Goddbody

     It was the summer of 1992 in Baltimore I was fresh out of college and a young retail manager
for the F.W. Woolworth Co. I used to hang out with a childhood friend that was considered a brother
(Micheal Davis) and we used to play cards and have a few beers at a mutual friend’s house
Tony Lucas. Tony lived with his sister Tonya and Tonya’s live-in boyfriend Billy. During the night and while
we consumed beer we all would have to use the restroom which was on the second floor of this two story
row house in East Baltimore. I recall every time somebody had to go to the bathroom Billy would get up
and follow them upstairs and stand outside the bathroom door. We often would discuss this strange behavior
about Billy during the trip home. Micheal would say “what the hell is wrong with Billy man”, “why he keep
following people to the bathroom”, I recall saying sarcasticly, “yeah he must not trust nobody” as we would
laugh and talk about the card game during the short walk home. We didn’t pay much attention to Billy’s
strange behavior and just dismissed it as an overly protective guy concerning his home which was understadable
considering the history of the tough mean streets of Baltimore’s eastside. Little did we know that this guy’s
actions would soon be explained & manifest itself into one of the most horrific child abuse cases of modern time.

     As time went on my job got more demanding and I spent more hours at work and less time playing cards with
Micheal, Tony, Billy and the other guys that were regular players on Friday nights. But I would still go over to
Micheal’s House on Bradford Street where he lived with his wife Tyra and their kids. On this saturday night I
walked in on a conversation That Mike and Tyra was having about a horrific discovery that Tyra had made while going
to pay Tonya Lucas a visit at her house on Eager Street where we all played cards on Friday nights. Tonya and Tyra
were close friends and would often go grocery shoping together. This particular day when Tyra arrived at Tonya’s
house she overheard a baby crying as she knocked on the door. On the first few knocks nobody answered the door and
Tyra suspected that Tonya was tending to the obviously agitated lil one she had oveheard crying, so she knocked on
the door a lil harder just in case Tonya didn’t hear her over the baby cries. This time when Tyra knocked on the door
the door which wasn’t locked came open and Tyra just went in and announced her self saying jokingly, “Tonyaaaaaaa,
girl I know you hear me knocking at the door” “It’s me Tyra”.. Tyra got no answer so she called out for her again. “Tonya”,  and
again no response. Tyra called out for Tonya again, Billy, and Tony who all lived there, but still got no reply from
anyone along still hearing the baby crying. Now after arriving there and hearing the baby crying, the front door of her friends house unsecure, and no
response from anyone that lived at the house. Tyra, a mother of 4 boys herself begame naturally concerned that
something was a foul given the odd situation at hand. So Tyra proceeded up stairs calling out to her friends again
continuosly until she got to the bedroom where the baby was. Tyra looked in all the other bedrooms which doors were
open, on her way to find the crying baby, and realized that no one was at home with this child. Tyra reached into the
crib and picked up the baby as it immediately stoped crying. The room was very dark and Tyra pulled back the dark
black curtains to let some sun light into the room and she was not prepared for the horrific scene she was about
to discover.
    As the sun light beamed it’s way into the bedroom on this muggy and hot day in Baltimore, Tyra Davis discovered
that there were five other children in the bedroom as well. They were all tightly tied down in the bunk beds that the
children were layed in. Tyra recalls saying, “what in the world is going on here”? She awakened the kids as she swiftly
untied them. Saying, “where is ya’ll mother and father at”? Billy Jr the only child that responded said, “they not
here”. Tyra asked lil Billy, “who tied ya’ll to the beds like that”? None of the kids responded. Tyra told the kids,
“ya’ll get up and come down stairs”, as she craddled the youngest child (2 month old) in here arms and walking down
stairs. When Tyra got down stairs she realized that only Billy Jr. (11yrs) and the 6 year old had followed her downstairs.
So Tyra gave Billy the baby and said, “hold your sister until I come right back”. Tyra went up stairs and instructed the
other to kids (9yr old girl & 4yr old boy) to get up and come down stairs again. The kids just looked at her and laid
there in the bed. So Tyra thought well maybe I didn’t untie them completely. So she went over to the bed and and checked
to see if there were other restraints on the kids and there wasn’t. So she said, “did ya’ll here me”? “ya’ll get up out
them beds”!, in a loud athoritative command. But the kids still did not move. Tyra walked over to the bed and began
helping the kids out the bed and realize that the children couldn’t walk. As she tried to stand the children up they
would just fall to the floor. Tyra also noticed something else strange about these two particular kids, not only couldn’t they walk but they didnt talk
properly, making strange groaning sounds, and gave the impression that they were mentally disabled children. So Tyra picked
the kids up one at a time and tooked them down stairs. When Tyra got all the kids down stairs she brought them all out side
and the two kids that couldn’t walk began screaming and crying loudly and wildly while covering their eyes from the sunlight.
Tyra, fighting back tears realized that the kids were not used to sunlight and had it confirmed in her mind that what she
discovered was not the work of some intruder into the house, but in fact by the kids own parents, family, and that the kids
had been in that dark room for quite some time.

