Harold Thomas Gotts
1912 - 1985 (73 years)
Generation: 1
1. Harold Thomas Gotts was born on 7 Feb 1912 in Ypsilanti, Michigan; died on 13 Nov 1985 in Inkster, Wayne County, Michigan. Notes:
Burglary is a fatal surprise
By Eric Kinkopf and Jeanne May
Free Pres Staff Writers
A 73-year-old Inkster man died of a heart attack after being awakened by a burglar in the bedroom of his home at about 6 a.m. Wednesday, Inkster police said.
Police arrested a suspect and said they considered the death a homicide.
The victim was Harold Gotts, who lived with his wife, Lela, 90.
Her daughter, Marlene Renaud, said “The first thing she knew, the buy pulled her out of bed, and she was on the floore, and he was trying to make her tell where her money was … The buy beat her. Her face is a mess … She’s all black and blue, but they checked her at the hospital, and she’s OK.
“Harold tried to get the guy out of there and said he had money in his wallet downstairs and got him downstairs. She tried to call the police. He’d cut all the phone cords, but she didn’t know that.
“The guy went back upstairs to here, but she looked out the window and said, “There’s a car, somebody’s coming,’ and he ran out of here …
“He took their car. I think Harold must have give him the keys. Anything to get him out of there. They keys were downstairs.
“Mother said, ‘He could have killed me, and wouldn’t have given him my money.’
“Then she came down and saw Harold here … He was down here on the floor … She went next door and banged on the door, and they took it from there …
“He had a stroke about four years ago … I believe he was dead when the ambulance got him.”
Inkster Detective Steve Borisch said the burglar got in through a basement window. Police said a tracking dog led them to the suspect in a nearby house. The couple’s care was found about half a mile away, Borisch said.
Gotts was known in his neighborhood for selling homegrown fruits and vegetables from a backdoor produce stand.
“They have about 3 1/2 acres here, and it’s all cultivated, grass and flowers and fruit and vegetables,” Renaud said. “They lived for their garden.”
Detroit Free Press, Detroit, Michigan. Thursday, 14 November 1985.
Harold married Lela Marie Firebaugh on 31 Aug 1956. Lela (daughter of Charles Ezra Firebaugh and Alice Felicia Hedges) was born on 7 May 1895 in Vermilion County, Illinois; died on 18 Sep 1992 in Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan; was buried in Grand Lawn Cemetery, Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]