Paul Bass Photo
Ford, Harrell: Ray was “funny,” “cool.”
Contributed Photo
Roberson, left, with a late friend, Pookie, around 2002.
The homeless man whose dismembered legs were found near the train station grew up in the old Elm Haven high-rise projects and, according to police, was related to the family who lost three lives in an infamous Fair Haven arson.
As investigators continued combing clues to who would have killed the man, 54-year-old Ray Roberson, initial pieces of his life emerged in interviews Tuesday.
Based on state-analyzed DNA, police Monday identified Roberson as the man whose severed legs were discovered on the morning of July 15. The legs, with socks on the feet, had been nestled beneath brush on the State Street side of a fence separating an overgrown embankment about 30 feet from the railroad tricks. Police found a pair of dismembered arms nearby later that day; no word yet on whether those were Roberson’s too.
Police said Roberson was related to 2nd grader Quayshawn Roberson, Quayshawn’s mother, Wanda Roberson, and another family member who perished in a March 9, 2011, arson at 48 – 50 Wolcott St., a fire set as part of a drug dispute.
“That was my best friend,” Montie Harrell said of Roberson Tuesday. “I got to bury my nephew tomorrow,” and now he’s wrestling with Roberson’s death.
Harrell recalled Roberson a “funny, smooth. Ladies’ man; very cool.”
Harrell said he and Roberson were close growing up in the since-razed Elm Haven high-rises, Harrell on the eighth floor of 185 Ashmun St., Roberson, he recalled, on the fourth floor of 265 Ashmun. He said they hung out every day for years, and as the years wore on, every few weeks or so. Harrell found work as a cook at Quinnipiac University; Ray would scrape together painting and sheetrocking gigs. The pair liked to hang out and “drink, drink, drink, smoke a little weed every now and then,” Harrell said.
He said he last saw Roberson three weeks ago. “We were in Goffe Street Park, me, Ray, his brother Michael, sitting around, laughing joking.” He hadn’t seen Ray since then. He also, he said, didn’t know that Ray was homeless.
Rhonda Ford knew well that Ray was homeless; he was her cousin, she said. Ray sometimes slept at her and her husband’s home, Ford said. Other times they would drop him off at the Green. They knew he slept in an underpass nearby, but he preferred not to be dropped there.
She, too, said she last saw Roberson three or four weeks ago. “My husband dropped him off three, four weeks ago and gave him $5.” No word since.
She said Roberson had a gig washing windows at a Blake Street gas station/convenience store. Her husband, who has a side painting business, also gave Roberson work sometimes, she said.
Roberson had been expected in court on June 17, but didn’t show up, according to police spokesman Officer David Hartman. Roberson has been in and out of court and jail at least six times since 2006 for a disorderly conduct, breach of peace, and violation of protective orders, according to the state judicial database.
Ford and friends of Roberson from the homeless community described him Tuesday as warm and friendly.
“He was very outgoing, a real good person. He never bothered anybody. Unfortunately, he was on the street; it happens to a lot of us,” said Melanie Stearne.
Evelyn Abele said she often spoke with Roberson at a bus stop downtown. “He was just trying to clean himself up,” said Abele, who described herself as a recovering addict. (She said she has been 18 months clean of narcotics, four months from alcohol, and has reunited with her daughter.) “He always looked at the good part of things. He told me he had family; he didn’t talk to them at the time.”
An earlier version of this story follows:
Legs Belonged To Homeless Man; Dogs Returning
NHPD
The state police cadaver dogs are expected to return to the State Street train tracks Tuesday as the search widens for clues to the apparent dismembering of the body of a 54-year-old homeless man.
Police Monday identified the victim as Ray Roberson (pictured), a homeless man last reported seen alive on May 20.
Police found the victim’s severed legs on the morning of July 15. The legs, with socks on the feet, were nestled beneath brush on the State Street side of a fence separating an overgrown embankment 30 feet about the railroad tricks.
The legs were gathered by the state chief medical examiner’s office, which took DNA samples from the flesh. Then the state Department of Emergency Services & Public Protection’s Division of Scientific Services made a match to Roberson in a DNA database.
So far no match has been reported for a pair of arms found on the evening of July 15 on the other side of the State Street Station, near Chapel and Union Streets.
Homicide Detective Bertram Ettienne is leading the investigation into Roberson’s death.
Roberson had been expected in court on June 17, but didn’t show up, according to police spokesman Officer David Hartman. Roberson has been in and out of court and jail at least six times since 2006 for a disorderly conduct, breach of peace, and violation of protective order charges, according to the state judicial database.
At a Monday afternoon press conference at 1 Union Ave., Hartman said state police cadaver dogs will return to the train tracks, probably on Tuesday, to resume the grisly hunt for more body parts. The dogs had visited the tracks after the original discovery of the arms and legs.
Based on information obtained by detectives, police believe that Roberson spent time in a part of town south of the spots where the limbs were deposited. The dogs will work their way south from those spots when they resume the search.
“When people search, especially in the summer months when foliage is thicker, it’s very difficult, because it’s all visual. When you get cadaver dogs in there, it’s much quicker. They can cover more ground,” Hartman said.
Hartman said police believe the legs and the arms belong to the same victim, but are waiting on the physical evidence to be sure.
“This seems to be something quite personal. It doesn’t seem to be a random crime gone wrong,” he said.
Paul Bass Photo
Cops at the scene of the legs discovery.
The department asks anyone with information about the case or Roberson to call detectives at 203 – 946-6304.
Last week, on Wednesday night, investigators from the fire department and the Amtrak police returned to the scene of the discovery after a citizen reported a foul smell. It turned out to be sewage.