Dead on the Street

Several stories have circulated about Ronnie Tucker's path to the corner of Prairie and La Branch on April 29. One version has it that he had walked the mile or so from the Star of Hope to MHMRA's Bristow Resource Center, where he had an appointment early that morning. He was evaluated there and arrangements were made for him to go to the county psychiatric center, where he would be off the streets for at least a week. But for some reason he left the Bristow Center in a rage and set off back in the direction of the Star of Hope. He was not, according to this version of Ronnie Tucker's last day, on medication. (The medical examiner's report on Tucker, including toxicology tests that would reveal what, if any, drugs he was on, is still not available.)

But it's impossible to get any official confirmation of what happened to Ronnie Tucker before he stole a lawyer's briefcase. Because of confidentiality law, MHMRA will not even acknowledge that Ronnie Tucker existed, although, since April 29, he's had all the privacy a person would need.

Ronnie Tucker could have been buried by the county in a pauper's grave. Instead, Pruitt Mortuary on North Main, the North Main Church of God in Christ and another neighboring church got together to give him something nicer. Earl Pruitt provided the casket and embalmed Ronnie -- "He made him look so nice, so pretty," said Lottie Jefferson -- and the churches helped with the funeral costs.

What's left of Ronnie Tucker lies in an unmarked plot in the Cemetery Beautiful, a few blocks off of West Montgomery Road, where presumably he now has what he so desperately needed in his life: perpetual care, and a permanent place to rest.