Here is what we know about what we know about the Bucks, Montgomery county homeless dead.
No government agencies officially track street homeless deaths in Bucks or Montgomery counties, but more than a dozen over the last decade can be identified based on media stories and advocate accounts.
Little often is publicly known about their lives. The homeless are more likely to lack forms of identification, move frequently and are isolated, either by choice or by circumstance.
Here’s what we know:
⋅John "Jack" Reil, 58, was robbed and murdered in July 2009; Reil often slept in the car of a friend who lived at an apartment complex in Bristol Township. His name does not appear on the Bucks County unclaimed list. No further information about him is available.
⋅ Leo Murphy, 52, died of a heart attack in September 2010. He was living in a homeless camp in Bristol Township. After a county cremation his ashes were unclaimed until August 2019 when he was buried in Washington Crossing National Cemetery.
⋅ Kimberly Venose-Olenchock, 44, was murdered in October 2010 by her adult daughter. The two were homeless and lived in a camp in Bristol Township. Her family raised money for her cremation.
⋅ Paulette Wilkie, 56, froze to death in Morrisville in December 2010. She known to suffer from mental illness. Her name does not appear on the Bucks County unclaimed list. No further information is available.
⋅ George Mohr, 71, a homeless U.S. Army veteran was stabbed and fatally wounded in July 2013 near the Doylestown train station. Mohr had taken the train from Philadelphia to Doylestown. His name does not appear on the Bucks County unclaimed list. No further information is available.
⋅ Ed “The Mayor” McCulley Jr., 62, died in February 2016 died when a propane heater caught the used RV he was living in on fire. His family had him cremated and his remains were scattered in the Delaware River.
⋅ Beverly Winder, age unknown, died in September 2018 after a dead tree fell on her tent. Her name does not appear on the Bucks County unclaimed list. No further information is available.
⋅ Jim Newell III, 62, died Dec. 6, 2019 in a Philadelphia hospital. He had been homeless for years living around the woods in Bristol Township. His family had him buried in Montgomery County.
⋅ John Moser, 55, died Dec. 30, 2019 in an homeless encampment in Bristol Township. He had been homeless at least 16 years after the breakup of his marriage. A local funeral home has offered to help his only child with the cost of cremation.
⋅ Alejandro Guerra, 51, was found stabbed to death in a friend’s Crown Victorian car parked at Evansburg State Park on February 13, 2007. The murder remains unsolved.
⋅ Theresa Entrekin, 50, was found dead in a Norristown home on April 29, 2008.
⋅ Benjamin Harrison, 51, died December 16, 2009 at Elkins Park Hospital. He served in the U.S. Army from 1977-1978. His cremated remains were interred at Washington Crossing National Veterans Cemetery in September 2019.
⋅ Todd Donohue, 51, was struck and fatally injured by a hit and run driver in Norristown on May 5, 2016. He died of complications from those injuries in September. The driver later pleaded guilty to homicide by vehicle.
⋅ Dana Farrell, 37, died at Bryn Mawr Hospital on June 20, 2018, according to coroner records.
⋅ George McCabe, 54, died Oct. 16, 2018 in Montgomery County. No other information was available.
⋅ Bruce Miller, age unknown, died of cancer on Dec. 27, 2019 in Doylestown. A local funeral home donated a cremation and Miller’s long-lost son was found and flew in from Iowa to retrieve the ashes. He plans to spread them on the Appalachian Trail where Miller lived for several years, according to Laurie Lewis, minister of visitation for the Doylestown United Methodist Church.
This story originally appeared in the Bucks County Courier Times on January 26, 2020
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Homeless in life, and death. Who are these forgotten unclaimed dead
