Wednesday, November 10, 2010

The story of Ant Dogg




This video is an audio interview I did on the Southside of Indy for a column about the shooting death of a 14-year-old boy over a drug debt.

I used the interview in the following column on the case. After the column is an AP story about the sentencing of the shooter.



In a rugged alley, youths reflect on one of their own

Indianapolis Star, The (IN) January 8, 2003

By JOHN STRAUSS

The girl was 14 years old and said she had been there all day, in the alley with Ant Dogg's other friends, a few days after he was killed.

His death certificate says the victim of the shooting was William Anthony Boicourt.

But around East Street, a few blocks south of Eli Lilly and Co. headquarters, they just called the 14-year-old "Ant" because he was only 5 feet tall and 100 pounds.

Dog is what you call somebody you're friendly with. So after the girl and other kids made sure I wasn't a cop, one of them walked up and smiled. "What up, dog?"

Just talking to people about Ant, I said.

"He was just a neighborhood boy," said Chelsea. "He was everybody's best friend. He had no enemies that I know of."

This was said in an alley where you might expect to find enemies. Two boys walked past with a large, fierce-looking dog at the end of a rope. The brick building next door was abandoned, the yard littered with car parts and beer bottles.

Part of a garage wall across the alley was marked as the place where Ant was shot to death late Jan. 1 -- spray-painted graffiti tributes, wine bottles, a pair of dice and other tokens.

Some of the dead boy's friends passed around a blunt, a large marijuana cigarette.

I didn't bring up the drug angle that police say was behind the killing, but the girl did: "We don't think it was drug-related. I didn't know Anthony to smoke weed or nothing."

Another kid, John, walked up.

"So what if he smoked weed? Everybody f - - - - - - does," said the boy, who could have passed for 12.

He was angry at another friend of Ant's, 14-year-old Keith Allen Munden, who is charged with murder.

A 17-year-old also has been arrested, and the two blame each other for the killing.

"The evidence that we've been able to compile so far indicates it was the 14-year-old (Munden) who pulled the trigger," Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi said Tuesday. "It was an execution-style murder, very deliberate."

Ant was shot four times, including once in the back of the head, with a Winchester 30-30.

This is the kind of lever-action rifle seen in the movies about the wild West, which is what the streets sometimes look like these days.

Police say the killing was over a debt, and that somehow drugs were involved. "If somebody feels disrespected, they retaliate," city police Detective Alan Leinberger said.

Back in the alley, Michael Wiegand walked up to see what was going on. He's a restaurant worker and lives with his wife a block away.

The kids need a neighborhood center to keep them off the street, he said.

Actually, the streets are just fine, Chelsea said. "If they want to walk the 'hood, they're going to walk the 'hood," she said of the teenagers.

"Nobody's going to keep them inside."

A few blocks up East Street, a squad car had pulled somebody over. Wiegand said police were often in the area because of crime. The kids don't seem to know any other way.

"We love this neighborhood," Chelsea said. "This is our life, right here. This is the 'hood. We was born and raised on East Street, and that's where we always will be."

Maybe. Generations have grown up here. It would be good to see these kids survive childhood, too.

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Below is an AP story from the sentencing.

The Associated Press State & Local Wire
June 21, 2004, Monday, BC cycle
Boy, 15, gets 55 years for shooting pal over drug debt
SECTION: State and Regional
LENGTH: 318 words
DATELINE: INDIANAPOLIS

A 15-year-old boy accused of shooting a younger drug associate over a debt was sentenced to 55 years in prison by a judge who scolded him for his nonchalance.

Keith Munden, was convicted of shooting William Anthony Boicourt, 14, in an alley on Jan. 2, 2003.

"While he was left on the ground to die his lonely death, you went home to the comfort of that warm house and pretended nothing happened," Marion Superior Court Judge Sheila Carlisle told Munden in sentencing him Friday.

