Van Winkle Dies In Oz: Death in the Kansas City Chiefs Parking Lot

A man is sleeping, wakes up, gets in a fight, and dies. It does not seem remarkable, at first, until you begin to look at the name of the individual, the date of the incident, and the location.

The story:

A man who owned a Jeep and his son returned to their vehicle in a football stadium's parking lot after Sunday's game. They find a sleeping man "who did not belong" inside the Jeep. This discovery resulted in a fight between the specific owner of the vehicle - the father - and the man inside. The person in the car, described as a white male in his mid-20s, collapsed during the struggle. When paramedics arrived, the man was found lying unconscious on the pavement. The person was then taken from the Arrowhead Stadium parking lot in Kansas City, following the Chiefs' loss to the Denver Broncos (35-28), on December 1, 2013, and declared dead at a local hospital.

The name:

The sleeping man was identified as Kyle A. Van Winkle (also spelled VanWinkle and Vanwinkle in media reports), 30, of Smithville, Missouri, located just on the border with Kansas. Van Winkle was a loan operations specialist for the $1.8 billion CommunityAmerica Credit Union in Lenexa, Kansas, revealed the Credit Union Times. Van Winkle was the son of Dean Van Winkle, a detective sergeant in the investigations unit of the Grandview Police Department, according to the Kansas City Star.

New information indicates that Van Winkle appears to have fallen asleep in an unlocked Jeep that looked like his.

An examination of Van Winkle's body did not show obvious signs of trauma, Kansas City police spokesman Darin Snapp said. Police Chief Darryl Forte said the death is being investigated as a homicide and that two suspects have not been identified yet.

The name Van Winkle is from the Dutch (also given as Vanwinkle, Van Winckle, Van Winkel). It is a moniker originating from the topographic name for someone who lived on a corner (either a street corner or a corner of land), from Dutch winkel, "corner," "nook," or a habitational name from a place named with this word, for example in North Holland. (Source.)

The traditional story of Rip Van Winkle is well-known in America. It tells of a man named Rip Van Winkle who lived in a village in New York State during the American Revolutionary War, when it was still ruled by the British. Rip Van Winkle fell asleep for 20 years and woke up to find he wasn't in the world he remembered.

"Rip Van Winkle" is a short story by American author Washington Irving published in 1819, as well as the name of the story's fictional protagonist. Written while Irving was living in Birmingham, England, it was part of a collection entitled The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.. Although the story is set in New York's Catskill Mountains, Irving later admitted, "When I wrote the story, I had never been on the Catskills."

(See the end of this posting for the plot to the short story.)

The date:

Kyle Van Winkle's death came one year to the day after Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher shot and killed his girlfriend, Kasandra Perkins, on December 1, 2012, at a home not far from the stadium. Belcher then drove to the team's practice facility and fatally shot himself in front of then-coach Romeo Crennel and general manager Scott Pioli.

As I mentioned a year ago, Kansas City, Missouri, police spokesman Darin Snapp was the person who identified the player as linebacker Jovan Belcher, 25. Belcher, from West Babylon, New York, played football at the University of Maine from 2005-08. He graduated from Maine in December 2008 with a bachelor's degree in child development and family relations.

Jovan as a boy's name is of Latin origin. Variant of Jove, from Jupiter (Latin) "the supreme God." Jupiter was the supreme deity of Roman mythology, corresponding to the Greek Zeus.

The surname Belcher has its roots in medieval England, and, before that, in France. The name Belcher is composed of two syllables: Bel and cher. In Old French, Bel meant "beautiful or fine." The Middle English word cher (also derived from the Old French) meant an "an expression on the face." the Belcher name refers to a beautiful or fine expression on the face, hospitality, or, in summary, Bel = "good" + cher = "cheer."

See this blog's detailed discussion of the December 1, 2012 event, "KC Chiefs Player Suicide at Arrowhead."

The location:

Arrowhead Stadium parking lot, December 1, 2013.

