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Letter to the editor

Police search for clues in homeless death

By JACOB H. FRIES, Times Staff Writer
Published September 16, 2007

ST. PETERSBURG - Beneath an interstate on-ramp, next to all his belongings, a homeless man was found beaten to death on Saturday morning.

Detectives began searching for suspects and trying to determine a motive in the killing, the city's 21st homicide of the year.

There had been 21 in all of 2006.

After someone called police, investigators found the body of Charles L. Cummings, 49, about 8:50 a.m. beneath an Interstate 375 on-ramp near the corner of Fifth Avenue N and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street.

Cummings' body showed signs of blunt trauma, and police found nearby a bloodied object likely used to beat him, but wouldn't say what it was. An autopsy will be performed to determine the precise cause of death.

Investigators also found piles of empty beer cans in the area, but didn't know who drank them, when or whether they played any role in the murder.

Detectives planned to spend the day visiting soup kitchens and other agencies serving the homeless, looking for people who knew Cummings and the company he kept.

Little information could be learned about Cummings' life on Saturday.

"We're going to have to go back and start at the beginning. Who did he hang out with? Did he have any problems with other homeless men?" said Sgt. Mike Kovacsev, the head of the department's homicide unit. "It's going to take interviewing a lot of people. ... There are several hundred transients in the city at any time."

Police say crimes the against the homeless are often difficult to investigate. Homeless people, many of whom are mentally ill or addicted to drugs or alcohol, often don't report crimes and tend to move around, making it hard for investigators to conduct followup interviews.

Advocates meanwhile say the number of attacks on the homeless has been increasing, and Florida is leading the way. The National Coalition for the Homeless counted 142 attacks on the homeless last year, up from 86 in 2005. The number of attacks in Florida jumped from 32 to 48 in the same time period.

For many across the city, Cummings' murder recalled the killings of two homeless men on the same day earlier this year.

David Heath, 53, and Jeff Shultz, 43, were shot and killed nine blocks from each other during the early morning hours of Jan. 17.

Three weeks later, police arrested Dorion Dillard and Cordaro Hardin on first-degree murder charges. Investigators have said their motives were unclear, in part because of the apparent randomness of the slayings.

Dillard, now 21, and Hardin, now 19, are both being held in the Pinellas County Jail, awaiting trial.

Jacob H. Fries can be reached at jfries@sptimes.com or 727 893-8872.

FAST FACTS

How to help

Anyone with information about the murder of Charles L. Cummings is asked to call police Detective Joe DeLuca at 893-4994.

[Last modified September 15, 2007, 23:40:59]