OH OH - William 'Bill' Comeans, 14, Columbus, 7 Jan 1980 - #2
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Yes,
It would sure seem that Bill was strangled to death. But I think it would still be possible that he could have tied his scarf around his neck to strangle himself. The two things that I have trouble with in this case:
1.) Bill very sketchy on the details of his attacker in getting away. I think it was on two previous occasions.
2.) What teenager calls the color of a car "Aqua?"
We are not getting the whole story here.
Satch
Not really Bill was strangled he didn't kill himself
I think he was very sketchy about the details because he was very afraid of them.
I hope law enforcement are looking into Capeheart and Trudell.
In the seventies and eighties it was a lot harder to come forth with charges of bullying and the like.Almost zero sympathy a different time and place.
I think Aqua was popular then you had Aquafresh tooth paste and I had many aqua blue T shirts,shorts,and Champion sweatshirts back in the 80's
and you are 100% right we are not getting the whole story.
as far as strangling himself how there didn't seem to be any evidence of the scarf being attached to a tree or anything like that
dogperson
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I don't know whether teen guys would have used the word aqua very much but teen girls did in the 80s when I was a highschooler and he might have heard the term regularly. I always referred to the eyes of my longtime 1980s boyfriend as aqua colored, for example. Also I remember aqua being the "it" color for girls' tops one school year in the 80s. Coca-Cola made a line of logo T-shirts in the 80s in pastel colors and I had one in aqua. I don't know if teen guys wore aqua prior to pastels for men becoming popular due to Miami Vice in the mid 80s, but my friends and I wore aqua clothes and accessories a lot so Bill probably at least knew what the term meant, which brings me to what I wanted to say about his description of the car color.
It occurs to me that since Bill seemed so afraid of revealing the identity of his tormentors he may have deliberately chosen aqua to describe the car color because the car actually wasn't aqua. He could have just said it was to throw people off the trail of whoever was bothering him because he felt he had to hide their identity. Maybe they threatened someone would come after his family members or friends if he told? Or maybe they threatened to reveal something about him or about someone close to him? Maybe they said they'd kill him the next time they saw him if he said anything to anybody? I don't know but I thought since the word "aqua" might not be a typical word for a teen boy to use, perhaps he chose it on purpose for a particular reason. That reason may have been that he didn't really know anyone with an aqua car and decided to claim the car was aqua to protect himself or someone else. Just a thought, really, but he was so vague about details you'd expect him to be clearer about that it makes one think the vagueness was on purpose due to fear. If so, he may have described the car color as aqua because it was actually nowhere close to aqua.
It occurs to me that since Bill seemed so afraid of revealing the identity of his tormentors he may have deliberately chosen aqua to describe the car color because the car actually wasn't aqua. He could have just said it was to throw people off the trail of whoever was bothering him because he felt he had to hide their identity. Maybe they threatened someone would come after his family members or friends if he told? Or maybe they threatened to reveal something about him or about someone close to him? Maybe they said they'd kill him the next time they saw him if he said anything to anybody? I don't know but I thought since the word "aqua" might not be a typical word for a teen boy to use, perhaps he chose it on purpose for a particular reason. That reason may have been that he didn't really know anyone with an aqua car and decided to claim the car was aqua to protect himself or someone else. Just a thought, really, but he was so vague about details you'd expect him to be clearer about that it makes one think the vagueness was on purpose due to fear. If so, he may have described the car color as aqua because it was actually nowhere close to aqua.
The other things that we don't know,
Is what exactly did Bill do that caused such hatred and rage from his tormentors? This sounds like the kind of bulling horror that we see today on social media, but it 1980, bullying on that type of level in a high school situation leading to murder was extremely rare.
If this was not a self-inflicted suicide, my theories are:
1.) A Gay Hate situation that escalated from harassment to murder over a long period of time
2.) Bill PO'ed someone with high power or prestige in the community. Or he achieved some position that was deeply resented by his tormentor (s). Yes, more than one person could have been involved in this, note the POI's above.
Satch
Is what exactly did Bill do that caused such hatred and rage from his tormentors? This sounds like the kind of bulling horror that we see today on social media, but it 1980, bullying on that type of level in a high school situation leading to murder was extremely rare.
If this was not a self-inflicted suicide, my theories are:
1.) A Gay Hate situation that escalated from harassment to murder over a long period of time
2.) Bill PO'ed someone with high power or prestige in the community. Or he achieved some position that was deeply resented by his tormentor (s). Yes, more than one person could have been involved in this, note the POI's above.
Satch
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IMO Bill was murdered and it's likely that Capehart and Trudell are responsible, again JMO
dogperson
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When I was growing up I witnessed some bullying from time to time in school and on the bus, not regularly but I was aware of it. It seemed like all the victims had done was be different somehow. If they didn't generally fit in with their appearance or their mannerisms or their sexuality or their intellect or their economic status, for example. I didn't see or hear a lot of bullying, and what I did see and hear was always in the form of words or attitudes (which was bad enough) and not in the form of violence, but being different and standing out in a way that was not cool seemed to be all it took to put certain kids on the radar of those with hateful, sadistic tendencies. Bill must have struck his bullies as different and that made him a target in their eyes. There are people in this world who absolutely hate anybody or anything different from what they consider the norm and in people who are prone to violence this can lead to bullying that goes far beyond just saying ugly words.
This is EXACTLY how I feel about it.
It just feels like that's it.
I wonder if they threatened Bill's father in the garage with that knife and that was how they got him away from the house?
Perhaps they were just tormenting Bill and it went further than they planned?
New Rome was supposedly corrupt I wonder if either of these two had any connections that would help them get away with stuff before they were finally put away for murdering that older woman
They were upperclassmen in Bill's High School.
About 8 months after Bill's murder they murdered 85 year old Edith Bridenstine.
Gary is still in prison
The murder did not happen in New Rome (which was more interested in corruption from skimming traffic fines). The murder was near New Rome but outside the village limits. The murder would have been the jurisdiction of Franklin County Sheriff. Details here:
William 'Bill' Comeans: Media, Facts, Timeline and Maps **NO DISCUSSION**
History of New Rome:
New Rome, Ohio - Wikipedia
But was it???
I grew up in South Boston and whitey liked to skim and a lot of corruption led to murders
Yes, I lived in the area. New Rome was nothing more than a few blocks along a state highway set up to make money off traffic violations (it was a well known speed trap), For all the mention of corruption, it was just people skimming off the traffic fund. They'd find one person skimming, fire them and then the replacement would do the same.
Here's the map of the city limits:
File:Detailed map of New Rome, Ohio.png - Wikipedia
Here is the map from the thread I linked above with the rough city limits shown in red. All incidents occurred outside New Rome.
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The Hands Team
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People in the area called it New Rome. Regardless of the actual zoning the whole area was called New Rome, heck we still call it New Rome...
Gemmie
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Awww... that is really nice. Thank you for sharing so many years down the road.
Interestingly (probably to only me) is your case is what brought me to this site long ago. I wanted answers for Bill, and to his family, but understand we don't always get what we want, and that's OK. May peace be with you. 
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othram
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Would be happy to look / help!
