Homeless homicide victim was trying to get off streets, ex-wife says
The disabled homeless man who was found Tuesday slain off Riverside Drive and Congress Avenue was a former circus performer who had recently begun receiving disability income and was trying to get back on his feet, his ex-wife said late Wednesday.
David "Max" Tucker, 55, was "hoping to get off the streets," said his former wife, Shaela Leggett-Wilson. He was supposed to visit her at her office downtown Monday to get a debit card because he had just opened a bank account, Leggett-Wilson said, but never showed up.
Tucker's body was found with obvious signs of trauma between two buildings at the northeast corner of Riverside and Congress, police said. Investigators think he was killed late Monday or early Tuesday.
A police spokesman said Thursday that no additional information about the investigation was available.
Tucker lived in a camp in the woods near where he was found, Leggett-Wilson said. He used crutches because the hip replacement surgery he had 15 years ago had "gone bad," she said.
Born in Athens, Ohio, Tucker was the middle child of seven children, his ex-wife said. His parents dropped him off at the circus when he was 17 years old because he was a "troublemaker," she said.
Tucker was a juggler and an acrobat in the Garden Brothers Circus and the Clyde Beatty-Cole Circus, she said. He was the most proud, though, of selling sodas, peanuts and popcorn in the circus stands, where he made a lot of money, she said.
Leggett-Wilson said she met and married Tucker in 1983 in Austin, where he was a welder and a roofer during the circus off-season. "I was an unsure, not confident 18-year-old, and he was a really gorgeous 27-year-old circus performer who told me how wonderful I was," she said.
During the marriage, Leggett-Wilson said, she learned that he had a drinking problem, and they divorced in 1991. They had a daughter, Summer Breeze, who is now the mother of twins, she said.
"He used to say, 'In Texas, a summer breeze is an answered prayer,'" Leggett-Wilson said.
Tucker was homeless off and on for 20 years because of his substance abuse problems, Leggett-Wilson said.
She said that in 1991, when Summer Breeze was 6 years old, she became concerned about her father being cold while he was homeless, so she and her daughter started handing out blankets to Austin's homeless. Leggett-Wilson, who has since remarried, said she continues to hand out blankets and other supplies to the homeless in Austin through her nonprofit group, Garage Sale Queens.
Leggett-Wilson said she saw Tucker several times a week and that he had his mail sent to her house. "We were still real close," she said.
Tucker loved his grandchildren and attended their first birthday party, she said. "He really wanted to clean his life up and turn things around."
Anyone with information about his death is asked to call police at 477-3588 or Crime Stoppers at 472-8477 or to text "Tip 103" and a message to 274637 (CRIMES). A $ 1,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest or filing of charges.
cosborn@statesman.com; 246-0040
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David "Max" Tucker, 55, was "hoping to get off the streets," said his former wife, Shaela Leggett-Wilson. He was supposed to visit her at her office downtown Monday to get a debit card because he had just opened a bank account, Leggett-Wilson said, but never showed up.
Tucker's body was found with obvious signs of trauma between two buildings at the northeast corner of Riverside and Congress, police said. Investigators think he was killed late Monday or early Tuesday.
A police spokesman said Thursday that no additional information about the investigation was available.
Tucker lived in a camp in the woods near where he was found, Leggett-Wilson said. He used crutches because the hip replacement surgery he had 15 years ago had "gone bad," she said.
Born in Athens, Ohio, Tucker was the middle child of seven children, his ex-wife said. His parents dropped him off at the circus when he was 17 years old because he was a "troublemaker," she said.
Tucker was a juggler and an acrobat in the Garden Brothers Circus and the Clyde Beatty-Cole Circus, she said. He was the most proud, though, of selling sodas, peanuts and popcorn in the circus stands, where he made a lot of money, she said.
Leggett-Wilson said she met and married Tucker in 1983 in Austin, where he was a welder and a roofer during the circus off-season. "I was an unsure, not confident 18-year-old, and he was a really gorgeous 27-year-old circus performer who told me how wonderful I was," she said.
During the marriage, Leggett-Wilson said, she learned that he had a drinking problem, and they divorced in 1991. They had a daughter, Summer Breeze, who is now the mother of twins, she said.
"He used to say, 'In Texas, a summer breeze is an answered prayer,'" Leggett-Wilson said.
Tucker was homeless off and on for 20 years because of his substance abuse problems, Leggett-Wilson said.
She said that in 1991, when Summer Breeze was 6 years old, she became concerned about her father being cold while he was homeless, so she and her daughter started handing out blankets to Austin's homeless. Leggett-Wilson, who has since remarried, said she continues to hand out blankets and other supplies to the homeless in Austin through her nonprofit group, Garage Sale Queens.
Leggett-Wilson said she saw Tucker several times a week and that he had his mail sent to her house. "We were still real close," she said.
Tucker loved his grandchildren and attended their first birthday party, she said. "He really wanted to clean his life up and turn things around."
Anyone with information about his death is asked to call police at 477-3588 or Crime Stoppers at 472-8477 or to text "Tip 103" and a message to 274637 (CRIMES). A $ 1,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest or filing of charges.
cosborn@statesman.com; 246-0040
Read More @ Source
Criminal Stories Here
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