Boicourt's mother, Lillian Henry, testified she had given her son life, but "Keith Munden took it away."
"It hurts me to think that even after Keith serves his sentence, he will still be young enough to have an opportunity to come out, get a job, get married and have a family," Henry said.

With credit for good behavior, Munden could be released from prison when he's in his early 40s.

Deputy Prosecutor Ralph Staples described Munden as a "hoodlum" and said the evidence left no doubt that Munden shot Boicourt four times with the bolt-action, .30-caliber rifle.

The evidence presented during the trial showed Boicourt and Munden used and sold a variety of drugs. Munden admitted being upset over $400 that Boicourt owed him for a half-pound of marijuana, but denied shooting his friend.

However, two witnesses, Nicholas Harritt and Munden's then-girlfriend, Randi Knight, 17, testified that Munden lured Boicourt to the back of a car and shot him four times.

Harritt, 19, who drove the car and sold Munden the rifle used to killed Boicourt, is serving an eight-year prison sentence for assisting in the murder.

Paul Boicourt, 20, took the stand and read a poem in memory of his brother, who was known as "Ant Dogg." He was a slight 5 feet and 100 pounds when he died.

"Lil' Ant Dogg was an angel, in a neighborhood of hell," Boicourt said. "A tiny little homey came from heaven for a spell."

18 comments:

  1. Nothing good comes from drug use.

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  2. Its sad that 14 and 15 kids act like this. Keith is my cousin and had a hard up bringing. I know this has taught him a lesson but still a life was taken over nonsense. We all think about him and the action he chose was wrong.

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  3. Not all 14-15 yr olds act like this. That area is bad and like the girl said there is NOTHING good to do around there. No one escapes there w/o being victimized somehow. Listen to this ignorant girl talk, 8th grade is considered a Bachelor degree there. That family was an ok family though. The grandmother was like the grandmother to anyone in the 46203 as long as they didn't wrong her, RIP Rosie.

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  4. That neighborhood is not that bad and many people have came out of it that have college education's. I am one of them I was born and raised on east st and was one of them in the alley when Anthony died. He death affected us all we might not have had much but we had each other we was a family. That is more then most neighborhoods can say..It's not always about where you grow up it's about what you want out of life.. I love an miss you everyday William Anthony Todd Biicourt

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  5. There was four people in that alley including Anthony...so u trying to say you're Nick or Randi? Get the story rite smh...

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  6. It has nothing to do with the neighborhood. Smh I've lived around here for 33 years and then some with my parents before they passed. I am educated and have a great life and STILL LIVE OFF EAST ST. IT'S NOT ABOUT THE HOOD, ITS THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE NO REGUARD'S FOR ANYONE ELSE'S LIFE OR EVEN THEIR OWN. SMDH LIFE IS PRECIOUS AND SHOULD NOT BE TAKEN FOR GRANTED. R.I.P. ANTHONY TODD BOICOURT AKA ANT~DOGG . R.W.L LIL HOMIE. LET THIS BOY R.I.P. HE'S GONE SHIT. SMMFH

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  7. Realist shit spoken ^ let him rest in peace im from SSH across the catwalk but ive lived off east st too SS forever its on my body like most from the hood but instead of killing eachother we should settle the beef with our hands anybody can pull a trigger but then you take a life for nothing some change ? a beef over hoods ? over girls ? just fight get it over with and smoke one to the head then theres no worries of prison or staying on the run and everybody gets to wake up the next day ok . SSH and ESC stay tight stop beefin over dumb shit the tighter we stay the stronger we are. rip antdogg gbnf

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  8. Rwl lil. digga always missed tell my pops i love n miss him love yall rwl cox

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  9. Dumbass people always on there bullshit. Yall wanna knock our hood but don't know us or anything about us. William was a ray of sunshine.... He was no dope Fein nore was he worthless. His life an smile an laugh was priceless. An that worthless piece of shit 💩 Keith took him from us. Just because his worthless friend Nick wanted him to play out his fantasy of killing someone but he was to pussy to do him self. An if yall want the cold hard facts IT WAS PAUL DOUGLAS BOICOURT that was supposed to die that night he was the one who owed the money he was the one who put his own little brother out in those cold hard streets to stand his ground. Yall want truth that's the truth. This hood has withstood to many hard situations we have lost to many loved ones an yes Williams is the hardest to bare. That boy was something else. An lord knows he was loved by us all. See where we come from blood dont just make you fam... These streets an your loyalty makes you fam. So when you wanna down grade or slander our hood just thank about this we are one for all an all for one. Now do you really want us on your head????

