Abandoned corpse identified as WWII vet
Robert Brooks’ body was found in a suitcase abandoned in a field in Arkansas. He was an 89-year-old veteran of the Second World War where the 4 foot 11 inch Brooks served as a ball turret gunner on a B-17 bomber. According to Arkansas police, Brooks’ caregivers were planning to defraud social security, according to Fox News;
Robert Brooks died of natural causes at his home about a month before his body was discovered in a Prairie County field on March 5, Lt. David Gilbo of the Johnstown, New York, Police Department told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
[…]
Two people considered to be caregivers of Brooks have been detained on suspicion of abuse of a corpse. Police are not considering the case a homicide, but authorities are reportedly looking into the possibility that the two were planning to defraud Social Security.
Gilbo said authorities will not be extraditing them to New York because of Arkansas’ strict laws on abuse of a corpse. In New York, the offense is punishable by three years in prison, while in Arkansas it is punishable by 10 years.
From Arkansas Online;
Police arrested Virginia “Ginger” Colvin, 56, of Johnstown at a Perry County home March 8 after police found Brooks’ body March 5 in the suitcase in a field in the Crossroad community west of Des Arc.
Michael Stivers, who was being held on unrelated charges in the Lonoke County jail, also was arrested.
Both face charges of abusing a corpse.
[…]
The two drove 1,300 miles to Arkansas with the suitcase in the back of Colvin’s pickup.
When they stopped in Des Arc on March 5, a child opened the suitcase in the back of the parked truck and discovered Brooks’ body.
Colvin and Stivers panicked and fled, Gilbo said. They dumped Brooks’ body in the field about 15 miles west of Des Arc.
I hope there’s room under the prison for the pair.
Thanks to Mick for the link.
Category: Dumbass Bullshit
This certainly is about as disgusting as human behavior can become. These two do not belong in society. Period.
Hell, i’ll say it first. COCKSUCKERS!
Hope they bury these fuckers under the jail…preferably in the septic mounds. What you wanna bet they were still trying to pull his SS checks in?
Rest in Peace Mr. Brooks. You deserved far more than you received in death.
I can’t think of a more heinous thing that could have been done to this man.
I live a few miles away from Johnstown so I just contacted the PD there and will let you know what develops with Mr Brooks and getting him interred with the honor he deserves.
Sgt Fon, I’m in albany, if I can help in any way, let me know. This is atrocious. He needs a full military burial
Fuck those two pieces of shit straight to the deepest, nastiest circle of hell.
Fucking cocksuckers.
Mr. Brooks deserved much better than this.
Concur.
(Sorry, but no ‘BOOM’ for this one. I’m too pissed off about what those two did to this WWII combat veteran.)
Agreed.
May Mr. Brooks now Rest In Peace.
For a man that served in what was arguably one of the most dangerous and lonely jobs of the time ( along with tail gunners), this is a tragedy…..to have survived the war and be treated with such callous disrespect in death is unforgiveable.
RIP Robert Brooks…you have earned it.
If I have my way, those two miserable scumbags would be put in a CAF B-17, flown to 10,000 feet, then kicked out the hatch with no chutes. Fuck ’em…
Stick ’em in the ball turret and belly land it.
No, don’t do that to an old warbird, especially one that is still airworthy!
I’d pay to rebuild just to watch those two turned to red toothpast….
Find an old ball turret.
Put them in it. Together.
Doesn’t even need to be on an aircraft. Just bolt them in, let the sun do the dirty work.
I don’t know that he was a Veteran. I can’t find anything supporting that but a policeman’s say-so. It doesn’t mitigate the treatment of this man’s mortal remains. No one should be treated as he was. I did find a Robert Brooks from upstate NY who was an a/c gunner in WW II but he never lived to become a Veteran.
I should point out that Mr. Brooks’ age (reportedly 89) is a factor in the WW Vet question. Depending on the month of his birth, if he makes it under the 1945 wire, he barely does.
It could be they have his age wrong, too.
Sure, and it could be that the policeman, the solitary source of the Veteran info, confused this Robert Brooks with the other, by the same name, who was killed in a crash and was a WWII gunner. He was, as I said, from the same general area. In any event, we can agree that the dumping of a body–shoved into a suitcase– in a field and left there is a despicable thing to do.
