Houston Teenagers Dig Up Corpse and...

[CBright7831 0]

3 accused of using corpse head to smoke pot

 

 

By PEGGY O'HARE

Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

 

The Kingwood teenager's story of decapitating a corpse and using the head to smoke marijuana was so outlandish that at first Houston Police Department senior officer Jim Adkins did not believe it.

 

Yet, Kevin Wade Jones Jr., 17, appeared almost indifferent as he relayed the bizarre description of his and two friends' activities at a Humble area graveyard, Adkins said.

 

"I just doubted it because it's very morbid, and I couldn't see anybody doing something like this," Adkins said Thursday.

 

Not until police went to the home of another Kingwood teen, 17-year-old Matthew Richard Gonzalez, did the officer believe the tale.

 

"He regurgitated in his plate of food when I asked him about it," Adkins said. "So I knew there was some truth to the story."

 

Now, Jones, Gonzalez and a juvenile whose name has not been released are each charged with abuse of a corpse, a misdemeanor offense. All three were arrested Wednesday night.

 

Police are also searching for a fourth suspect wanted for questioning.

 

Houston police believe the teens disturbed the grave of an 11-year-old boy who died in 1921. The child was buried at an unmarked cemetery believed to be reserved for black veterans and their families, Adkins said.

 

Under the law, a person can be charged with abuse of a corpse simply by vandalizing, damaging or treating a gravesite offensively — even if the human remains buried there are not touched, Adkins said.

 

The child's skull has not been found. If recovered later, however, such a discovery will not change the charges filed against the three suspects, Adkins said.

 

The teens first came to police's attention during a vehicle burglary investigation. While being questioned by police, Jones revealed the morbid tale of desecrating the gravesite a month or two months ago, which Adkins believes was a diversionary tactic intended to distract police from the vehicle break-in.

 

Jones claimed he and his friends used shovels to dig up the body and removed the corpse's head with a garden tool, Adkins said. Jones also revealed he and the other two boys took the severed head to the juvenile's home, where they used the skull as a "bong" device to smoke marijuana, the officer said.

 

Police made three separate trips to the heavily wooded, snake-infested graveyard near the Eastex Freeway feeder road and FM 1960 before finding the disturbed grave several days ago.

 

"The grave was uncovered, and the headstone had been thrown off the grave and broken," Adkins said. "The dirt was piled out of it in large piles."

 

Because the grave is flooded with murky water from recent heavy rains, police have been unable to determine if the child's casket is still in the ground. Adkins said he used a 5-foot stick to poke around in the muddy water, but could not feel anything.

 

All three teens gave written and verbal confessions admitting they tried to dig up a body over a two-day period, Adkins said. But the boys told conflicting stories about whether they actually severed the head — so police aren't sure if that gruesome task really happened.

 

Even so, Houston police are working closely with Humble police to try and find any surviving relatives of the child whose grave was disturbed.

 

"The ultimate goal will be to put this body back to rest," Adkins said.

 

Little is known about the graveyard. The Humble Bicentennial Museum could not confirm that the graveyard was reserved for black veterans, but Adkins said he observed "many, many headstones" for black soldiers killed during World War I and World War II.

 

All three boys, who are home-schooled, have also been charged in connection with the vehicle break-in. Jones and the juvenile are charged with credit card abuse, while Gonzalez was charged with misdemeanor theft between $50 and $500. Gonzalez pleaded guilty to that charge.

 

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5764886.html

[BruteSquad_BRODY 0]

*meh*

[Jingus 0]

In the words of Denis Leary, "This guy's HEAD would make an excellent bong, man!"

[The Niggardly King 0]

Did he steal that one from Hicks?