Elderly Man Beaten To Death By Homeless Man He Helped

Chicago Sun-Times:

When World War II veteran Stanley Letkiewicz invited a beggar he'd befriended outside his local Aldi to live with him last year, he hoped for a little companionship and help around the house.

But the beggar returned the 94-year-old's kindness with two vicious beatings that ultimately claimed his life, police said

Read the whole story: Chicago Sun-Times

Comments

[HankyJoe]

10:29 AM on 11/28/2010

This is sad, poor Stanley. Reading stories similar to this one and personal experience of either giving food or money to the homeless has led me to stop. Unfortunately many homeless suffer from violent backrounds or mental illness. It is better to donate to charities including the Greater Chicago Food Depository.

[Kevin Barbieux]

10:50 AM on 11/28/2010

Actually no, it's not better to donate to "charities." Homeless people need to reconnect with the real world, if they are ever going to leave homelessness. Don't condemn the homeless to a life of seclusion and exclusion. Just pay attention to what you are doing. When you buy a new house, find a new family doctor, make a serious financial investment, you take the time to learn as much about what you're getting into as possible, you take the time, study the subject, and make sound judgement. There's no reason why people cannot and should not do the same with assisting the homeless back into a better life.

[Kevin Barbieux]

10:10 AM on 11/28/2010

At what point does a person become "not homeless?" According to the article, this beggar had been living with the elderly man for over a year. To my mind, that makes him just a room mate, and not a homeless person. On average, homelessness lasts only 3 to 4 months. Having once been homeless, should a person be stuck with that moniker the rest of his life? There are more people who beat and kill others, who have never been homeless, than those who have been homeless. This is a sad crime, but lets not create more prejudices against the poor and homeless than already exist.

[Acert]

12:15 AM on 11/29/2010

He became homeless after he was evicted.

[thepoliticalcat]

10:14 AM on 11/27/2010

Awful. Simply awful. The problem is, when your parents get into their 80s, they spend about as much time listening to you as you spent listening to them when you were in your teens. My mother did something very similar in her old age. I had to put her in a nursing home so she would stop inviting total strangers into the house. Deity only knows how much they ripped her off for. I'm just grateful she never got hurt.

[VanTroi]

04:32 AM on 11/27/2010

How awful and sad

[crookedcountyillinois]

01:22 PM on 11/26/2010

This is why I don't invite homeless people into my home. The idea of helping someone is a nice thought, but it's not worth being beaten to death; or worse...

[SiberianRat]

12:39 PM on 11/26/2010

Good for you, Stanley. You went out the better man for trying to help someone.

[thepoliticalcat]

10:15 AM on 11/27/2010

Yes, he did. But I'd rather have Stanley alive and well and his tormentor gone to a more suitable -- and decidedly warmer -- location.

[longfeltwant]

11:24 AM on 11/26/2010

I guess erratic and violent behavior is part or all of the reason the guy is homeless. I assume there is some mental illness behind both the homelessness and the violence. Sad for both parties, for different reasons.

[corwin]

02:24 PM on 11/26/2010

Please tell me you're a Democrat.

[thepoliticalcat]

10:15 AM on 11/27/2010

Absolutely. Mentally healthy people don't attack those who are trying to help them.

[Kevin Barbieux]

10:32 AM on 11/28/2010

There are more mentally ill people with homes than without.

[Venus Louviere]

11:09 AM on 11/26/2010

No Good deed goes............