Besides the suicide death of Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher on December 1, 2012, in this parking lot, a previous incident occurred there.

In September 2012, a gunman attacked a Kansas City Royals employee in the same parking lot, which also services Kauffman Stadium. The shooting took place several hours before the scheduled start of the Royals' game, which went on as scheduled.


The summary of the plot of Rip Van Winkle:

Statue of Rip Van Winkle in Irvington, New York, 

not far from "Sunnyside," the home of Washington Irving.

The story of Rip Van Winkle is set in the years before and after the American Revolutionary War. In a pleasant village, at the foot of New York's Catskill Mountains, lives the kindly Rip Van Winkle, a colonial British-American villager of Dutch descent. Rip is an amiable man who enjoys solitary activities in the wilderness, but is also loved by all in town—especially the children to whom he tells stories and gives toys. However, a tendency to avoid all gainful labor, for which his nagging wife (Dame Van Winkle) chastises him, allows his home and farm to fall into disarray due to his lazy neglect.
One winter day, Rip is escaping his wife's nagging, wandering up the mountains with his dog, Wolf. Hearing his name being shouted, Rip discovers that the speaker is a man dressed in antiquated Dutch clothing, carrying a keg up the mountain, who requires Rip's help. Without exchanging words, the two hike up to an amphitheatre-like hollow in which Rip discovers the source of previously-heard thunderous noises: there is a group of other ornately-dressed, silent, bearded men who are playing nine-pins [kegelen]. Although there is no conversation and Rip does not ask the men who they are or how they know his name, he discreetly begins to drink some of their liquor, and soon falls asleep.

He awakes in unusual circumstances: It seems to be morning, his gun is rotted and rusty, his beard has grown a foot long, and Wolf is nowhere to be found. Rip returns to his village where he finds that he recognizes no one. Asking around, he discovers that his wife has died and that his close friends have died in a war or gone somewhere else. He immediately gets into trouble when he proclaims himself a loyal subject of King George III, not knowing that the American Revolution has taken place; George III's portrait on the town inn has been replaced by that of George Washington. Rip is also disturbed to find another man is being called Rip Van Winkle (though this is in fact his son, who has now grown up).
The men he met in the mountains, Rip learns, are rumored to be the ghosts of Hendrick (Henry) Hudson's crew. Rip is told that he has apparently been away from the village for twenty years. An old local recognizes Rip and Rip's now-adult daughter takes him in. Rip resumes his habitual idleness, and his tale is solemnly taken to heart by the Dutch settlers, with other hen-pecked husbands, after hearing his story, wishing they could share in Rip's good luck, and have the luxury of sleeping through the hardships of war. Source: Wikipedia.

 

The story contains other names to be aware of in the telling: Wolf, Kegelen, George, Washington, Hendrick, Henry, and Hudson. Other names are involved, too.

In the 1914 movie Rip Van Winkle, "The main setting is outside the tavern of Nicklaus Vedder in the village of Falling Waters."

In reality, there is a Falling Water, and the small rural village lies along State Route 23A at the base of Kaaterskill Clove, New York.

The bizarre keglers in Washington Irving's story, playing at ninepins (a/k/a kegelen), are often described as dwarfs or goblins.

Washington Irving's companion short story is "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (1820) - the tale infamous for Ichabod Crane and its headless horseman, of course.

(H/T to Robert Sullivan for KC news hints.)

KC Chiefs Player Suicide at Arrowhead: Updates

Kassandra Perkins: The victim.

Jovan Belcher: The perpetrator

Brittni Glass: Another victim?

American professional suicides (see "NFL Suicides: 12 in 25 Years") are back in the news.

Following two violence incidents yesterday - one murder-suicide initially said to involve arrows in a location rich in Indian-soldier conflicts and another of a university football player being shot - a football player on an Indian-monikered NFL team killed himself at Arrowhead Stadium on the morning of December 1, 2012. 

