85-Year-Old Alabama Man Found Burned To Death, Suspect Seen Running Away With Gas Can
August 17, 2016
The Birmingham Police are investigating a homicide that occurred Wednesday morning in the 2300 block of 33rd Avenue North.
Early Wednesday morning, Birmingham Police officers responded to the location on a report of a person on fire. Arriving officers found the victim, described as an 85-year-old white male, lying on the ground in the backyard. His body was severely burned. He was pronounced dead on the scene by Birmingham Fire and Rescue.
The victim was identified as Gene Emory Dacus.
Witnesses on the scene reported seeing a fire in the backyard and also reported seeing a black male running down the alley with a red gas jug. The witnesses also followed the suspect and notified the police of his location. The suspect was located a short distance away and taken into custody.
Preliminary investigation revealed there was an encounter between the suspect and the victim at the location. The victim was later doused with gasoline and set on fire.
“This homicide shocks the conscience of any reasonable person. Our hearts are hurting for the victim, his family and our community. The suspect actually confessed to this crime but we have not received any logical justification to explain what happened,” says Chief Roper.
Teen Charged With Capital Murder After Lighting Elderly Veteran On Fire
August 18, 2016
A teenager has been charged with capital murder after dousing his elderly neighbor in gasoline and lighting him on fire.
Thomas Sims, 18, was already awaiting trial in connection with an armed car jacking early this year, according to
al.com. Sims is now charged with the murder of 85-year-old Gene Emory Dacus.
Authorities report the capital murder charge stems from the theft of Dacus’s truck, and detectives are searching for another suspect as well.
Officers responded to the 2300 block of 33rd Avenue North on Wednesday to investigate a person on fire. Officers found the victim, who is described as an 85-year-old white man, lying on the ground in the backyard of the listed location. He suffered severe burns, and was pronounced dead on the scene by Birmingham Fire and Rescue.
Witnesses reported seeing a fire in the backyard, and also seeing a black male fleeing the scene with a red gas jug. They followed Sims and notified the police of his location, so he was located a short distance away and taken into police custody.
'Somebody Burned Up Mr. Gene' -- Community Struggles With Murder Of Beloved War Veteran
August 18, 2016
An 85-year-old Korean War veteran found burned to death in the back yard of his North Birmingham home spent his life taking care of others, friends and family said.
Gene Emory Dacus, known affectionately by his neighbors as "Mr. Gene," served his country in the U.S. Army, served his family by loving them, teaching them and taking care of them, and served his neighbors by cutting their grass, picking up trash and being their friend. "He was the most kindhearted gentleman you ever met,'' said Gary Dacus, one of the victim's three sons. " He never met a stranger, and he helped anybody he could."
A teen suspect is in custody, and formal charges are expected on Thursday.
Birmingham police were called to Dacus' home Wednesday morning around 12:30 a.m. after receiving calls about a person on fire. When they arrived on the scene, they found the elderly man burned in the back of his home. He was pronounced dead on the scene
Birmingham police spokesman Lt. Sean Edwards said witnesses told police they saw a fire in the yard before seeing a man running down a nearby alley with a red gasoline jug. Police arrested that man a short distance from the crime scene.
Edwards said that the preliminary investigation shows the suspect and the victim had an argument, before the victim was doused with gasoline and set on fire.
"This homicide shocks the conscience of any reasonable person. Our hearts are hurting for the victim, his family and our community,'' said Birmingham police Chief A.C. Roper. "The suspect actually confessed to this crime but we have not received any logical justification to explain what happened."
Neighbor Helen McComb said she was at her nearby home late Tuesday night when she heard a commotion outside and went on her front porch to investigate. "I could see something burning,'' she said. "Then a guy ran out yelling somebody had burned up Mr. Gene."
McComb said she ran to the crime scene and saw Dacus. "I lost it," she said. "He's been here forever. People here loved Mr. Gene."
Friends and neighbors this afternoon were taking Dacus' death hard. Todd Ahmed said Dacus was one of the first people he met when he moved here from Sudan and said he is devastated by the slaying.
"I have a lot of friends but none like him,'' Ahmed said. "I'm really shocked. He was nice, nice, nice. He always told me if I needed help to come to him."
Even at 85, Dacus made it his priority to tidy the neighborhood. He cut his neighbors' grass, and they watched out for him. "He was very sweet to all of the children,'' McComb said. "He kept our neighborhood clean."
Dacus' car was stolen about three weeks ago. Neighbors said he then became worried about his truck also getting stolen so they advised him to pull it into his yard and close to his house, which he did.
That truck, however, disappeared about the same time he was killed. Police are now searching for his 1999 Dodge Ram pickup. It is white with a blue hood.
Gary Dacus said his father was a Georgia native who was in the U.S. Army and served in the Korean War. After his discharge, Dacus became an airplane mechanic, first for Drummond Aircraft and then Lockheed Martin. He and his wife, Earnestine, together raised three sons. After all of his children got out school, Dacus and his wife moved to Birmingham to care for his grandparents in their family home – that was in the 1950s.
Eventually his grandparents died, but he and his wife and their disabled son, who is now 60, stayed in the 33rd Avenue North home. Earnestine Dacus died in 2005, but her grieving husband refused to move away. Gary Dacus said he worried about his aging father. "I did try to get him to move,'' he said. "I had a home set up for him and ready for him to move in but he wouldn't do it."
He said his parents were born during the Depression, and lived a modest life. What they may have lacked in education or money, they more than made up for in love and compassion. "He taught me good rules and I have a lot of my father in me,'' he said. "I'm a successful person for that."
Gary Dacus said he received the heartbreaking news about his father's death early today and immediately drove to Birmingham. "I got the call, and I just broke down,'' he said.
He said the suspect hit his father in the head, left the scene and then returned and set him on fire to try to conceal the crime. "The only thing I can hope to God for is that he was dead before he was burned,'' the emotional son said. "You expect your parents to die before you, but to die a horrendous death like that is unimaginable."
Gary Dacus is now making funeral arrangements for his father, who will be buried in Gardendale alongside his wife. The son is also making plans to take custody of his disabled brother.
The suspect, Gary Dacus said, "should never be able to walk the face of the earth again." "My father's death is a tragic loss,'' he said. "The community lost one of its pillars."
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