Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Victim died before fire

Neighbors of the well-liked, retired man wonder how someone could have killed him.

By EMILY NIPPS
Published September 21, 2006

TAMPA - Alston Eugene Brooks, 66, was an amiable retiree who always wore a white cowboy hat. Each day, he trekked through Hidden Oaks Mobile Home Park to wait under a tree for the mail carrier. Some days, he pushed his tiny dog, Petite Amore, in a shopping cart.

"He never asked anybody for nothing," said neighbor Janet Roberts, 42, who has known Brooks for almost three decades. "Every little thing he got, he was thankful for. He was a sweet, sweet man."

So who would want to kill Brooks and leave his body to burn at 739 Debbie Circle?

Brooks' remains were discovered about 3 a.m. Wednesday after Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies and firefighters responded to a flame-engulfed mobile home off 138th and Nebraska avenues. An autopsy showed Brooks died from "blunt trauma" before his residence was set ablaze.

Friends and neighbors were stunned by the news. They thought of Brooks as an animal lover and a churchgoer, a man without likely enemies or criminal connections. Roberts said he smoked an occasional cigar or pipe but did not drink or use drugs.

Until seven years ago, Brooks worked for 11 years as a lumber tagger at Robbins Manufacturing Co. on Nebraska Avenue. His former boss, Jeff Hollar, said Brooks was a good worker.

"He loved cats, and he loved the Bucs," Hollar said. "He was a very nice person, kind of kept to himself. God, that's sad. I'll let a lot of people around here know, because we have a lot of old-timers who would remember him."

The mobile home, which sat charred and wrapped in police caution tape on Wednesday, was owned by Brooks' friend Estella Lopez, who did not live there.

Sheriff's investigators were looking Wednesday for a white male in his mid 30s, described as having a medium build, sandy brown bushy hair and stubble on his face. He apparently frequented the area on bicycle, carrying a tool bag or box.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office at 247-8200 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-873-8477.

[Last modified September 21, 2006, 01:18:18]