THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 23, 1995 TAG: 9508230460
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARA STANLEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines
When Larry Romero's broken harmonica was sent back to Norfolk from Alabama along with his broken body, his family was not alone in their grief.
Iretta Grady cried just as hard for the man whose metallic melodies could be heard whenever he was nearby. She thought of him as one of her own, and set out on a mission: to track down Romero's killer.
``He was like an adopted son to me,'' said Grady, for whom Lawrence ``Larry'' Otto Romero had worked as a carpenter for 12 years before moving to Huntsville, Ala., where he died.
``He was just a dear friend. I don't intend to stop until I find who killed him,'' said Grady, 38.
Grady has offered a $1,000 reward. She set up a fund and has planned a raffle to pay for his funeral.
She says she will move from her home in the Oakdale Farms section of Norfolk to Alabama and hire a private investigator to answer questions surrounding Romero's death.
Romero, 30, was killed in Huntsville July 8 when he was struck by a vehicle, possibly a truck, the Alabama State Police said. The body of the Norfolk native may have been struck by a second vehicle, police said.
That was the last night the harmonica made music. It was found, crushed with Romero's lifeless body.
Police were unable to trace the driver of vehicle. There were no witnesses, no suspects.
``We don't have any leads at all,'' said Trooper Curtis Summerville, of the Alabama State Police. ``There was no physical evidence left at the scene that would link his killing to a car.''
Grady refuses to believe that. Her persistence is driven by the grief of a mother.
``This boy was a son to me,'' said Grady, who has two biological and three adopted children.
``Someone in Alabama saw something,'' she said. ``I want to help find who did this.''
Romero began work for the Grady Construction Co., owned by Grady and her husband, as an 18-year-old graduate of Lake Taylor High School in Norfolk.
Romero, the middle child of Cuban refugees, sometimes lived in an apartment above Grady's garage.
After he was given a harmonica as a gift, he played it every free moment, his mother said.
Friends said Romero was always helping other people. If he saw an elderly person mowing the lawn, he would insist on doing it for them, his mother and Grady said.
Romero was single. But 18 months ago, he moved to Alabama from Norfolk to live with Wanda Rhodes, 30, and her daughter Elizabeth, now 8. They had met in Norfolk.
``I don't know why he went there,'' said his mother, Evelyn Romero, 52. ``We were always asking him to come back.''
He was killed the day before he was supposed to call his mother to tell her whether he was returning to Norfolk, she said.
The events that led to Romero's death are unclear.
On July 7, Romero and Rhodes went to a Huntsville bar to help raise money for a friend who had been injured in a swimming accident. Romero played harmonica in a band.
Just after midnight, the couple argued, police said, and Romero stormed out of the bar to walk home along the road where he was killed.
Whether Romero was drunk is unknown. Autopsy results are pending, and Rhodes has been questioned, Trooper Summerville said.
``I don't know if it was an accident or if someone tried to kill him,'' said Evelyn Romero.
But Grady believes it was murder. She has already traveled to Alabama once to post fliers about the reward, taking upon herself the search for an answer.
Romero's parents are unable to do anything because they are financially strapped.
``A lot of people think I'm crazy,'' Grady said. ``But I think I'm sane. I just want to know who killed my friend.''
Grady keeps one of Romero's harmonicas in her basement. The broken one was buried with him.
``He used to say to me, `Boss's Wife,' - that's what he called me - `if anybody can do the impossible, you can.' '' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
Iretta Grady, left
D. KEVIN ELLIOTT/Staff
Larry Romero, once of Norfolk, died in a hit-and-run in Huntsville,
Ala. Iretta Grady is offering $1,000 for information about his
death.
KEYWORDS: REWARD FATALITY by CNB