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Boston Police: Nobody's been murdered in West Roxbury recently
By adamg on Thu, 10/25/2007 - 9:22pm
Due to continuing rumors, Boston Police have taken the unusual step of issuing a statement to deny that two recent deaths in West Roxbury were murders.
A death at 24 Glenellen St. on Oct. 16 was that of an elderly man who suffered a heart attack after hurting his hand, police say.
And while a dead body found behind the Spring Street Shaw's on Oct. 17 had a stab wound in the buttocks, detectives have determined it was only superficial, happened earlier and did not contribute to the man's death. The statement doesn't specify his cause of death, but the Transcript had reported it was due to a drug overdose.
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Comments
There's a reason for the rumors.
Rumors often spread when real info is scarce, and local Boston news just doesn't cover West Roxbury very well at all. When the body was discovered, the TV media crews descended upon Shaws to report of a shocking find just yards from CM, in the middle of quiet old West Roxbury. Murder in West Roxbury! Who can be the first to report it? Fox? WBZ? Better get on the mic and tell the world about this homicide...
But, of course, it wasn't a murder. It was an OD. An arrest was made, but he was released when the Police figured this all out. But nobody did a story update. No one did a retraction. No one did ANYTHING, as far as I can tell. Not on the 11 o'clock news, the next day's paper, the morning news shows... When everyone found there was no crime involved, they dropped the story entirely. Under the rug it went. No "sorry." No "whoops, we jumped the gun and got it wrong."
Oh, well. If the Boston Globe can't even find room for any West Roxbury news in its City Weekly section (we still are in the City of Boston, right?), I can hardly expect a mention of any Westie news on TV. Truly, UniversalHub and the Transcript's blog are the only sources of WR news anywhere. And they run corrections when necessary, too.
RIP, Matt O'Malley.
why don't you wait to get the facts first
It seems like all of you reporters, police, etc. are so quick to call this an Over dose when all the facts have not even come in yet. We who live here, and who knew Matty O'malley know that he could not have over dosed. There are a lot of rumors on the streets as to what happened. And, believe it or not, sometimes rumors turn out to leads to the truth. We know there was a stab wound, so how can u so easily make that like a small fact in this whole picture? A stab wound? Boy, to me that sounds like attempted murder, or at least a manslaughter. we heard he had undesolved pills in his mouth. don't you think thta maybe someone pput them there to make it look like an overdose. Pills were found around the area scattered. Because Matty had a problem with drinking, we all know that, does that mean he automatically should be thrown to the dogs, as you Mr. Adams so quickly said, " a poor drug addict". In other words, if anyone is known to do drugs, then who cares what the real cause of death is? Maybe it will cost the city too much to do a further investigation? It is a lot easier to say it was an over dose, to throw it under the rug, and end it like that. Why bring trouble to quiet old West roxbury? Yah, lets not do that! Before you say anything more get your facts. By the way, here's a lead, Stick man, Greg mcnair, t walsh, wilbur sampson, New Hamshire, Maine, fighting broke out doewn the river, dragged to greg's car screamming, maybe he had a heart attack. All of these are just a few of the rumors going around, and we have a lot more insider info. U should apologize to his mother at least for calling him a poor Junkie.
I mean no disrespect to a dead person
And if you re-read my original post, you'll notice that "just" is in quotes, because my point was not that he was "just" a junkie but that Boston TV stations suddenly recalled their attack helicopters in some 1984ish story rewrite because they don't really care about people dying behind supermarkets in West Roxbury unless they can get a talking bouffant-headed pretty boy/girl (or Jack Harper) to breathlessly report on a murder LIVE FROM THE SCENE.
As for the facts of the case, you really need to be bringing that up with the detectives at E-5 - they're in a much better position to investigate the case than a blogger sitting on his back porch.
Down a River in Egypt
We who live here, and who knew Matty O'malley know that he could not have over dosed.
Did he carry some important mutation which prevented harmful metabolites from forming? I doubt that it was a lack of receptors as these are necessary for proper brain function.
In other words, you can know a person well and still be shocked by what they do and can do and die from. Or simply be in denial about it, for life, just like some of my relatives still are. What you know of a person can sometimes have very little to do with the truth - in fact, it can cover nicely for the truth.
I don't know what killed this person, but I think you need a reality check, regardless. Get some grief counseling or talk to your pastor/priest. You need a different reference point than your own echo chamber, because there might be a black hole sucking in people you thought you knew, and you may not see it before it claims more folk.
I'm curious about what you
I'm curious about what you think killed him. You sure imply that you know a whole lot, and you are posting anonymously, so it won't get back to you anyway. Enlighten us. Anyone who knew the man knew he was a severe alcoholic who, along with a lot of others we all know, put his body through some severe abuse over the years. If the man had a heart attack, it ain't hard to see why.
So, if it wasn't an OD, what was it? And it sure wasn't the ass-stabbing from earlier that day.
Um, no, sorry
There was a fair amount of speculation posted in the initial discussion, which I took down because specific people were named and a) I'm not the police or a private eye or a lawyer so there's no way for me to verify any of it and b) therefore, I don't want to drag possibly innocent people through the mud - or me through some sort of libel action. I think it's pretty obvious that Mr. Anonymous thinks O'Malley was murdered despite what the police are saying, so let's leave it at that.
