| Notes |
- North Tonawanda NY Evening News - 11/28/1945
NT Man, 52, Shot
To Death in'Room,
Police Say 'Suicide'
In what police believe to be a
suicide case, the gun-shot punctured
body of Michael Bodie, 52,
was found last night in his room
at 60 Webster street, North Tonawanda,
by a roomer, James Eroes,
who investigated after he had not
seen Bodie since Monday.
Police state that Bodie probably
committed suicide late Monday
evening. Another roomer stated
be remembers hearing what could
have been a muffled shot about
8 p. m. Monday, but which at the
time he thought was the backfire
Df an auto exhaust.
According to Patrolman Roy
Rickaxd, who was ditpatched to
the scene of the crime, Bodie shot
and killed himself by "lying on
the floor of his room, holding the
barrel of a 16-gauge shotgun to
his chest and tripping the trigger
with a yard-long forked stick."
Coroner Henry C Lapp returned
a verdict of suicide upon investigation
at the scene of the
death.
North Tonawanda police, who
knew nothing more than the meagre
facts concerning the case this
morning, had not conducted the
usual preliminary investigation
which is routine in a case where
a life is taken. Though no police
had been assigned to investigate
this morning, (they reported themselves
satisfied with the original
report), they had not determined
any possible motive for the suicide.
The NEWS learned this morning
that Bodie had complained recently
of "being ill.' Buffalo Bolt
company reports that the victim
had been employed there as a
laborer for two years and had
"quit without notice two months
ago."
Bodie is survived by his father,
Ma the w; his wife, Veronica, 71
Douglas street, Tonawanda; two
sons, Sidney, 15, and Sgt. Joseph
Bodie with the Army in Japan;
and three daughters, Mrs. Guy
Bernasconi, Mrs. George Goff
and Ruth Bodi, 14. Born in Hungary,
August 31, 1893, Bodie re
sided in Tonawanda for 20 years.
Last evening Simu A. Muresan,
who operates a tavern at 60
Webster street and owns the building
where Bodi had been living
for the past year, asked another
roomer, Eroes, if he had "seen
Mike today." Eroes had not and
west to Bodies room to visit
his friend.
Eroes found Bodie dead, laying
on his back, with his hand over
his blood-stained shirt The shotgun
was laying beneath the victim's
left leg. ,
Funeral rites will be conducted
at the Hilliard Funeral Home, 147
Delaware street, Friday afternoon
at 3:30 o'clock, with Rev. Andrew
Babinski officiating.
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1893 - 1945 (52 years)