In an apparent murder-suicide, a Kansas City Chiefs player shot himself in the head in front of his coaches at a team training facility after earlier shooting to death his girlfriend at her residence, police said.

Kansas City, Missouri, police spokesman Darin Snapp identified the player as linebacker Jovan Belcher, 25, who played football in college at the University of Maine.  Belcher, from West Babylon, New York, played at Maine from 2005-08. He graduated from Maine in December 2008 with a bachelor's degree in child development and family relations.

Jovan as a boy's name is of Latin origin. Variant of Jove, from Jupiter (Latin) "the supreme God." Jupiter was the supreme deity of Roman mythology, corresponding to the Greek Zeus.

The surname Belcher has its roots in medieval England, and, before that, in France. The name Belcher is composed of two syllables: Bel and cher. In Old French, Bel meant "beautiful or fine." The Middle English word cher (also derived from the Old French) meant an "an expression on the face"; in Middle English, this word was also spelled chere (as in Richard Belechere). A person's mood, especially gladness or joyfulness, as expressed on a person's countenance or face, was called chere orcher, the word we know today as cheer. Cheer denotes gladness or joy. Cheer was also spelled scher, shere, or chire (which is very similar to some of the variant spellings of siror sur, as in Belesur). When spelled cher or chere, the word also referred to good hospitality (such as one would find on the estate of a sir, knight, or gentleman). Thus, the Belcher name refers to a beautiful or fine expression on the face, hospitality, or, in summary, Bel = "good" + cher = "cheer."
Belcher took his life in the parking lot near Arrowhead Stadium as officers pulled up to park and saw him with a gun to his head talking to coaches. Before Belcher's suicide, the player was talking to Chiefs' general manager Scott Pioli, coach Romeo Crennel and an unnamed Chiefs staff member. Pioli and Crennel "never felt like they were in danger." Belcher, reportedly, thanked the general manager and coach for all they had done for him.

When officers arrived, the player walked away from the three Chiefs personnel and "a couple seconds later, they heard the gunshot," Snapp told reporters.

About 20 minutes prior to his suicide, the player shot his girlfriend in her nearby home, Snapp said. The NFL.com reported that Snapp said the mother described the relationship as "on-again, off-again."

The Kansas City Star, quoting an unidentified friend of Perkins, reported that Belcher confronted his girlfriend after she returned at about 1 a.m. following a Trey Songz concert. The couple had dated about three years and argued frequently recently.

The couple's daughter Zoey, born Sept. 11, 2012, is safe. The baby is in the care of Belcher's mother, who police said lived with the couple in their rented home.

Belcher was in his fourth year with the Chiefs after signing as an undrafted free agent out of Maine. He started 10 of the 11 games he had played this season, registering 38 tackles.

Other Kansas Chiefs players have experienced tragic deaths.

In February 2000, star linebacker Derrick Thomas of the Chiefs died from injuries sustained in an auto accident weeks earlier. Thomas was a Pro Bowler in nine of his 11 seasons with the Chiefs. In 2009, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

In 1983, Kansas City running back Joe Delaney drowned while trying to rescue three children who were struggling in a pond in Monroe, Louisiana. Though an inexperienced swimmer, Delaney made the rescue attempt. Two of the children also drowned. Delaney was a Pro Bowler in his second season with the Chiefs in 1982.

Updates:

The Chiefs played at home against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday and had an emotional win.

More details are surfacing, including the "Belcher spent night with [Brittni Glass] before killing," and that "In college, Belcher punched out window over girl."

More has come out, as well, about Belcher's use of pain meds and drinking to deal with head injuries and behavior outbursts. His football organization, however, noted they did not feel there was any problem in this area. Kansas City Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt told the media that "Belcher 'Had Not Had A Long Concussion History'."

Of course, that begs the question, what kind of concussion history did he have? In college? In high school?

Concussions have been linked to suicides and murders of and by NFL players in recent years.