Friends and family of Robert Clay gathered Monday on the steps of the Baltimore Police headquarters demanding a new investigation of the Baltimore business leader?s death.
“The truth has not been told,” said the Rev. John Wright of the First Baptist Church of Guilford in front of about 40 supporters. “We demand that the police department reopen this case and do a thorough investigation of his death.”
The news conference was held after a series of articles recently published by The Examiner raised several questions about Clay?s death. Police have declined to reopen the case.
Clay, a prominent businessman and political activist, was found dead on the front stairs of his office on May 16, 2005. The state medical examiner ruled Clay?s death a suicide and police have closed the case. But friends and family, including his niece Ellen Clay Taylor, insist Clay did not commit suicide.
“He would not have left his family like that. He knew he was the anchor of our lives,” she said.
Bill Goodin, organizer of the news conference, read aloud from a list of facts that he said raise questions that need to be answered, including the fact that Clay was right-handed but shot himself in the left side of the head. One issue that Goodin believes raises suspicions is the stolen gun that Clay used to kill himself.
“Why woulda man who is a millionaire have to resort to a stolen gun?” he asked.
State Delegate Jill Carter, a political ally of Clay?s, said that treatment of his case by the police department raises serious questions.
“If the death of someone the stature of Robert Clay can be ignored, then it means that the same thing is happening everyday,” she said. “Everyone should be concerned.”
David Johnson Sr., who belonged to the Maryland Minority Contractors Association ? an organization that Clay founded ? said that race was an issue. “If this was a prominent white businessman, there would be full investigation,” he said.
