[78-L] Lee Wiley jilts one guy to marry Jess Stacy

[Geoffrey Wheeler]

Mike Biel asks: “On a serious note, did they ever really determine what 
happened to Bozy?”

Yes, sad to say Bozy was murdered by a woman in his own his house. 
According to the woman herself, she and Bozy got in an argument over 
rent money. The following is from a report that appeared on the 
Internet in 2006.

A 33-year-old Oakland woman has pleaded no contest to second-degree 
murder for killing jazz historian Cedric "Bozy" White in 2004, shortly 
before he planned to complete 50 years of work on his biography of 
famed jazz trumpeter Bunny Berigan.

Elnora Myles will receive a sentence of 15 years to life when she is 
sentenced by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Julie Conger on May 
29.

Prosecutor Paul Hora said today that he probably would have sought a 
first-degree murder conviction for Myles in a trial that was slated to 
begin this week, but he accepted her second-degree murder plea on 
Monday because it would have been "challenging" to get a first-degree 
verdict since White's cause of death was never established.

He said that's because White's body was decomposed by the time police 
found it inside a duct-taped box behind a makeshift wall in the 
basement of his house at 645 Jean St., near the Grand Avenue business 
district, on April 14, 2004, after serving a search warrant.

White, 76, a retired Air Force man, had been reported missing on Feb. 
12, 2004.

Hora said the case was "complex" because it's unclear why Myles killed 
White and how she knew him.

He said Myles told police that White was killed after an argument over 
rent money, but he said Myles made "very wild" and conflicting 
statements about the case and he never was able to verify if there was 
a dispute about money or whether she ever rented from White.

Hora said Myles told police that she had rented a room in the house 12 
years before White was killed.

The prosecutor said White, a widower, generally rented rooms in his 
house to female college students in exchange for them typing his 
manuscripts.

At the time of his death, White was renting a room to a University of 
California, Berkeley student who will be graduating next month, Hora 
said.

He said Myles suddenly moved into White's home on Feb. 12, 2004, with 
her boyfriend and two children, telling the Cal student that they were 
renting the whole house from White and she would have to leave.

Myles told the student not to look in the basement because there was a 
mean dog there, Hora said.

He said he's "very pleased" with Myles' conviction and White's family 
members and friends are "relieved and satisfied."

Hora said it's unlikely Myles will ever be released from state prison.

Myles' attorney, Alys Briggs, couldn't be reached for comment today.

*********

As for Bozy’s manuscript on Berigan, it is due to be published this 
year. I’m told the finished product will be around 1600 pages. Several 
members of IAJRC have helped to produce the book. At this point, I have 
no idea what the price will be. While Bozy had a reputation for being a 
bit of a curmudgeon, I liked him and we got along nicely because of our 
shared love of Berigan and the various ARC labels of the 1930s.