[Dixielandjazz] Woman Faces Life For Killing Jazz Historian

[Dingo]

Passing on from another list:

WOMAN FACES LIFE FOR KILLING JAZZ HISTORIAN
04/26/06 6:10 PDT
OAKLAND (BCN)

A 33-year-old Oakland woman has pleaded no contest to second-degree 
murder for killing jazz historian Cedric "Bozy" White in 2004, shortly 
before he planned to complete 50 years of work on his biography of famed 
jazz trumpeter Bunny Berigan.

Elnora Myles will receive a sentence of 15 years to life when she is 
sentenced by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Julie Conger on May 29.

Prosecutor Paul Hora said today that he probably would have sought a 
first-degree murder conviction for Myles in a trial that was slated to 
begin this week, but he accepted her second-degree murder plea on Monday 
because it would have been "challenging" to get a first-degree verdict 
since White's cause of death was never established.

He said that's because White's body was decomposed by the time police 
found it inside a duct-taped box behind a makeshift wall in the basement 
of his house at 645 Jean St., near the Grand Avenue business district, 
on April 14, 2004, after serving a search warrant.

White, 76, a retired Air Force man, had been reported missing on Feb. 
12, 2004.

Hora said the case was "complex" because it's unclear why Myles killed 
White and how she knew him.

He said Myles told police that White was killed after an argument over 
rent money, but he said Myles made "very wild" and conflicting 
statements about the case and he never was able to verify if there was a 
dispute about money or whether she ever rented from White.

Hora said Myles told police that she had rented a room in the house 12 
years before White was killed.

The prosecutor said White, a widower, generally rented rooms in his 
house to female college students in exchange for them typing his 
manuscripts.

At the time of his death, White was renting a room to a University of 
California, Berkeley student who will be graduating next month, Hora said.

He said Myles suddenly moved into White's home on Feb. 12, 2004, with 
her boyfriend and two children, telling the Cal student that they were 
renting the whole house from White and she would have to leave.

Myles told the student not to look in the basement because there was a 
mean dog there, Hora said.

He said he's "very pleased" with Myles' conviction and White's family 
members and friends are "relieved and satisfied."

Hora said it's unlikely Myles will ever be released from state prison.

Myles' attorney, Alys Briggs, couldn't be reached for comment today.

Tom Cullen, a longtime friend and collaborator of White, said by phone 
today from his home in Madison, Wis., that it's a sad irony that White 
was killed only a few weeks before his biography and discography of 
Berigan was due to be published and "he was deprived of seeing it in 
print and seeing the response of the public."

Berigan's most famous recording was his version of Gershwin's "I Can't 
Get Started," which was featured in films such as "Chinatown" and "Save 
The Tiger," but White's problem was that he never could get finished.

"I told him he'd never finish it," Cullen said of White's more than 50 
years of work on his Berigan project.

Cullen said he worked with White on his project for many years, but they 
eventually had "an amicable parting of the ways" because he was ready to 
have the work published but White wasn't.

White was "a stickler for correctness" and believed "if you're going to 
do something, do it right," Cullen said.

Cullen said he resumed working on the project after White's death 
because "I felt an obligation" and he hopes it will be published later 
this year.

It will have two volumes, be 1,500 pages long and have numerous 
photographs, he said.

Cullen said White "was the ultimate authority" on Berigan, whom he 
described as "the greatest of the swing trumpeters and was exceeded only 
by Louis Armstrong."

Berigan, who was born in Fox Lake, Wis., died at the age of 33 in 1942 
due to liver problems caused by his heavy drinking.

Cullen said the book will be "the definitive work on Bunny Berigan."