     Tyra sat there on the steps with all six of her friends kids angrily waiting for Tonya, Billy, or Tony to get some
explaination for why the children were left home alone in the house with no adult present, and more importantly why all
the children with the exception of the baby were tied down to the beds. Tyra sat there for about 30 minutes with the
children while comforting the kids crying that were agitated by  the sunlight and began to realize that who ever were left
at the house to care for the children didn’t make a quick trip to the nearby corner store to get milk or pampers for the
baby, which could only be a weak but rational explanation in Tyra’s mind as to why the kids were left alone by them selves.
Tyra was deeply concerned about the fact that the kids were tied to the beds and felt it best, although that these were
kids of a personal friend, to call the Police. As Tyra got up to gather the children to make a call to Baltimore City Police,
she saw Billy (Tonya’s boyfriend) turn the corner walking toward the house. As Billy approached he noticed Tyra on his front
steps with all his children gathered there, stoped and paused a few seconds, and then began walking briskly to the house.
When Billy got there he yelled to Tyra,”what the fuck you doing here with my children outside”? Tyra began explaining what
she discovered when she got there and Billy interrupted Tyra, pushed her away from the kids and began hauling the kids back
inside the house. Tyra was startled by Billy’s actions and was angered by his apparant disaproval of tyra’s intervention
into the situation with his childrean that was by any standard at least child neglect and abuse at best. So Tyra said to Billy,
“Billy why ya’ll have the kids tied up there in them beds like that”? Billy rushed back down the stairs and raised his hand
and was about to Strike Tyra and Tyra yelled at him, ” I wish you would hit me”. “You know Micheal will kill you ass”. Billy
thought better of hitting her and put his hand down and said, “when you come to somebody house and they not home your not
suppose to just walk in”. Tyra said, “well hell the door was unlocked and it came open when I knocked on it, and plus I heard
the baby crying”. Billy said, said “whatever”, turned around and went back inside the house and slamed the door in Tyra’s face.
Tyra began to cry and stood there in front of the house tryring to gather herself, because she felt powerless and felt the need
to do something. She just couldn’t in could conscious leave those kids at that house after finding them like that. Tyra made
the decision that she would call the Police anyway and she did.

     Tyra also called her best friend Leah Williams who worked as a Baltimore City Court Commissioner, and felt that she could
help and would know exactly how to handle this situation. The City Police and Leah arrived at this Eager Street home almost
simutaneously, and Tyra began to brief them on what she had discovered inside the house. The primary Officer on the scene
(white man) took Tyra’s complaint and went to the house and knocked on the door while Tyra and Leah stood nearby. No one would
answer the door and the cop said, “well there is nothing i can do, there not answering the door”. Tyra and Leah became extremely
upset and rebuffed the Policeman. Tyra said they are in there cause he just came home and took the kids from me. The officer
responded, “well that maybe true, but becuase i didn’t witness what you saw, I cant go on your word alone and break the door
down without a search warrant. Leah said, “bullshit, the lady gave you substantial information which raises reasonable suspicion
that a crime against minor children is an has been occuring inside that dwelling.”. “You need to get your supervisor down here
and get a warrant and go inside that house”. The officer said, “I don’t think so lady”. He handed Tyra a form with a complaint
number and directed her to the Court Commissioner’s office. Leah told the Officer I am a Court commissioner, and the officer said,
“well good, then you can help her expidite this faster then”. The officer walked away, got inside his patrol vehicle and drove off.
(*IN A SIDEBAR FROM MY MAIN DISCUSSION- As a general rule cops hate doing paper work because in an 8 hour tour of duty they could
respond o 30 calls and they dont want to have to do all that paperwork. The expectation from all Police agencies is that their
paperwork is complete upon the end of their tour. Cops aren’t that smart. Also, Baltimore is not unique from most urban cities
where you have a prodominantely black community with a majority white Police Force in which most of them dont live in the city
that they work in, and could careless about the abuse of 6 lil black children) Totally upset about what would later prove to be
a miscourage of justice, Tyra and Leah both promised to notify the Baltimore City Office of Child Protective Services, and they
did just that.

