Whatever happened to Eddy Crane?

December 28, 2015 3:35 PM

On the night of September 10, 1987, my father vanished from this place. He called my mother to say he was on his way home; he never showed up. From the start, our family was sure that his business partner, Augie, had him murdered after my father accused him of embezzlement — all vehemently denied by Augie. Detectives at Baltimore City Homicide have said they had similar suspicions, but no charges were ever brought. Over the years the case first grew cold and then became the stuff of cop campfire lore. David Simon based an episode of Homicide on it in 1997 and later mentioned my father by name in The Wire. In 2008, Sergeant Roger Nolan, then head of the cold case unit, told me, “We sit around this office sometimes and wonder, Whatever happened to Eddy Crane?”
posted by josher71 (12 comments total)

It ended so suddenly - is there not more to this story?
posted by grumpybear69 at 4:30 PM on December 28, 2015 [6 favorites]

I expected Barth to pop up and say "dahhhh, whaddya thinks in the SOUP!?".
posted by dr_dank at 5:02 PM on December 28, 2015 [2 favorites]

I find it incredible that the police found a bucket of bloody water and bullets at Crane's office, and yet were unable to make an arrest.
posted by orange swan at 5:05 PM on December 28, 2015 [1 favorite]

Interesting story but strange article. It read like 3/4 of it was missing somehow. Was it a teaser for a longer piece?
posted by frumiousb at 5:22 PM on December 28, 2015 [2 favorites]

I don't understand how the police can find BRAIN MATTER and still lack enough evidence to make an arrest. Up until that point, you got the impression that he could have just been missing, but the idea that the family had this evidence and were waiting for twenty years for him to come home...just doesn't make sense. I mean, he was clearly murdered, they could have conducted a service and had some kind of peace. Either way, an awful thing for the daughter to go through.
posted by Jubey at 6:45 PM on December 28, 2015 [2 favorites]

Just to add, the idea that the police have bullets, brain matter, a bucket and mop of bloody water and a partner accused of embezzlement yet sit around and ask, "Gee, I wonder what happened to Eddy Crane?" Well, I hope nothing ever happens to me in their district!
posted by Jubey at 7:39 PM on December 28, 2015 [2 favorites]

frumiousb: "Interesting story but strange article. It read like 3/4 of it was missing somehow. Was it a teaser for a longer piece?"

Yeah, same here. Struck me as frankly rather scattered and pointless for something that seemed so important to her...
posted by Samizdata at 8:29 PM on December 28, 2015 [4 favorites]

It's a fascinating story. I wish there was more to it. It just... stopped.
posted by sarcasticah at 9:15 PM on December 28, 2015

Yeah, I read this when it came out. It's (oddly) deliberate that it ends abruptly.
posted by listen, lady at 10:23 PM on December 28, 2015

It strikes me as the kind of story that is the most common in real life but rarely presented for consumption by the media. It is messy, incomplete, and likely to remain a question missing a reliable answer. If there were an answer there could be an ending of sorts. Instead it remains a wound that never heals and shapes a persons life beyond their ability to measure. We have been spoon fed narrative resolution. I think that expecting it is why we have so many conspiracy nuts. They believe that the answers are out there and knowable and that somebody knows them. Perhaps we need to be exposed to more unresolved and unresolvable quandaries and stories when we are young. The sense of a rational, understandable universe in the face of all that we face seems to serve us as a people quite poorly.
posted by Ignorantsavage at 10:47 PM on December 28, 2015 [8 favorites]

Dead or alive? Businessman missing for years Murder suspected, but where's the body?
posted by oheso at 12:21 AM on December 29, 2015 [2 favorites]

My condolensces to the author. This certainly makes me thankful for the gains in criminal forensics we've made since the late 80s.

The seeming wealth of evidence reminds me of the John Mulaney bit about early 20th century policework:

"I found a pool of the killers blood, chief!"

"...gross! Mop it up, and let me get back to my hunch"
posted by AAALASTAIR at 12:49 PM on December 29, 2015 [3 favorites]