# A very odd and tragic story - **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 7, 2006, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-odd-and-tragic-story/371813 "2006-09-07T18:24:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-odd-and-tragic-story/371813/1 "2006-09-07T18:24:52Z")
You could _not_ make this up. [Investigation of son’s murder consumes life of father](http://www.delmarvanow.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060907/NEWS03/60907004) ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Cymbeline](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_cymbeline/32/9244_2.png) [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-odd-and-tragic-story/371813/2 "2006-09-07T22:52:17Z")
[QUOTE=astro] You could _not_ make this up. [Investigation of son’s murder consumes life of father](http://www.delmarvanow.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060907/NEWS03/60907004) [/QUOTE] Um, that article was so poorly written that I could hardly get through the whole thing and really didn’t understand the story. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-odd-and-tragic-story/371813/3 "2006-09-07T23:31:16Z")
Yeah, it’s like somebody has cut the original article up into paragraphs and rearranged them in random order. Very confusing. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-odd-and-tragic-story/371813/4 "2006-09-08T00:04:27Z")
[QUOTE=nyctea scandiaca] Um, that article was so poorly written that I could hardly get through the whole thing and really didn’t understand the story. [/QUOTE] I couldn’t get past “Onancock.” Heh heh heh. “Onancock.” _wipes away tears_ _(of laughter)_ ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-odd-and-tragic-story/371813/5 "2006-09-08T00:05:44Z")
As far as I can tell: A kid working at a store as well as one of the co-owners is killed in a robbery. The evidence is overwhelming that this one career criminal was the robber. He pleads guilty and is sentenced to a very long jail term. Later he says that he is really innocent. The murdered kid’s father believes the killer and spends all of his free time trying to find the “real killer.” After some number of years he finds a man who he thinks knows the truth. The father plans to find this man and torture the information out of him. The police catch the father before this can happen with the torture instruments in the car. Before sentencing he is allowed to be free on bail as long as he promises to stay in his house with an electronic ankle monitor. It is thought that he will be sentenced to about a year in jail. The father takes off the ankle monitor and leaves his house to presumably commit some kind of mayhem. He gets caught and then since he did that gets the maximum sentence which is 30 years in jail. So a bunch of years later, he dies in jail. The End. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-odd-and-tragic-story/371813/6 "2006-09-08T00:06:45Z")
An element of a tragedy is that a good man makes the wrong choices. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-odd-and-tragic-story/371813/7 "2006-09-08T00:43:43Z")
"Podelco stayed in touch with Stone during his 13-year stay in prison and was the only speaker at Stone’s funeral. Stone’s life was about to turn upside down that summer. " Which summer? The summer of Stone’s funeral? Yeah, I guess that would turn his life upside down, what with him dying and all. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-odd-and-tragic-story/371813/8 "2006-09-08T04:21:25Z")
Pretty much what hajario said. The father went kinda-sorta nuts after his son’s death and started down a paranoid and pointless path of destruction for himself after a productive and otherwise exemplary life. ---
**Author:** ![bbs2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@bbs2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbs2k)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-odd-and-tragic-story/371813/9 "2006-09-08T07:43:19Z")
I get it, but I’m so happy that I was not the only one who had trouble reading it. I felt like I was reverting back into illiteracy. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-odd-and-tragic-story/371813/10 "2006-09-08T13:13:40Z")
Ha ha ha ha ha ha! _Onancock!_ _wheeze_ ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-odd-and-tragic-story/371813/11 "2006-09-08T14:21:51Z")
I here in that community everyone drives a Prius. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-odd-and-tragic-story/371813/12 "2006-09-08T16:32:02Z")
[QUOTE=Usram] "Podelco stayed in touch with Stone during his 13-year stay in prison and was the only speaker at Stone’s funeral. Stone’s life was about to turn upside down that summer. " Which summer? The summer of Stone’s funeral? Yeah, I guess that would turn his life upside down, what with him dying and all. [/QUOTE] The first Stone in the first sentence is the father. The second is the son. The Stone mentioned in the second sentence is the father again. Perhaps it’s appropriate that a tragic story should feature tragically bad writing. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-odd-and-tragic-story/371813/13 "2006-09-09T03:41:18Z")
[QUOTE=neutron star] The first Stone in the first sentence is the father. The second is the son. The Stone mentioned in the second sentence is the father again. [/QUOTE] Nope, every instance of “Stone” in those two sentences refers to the senior Stone. It’s understandable that you’re confused, though. What a mess. _Onancock! Onan! Cock!_ ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-odd-and-tragic-story/371813/14 "2006-09-09T04:10:15Z")
> [@from the second paragraph](#): > > …extremely helpful to the senior citizens he helped… …and that’s where I stopped reading. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2006, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-odd-and-tragic-story/371813/15 "2006-09-12T02:43:10Z")
[QUOTE=Larry Mudd] Nope, every instance of “Stone” in those two sentences refers to the senior Stone. [/QUOTE] Damn. You’re right. I thought that Stone was the only speaker at Stone’s funeral, but it was actually Podelco. God, what a horribly written article! Sounds like somebody went to Hollywood Upstairs Journalism School! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2006, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-odd-and-tragic-story/371813/16 "2006-09-12T02:48:59Z")
Oh, and I have no idea how those two exclamation marks appeared at the top of my post. I could blame the alcohol or I could blame the board’s software. I think I’ll go with the latter.