Four teens charged with murder in beating death of homeless man

Kim Smith

Tuesday, May 8, 2001 | 10:40 a.m.

Four teenage boys suspected of beating a homeless man to death with their fists, feet and a shopping cart will be tried for murder.

Justice of the Peace James Bixler ruled Monday that there is enough evidence to try Rocky Arbaugh, 17, Anthony Quickbear, 18, Donald Jones Jr., 16, and Ed Hayes, 17, with the April 1 death of Russell Frasher, 50.

Bixler made his decision after listening to Metro Detective Ken Hardy read excerpts from each of the teenagers' voluntary statements to police.

Although they tried to downplay the extent of their individual actions, each of the teens confessed they attacked Frasher while he was sleeping in a vacant field near Martin Luther King Boulevard and Alta Drive.

They also told police they were responsible for putting another homeless man in the hospital earlier in the day.

In each case, the boys said the men were either attacked because they had thrown rocks at them or because they had refused to buy them beer.

Arbaugh told police that he and the other teens were drunk when they were walking through the field early on the morning of April 1. As they were walking, Arbaugh said Hayes got an idea.

"He's like 'Remember that guy that was throwing rocks at us earlier?" He's like "Let's get that fool,' " Arbaugh said. "And I was like 'OK.' I mean, I wasn't gonna say no."

Seconds later, Arbaugh said Hayes or Jones or both threw the first punches and then he and Quickbear joined in.

Toward the end of the incident, Arbaugh said he and Quickbear pushed a shopping cart onto Frasher, and he began jumping on the cart using a wall to maintain his balance.

Arbaugh said they left the cart on top of Frasher and went to an apartment complex basketball court where they attempted to wash Frasher's blood off of them.

The four of them agreed to "lay low" for awhile, Arbaugh said.

"But I mean, I knew it was gonna catch up with this. I had a feeling," Arbaugh said.

In Quickbear's initial story, Frasher threw a rock and swung a big stick at them, prompting the fight. He then later confesses that Frasher did neither.

Quickbear denied it was a gang initiation.

"It was all just a bunch of fun, wasn't it?" Detective Roy Chandler asked.

"At the moment," Quickbear said.

Dr. Gary Telgenhoff said Frasher's skull fractures were so bad he could see brain matter before he began the autopsy. Frasher also suffered multiple facial fractures, broken ribs and a torn liver.

Some of Frasher's injuries had re-opened sutures that had been placed in his head just days before following another beating, Telgenhoff said.

Although Frasher had a .40 blood alcohol level, that had nothing to do with his death, Telgenhoff said.

Bixler also heard two 911 calls from a woman whose apartment overlooks the murder scene.

On the tapes, which lasted at least six minutes total, Simone Simpson repeatedly gave the location of the fight and described what she was hearing.

"I initially heard screaming and yelling," Simpson said Monday. "It didn't sound normal, it sounded angry. I thought someone was killing someone."

Simpson said she was so frightened, she turned off her lights so the attackers couldn't see her as she watched the incident.

"I was scared. I was very scared and very frightened," Simpson said. "I had never seen evil like that before."

Despite Simpson's directions, the police and medical personal never found Frasher.

Instead, Frasher was found eight hours later after friends became concerned when he didn't show up at a local pub, where he worked, and they began looking for him.

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