     The problem is that CPS (Child Protective Services) on record says that after a number of complaints regarding the Lucas’
children that Agents could never find cause to file charges against the Lucas couple or anything that would show cause to remove
the children from the parent’s care. I recall as Micheal his wife Tyra, and I discuss this case that Tyra felt that it was nearly
impossible for CPS not to be able to find cause for abuse as Tyra gave us a detailed account of the kids conditions. Tyra mentioned that
fact that a few of the  kids were covered with bed sores so badly that when she tried to pick them up she felt the bed sores
and it reminded her of handling raw fish. Tyra said that every time she thought about that it made her skin crawl. Tyra also
points out the condition of the two children that couldn’t walk nor speak, and the overall condition of all the children as
they were very thin and malnurourish looking. Micheal and I told Tyra about the strange way that Billy acted when somebody had
to use the bathroom at the lucas house and it all came together for us and we concluded that Billy’s behavior was probably him
trying to make sure that nobody saw those kids tied up in the front bedroom. As time went on all of the people that used to play
cards at the Lucas’ house became aware of what was going on with their children and distance themselves from Tonya and Billy.
Subsequently, the card game was moved to Micheal Davis house, and one night with everybody there we all made an agreement to give
statements to CPS about Billy’s behavior when we played cards there as well as one other important note. We all thought that the
Lucas’ only had three children thats all we ever saw while playing cards there. CPS was notified and arangemments were for
each person to give a statement, but still CPS took no action. Micheal, Tyra, and I thought that the lack of action by CPS was
probably due to an agent coming to the Lucas home and got no answer at the door, fearfull of the tough neighborhood, falsified
the report to make it look as if contact was made at the lucas home so they wouldn’t have to contiue coming to that side of town.
If this scenario was true it was the critical point in this case that caused it to take the tragic turn that it did.

     Months went by and we all were told that Tony Lucas was in jail for attempted murder. We later discovered that he had come home
from working his two jobs and found his nieces and nephews tied up in the front room of the house on the second floor with nobody
at home exactly the way that Tyra Davis had told the authorities and everybody else. Apparantly, when Tonya and Billy returned home
after being out looking for crack cocaine, Tony Lucas was waiting for them with a baseball bat, and beat them both nearly to
death. Nobody Knows exactly what happened, except that Tony was Locked up, and Tonya & Billy were both seen with each having an
arm wraped in a cast and each having a hard cast wraped around their heads. No one could varify that Tony had beaten his baby sista and
her boy friend nearly to death over the abuse of their kids, but the sad reality is that the Lucas couple still had custody of their
six kids. In many circles within the community the general consensus was that, what Tony did to Tonya and Billy was poetic justice
or street justice that was long overdue. I recall one friend saying, “Tony should have killed both of them bastards”.

     Nearly a year and a half pass by after Tyra Davis had told People about the way she found the Lucas’s children tied up in their
home when what most peopled feared  would happen to the Lucas children reared it’s ugly head. I rember this day as if it was yesterday.
I had been home from work only a short time and sat down watching the evening news, when the reports of a fire at an East Baltimore
row house that took the lives of 5 young children was broadcasted. I was numb when the address was mentioned and realized that it
was Tonya Lucas’s house and her kids they were talking about on the news. The initial reports stated the priliminary investigations
listed the fire as suspicious. After a full investigation by the City Fire Department, City Police, and the State Medical examiner’s
office, it was concluded that the fire was in fact arson and that one of the children (male child Tyra Davis depicted as not able
to walk nor speak) was actually dead prior to the fire. The Medical Examiner’s report points out dehydration, malnourishment, and
physical child abuse (every bone in this child’s body was broken) as the official cause of death. Police speculated that the fire
was set to cover up the death and abuse of this child. Witnesses that were at the scene say that they recall seeing Tonya Lucas in
the front of the house screaming and crying that her kids were inside the house as the home was engulfed in flames. Billy Jr also
appeared in the front of the house suffering from smoke enhalation, but the other children perished in the fire sending a shock wave
throughout the City as Tonya was declared the culprit that set the fire that killed her five children. The house was visited and
decorated with thousands of gifts from compassionate people from all over the state that made the trek to this tough East Baltimore
neighborhood to pay homage to these five lil kids that died senselessly. Many of us cried as we had more insight into this case and
know that we had tried very hard to save these kids lives.

     When the Police rounded up the Lucas couple Tonya blamed the fire on a mystery man that was never confirmed and sighted his
motivation for setting the fire as a beef over drug money she owed him for crack cocaine. That allegation was never substantiated, The
Police also looked closely at Billy too. He had an aliby that placed him at work during the time that the fire started. Billy’s aliby was however
substantiated, but cops wanted know if he knew anything about how the child that was dead before the fire died and wanted him to explain
the condition of this child as well as the physical trauma that the kid reportedly had been expose to. Billy denied abusing his kids
and so did Tonya. They would eventually be indicted by a Baltimore City Grand Jury and Tonya was charged with 5 counts of 1rst
degree murder, arson,  and 5 counts of child neglect, while Billy only stood trial for 1 count of 1st degree murder and 1 count of
child neglect in one of the most publicized child abuse cases in the history of the State of Maryland. Tonya Lucas would eventually
be found guilty and sentenced to five  consecutive life sentences plus 115 years in prison, while billy was convicted and sentenced
to 18 years in prison.

     To this day I am still deeply disturbed by the events surrounding the death of these children as well as the lack of action by
City Police and Child Protective Services. Ironically, the same information related to all the complaints that CPS recieved about
the Lucas children was used to convicted them. It’s a said commentary that the complaints filed to the City’s agency entrusted intrusted
with safeguarding the City’s kids was only usefull until after the kids had already been killed by the very people that were suppose
to love them and protect them. So I dedicate this article to those five kids..those five lil angels that got caught in the fire. God Bless
them.

Angels In The Fire.
Da Legendary Godd  
  
 

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