May 3, 1960.  7am.  A young man, not yet 30 yrs old plummets from the 20th floor of the Schroeder Hotel in Milwaukee.  His body is discovered later that morning by the maid who was cleaning his room.  A suicide note was found in his room, next to an almost full bottle of burbon.  The police ruled it a suicide, swiftly closed the case, and life went on.  That young man who died on May 3, 1960 was my uncle.  An uncle whom I never had the chance to know, but who I still somehow manage to have a strange, close connection with.  We share the same birthday (different years of course.)  And by another strange twist of fate, the day I married my husband is also the day my uncle died (again, different years.)  We share many of the same interests, and many people say that I actually resemble him more than I do my own father, who is my uncle's older brother, and only sibling.

This tragedy has haunted my family for years.  Because there were so many questions left unanswered, and the police were strangely unwilling to investigate any further after the suicide note was found.  The detective in charge of the case said my uncle had become depressed, got drunk, and jumped out the window of his hotel room on the 20th floor.  He was somehow able to determine all of this right there at the scene, before an autopsy was conducted, and before any investigating had been done.   A suicide note was found, but it was signed in a way that my uncle never signed anything before. 

A phone call was made from my uncle's room around the time of his death.  It was a long distance phone call.  When my father arrived, the hotel said he would have to be the one to pay the bill, which including paying for the phone call.  My father called the same number that had been called from my uncle's hotel room.  Whoever answered claimed not to know my uncle, nor had they ever spoken with him, and hung up. When my father called the number back, no one would answer.  The police never investigated this.    My uncle was on a buisness trip at the time of his death.  He was happy, healthy, and had a huge promotion waiting for him (one he had worked very hard for and was so excited about receiving) which he would have received after he returned from his buisness trip.  He had just bought a brand new sports car that was what he called "his baby."  In other words, there was nothing going on in his life, that anyone has ever been aware of, that would have driven him to suicide.

I have been in touch with the Milwaukee PD, and at first, received nothing but full cooperation.   I was given details from the original police report, and a person to contact at the ME's office.  The woman at the ME's office said she would have no problem in releasing my uncle's autopsy report to me, all she had to do was track it down, that she would be happy to do so and that I should have it in a matter ofweeks.   That was a year and a half ago, and now she won't return my phone calls.  The Milwaukee PD states there's nothing else they can do to help me.  And it's not just the Milwaukee PD and ME's office who are suddenly strangely hush hush about this. 

My own family is just as hush hush.  My grandmother refused to talk about my uncle, ever.  She had every picture of him ever taken stuffed in drawers, and we were never allowed to discuss him. She is gone now, so any answers she may have had are gone to the grave with her (although I really don't think she had any answers.)  My father (my uncle's brother) has changed his story over the years surrounding my uncle's mysterious death (but I don't know if that's deliberate, or if it's old age setting in, he's almost 80.)  My father has also been very unwilling to try and get my uncle's case reopened, despite many pleas from my uncle's close friends, my uncle's old girlfriend, and even myself.   I have also been told by several of my uncle's close friends of the strange behavior my father displayed at the funeral.   My uncle was a very beloved person.  He had tons of friends, women flocked to him, and his funeral was packed.  There was standing room only at the church, with people waiting outside.  At the graveside service, the only person who wasn't crying was my father (despite his repeated claims over the years that he and his brother were very close.)  Many of my uncle's friends have used the word "bored" when describing my father's behavior at the funeral. They have said during the entire church service and graveside service, my dad kept looking around, and looking at his watch.  They have also disputed claims that my father and uncle were close.  According to my uncle's friends, my uncle and dad loved each other as brothers do, but had absolutely nothing in common and were polar opposites,and weren't very close,  and in many ways their roles were reversed.  My uncle was the younger of the 2, but was usually the one in charge, and the protector and defender of my father.  

Perhaps what is most disturbing is my father's behavior after my uncle's death.  Just days after my uncle's death, my father was suddenly out partying every night.  Suddenly he was the one with all the friends, all the girlfriends, and was the one the world noticed.  He began partying so hard, he almost flunked out of med school.  Many have said it's almost as if my dad morphed into the person my uncle had been.  And whenever anyone tried to convince my dad to get the case reopned, he would just shrug it off and say the past is the past.  I have a younger brother.  I know if anything ever happened to him, I would move heaven and earth and anything else I had to move to get the answers and justice for him.  The fact that my dad claims to have been so close to his brother, but has been so unwilling to do anything about his death doesn't seem right in so many ways.

So that's my story.  I know in my heart there is far more to this than I've ever been told, and the answers are out there.  But I have no idea how to go about getting them.  I strongly believed my grandmother went to her grave without knowing the truth behind her youngest son's death.  I want those answers for myself, and justice for my uncle.  Unfortunately, I seem to be the only family member left who wants to find justice for my uncle, instead of burying it in the past.