and threw him under some bushes, where he lost consciousness."
• At least one note was found at Westland HS after BC's death. It said "You're next" and was signed with a red "S". This is according to BC's parents, deputies would not confirm such a note was found.

• Detective believed letters were written by the same BC's murderer. Letters were received by families who also lived on Maple Dr.
• Handwriting analysis was done and determined all were written by same person.
• Some neighborhood children were specifically named in the letters.
• 19 letters were received by 8 families between July 21st and "last Tuesday"
• Delivered in groups (multiple houses at once) and delivered personally (did not use US Mail)

pdxmama said:

Here is the third article. This one was actually from the Columbus Citizen, not the Dispatch. Also dated April 23rd, 1980 and titled "'Bizarre' strangling of boy ruled a homicide.

Key points:

• This article says his body was found around 9:45pm (other articles stated it was 9:00pm)
  
• BC's parents posted signs in their neighborhood offering a $3000 reward for info, no leads as of the writing of the article.
  
• Second attack - additional info: BC was out collecting money for his paper route and didn't return home until 1:00am. "He had rope burns on his neck and told his parents two young men in an aqua-colored car stopped him, tied a rope around his neck and threw him under some bushes, where he lost consciousness."
  
• At least one note was found at Westland HS after BC's death. It said "You're next" and was signed with a red "S". This is according to BC's parents, deputies would not confirm such a note was found.

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Yoda said:

This really seems like a couple of bullies from the same high school, but i would think that other students from the school would know of the school bullies and would have said something to police. Or some type of hazing. Jmo so confused.

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Yoda said:

Two young men in an aqua car. Hmmmm. Hinky meter is going off.
1. It would have been easy to find out who had an aqua car at his high school and eliminate them.
2. He saw the car and two young men but no other description, height, weight, race?
If this article is correct I have a feeling he new who was attacking and stalking him. JMO

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pdxmama said:

BBM - I agree, maybe not at first but surely by now. Also, what about the aqua colored car? I can't imagine that was a very common color. If these were high school students, everyone would definitely know of their aqua-colored car.

This case is so weird.

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pdxmama said:

BBM - Ha! Great minds.

I think you may be right and BC knew more that he told. I'm certainly not blaming him. I imagine he was very fearful and hoped it would all just go away.

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Yoda said:

Two young men in an aqua car. Hmmmm. Hinky meter is going off.
1. It would have been easy to find out who had an aqua car at his high school and eliminate them.
2. He saw the car and two young men but no other description, height, weight, race?
If this article is correct I have a feeling he new who was attacking and stalking him. JMO

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