Hernando's walking man able to move a bit

Doctors are still working to determine how much damage attackers did to his brain.

By CHANDRA BROADWATER and JOHN FRANK, Time Staff Writers
Published September 27, 2007

ADVERTISEMENT Michael Raymond Vann, 23, has been charged with attempted murder and armed robbery, among other charges. Anthony Steven Hawkins, 17, faces charges of conspiracy to commit robbery and tampering with physical evidence. Jamie Lynn Tyson, 17, has been charged with attempted murder and armed robbery, among other charges.

WEEKI WACHEE - He can move a couple of fingers on his right hand. But so far, the left side of John Kelly's body seems to be paralyzed.

Standing outside his Weeki Wachee home Wednesday, a weary George Kelly said he didn't know where that would leave his 48-year-old brother's former pedestrian life. As he has for the past week, the elder Kelly, 58, prepared to head back down the interstate to be at his brother's bedside in a Tampa hospital.

His brother, the man known for years by Hernando motorists as "the walker," remains in critical condition Wednesday at St. Joseph's Hospital after surviving an attack while he walked along Cortez Boulevard on Sept. 19. Doctors have since brought him out of an induced coma and continue to try to determine the extent of the brain damage Kelly sustained from the repeated blows to his face and head.

"But John's strong," Kelly said. "He can't talk, but I know he knows we're there. One of his eyes is open, it was damaged so badly that he can't close it, so we can see him looking around."

With three suspects in custody, the Hernando County Sheriff's Office continues to investigate the savage beating and robbery, spokeswoman Donna Black said Wednesday.

Michael Raymond Vann, 23, Jamie Lynn Tyson and Anthony Steven Hawkins, both 17, were arrested Monday and Tuesday. A fourth person, unnamed and listed as a co-defendant in police reports, had not been apprehended.

Both Vann and Tyson have been charged with attempted murder and armed robbery, among other charges. Hawkins faces charges of conspiracy to commit robbery and tampering with physical evidence.

The group allegedly planned to rob Kelly after seeing him withdraw money from an ATM at the corner of Cortez Boulevard and U.S. 19, according to police reports. Last week, they waited for Kelly to walk by in the dark, the reports say, and pushed him into a ditch in front of the Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative Building on Cortez Boulevard.

Vann and Tyson beat Kelly in the head with wooden sticks, while the fourth person punched him in the face, reports say. Hawkins told police he stood on the roadway as a lookout. After stealing Kelly's backpack and $100, the group fled, leaving him in the ditch unconscious.

They later went to a nearby water-filled sinkhole on Cortez Boulevard, known as Whitehurst Pond, to dump the backpack and other evidence. Black said a search by divers on Tuesday and Wednesday did not reveal any of the stolen items. After the attack, Kelly somehow got up and went for help. He staggered into a Hernando County Fire Rescue Station just after 11 p.m. He was then transported to the hospital.

The three young men police arrested in this case have a history of run-ins with the law, records show. Vann and the two 17-year-old suspects often ran together and got into trouble.

Vann has an assortment of charges including larceny, burglary and battery dating to the late 1990s in Marion County, according to state law enforcement records. Hernando deputies arrested him July 3 for carrying a concealed weapon, a folding knife with a 4-inch blade, according to arrest reports. Vann pleaded no contest and was given 60 days in jail with credit for time served. He was released on Aug. 21, jail officials said.

In December, Tyson and a friend beat up and robbed a 23-year-old man at Hawkins' residence on Lake Drive; they repeatedly punched the man in the head and stole $100 from him, records show.

In June, Hawkins was arrested for felony battery after he, Vann and an another friend beat up a 22-year-old man at his house, arrest records state.

On Sept. 11, a neighbor in their Highland Lakes subdivision reported seeing the three break into another neighbor's shed and take out bikes and a riding mower. The woman confronted the three, who fled. No arrests were made.

George Kelly said that he wishes those young men were the ones left in the ditch to die, rather than his good-natured brother who never bothered anyone. But he feels for their families, whom he says are probably wondering what went wrong.

As John makes progress in "inches," Kelly said that the family prepares for a long, expensive road to recovery. Nearly all the bones in John's face were crushed, and the back of his skull was bashed in, he said.

On Wednesday, John underwent surgery to have a feeding tube placed in his stomach. Later this week, his brother said, doctors will operate again.

All the community support that has emerged in the aftermath of the attack has been overwhelming, Kelly said. "I've gotten so many phone calls and I can't get back to everyone. People who didn't even know his name are pulling for him. God bless them, all of those well-wishers."

And all for a person no one really knew.

Kelly said he moved his brother into a modest Weeki Wachee trailer about eight years ago so they could be closer. Not long before, John had been struck by a car in New York as he rode a bicycle to work. While doctors did tell John to exercise, Kelly explained, the story he told that he had to walk so many miles a day or face having his legs cut off is not true. "He doesn't walk so much for his legs as he does because he likes it," he said.

Born mentally challenged, Kelly said, John is a cross between movie characters like Forrest Gump and "the Rain Man." While brilliant in some areas, he said John can't make change for $20.

"We were afraid that he would be just another bum that got beat up," Kelly said.

Chandra Broadwater can be reached at cbroadwater@sptimes.com or 352 848-1432. John Frank can be reached at jfrank@sptimes.com or (352) 754-6114.

Fundraisers for John Kelly

Saturday at Shelby's Ice Cream Shoppe from 12 p.m. to 11 p.m. The day's profits and tips will be donated to John to help cover medical expenses. The shop is located at 12977 Cortez Blvd., behind the Beacon Movie Theater.

On Oct. 6, the Weeki Wachee Springs mermaid attraction will donate the day's proceeds to Kelly. A minimum $10 donation for admission to Buccaneer Bay is requested. There will also be live music, and the Tiki Bar will be open. The event goes from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m. Weeki Wachee Springs is located at 6131 Commercial Way.

[Last modified September 26, 2007, 22:50:46]