He was 58 years old. A Dominican native, a father working several jobs, one of which was delivering pizzas at night in Hyde Park, an urban suburb of Boston.
He was stabbed viciously for 100 dollars, his car, and his pizza. He’d been lured to the address, late at night, actually an empty apartment, and that was the end of Mr. Nova’s life.
The police have arrested three suspects, two teenagers and one 20 year old man. They have names that once were written on baptismal records.
©Pat Coakley 2010
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Wow, a powerful image to match a tragic and senseless act. The combination of the hand, the newsprint and the abstract yellow-red blood-like stains in the upper right are just perfect. There is narrative here (and not just in the newsprint), emotion and fearful beauty.
Don, I love your comments. This image began with one IPHONE photo of a trash bin that had the rusted almost neon colored yellow-red. There is narrative in everything I see these days…or so it seems.
Oh Pat. How sad. I just don’t understand these life takers. Where oh where do they learn this? Blood on newsprint image =powerful.
This is just one of many horrendous every day crimes, I guess. But, this just seemed to be a new low for humanity.
horrible, heartbreaking tragic story. the murderers so young. the man they killed so innocent. the image really says it all, and the note at the end…a reminder that once we were all innocent babes. i have such mixed emotions, outrage and sorrow, anger and…yes, stolid acceptance. demons and angels, all part of this world. sigh.
If I hadn’t read your text, I’d know that perhaps I shouldn’t have.
As Tipota has said ” demons and angels are all part of this world”.
And where, in between baptismal records and felony rap sheets does it become this gruesome stack of statistics?
You’ve captured so dramatically the horror and the rage of injustice that sadly, is not newly minted.
There’s a lyric in a beautiful song by Ziggy Marley called Dragonfly, where he asks the question, ” What kind of creature is man ?”.
The answer would require more text than I could type in forever.
I’m thinking of this mans’ wife, imploring him to be careful when he goes out to deliver his pizza with everything.
The deeper worry is the ever younger ages of boys committing felonious crimes.
Amen to all you add to this image. What kind of creature is man? not the least of it and if I’d known the line I might have incorporated it. Exactly. You are horrified but then you question the whole wider implications.
Hi Pat,
I have stopped watching the news and my mood has improved.
I’ve already limited my diet of news, Mary. I can’t pull the blinds on everything, though. As long as I spend swathes of time at my computer, the news leaks in.
Such a strong image and such a tragic story.
That poor Dominican guy. It’s so heartbreakingly senseless.
All I can say about such things is……..
testosterone and youthful stupidity is such a dangerous mix.
No wonder the armed forces (all around the world) find such types so useful to do their dirty work.
Ahoy, matie! This is the worst damn story. The worst. It appears that a developmentally delayed girl was used as part of the ruse to get him in the house. Honestly, sometimes it’s not the hundreds, thousands dead that tip me over…but, just one. Why is that? Anyway, have missed you! Have checked your blog and wondered if you had gone traveling again!
Unfortunately no society is safe from such things. We’ve had simmilar horrific and senseless things also happen here in Oz.
I once had a conversation with a lawyer who was involved in defending some notorious cases of sexual assault and murder of very young girls. I asked her what the perpetrators had in common. She replied that they were all way below average in intelligence.
Apparently, the whole idea of “criminal genius” is just a fictional construct. According to the lawyer I was talking to, most violent criminals are cretins. The extremely sad thing is that they quite affect people who are much more valuable to society than themselves.
Your visual approach has taken such a bewildering turn. I love it!
a beautiful tribute to a man taken with horrifying violence.
thank you for creating space to honor him.