By CHARLES RICHARDS
eParisExtra.com
The body of a 61-year-old Paris man was found in his residence over the weekend in the 200 block of Fifth Street SW, and police said it appears he may have been dead for more than a month.
Richard Gross’ body was discovered in the bathtub. The water was running “and had been running for some time, as most of the home was flooded,” said Curtis Garrett, public information officer for the Paris Police Department.
Justice of the Peace Ken Ruthart was called to the scene and pronounced the man dead as of 5:36 p.m., the time that officers arrived on the scene. The man’s next-of-kin was located in Arkansas and notified, Garrett said.
A neighbor said Gross had not been seen in several weeks.
When officers went to the house to check on Gross, they found the front door locked, a small chain on a back screen door locked from the inside, and an interior unlocked back door. Officers made entrance and found the body.
“By utility gained from a utility notice, it appears the man may have died as early as June 27,” Garrett said.
“Mail was found that was dated May 20 in the mailbox addressed to the deceased. Nothing was disturbed in the home,” Garrett said.
In two other significant calls:
Officeers responded to 300 calls over the weekend – 116 on Friday, 90 on Saturday and 95 on Sunday.
Arrests over the weekend, included 10 for traffic warrants, eight for public intoxication, three for theft, one for burglary, one for resisting arrest, one for a sex offender’s duty to register, and one for bond surrender from the Dallas County sheriff’s department.
Charles Richards Charles Richards moved to Paris in 2004 after retiring from a 40-year career in journalism – the last 26 years as a news writer and sports writer with The Associated Press in Dallas and Washington, D.C. In mid-2004, The Paris News coaxed him out of retirement, and he began covering the police, court and regional beat for The Paris News. Then in early 2005, he was switched to coverage of a sharply divided Paris City Council. He was appointed by the City Council in 2006 to the 12-member City Charter Review Commission, which extensively rewrote the outmoded document. His writing awards include two first-place awards in statewide competition for feature writing. The most recent was his 2005 story on a Paris doctor’s startling use of leeches in a successful attempt to re-attach a man’s severed ear. Over his career, Richards’ interview subjects include Alabama Gov. George Wallace, President Bill Clinton, President George W. Bush, David Koresh, Arnold Palmer, Muhammad Ali and numerous other political and sports figures. He is an alumnus of Texas Tech, where he was editor of the school newspaper. He lives in Paris with his wife, Barbara, who is retired after 30 years as a teacher and high school counselor.
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