Some members of the family apparently were having a hard time dealing with the sudden death of their loved one, and either could not or would not accept the medical examiner's finding.
Mark Belling, in his usual manner, went of on the air, in the paper, and on the Internet, joining in the conspiracy theory, making some wild accusations, including this:
The story gets even more suspicious. Mainland, the Kenosha medical examiner, recently quit her job to take a position in Tampa, Fla. Mays’ body was cremated shortly after the dubious autopsy was concluded. Mays’ widow, Carrie, member of a prominent local family, is fighting efforts by her husband’s family to reopen the case. Numerous sources tell me their marriage was shaky the last few months.
[...]
Carrie Mays is the daughter of Frank T. Crivello, a prominent former Milwaukee County judge. The Crivellos, many of whom I know personally, are a great family that know a lot of people. Several are close with Milwaukee County Assistant District Attorney Mark Williams. His wife happens to be Ozaukee County District Attorney Sandy Williams. Did their desire to support Carrie Mays lead to a less than thorough investigation? Or worse, did their friendship lead them to cover up a potential homicide?
The case is so polluted by either incompetence or misconduct that it is imperative than an outside agency reopen it and conduct a proper investigation. The cremation of Brad Mays complicates things but certainly should not stop a real investigation. The state Department of Justice needs to take the case from Mequon police and Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen needs to take prosecution of it away from Sandy Williams.
Crack reporter, and friend of Whallah!, Michael Horne of MilwaukeeWorld, looked into the story and found several flaws with Belling's accusations and assumptions. One flaw is Belling's assumption on who the widow is related to. Another is that the investigation was not done thoroughly.
Belling's wild claims have already caused pain to the family of the deceased. From Mr. Horne's post:
One of the Mays children had already been the subject of hurtful comments from other children at school, outraging the mother who is trying to get on with her life and to prepare her daughters for their futures without their father. These are the true "Blood Relatives" of Bradley Mays.
And just like when Belling made the comment using a derogatory racial slur, he has gotten himself and his employer in trouble. Again, from Mr. Horne's post on this story:
The continuing harassment led Carrie Mays to contact Attorney Steve Kravit this week. Kravit today filed a demand for retraction with GM Today for the Belling articles, which he said were false and libelous, and put Carrie Mays in a false light. You can read the document here, including an enlightening and damning letter from a doctor to Belling as we await the response from the publisher.
It amazes me that not only is the radio station and the newspaper lack so much integrity that they keep this fool on board, but that there are people that really do listen to this guy, and believes what he says to boot.
Perhaps you should actually listen to Belling. Ok, I know, you won't. But having listened to Belling, he makes a compelling case that something is amiss in Mequon
ReplyDeleteAnd if you read Mr. Horne's article, you would have realized that Belling's "compelling case" is a bunch of hooey. Mr. Horne proves Belling wrong at every turn.
ReplyDeletecapper, Michael Horne gets it wrong in Horne's very first sentence. If Horne actually listen to Belling's show, Belling has not accused anyone of doing anything illegal, but he is asking questions, especially about the autopsy. He questions their competence. The autopsy, according to Belling and some experts in the field, seem to dismiss the medicical examiners opinion.
ReplyDeleteHorne wrote an article but it really didn't say much. It used a lot of words but most of it of the article was irrelevent. Belling has more of a case for his side than Horne makes a case against Belling.
Having said that, I know Belling's article and talking about it on the radio has to be hard and hurtful on the family. Did he go over the line. I don't know. I'm willing to cut some slack to Belling because he hardly ever brings things up that are so personal in nature about someone who really isn't that well known outside of their family and some in the business community and his neighborhood.
Having said all of that, I just think this is a case of a bothched autopsy. Sometimes people die for no reason. I don't anything criminal went on.
ReplyDeleteDear Dan --
ReplyDeleteWhat the hell do you mean I got it wrong in the very first sentence? I defy you to show me one unsubstantiated item in my account. You want to cut Belling slack for violating the privacy of a woman and her children, and accusing her of murder because he usually only does that to well-known people?
Nonsense through and through.
Nonsense through and through.
ReplyDeleteNot the first time from Danny-boy and Belling. Also, notice Dan left the word "think" out of the last sentence of his last comment. Thinking is something he often fails to employ.
I know that if I was the widow, I would want the investigation reopened and the autopsy findings reviewed to prove I had nothing to do with his death. What would I have to lose.....nothing, just prove everyone wrong. She has a right to privacy, but his family also has right to a correct cause of death. He was a very healthy man.
ReplyDeleteMichael: Belling asserts the following:
ReplyDelete1. The autopsy was very flawed. What the autopsy found and what is reality were 2 different things. There is no way Mays could have died because of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Who witnessed the autopsy is completely irrelevent, unless they are pathologists or forensic MD's. Your article does not mention the medical experts who disagree with the autopsy reults and who reviewed the case Why? Maybe it would destroy the content of your article, which the sole basis of is article is to rip Belling?
2. Since the autopsy is flawed, why not reopen the case? Apparently, the organs, data and audio and possible video recordings are still available.
3. Your article rips on the brother. So what? Again, completely irrelevent as to what he does.
4. An attorney writes a cease and desist letter. Again, so what? the attorney was paid by May's widow. What else is he supposed to do? Sit down and do nothing? I can hire an attorney to write you a cease and desist letter to keep you from writing. Will it have any effect? Of course not. It does not mean anything.
5. You mention that the brother, because he is not practicing at a hospital, means he is not a praticing physician. Again, false. I can think of many ways a doctor can practice medicine and not have privilidges at a hospital. Start with a researcher.
6. You say Belling is violating the widow's privacy. Show me the statue that says this.
7.You say there is "no evidence for any of his conspiratorial allegations." I beg to differ. However, as I stated in my previous post, I think this is a case of a bothched autopsy. If so, why not recheck the ME's work?
8. Belling has shown that there was wrong doing in the autopsy. His relatives are the ones making suggestions of criminal wrong doing. Belling has stated many times on his show that he does not know what happened. Based on the actions of the city officials (cops, DA,Cororner) it does seem there is something wrong here. But again, I think it is a botched autopsy.
9. Most of your article brings up facts that are irrelevent to the case. From name dropping to cease and desist letters that have no meaning. Your sole purpose of the article was to show that Belling is making a mistake. You failed to prove it by leaving important information, making false statements and using irrelevent information. So, in your kind words your article is "Nonsense through and through."
Michael, one final comment. You said the kids were orphaned? You mean their mom died as well because the definition of an orphan is a child or children losing both of their parents.
ReplyDeleteNothing like a little false hypebole.
Regardless of who says what - there is a lot more going on in this case than most of you know. I have some personal reasons for thinking there was criminal activity - and with that said, people should not worry about who says what - but worry that a good investigation is done, b/c if there was criminal activity, there are three girls who could be at harm.
ReplyDeleteI feel horrible that the girls are getting teased at school - but if a correct investigation was done in the first place - this may all have been prevented.
And today the Milwaukee Medical Examiner agreed with the original findings. And his counterpart in Ozaukee says he'll release the samples to the brother if a court orders it. So much for "botched autopsy" and "compelling case that something is amiss in Mequon".
ReplyDelete