Okay, by doing a little digging into the B-17 Bomber Groups, I think I may have found Mr. Brooks, if his middle initial is “I”.
http://www.91stbombgroup.com/91st_info/91stbg_pow_internees_v13-298_oct2013.pdf
91st Bomb Group list of POWs and Internees on Pg. 3
39610200 (serial #) BROOKS ROBERT I 261 Montana 430812 (Dec. 8, 1943)
If this is the late Robert Brooks, then he should receive a proper funeral. I’m looking for the plane/crew photo on the 91st Bomber Group site.
Are you telling us he was a POW as well??
I do not believe it can be this Robert Brooks. The age is wrong, the state is wrong (but certainly not a constant) and there were many men by the name Robert Brooks in the Army then and more than a few in the Air Corps. I know b/c I looked, not b/c I am guessing.
I have some doubts, too. If the deceased Mr. Brooks was 89, then he’d have been 17 by 1945, when the war was ending. I don’t know if this is worth a request to NPRC to clear things up. But for clarity, there were quite a few B-17 crews that survived crashes and were POWs during WWII.
I don’t know if this story about Mr. Brooks’s WWII record is valid or not.
However, PFC Jacklyn Lucas USMC (14 Feb 1928 – 05 Jun 2008) was awarded the Medal of Honor on 05 Oct 1945 when he was 17 years old for his actions on Iwo Jima on 20 Feb 1945 (he jumped on two Japanese hand grenades and survived), so it’s possible that Mr. Brooks could also have been serving as an aerial gunner at age 17 in 1945.
http://www.cmohs.org/recipient-detail/2852/lucas-jacklyn-harold.php
I’m finding that the majority of men who were the ball turret gunners for the B-17 crews were short. In a cramped, tight space, lack of height would be an asset.
If the deceased Mr. Brooks was 4’11” as the article says, while he may have lost some height to age (happens to all of us), he may have been the right size for that cramped space.
However, I agree that more information would be useful.
Regardless of whether he was a vet or not, no one’s body should be treated like this. And for trying to defraud SS they should have theirs forever confiscated.
Am I the only one noticing the ‘found by a child opening the suitcase in the bed of the truck?’ Some kid in the bed of my truck opening my shit is gonna be in deep shit right from the gitgo – wtf is up with that little hoodlum?
No, you aren’t the only one. I noticed that, too, and wondered what the kid was thinking. But it was serendipity that the kid did that.
Depends on the age of the kid. My very young grandsons will open anything to satisfy curiosity.
If it is an older kid who should know better, well, he should know better.
Either way, that kid’s gonna have nightmares for a long, long time.
Regardless of Mr. Brooks’ status as a veteran, one does not treat another human being in this manner and retain the right to be treated as a human being oneself.
I wonder how far down goes this particular rabbit hole?
Wondering if his “caregivers” faked the veteran bit to hustle bennies. Did the police positively ID the decedant, or are they going by what the shitbags claimed/presented? Did the newsies run the details down, or just run with them?
Something very not right here….
I find the irony amusing where they drove 1,300 miles to dump the man’s body far away from where people would know him could get them seven more years in prison that if they hadn’t left home.
ShadenHOOAH! No?
I’m missing something here. The story says, “died of natural causes at his home about a month before his body was discovered in a Prairie County field.” Why drive across so many states and then dump the suitcase with body in a field? It sounds as if little effort was taken to even conceal the suitcase. Maybe it was buried and rose to the surface. But, but, in a field? It almost sounds that they had absolutely no plan and just started out on a road trip. Also, were state laws violated each time the body crossed into that state? Hell, if you want to defraud the government, have enough brain cells to at least attempt to conceal the suitcase with body. These people are clueless. And inhumane as hell. I’m surprised the plane could get off the ground with the massive set that tough little guy had. Props to you, Sir. You definitely deserved much better than you received after death. I’m hoping they at least took good care of you while you were alive. But I have doubts about that.
yeah, the whole thing sounds pretty damn odd. Arkansas of all places? They were in route to where? WTF was going on, here?
Why is a kid opening a suitcase in the back of a strangers truck?
They are still assholes who should roast. The cops, however, can investigate their idea of defrauding SSN all they want. No crime was committed so too bad on that score. I would think transporting a corpse a thousand miles and dumping it in a field should keep them locked up as long as is necessary.
Probably “Tweakers”, God only knows what a tweaker will do when they are high on Meth.
“I hope there’s room under the prison for the pair.”
That would be too good for them…
We need a new prison at McMurdo Station, or some similar place in Antactica.
From an Arkansas member of the Patriot Guard Riders: “A ‘Pony Express’ mission was just announced for Mr. Brooks. He will be escorted by the various state PGRs from Little Rock to South Carolina.”
RIP Mr. Brooks.