MY BOGGY BLOG: find your way through the murk

One of the Saddest Things

Yesterday a neighbor knocked on my door, her eyes red and tear-filled. She told me our neighbors' 20 year-old son had been murdered early Wednesday morning, stabbed to death in a nearby University neighborhood. I've been feeling sick to my stomach and sad ever since, just imagining the utter devastation that the family is going through-- how their son died, how they are going to live without him. I fell grief on so many levels, and yet helpless to do anything. So hug your loved ones today and appreciate the small things.

And here is one of the newspaper articles about the situation, one which does a nice job of letting us know more about the young man I have watched run around the neighborhood ever since he was little:

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Joseph Sodd III, 20, apparently was going home on his moped when he was attacked near the U of M and Augsburg campuses.

By DAVID CHANEN, Star Tribune staff writer

Last update: June 19, 2008 - 9:45 AM

Joseph Sodd III lay bleeding and unconscious in a busy Minneapolis intersection early Wednesday. Just hours earlier, in front of his teen dance students, the college senior had previewed an original piece composed with rap music that "he hoped would make the audience remember me."

Presumably driving home on his moped from the University of Minnesota's West Bank area at about 2 a.m., Sodd may have been attacked during a robbery near 7th St. and 19th Avenue S.

A passerby saw him in the street and called police. Sodd had been stabbed once in the throat. The good Samaritan tried to render aid, but Sodd died later at a nearby hospital.

The 20-year-old had recently come home to Minneapolis after his junior year at the renowned Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, where a school official said Sodd's passion for dance and living had made him a beacon of the department.

After watching the NBA championship game Tuesday with his dad, Sodd hooked up with friends on the University of Minnesota.

"I'm all about forgiveness at this point," his father, Joseph Sodd Jr., said Wednesday. "I can't be angry. Do you think my son would want that?"

At that moment, Ian Huddleston slowly walked up the sidewalk at the Sodds' house and fell into the arms of his best friend's father, sobbing uncontrollably. The boys had met at the Perpich Center for Arts Education, the state's arts high school in Golden Valley.

"First time I met him, he was dancing to the music of the Velvet Underground. I knew then I needed to be his friend," Huddleston said. "I feel cheated he won't even make it to his 21st birthday."

It's too early in the investigation to know if robbery definitely was the motive, said Lt. Amelia Huffman, head of the Minneapolis homicide unit. Sodd's moped was left behind at the intersection of 7th St. and 19th Avenue S. in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood, she said. It's a high-traffic area, and police hope someone who saw or heard the attack will come forward.

Video: Friends remember Joseph Sodd III

Video: Police investigating latest murder

Posted by sapphire at June 19, 2008 1:37 PM