U forgot something Adamg
In your haste to cover your A** and respond so defensely to recent comments,it must have slipped your mind to end your diatribe with an apology to Mrs. O'Malley for the sickening "poor junkie" label you smeared Matt with.
Rest in Peace Matty...Justice Will Prevail and the Truth Will Be Revealed
Find a better way to deal
I realize there are grieving family and friends here, but as someone who has lost family and friends to this same sort of black hole, denial and name calling and spitting venom will not 1)bring your loved one back and 2) will result in more people falling down the same black hole.
Drug abuse and addiction are a disease to be treated, not a character flaw to be fought, lied about, etc. So long as you continue to throw fits about use of words like "junkie", you make it harder for the people you love to reach out to you when they need help. By getting angry about "junkie" being a slur, you make people deny their problems until it is too late because they "aren't a junkie so it can't be bad" or they don't want you to throw fits so they don't mention it.
When you are able to think again, think about it. Where would you turn if you had a drug problem? Would you turn to you if you were your friend? What would the reaction be? Would that reaction make you less likely to ask for help?
So we're supposed to believe
So we're supposed to believe that "those things" don't happen in nice West Roxbury? WR always had it's share of knuckleheads and scumbags, but it never got reported "outside". Seeing that half of West Roxbury works for the city and the other half is related, it's not a surprise. Apologize to Mom? Why? Does she read this blog? Take a hike - you sound just like the Southie scum that spent years saying that there was no crime in Southie, and Whitey Bulger kept the drugs off the streets.
Sounds to me like
Sounds to me like Mumbles has a mouth full of crap. Just another "hater" forced to work for the "dreaded private sector". Are still bitter over the fact that Dapper O'Neil wouldn't get you a summer job @ the MDC back in the day?? Do you kiss your sainted mother w/ that mouth??
Pug ah me Homme
It wasnt a drug overdose it
It wasnt a drug overdose it was somthing elset that you dont know!!!! soo stop saying that it was a drug over dose
Anon meet Al-anon
You're anon-ymous, and they are Al-anon!
http://www.al-anon.alateen.org/
I'm not sure if they are strictly about alcohol abuse, but I'm sure they can refer you to groups that help friends and family of those who abuse drugs and alcohol.
Of course the first step is ending the web of denial. They'll still be around when you do.
Your smugness is sickening
Get off your soapbox! Don't realize by preaching/berating the friends and family of this or any other victim of death that u are making them feel worse? Or is that your point??
Swirl your self off a cliff!
Since when?
Since when is referring people to appropriate counseling "smug"?
Anonymous continuously posts here whining about how "it just couldn't be" with all the classic excuses "we knew him and I know he couldn't be... a junkie". Again and again and again.
You know what? I've seen that before - it is called denial. I've seen friends play that card, and I've seen family use it for a screen for not doing anything about their own issues or challenging people who drink and drug themselves to oblivion. "He's just got the flu". Uh huh. I've seen that denial result in the deaths of friends and family alike. Denial is deadly.
That's not smug - that's experience.
Ok Swirl, I've got to agree
Ok Swirl, I've got to agree with IAP; you are incredibly smug and very preachy. Maybe you should stop to consider a few things here before you let everybody know how smart and right you are: Anonymous is grieving a loved one lost and cause of death is really secondary to that. Also I am pretty certain no one has read a hostile blog and taken its suggestions. In other words you aren't saving any lives here Cookie. While you may be experienced and have a valid point; your delivery could be better, you come across as angry and, its been said before, smug. Save your therapy skills for those who ask for it, because you aren't changing anyone's mind here. People believe what they want and I don't think your pushing 12 step programs on a blog is going to put any one back on the straight and narrow. Honestly! I wonder if you know any of the people involved or are you just someone who can't resist spewing your sermon? It has been a tough time for those that knew Matt, most of them knew BL, and 2 losses in as many weeks is pretty hard to take whether you were close to both or not. To read a blog from a judgmental and righteous preacher was enough to make me respond even though on some level I do agree. Next time Swirly, just save it.
Um, clue please?
Al-anon is not a 12 step program - it is an organization for people who are dealing with friends and family that are involved in drug and/or alcohol abuse (or have died from it).
Someone has repeatedly posted "no it isn't no it isn't NOT NOT NOT" posts about an unfortunate and untimely death widely attributed by the media to be drug or alcohol related. I see pink elephant tracks all over it.
I don't think it inappropriate or preachy to steer that person toward people and resources for dealing with their special situation. Much better in the LONG RUN than simple parroting of denial and ignoring of the elephant.
Swirly, please just shut it....
No matter what the cause of Matty's death, we don't need some know-it-all preaching to us. You obviously don't know any of the parties involved and its very unlikely that you're from West Roxbury (or Boston at all for that matter). You diagnosed Anonymous as having a drug problem who's in complete denial, after his ONE post! Are you for real? People are still in utter shock over whats happened to our dear friend and here you are telling us how to fix ourselves. Do you really think you are doing anyone any good here? Even if your right, no one would listen to you anyways. I hope this doen't hurt your feelings or anything, but I think we'll be able to go on without you. So please, either shut it or go blogging your worldly wisdom somewhere else, because we don't want it here.
