Episode 20: The Drowning of Charlie Howard
Life had never been easy for 23-year-old Charlie Howard of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. For one thing, he was short and stocky. For another thing, his severe asthma prevented him from being athletic, and his learning disability set him apart from his peers. But the thing that got Charlie the most hate was his sexuality: he was an openly gay man in the 70s and early 80s. While this still can be a cause of bullying and horrific acts of hate crime, the tolerance of homosexuality has grown tremendously in recent years. This was unfortunately something that Charlie didn’t have very often.
After not attending his own high school graduation (to spare his parents the embarrassment of his tormenting classmates), he decided college just was not for him, so he moved to Ellsworth, Maine. That was short lived when a relationship he was in ended shortly after, and he headed to Bangor, Maine where he was homeless and down on his luck more than ever. Two very nice and helpful men took Charlie in and helped him to find his footing. After briefly returning to Portsmouth, NH for a week, he was welcomed back into the home of the two men and allowed time to heal and get on his feet. He eventually found an apartment in Bangor, joined an accepting church, and adopted a kitten.
Despite the turnaround, Charlie still was the subject of ridicule and harassment in his town. He was openly gay, dressed femininely, and enjoyed wearing makeup. While his church was accepting and provided a great outlet for him, the townspeople could still be so cruel. He was once kicked out of a nightclub for dancing with another man. One time at a local market, a woman started to scream homophobic slurs at him, forcing him out of the store. One day, he found his kitten had been strangled and left on his doorstep.
Despite these challenges, Charlie persisted- he found a job, was an active member of his church, and had recently started a new and exciting relationship with a man named Roy Ogden.
On July 7th, 1984, Charlie and Roy were walking home from a potluck supper thrown by his church when a car full of teenage boys rolled up. They recognized Charlie from earlier in the week when they had harassed him previously. Three teenage boys got out of the car and proceeded to give chase to the two men, but Charlie had severe asthma and quickly was caught- Roy ran ahead and watched the horrifying scene go down. After being kicked and beaten, the three boys hoisted Charlie up onto the guardrail of the Kenduskeag River Bridge and threw him over the side, despite his pleading and admission of not being able to swim.
The three boys returned to their car and left, congratulating themselves and cheering. Roy ran and pulled the nearest fire alarm, and was later met with a swarm of police cars and firetrucks. The search went on for only 3 hours when Charlie’s body was found just a little ways down stream. He had died from drowning, which was not only a result of being shoved over the edge of the bridge, but because of an asthma attack the three boys had brought on.
One of the three boys turned himself in the next morning and thus all of them were arrested. After being returned to the custody of their parents, the boys were tried as juveniles and charged with manslaughter. They were sent to a juvenile detention center where they were sentenced to an indeterminate amount of time, not to exceed their 21st birthdays.
Image source:
bangordailynews.com - “Charlie: Why the killing of a young gay man shocked Bangor, his death is now remembered for its profound effect on Maine”