The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 2

AM 2A Tuesday August jl 1988 NATIONAL WORLD HEWS THE MIAMI HERALD Killings sully soul of neighborhood iiHin-iiiiiiia it REPORT FROM MISSOURI For years Berdella a heavy man who favored Hawaiian shirts and loose jeans had been a conscientious neighbor By ROGERS WORTHINGTON Chicago Tribune Service Young men visited suspect 'fr FA-MI1 iw £SS vi Within hours Berdella was arrested and police were searching his house and digging up his back yard Four years earlier they say he was a suspect in the unsolved disappearance of Gerald Howell 19 who also worked at the Old Westport Flea Market and like another missing youth Walter Ferris was last seen with Berdella Late last month police unearthed a head and part of a backbone in yard They belonged to Larry Pearson 21 of Wichita Kan missing for nearly a year Inside the house police found another skull that was identified as that of Robert Sheldon 19 a Californian said to have lived at the house briefly Berdella has been charged only with murder Privately police and prosecutors say they suspect he may have killed as many as seven people His arraignment is expected this month i He led the crime watch program looked into the details of city rehabilitation subsidies and represented the neighborhood at fund raisers for the local public television station He cooked well and brought tasty dishes to block parties Although he became less active after Paul Howell father accused him of involvement in his disappearance four years ago neighbors recall his life style had begun to change even before that "About six years ago he began bringing young boys Helen Duran said told everyone he was like a foster parent to said Shannon Christy who lives next door The youths in their late teens and early 20s worked around the house Many police now say were male prostitutes After Apnl 2 neighbors began recalling things about Berdella that they had not thought much of before such as all his windows being heavily shaded never knew if he was in there or Rachel Geischen said His odd hours the rooting about in the back yard late at night they all took a macabre new signifi Lt Rossano: Bagging needles Teeth found in envelope ANSAS CITY Mo The residents in the 4300 block of Charlotte Street could stand it no more They went to Robert house with rakes and brooms and cleaned up the yard left littered by the police But there is other damage they yet know how to repair has destroyed the neighborhood in terms of how we feel about where we said a woman who lives across the street from yellow house all feeling a lot of pam that he did this to us We never picked up on anything We really feel used as though we were part of Robert Berdella 39 a flea market dealer in primitive art and jewelry now sits in jail in lieu of $750000 bail He is charged with felonious restraint assault forcible sodomy and murder by dismemberment His house with the windows now boarded up has become a magnet for the curious since April 2 when a naked man with red swollen eyes and deep raw marks around his wrists ankles and mouth leaped from a second floor window wearing only a dog collar The man Christopher Bryson 22 told police he was knocked unconscious by Berdella tied up and sexually abused for three days He said Berdella told him others who had resisted had died He also told police he was drugged beaten with a pipe tortured with electrodes and mjected with Drano and penicillin Trash cops track down floating filth cance Police found traces of blood on the basement floor human teeth in an envelope several syringes unidentified substances and drugs that can be purchased legally from veterinary supply houses They have refused to say whether saw blades found in the house contain traces of blood However forensic tests of hair turned up traces of two obscure poisons both mentioned in a journal Berdella kept of his sexual encounters police said Also found were more than 200 Polaroid photographs of 19 naked young men all except three of whom have been identified Some appeared to be undergoing torture and others looked comatose or dead The 4300 block of Charlotte Street is an amicable mix of white-collar and service workers teachers old people and young professionals Its big circa-1930 houses sell at reasonable prices that make it a neighborhood of affordable first homes very proud of our property When that happened it was like a slap in the said Michael Calderon a bail bondsman Gawkers are problem Beach debris is posing quite a nasty puzzle By ROBERT DVORCHAK Associated Press People on the block now complain about the gawkers Many are families out for Sunday drives "This has invaded my entire Geischen said They said they are less likely to gather on their porches in the evening They worry about property values Several even discussed having house torn down people feel very Christy said and all feeling a lot of pain