Authorities hope they soon will be able to formally identify the fire victim believed to be F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre, reports Corey Kilgannon in the New York Times:
The medical examiner’s office has not officially confirmed the identity of the man who burned to death that day in Apartment C-9. The corpse is “not visually identifiable, from the fire,” and there were no dental or other X-rays to help identify the body, said Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the office.
The body has remained unclaimed for months, but last Wednesday, Ms. Borakove said that “a relative was recently located, and DNA testing is being conducted to positively identify” the body. She would not say whom, citing privacy policies.
Kilgannon’s fascinating and detailed profile contrasts MacIntyre’s acceptance as a writer and in online communities with his everyday life as a pariah in a Brooklyn apartment building.
Sf figures quoted in the article are Darrell Schweitzer (MacIntyre’s editor and agent), Bud Webster, and Andrew Porter.
“It was the bizarro death of a man who lived a bizarro life,” said Andrew Porter, a Brooklyn writer who was among the first to announce Mr. MacIntyre’s demise, on the sci-fi fan blog File 770. “What was his real name? Where was he born? No one knows. Froggy was weird, and his death is just as weird.”
[Thanks to David Klaus and Gary Farber for the link.]
Is there a chance you can share a link to “Froggy’s” website
if it still exisits.
@Andrew: I didn’t find it. If somebody has the answer, I hope they will post the information.
Not quite, but his final note:
http://webnews.sff.net/read?cmd=read&group=sff.discuss.community-news&artnum=1340
He writes: “My website might come down soon,” and I take him, given the links he then gives, to be referring to his sff.net address, which is indeed gone.
That is, that he was here: http://www.sff.net/people.asp
And the obvious person to ask about that is Jim Macdonald.
http://www.sff.net/help/staff.asp
I figured Gary would be firstest with the mostest but I didn’t want to jinx things by saying so out loud…
You could just email me first and ask. 🙂
Incidentally, the Times online also has a big multi-media page up as well, with a full video report, interviews with the neighbors, and so on.