Why are you posting here?
If you don't want people to comment, then stop coming to the site and repeatedly posting "is not is not" and "stop replying stop replying".
Here's a reply...
First of all the "Swirly just shut it" was my post. And I do enjoy reading other people's opinions. But to come here and preach after losing someone so close to us is ridiculous, and I don't think I'm the only one who's annoyed by it. She speaks as if she knows someone after a single post. By the way I don't recall writing "is not is not".
Maybe you don't understand the replies
That organization is for the families of people who love people who are addicts/alcoholics or have loved and lost people to addictions. She never said you were an addict.
Judging from the police reports and your blind grief and frequent posts, the suggestion that you contact a group that helps people who have relatives who are sick isn't preaching.
I think your confused Mel
I never thought she said "I" was an addict, I don't use drugs (unless you count smoking some weed down Billings Field in the late Eighties). As far as my frequent posts, tonight was my first post, so not sure what your talking about on that one. Also, what police reports have you read that said it was an overdose? Just curious. And what did I say that constitutes blind grief? Telling someone to save her worldly opinions for someone else? And if you didn't notice the replies, she's doing nothing but annoying other people close to Matty as well, not just Anonymous. I guess Swirly just can't take a hint. And you obviously have me confused with someone else.
it IS a 12-step program
http://www.al-anon-alateen-msp.org/pages/12steps.html
they use the same 12-steps to deal with someone else's drinking as AA uses to deal with one's own drinking.
NA and naranon is about the same - but it's about narcotics addiction, not alcohol.
Boston Police: E-5 West
The police have not announced the cause of death, only that it was not a homicide. They decided to provide some information about the stab wound to the buttocks in order to indicate it did not cause the death, hence "superficial".
Unless someone has information from the family or reliable source regarding the autopsy, its unsubstantiated to claim he died from drugs or alcohol or anything else.
I live in the neighborhood and shop at Shaw's. The police were investigating when I arrived that afternnon to buy groceries. The facts were not being communicated to the public clearly or accurately. At the time there were three rumors... better stated as questions; was it a stabbing? was it a drug overdose? was it a fatality? The evening news and their websites did not clear up the questions. And as stated before, after that initial report they dropped the story.
It is disconcerting to learn about a stabbing/drug overdose/death in your neighborhood but not to hear ANY more information about it other than the preliminary report on the news after all the TV news crews and helicopters swooped in for a peek.
Have you been to the spot where Matt's body was found? It's odd that someone would be in the woods there unless they went there for privacy from the parking lot or for privacy from the public housing units.
I feel for his friends and family. It's a big loss.
Invitations to grief couseling when effective usually demonstrate a more compassionate appeal than presuming (and insisting upon a diagnosis) and when challenged, threatening the specter of the worse possible outcome.
In fairness, there is no indication the aggreived friend is in need of grief counseling or substance abuse counseling.
He jut wants answers. What happened? Why? Me too.
In a previous post on the
In a previous post on the topic, Universal Hub says:
but when I click on the link I see:
It looks like the Transcript changed thir original story without posting it as correction (or Universal hub quoted it incorrectly.)
No wonder people are having a hard time feeling like our news sources are doing a good job reporting the facts.
The Transcript changed their post, but ...
I'm lazy - I tend to use simple cut and paste for blocks of text like that - so, yes, the original Transcript post mentioned "overdose."
I wouldn't read too much into the change, however. I change things here all the time without posting formal corrections (otherwise, this would be a very long and very boring site). I realize the difference in those three words is significant to the folks intimately involved in this whole affair, but to a reporter or to the world at large, I'm not seeing anything sinister at work, because the point of the Transcript's original post was that Boston media suddenly made the story disappear when it became clear it wasn't a homicide.
Journalist Principles
You are a blogger. Methods of operation and ethical responsibilities of bloggers are still up for grabs.
The Transcript however is a newspaper which has the ethical obligation to following jounalists' principles, whether on line or in print.
In print, one must publish a correction because one cannot change yesterday's paper. Online, if you are a serious newspaper (or for that matter really, a serious blogger) you ought to respect yourself and your readers enough to note the change rather than pretend you never said what you said.
Try it, it's not so hard. Your readers will respect you for it in the morning.
Bloggers and reporters
I'm a blogger who's spent his entire adult life as a reporter and editor.
I agree that major changes should be noted - both somewhere in the story and on a corrections page. I guess the question is whether that specific change was significant enough to to let readers know - and that we'll just have to agree to disagree on that point.
Do police have the guy who stabbed O'Malley?
Recall how police said he'd been stabbed in the buttocks, but that that had nothing to do with his death. There's an interesting item in the Transcript police blotter this week:
Do police have the guy who
Do police have the guy who stabbed O'Malley?
Sure looks like it... and it sure looks the reporter and editor is still on the job. Good catch.