Posted on 06/26/2002 5:51:45 AM PDT by Phantom Lord
Body found tied to sign
Man had been at party; official speaks of prank gone awry
GOLDSBORO - Out in the country, where they were from, folks might say that Tony Wayne Smith's friends and family were old enough to know better than to tie him to a signpost after a night of partying.
Smith died over the weekend after a prank that went bad, investigators say. They are awaiting results of an autopsy to determine whether charges will be filed.
Lt. George L. Raecher of the Wayne County Sheriff's Office said Smith's body was found by a motorist driving north along N.C. 111 about 9 a.m. Sunday. He was strapped to the post of a stop sign with household plastic wrap. His face was not covered.
Raecher would release few details about the incident, except to say that Smith had been partying with friends and relatives Saturday night or early Sunday and that someone at the gathering -- he would not say how many people were thought to be involved --decided to play a joke.
Raecher would not say how long Smith had been bound to the sign, located where sandy Mince Hill Road meets N.C. 111, when he was spotted by the passing motorist.
Investigators are awaiting the medical examiner's ruling on a cause of death, Raecher said.
Smith had not been shot, stabbed, beaten or otherwise injured, Raecher said. He said those who were party to the prank indicated they did not mean to hurt him.
When he was found, Smith was "partially laid over," still bound to the signpost, Raecher said. He would not say whether Smith was clothed.
Raecher would not say where the gathering was that Smith had been attending. He said Smith had been staying for about four weeks with relatives at a trailer on Mince Hill Road, about halfway between Goldsboro and the town of Seven Springs.
Onnie R. Herring, who has lived just down Mince Hill Road for more than 60 years, said that Smith's cousins lived in the trailer and that, ever since he was young, Smith had come to visit the area from his home in Gates, a small town near the Virginia border. Smith had other relatives in the area, including two of his three children, his father, a sister, three brothers and both of his grandmothers.
Family members did not want to discuss the incident Tuesday.
Herring said the cousins, some of whom grew up with her own five children, often gathered at the trailer, set between wide, green fields of corn and cotton in eastern Wayne County just south of the Neuse River.
"Wasn't a thing in the world wrong with that boy that I know of, or any of those kids, except they liked to drink," but they weren't alone in that, said Herring, who, at 87, considers everyone young.
"I could call on any one of them, any time, if I needed them, and they would have come right down here," she said. "They were all raised good."
Herring said that if the crowd ever caused any disturbance, she never heard it. Like many of her neighbors, Herring keeps her windows closed against the frequent roar of low-flying military jets on their way to and from nearby Seymour Johnson Air Force Base.
"When people are drinking, honey," Herring said, "you don't know what kind of foolish pranks they'll do."
My prediction on the 'cause of death' is that he overheated from his bodies inability to dissapate heat due to being wraped in saran wrap.
We did a lot of stupid shit when we were hammered in college. We also had a rule in our house that the first one to pass out got drawn on with sharpie markers. My then girlfriend now wife drew a giant penis on my roommates stomach one night. He was pissed. I have pictures too. Should scan and post sometime.
I got lots of good stories on pranks that worked and ones that went wrong while all smashed up.
You don't say!
About 4 AM while partying across the street at a friends house we heard a lot of noise coming from outside. Sounded like it was coming from my yard. We opened the blinds to discover my 6' 5" 350 lb roommate dancing naked on the front porch.
We got him inside and into his bedroom. Thats when the fun started. Lets just say a camera was involved and he would do whatever we told him to do.
Must...resist...can't...post....
Maybe. My first thought was he couldn't breathe because they wrapped the stuff too tightly. Think 'Vaughn Bode'.
I bet life long residents of NC can come up with some reports on pranks gone wrong that make this one seem tame.
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