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The Story - 2005-02-19 23:02:46
�A very sick young man�
A �very sick young man� is how several people familiar with Billy Hardesty�s past legal and personal problems describe the 21-year-old man who at one time was diagnosed as schizophrenic.
Elmer Wood, father of Billy�s ex-wife Paula, said Billy was �a misfit to our society; he was on dope; he hung around the wrong people; and he did not want to work.�
Mrs. Wood said her ex-son-in-law visited their home at 50200 Geddes between 2 and 3:30 a.m. Thursday, saying he came to see his three-year-old daughter who is living with them. Although some reports said Billy appeared agitated at the time, Mrs. Wood said when she saw him, he did not seem so.
Police say Billy shot and killed two men at a bar in downtown Ypsilanti before 2 a.m. Thursday. When Wood came to work early Thursday morning at 6:30 a.m. at his tool and die business on 1585 Beverly, he found his 30-year-old son, Danny Wood, dead at his machine and two other men seriously wounded.
�As far as we know, there was no motive,� Wood said, explaining that Billy and Danny were never at odds over anything to his knowledge.
Wood said the man who was married to his daughter for three years had been in the Ypsilanti Regional Psychiatric Hospital about a year ago when he tried to commit suicide.
Billy�s divorce was final in May, Wood said, but they still saw him because his ex-wife and his young daughter lived with the Woods. �The court lets him visit his daughter here,� Woods said.
Billy is no stranger to the law here either.
Washtenaw County Sheriff Thomas Minick reports that Billy has a driving under the influence conviction, a felony charge and a bench warrant out on a suspended license in Washtenaw County.
State police said he was convicted on an assault and battery count in 1976, and a Wayne County sheriff�s deputy remembers an incident about a year ago when officers held Billy at bay in an attic where he was armed and threatening to kill.
Deputies had to disarm him, Lt. Terry Shank of the Wayne County Sheriff�s Department said.
Billy�s record in the 14th District Court also includes several traffic violations, including one for leaving the scene of a property damage accident.
Martin Authier, Billy�s parole officer, said �What you�re dealing with here is a very sick young man.�
He confirmed that a probation department report submitted as part of a drunk-driving charge against Billy describes him as schizophrenic.
This description came from a psychological profile done on Billy, Authier said.
He said Billy has received psychological treatment at a Wayne County hospital, at the state hospital psychiatric unit and in private consultations with different doctors.
Authier said he has asked himself over and over again since Thursday morning why Billy would do what he is accused of doing.
�I just don�t know why�I wish there was something more I could have done.� He said.
Authier said he spoke with Billy in the hospital Thursday, but Billy gave him no indication of a motive.
�He (Billy) talked about things that had nothing to do with anything,� Authier said.
�Billy told me, �I gotta talk with you, you just won�t believe it,�� Authier said.
Robert Meston, a Belleview lawyer representing Billy in a larceny charge pending in Washtenaw County Circuit Court, said as far as he knew Billy and his mother got along.
�He and his mother seemed to be concerned for each other,� he said, noting that he had become acquainted with Billy�s mother through the larceny case. �She was a nice lady,� Meston noted.
Billy pled guilty to the larceny charge last December, but Meston said the plea was taken under advisement by the court because of Billy�s possible mental problems.
Meston said he requested a psychiatric examination to see if Billy was competent to stand trial and to determine his mental condition at the time the crime was committed.
In general, the forensic center�s report on the request showed Billy had mental problems, but that he was able to tell right from wrong and was competent to stand trial.
Meston said the court had made no ruling on the competency issue.
He said Billy was supposed to be receiving private psychiatric treatment.
Meston also noted that the larceny charge was �not a normal burglary.�
Billy was accused of taking a diamond ring from a jewelry shop at Briarwood in August 1977.
Meston said Billy�s position in that case was he did not know why he took the ring.
Billy�s attorney explained that his client had been drinking at a bar with some other men before they went to the Briarwood shop. Billy told him the other guys suggested he hassle the woman in the jewelry shop, so he went in the shop, took the ring, and walked down the hall with the ring, Meston said. �Hazel Henderson* * * * * * * * * * * *
Laura - 2005-02-20 10:38:29
Now, Mrs. Wood's statements about actually talking to Hardesty at 3 a.m. conflict with the previous report about Mr. Wood hearing the dogs barking and going out with his rifle but not seeing anything.
Something went down at the Wood house. Either Hardesty showed up to demand his daughter, planning a getaway, and was backed off by Mr. Wood's rifle, or he just showed up in a more disorganized way in some last-ditch attempt to see his daughter as a way of reconnecting with family, maybe out of guilt, since he'd just shot his parents the day before. It's hard to say and I'm no expert. But there's missing information and conflicting reports about his 3 a.m. appearance at the Wood home, so one does wonder. * * * * * * * * * * * *
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