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    1. We love and miss u still every day! I can't believe u been gone for 19 whole years bubby!I'm sure ur looking down on all of us an I had my only little girl on January 2 2018 witch was ur 15 yr death anniversary.. crazy right!? Just rest assured that we will never ever forget u or that beautiful smile cousin!! We love u baby boy to the moon an bk past the stars till the stars fall outta the sky Antney!! #FlyHighBabyBoy #NeverEverForgottenCousin

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  10. Rwl Anthony u are missed dearly plz continue to watch over all of us till I see your beautiful smile at them golden gates

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  11. Your memory will forever love on we all love and miss u dearly rest with love lil Ant Dogg

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  12. I rode the bus with Ant Dogg. He sat next to me the bus driver thought if he put the rowdy kids next to the quiet kids it would help calm the bus down ... he never wanted to sit down but I do remember a couple conversations. He was always going seat to seat. I remember thinking he was cute lol he talked a lot but he was so damn funny. Everybody liked him. He was always smiling and trying to make people laugh. Im from the south side too. My whole family lived on East St. And Minnesota st. On both my mom and dads side. I made something out of myself too tho. Still remember all this happening RIP Ant Dogg you were cool man. Did anybody on here use to go to sister Spencer's basement?

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  13. I rode the bus with Ant Dogg. He sat next to me the bus driver thought if he put the rowdy kids next to the quiet kids it would help calm the bus down ... he never wanted to sit down but I do remember a couple conversations. He was always going seat to seat. I remember thinking he was cute lol he talked a lot but he was so damn funny. Everybody liked him. He was always smiling and trying to make people laugh. Im from the south side too. My whole family lived on East St. And Minnesota st. On both my mom and dads side. I made something out of myself too tho. Still remember all this happening RIP Ant Dogg you were cool man. Did anybody on here use to go to sister Spencer's basement?

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  14. Antney is my lil cousin an he is still so loved and missed.. south side legend.. we love an miss u the same every day..

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  15. Anthony was an amazing kid that got caught up in the hype of what seemed cool..
    All of us month together and hung out after school and I remember many many times walking home from school with him from school 72.
    Those boys were best friends! I can't believe for the life of me why he would do that! It was so brutal and unnecessary and the fact that Paul was the one that owed the money and I do believe Anthony owe $20 or $25 or something stupid!
    These were just kids they had no business this young out hustling like that but I know it's just the way of life for some and I understand, but that doesn't mean that someone should be killed over something so small and I do get the fact that if they don't get paid it goes on and on to the next person of what would happen to them but now my mother goes to bed every night without her kid and family members and friends will never be the same!
    Without knowing as an adult I work beside cheese mother in a KFC and I remember kids coming in threatening her and they were literally putting a price on her head and she was absolutely terrified!

    I still see his smile and voice sometimes and I know he is in heaven.
    I truly hope that Keith and Nick understand one day what they did and impact they had on so many people and took a life that can't be replaced and money can be!!!
    During trial Keith acted like it was a damn joke!!!!! The judge said he didn't want to except the plea.. he should have got ALOT longer!!!!
    There's NO sentence that could actually be enough justice for this brutal murder! It doesn't matter how you were brought up to take a life as is wrong! And they were very very close to take your best friend's life you have to be pretty cold-hearted! No one is even saying the fact that they were best friends!!!
    We love you Ant and you may be gone physically you remain in our hearts forever.

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