Police mostly mum on decapitation

[jjenisis]

Police mostly mum on decapitation

By BRENDEN SAGER
Cox News Service
Tuesday, August 31, 2004


ATLANTA — Francis Daniel Brohm loved to work on cars, and that passion became his profession.

"He just always wanted to be a mechanic," said his father, Dan Brohm.

Francis Brohm was a hard worker. He started as a porter at Marietta Jeep in Marietta, Ga., where he ran errands before he was promoted to the mechanic's apprentice program.

When he wasn't working, he also relished his role as a social director of sorts, said Elizabeth Brohm, his younger sister. He was the one, she said, who made the calls to recruit friends for a night out.

Early Sunday morning, after spending a night with one of his friends watching a NASCAR race and visiting a bar in Marietta, Brohm was decapitated when he leaned out of the passenger side of his friend's pickup truck and struck the support wire of a telephone pole, police say.

Brohm's friend, John Kemper Hutcherson, drove 12 miles to his house and went to sleep, leaving his pickup truck parked overnight in his driveway with the body of his friend hanging out the passenger window, Cobb County police say.

A neighbor walking with his 1-year-old daughter saw Brohm's body about 8 a.m. Sunday and called police, who later found the severed head at the accident site.

Hutcherson, 21, of Marietta remains in jail on $100,000 bond. He is charged with first-degree vehicular homicide and driving under the influence of alcohol in the death of his 23-year-old friend, who also lived in Marietta.

Cobb police released scant evidence on the case Monday. They would not say where the men watched the auto race and were still investigating what occurred at Runaround Sue's, the bar the two left Sunday morning.

They also would not cite any reason why Brohm was hanging out the passenger window when he struck the wire. The friends were about a half-mile from Runaround Sue's, police said, when Hutcherson's pickup truck ran off Canton Road, traveled about 10 feet and hit the support wire.

The only damage to the vehicle was to the mirror on the passenger side. Hutcherson was not injured in the crash, police said, though he appeared in court Monday with a large shaved spot on an otherwise full head of hair.

"There is no injury to his head," said Cobb police Cpl. Brody Staud. "As to why his head was shaved, that I cannot tell you."

Staud said blood-alcohol evidence is routinely taken in serious traffic accidents, though the results might not be available for weeks.

Brohm's father said he feels no animosity toward Hutcherson or his family. "It is just a bad situation, and we have to move on," Dan Brohm said.

Hutcherson's family would not comment on the case. A woman who answered the telephone at the family's home hung up Monday. Family members did not answer the door or respond to written requests for interviews.

On Monday morning, Cobb police detectives were at Runaround Sue's, waiting to talk to owner Dave Ulmer.

The bar's large parking lot fills up quickly on weekend nights, neighbors said Monday, and traffic spills over into other businesses' property.

Ulmer said Sunday that he did not believe either of the men were served alcohol at his establishment Saturday night. Cobb police would not comment on their investigation at the bar.

Marietta police said they have had few calls to monitor the bar or respond to incidents there.

A manager at a neighboring store, Eilzabeth's Feed and Seed, said she feels confident that Ulmer takes precautions to manage drunkenness.

"I used to work there, and I can tell you they're all about checking you out," said Keely Holcombe.

Besides having bouncers monitoring the door and interior, she said, Ulmer has a courtesy van to take intoxicated patrons home.

"That's why, when I heard about this, it was a real surprise."


Brenden Sager writes for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Journal-Constitution writers Gary Dorsey, Mike Morris and Clint Williams contributed to this article.

[jjenisis]

Um yeah ....dude drove on home with his buddies headless body in the passenger seat and went to bed.... um... hullo....

[QueenOfTheFlock]

That is absolutely fucking insane. Oh my goodness.

[iblis]

It doesn't seem all that odd to me. He was in all probability in a state of serious shock. He more than likely wanted to go to bed and pretend it never happened.