says a neighbor of murder suspect Robert Berdella IN THE NATION From Herald Wire Services CALIFORNIA Mutilation victim marries landscaper Maureen Donahue 17 of New Brighton was at a party on the Stone Arch Bridge Saturday night when she began walking the 26-inch-wide wall authorities said She lost her footing and fellThe friends raced down the steep slope to the edge of the Mississippi River where her body was found got a knock on the said Daniel Donahue father chaplain from the police department told us he had some bad news There was a terrible tragedy and our daughter was dead MODESTO The woman whose forearms were chopped off after she was raped 10 years ago by Lawrence Singleton and left for dead has gotten married Mary Vincent 25 and landscaper Matthew Brockman 23 were wed Saturday in the presence of 75 guests including her 2-year-old son Luke the Modesto Bee reported The location of the wedding disclosed It has been reported previously that after speaking out publicly about the rape Vincent sought privacy in the Pacific Northwest Singleton 60 was convicted of raping Vincent and hacking off her arms with an ax after picking up the 15-year-old hitchhiker in September 1978 He was freed in April and is now reported living near Tampa RHODE ISLAND NEW YORK Lt Tony Rossano one of 13 city sanitation cops sifts through syringes blood vials and other disgusting debris hunting for clues to the culprit dumping the infectious medical waste like the detective work on a murder he said domg interviews surveillance These gumshoes of garbage look for names dates and places But most of the seaborne slop carried by tides and winds has no markings More than 1000 items of medical waste most of it syringes used to inject insulin or illegal drugs have been found Five states are affected reason to believe we can identify the bad actors who are illegally said Brendan Sexton head of the Sanitation Department looks like repeated dumping by a smaller said Marlene Gold who heads the Sanitation enforcement team of five lawyers 13 environmental sleuths and 10 extra officers think looking at large hospitals no indication of wholesale she said State and federal authorities are also part of the investigation This floating filth first came ashore July 6 on Long Island Connecticut Rhode Island and Massachusetts beaches also are contaminated The refuse is mostly unmarked needles and vials several of which tested positive for AIDS antibodies and hepatitis virus Other items included stained bandages catheter bags colostomy bags respirator parts prescription bottles plastic tubing for intravenous drugs and nine dead rats Infectious medical wastes are supposed to be placed in red bags to alert handlers No red bags have washed in State investigators believe the rubbish may have come from several sources: illegal dumpers runoff from city storm sewers wind-swept garbage barges or sloppy handling of trash at city landfills evidence does not point to a single said RW Groneman at the state Environmental Conservation Department a big ocean The midnight dumpers necessarily leave calling cards New York generates 18 million pounds of red bag waste weekly 45 percent from New York City Most of it is incinerated or taken out of state for disposal Groneman said the items scoured from hundreds of miles of beaches would fill six shopping bags not talking about wave upon wave of red bag he said Some say the debris was inevitable this whole episode we now understand that needles on the beach are part of the ecology of New York" said Dr Stephen Joseph city health commissioner Kidnapper charged in crime rampage WARWICK A man awaiting sentencing for kidnapping and raping a youngster has been charged with abducting two boys molesting one and trying to abduct a girl during a 24-hour spree through two states Richard Gardner 21 of Weymouth Mass had been free on $3000 bail while awaiting sentencing for the rape and kidnapping of a boy in Hingham Mass said Rhode Island Attorney General James ILLINOIS No-smoking policy enacted at Allstate TENNESSEE 2 movie chains bow to Christian groups "V1 f' 'V hs i 4 NORTHBROOK Allstate Insurance Co enacted a smoking ban Monday in its 5800 building-sand agent offices nationwide becoming one of the largest companies to do so The ban announced in February prohibits smoking by employees in any facility including insurance centers in Sears outlets and property assessment offices The company has not decided what action to take with customers who smoke No-smoking signs will be posted in all offices and there will be no ashtrays But a spokeswoman said there is no order to tell customers who insist on smoking to refrain from doing so 4y a I Aitf A 2 FLORIDA LOTTERY RESULTS ft NASHVILLE Two large theater chains likely will not show a controversial film about Jesus Christ in the face of organized opposition by Christian groups officials said Sunday The Last Temptation of Christ has drawn opposition in the form of a national letter-writing and petition campaign organized by the American Family Association headed by the Rev Donald Wild-mon Tupelo Miss The film directed by Martin Scorsese is slated for a Sept 23 release Critics say the Universal Studios movie depicts Christ as an insecure lust-driven man who is reluctant to be messiah Due to the controversy officials at Carmike Cinemas and Consolidated Theaters tentatively have decided not to show the film Cash 3 2-5-8 IOWA Evacuees returning after train crash Mff -2 '4 i Associated Press 10 years later In September 1978 Mary Vincent lost her forearms after being raped and mutilated by Lawrence Singleton On Saturday she wed landscaper Matthew Brockman Seventy-five guests watched as he gave her this ring during a Lutheran ceremony See CALIFORNIA sm IN THE WORLD From Herald Wire Services ALTOONA Flames from one of two wrecked railroad tank cars containing denatured alcohol went out Monday and some of the 1500 residents evacuated two days ago began returning home Hazardous materials experts equipped with special foams watched the remaining flames in one of the tank cars that derailed when two Iowa Interstate Railroad freight trains collided head-on Saturday killing two crewmen Bulldozers cleared away burning brush and railroad ties and a train moved a crane to the crash site to clear away debris while firefighters doused water on the tank cars to keep them cool in 100-degree temperatures About 30 to 40 of the 1500 evacuees returned home after law officers began allowing them back into their neighborhoods overnight Sunday BURKINA FASO thodox rule The new leader Capt Blaise Compaore differs from his predecessor in style and personality He is much quieter and more pragmatic jungle growth NETHERLANDS Contaminated beef is unloaded Gifts and banquets at press meetings were extravagant and must stop the state council ordered In recent months various provinces have held publicity meetings in the capital to advertise their products and entice foreign investment Fifth anniversary of revolution feted The Miami Herald I TO KNIGHT UUt5 R1DDER 78th Year No 246 (USPS 344-200) The 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Florida call home-delivery numbers listed above Mail Delivery: Write Mail Subscriptions or call 305-376-3325 First- and second-class postage paid at Miami Fla Postmaster SendaddresschangestoTheMi-ami Herald One Herald Plaza Miami Fla 33 1 32-1 693 Back CopieaSchool Delivery: For information on how to obtain copies of most issues of The Miami Herald published in the last year call 350-21 11 Also call 350-2 1 1 1 for inquiries about the various educational services provided by the newspaper II You Have Newt to Report City Desk 376-3400 Features 376-3620 Financial Desk 3763600 SporrsDesk 376-3500 Broward Bureau 527-8400 WPB Bureau 686-322 1 Key West Bureau 294-5131 Ft Pierce Bureau 464-3864 StuartBureau 287-4030 VeroBch Bureau 562-1746 CHINA News conferences are restricted ENGLAND July is wettest in 52 years THE HAGUE Dock workers in the Dutch port of Flushing began unloading on Monday a shipload of Irish and Danish beef rejected by Venezuela a year ago on grounds it was contaminated by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster The beef was being checked for radioactivity as it was unloaded and any contaminated lots would be destroyed Flushing Cold Storage Co manager Jack Klooster-boer said Uncontaminated lots of the beef would be stored with the firm until the meat owned by the Anglo-Irish meat company could be resold Klooseterboer said OUAGADOUGOU Burkina Faso celebrates the fifth anniversary of its revolution this week still in the shadow of the late president Thomas Sankara the flamboyant army captain slain in a coup last October Western diplomats said political uncertainty in Burkina Faso which changed its name from Upper Volta in 1983 and is one of the poorest nations could put a damper on the Thursday festivities The date is still associated with Sankara who seized power five years ago and captured the imagination of the people with his unor- MINNESOTA Teen loses balance falls to her death BEIJING China imposed severe restrictions Monday on local governments giving news conferences as well as on gifts banquets and anniversary celebrations The state council ordered that any local government wanting to hold a news conference or anniversary celebrations in Peking must get prior approval from the central authorities state radio announced LONDON While the United States suffered through record drought and heat Britain slogged through its wettest July in 52 years Soaked by downpours and chilled in sub-normal temperatures tourists spent vacations in raincoats Homeowners struggled to keep up with the backyard MINNEAPOLIS A teen-ager walking barefoot on a bridge wall lost her balance and fell 60 feet to her death authorities said B3K 38 33SSS2.