The Paducah Sun from Paducah, Kentucky • 48

The Paxcan Son John Doe mystery ended with ED of Brian Duecker Hester (FUghl) Mchae Pro. starving Ns fairer Wayne, sued several budding iocJud mantrfacljrefs (Below) Jerry Wayne Waixer of Mayfeid as arrested June 12 and charged with capital murder, frst-degree arson and first-degree assault. (Bottom) Michael Mingers grandmother. Fay. and his parents, John and Gail Minger, attended a memorial ceremony on May 7.

'M An Friday, DecerSef 31, 1999 1 6 I An eiht year mystery ended in June with the positive identification of Bnan Duecker, a man who ieS from an airplane at Barkiey Regional Airport By B4I totlMMi The 'John Doe" who died Sept. 30, 1991, when he fell from an airplane at Barkiey Regional Airport was identified. Police detectives in Cincinnati made a positive identification June 8 after comparing the man's fingerprints with the fingerprints of Brian Stanley Duecker, 28. who has been missing since Sept. 26.

'I A I nunc tnt. 1 14 'p- Sci pros 1 -rf Mystery man: McCracken County deputy coroner Jerry Beyer looks at the headstone of John Doe who fell from a plane at Barkiey Regional Airport in 1991. Large crowd gathered for Duecker memorial 1 ir. I said Gerald Duecker, a Methodist minister from Southern Ohio. "He was a curious kid and always had more questions than I had answers.

When he was 5 or 6, we went to Michigan on a fishing trip. I took him out in a boat and the questions started: 'How far away is the 'Why are there stars there and not over "After about an hour, I rowed back to the dock and a man asked why we were quitting so soon. I said, 'He has more questions than I have So the man said he would take Brian out. Brian jumped into his boat, didn't say good-bye to me and off they went. They came back within an hour and the man said, He has more questions than I have As the sun peeked through the trees, Gerald Duecker's voice often cracked as he reminisced about his son whilegjancing down at his headstone.

Heoften thanked Paducah for "adopting" his son. Brian Duecker's problems began after he turned 18, when Please see MEMORIAL 6 By Matt Sanders The Paducah Sun The Rev. Gerald Duecker remembers his oldest son as a curious and inquisitive boy who enjoyed people and life and not as a young man who became a victim of mental illness. Duecker 's eulogy painted a portrait of love for his son, Brian Stanley Duecker, the formerly unidentified man who fell to his death from an airplane at Barkiey Regional Airport on Sept. 30, 1991.

For eight years, Brian Duecker was known in Paducah as "John Doe" until his identification was made June 8 with the help of the Internet and a comparison of fingerprints. He was 28 when he died and last lived in Cincinnati. About 75 people attended a graveside memorial service Sept. 18 at Oak Grove Cemetery and heard of Brian Duecker's youthful zest for living before suffering mental illness as a teen-ager and being diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic at age 22. "He had little fear of things and was full of life and full of energy," 2 rf 1991.

The identification was made after his stepmother searched the Internet and found a reprint of a story about "John Doe" that appeared in The Paducah Sun. She found the story the first week of June and contacted a Sun reporter by e-mail. Dee Duecker said it was the second contact she had made, trying to link her stepson's disappearance to the man who died in Paducah. "I saw a report about three years ago on the television show 'Unsolved she said. "I contacted the Paducah police, but Please see POSITIVE 6 Hester fire tragedy continued in 1999 with arrest, lawsuits A Better Way To Do ustness The tragic arson at Hester Hall jthat killed one Murray State University student and severely Jnjured another on Sept.

18. 1998, tarried over to 1999 with an arrest a fellow student and lawsuits tiled by the victims and their families. 5 Jerry Wayne Walker of May-Jield was arrested June 12 and jcharged with capital murder, first-yiegree arson and first-degree ssault after a Calloway County Iferand jury issued an indictment, tlis trial date, originally scheduled for Jan. 31, 2000, has been delayed order of Calloway Circuit Judge jDennis Foust because Walker's attorney, Dennis Null of Mayfield, requested more time to review the evidence. Instead, a hearing on jjan.

31 "is expected to produce a yew trial date. The family of Michael Minger, ho died in the blaze, and Michael "riddy, who was injured, filed Sawsuits to try to establish Accountability. The Mingers, of fficeville, sued two MSU officials on May 14, alleging that they jwere not honest about a fire on the jame floor of the same dormitory live days before the fatal fire. As a injuries he suffered left him no option but to seek compensation. However, both suits against the university officials were dismissed by federal judges, who ruled that the university and its employees are entitled to sovereign immunity' while executing their duties as state employees.

Both the Mingers and Priddy have also sued manufacturers of products that were used in the construction of the walls and ceilings of Hester Hall. Those suits are pending, with court dates not yet set. The Mingers also sued the Murray State Board of Regents and two other university officials Dec. 3 in Calloway Circuit Court. About a month after the fire, seven students were indicted on felonies and misdemeanors in connection with the fire.

The felony charges were dropped in January, and four of the defendants were convicted Aug. 13 of making prank telephone calls. But five of the seven also filed suit, against Commonwealth Attorney Mike Ward and the Kentucky State Police, claiming malicious prosecution and wrongful arrest. That suit also is pending. result, the suit argued, the officials' reluctance to be forthcoming that the previous fire also was arson denied Michael Minger the opportunity to leave for a safer living environment, especially since he had Attention Deficit Disorder and difficulties with allergies.

On July 21, Priddy, -a former Lone Oak resident now living in Massac County, 111., also sued one of the same officials named in the Mingers'. suit, arguing that the Petter Busines Systems is your complete source for every office need, including: Spring to determine drought's economic casualties Steelcase office furniture 'ontinued from 2 burley at prices nearly $12 below Canon copiers fax trying to salvage the state's $81 million waterfowl hunting season, whose backbone is in western Kentucky. They said record drought and a springlike fall jeopardized the sport like never before. the already modest state average. Farmers said the conditions would force many out of business.

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