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By Jeff Hansel

The Post-Bulletin 

LIVING ON THE EDGE
Early in October of 1998, passersby walking along a bridge spanning Cascade Creek glanced down and discovered an appalling scene -- a dead body.

Cynthia Haisley, a 43-year-old Missouri native and mother of two, was found dead not far from Hy-Vee Barlow.

Police learned a couple of people had been living under the bridge, including Haisley.

"They had kind of set up a home there," said Dick Dale, retired Rochester Police captain of investigations. "They had two refrigerator boxes set up, and that's what they were using for mattresses."

Haisley is one of least three people during the past several years who have died homeless in Rochester from exposure, alcohol, violence and mental illness. Others include:

¥ A 45-year-old man hanged himself in August, according to the Rochester Police Department. Acquaintances say the man had been increasingly depressed while living on the streets.

¥ In January of 2004, Alier Kang, either 21 or 24, died from hypothermia and alcohol intoxication.

In the Haisley case, physical evidence was a problem because of rain the previous day. But it was clear Haisley had met a violent end, possibly from a rock taken from the riverbank.

Dale believed police had enough evidence to make an arrest, but the county attorney's office asked for more evidence.

"We thought we had some good witnesses, and they didn't," Dale said, noting that he always asks about the case when he sees county attorneys now.

Part of the problem, Dale said, was reliability of witnesses -- most of the people who knew her whereabouts in the hours leading up to her death were homeless. Adding to the unreliability, he said, was that alcohol abuse is prevalent among the homeless community.

County Attorney Ray Schmitz, however, said "financial status is not necessarily a determiner of integrity." Highly compensated CEOs have been involved in criminal behavior, he said, and "we have worked with low-income and homeless persons in other cases successfully."

Haisley was killed by blunt force trauma, according to Rochester Police Capt. Brian Winters. The killing of a woman in an open, public area makes the case particularly disturbing, he said.

"We have not seen any kind of a pattern of violence toward homeless individuals in the Rochester community," Winters said. "However, the lifestyle of homelessness places the individual at risk. Frankly, more environmental risk than (those of another) nature."

The investigation into Haisley's death remains active.

Schmitz said he can't comment on the facts of the case, because it is an open file. But, he said, "other cases have been solved after a passage of time."

Dale, though, said he believes the suspect might need to confess for authorities to get a conviction, but the retired detective said he doesn't see that happening.

"This might end up being one of those unsolved murders," he said.