The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Homeless: A man’s life, death after only weeks outdoors
DANBURY — The life and death of David Mullen shines a light on what experts say is the new reality of homelessness in Danbury.
Mullen had been homeless, camping behind buildings downtown, when police found his body partially submerged in the icy Still River the morning of Dec. 1.
But Mullen’s family and local officials say how he came to be homeless — for only a matter of weeks and after years of help from family, friends and professionals — illustrates that the stereotype of homeless people spending decades on the street refusing help is an out-of-date stigma unmoored from Danbury’s homeless community today.
Although homeless people remain a visible presence downtown during the day, the number of people living outside in the Danbury area has been cut by two-thirds over the past four years — down to just 10 this year, according to the annual count of homeless persons.
Today, only a few of those people at any given time are considered chronically homeless, and most have only recently found themselves on the street, said Michele Conderino, director of homeless services at Catholic Charities of Fairfield County.
“The majority of our people have been homeless less than six months,” she said. “Most of the people in our shelter system are newer to us, that’s why we’re focusing so much on our front end, recognizing that we’ve housed our long, long-term homeless people.”
Mullen’s story typifies that new experience.
“There are so many people out there who suffer,” said John Mullen, David’s older brother. “Whatever their addictions are, whatever their problems, they suffer and the family tries.
“I’m almost positive there’s not one homeless person out there right now that doesn’t have family that tried, but they made choices that we can’t control.”
‘He had greatness’
Far from the old homeless stereotype, Mullen, 56, was an experienced airplane mechanic and an avid hunter with a large extended family and two children.
He was born on the campus of the West Point Military Academy in N.Y., while his dad, a U.S. Air Force veteran, was working there. He grew up in Brookfield before he and his younger brother, Jeffery, moved to Saudi Arabia with their father,who became a private contractor.
He returned and graduated from Brookfield High School before moving with his father to Melbourne, Fla., where they worked on airplanes together and he became a certified airplane mechanic.
He and his school sweetheart Dawn — now Dawn Overton — moved back to Connecticut in the early 1990s, where they married and had two children, Ryan and Sarah.
Ryan, 25, finished his active duty service in the U.S. Army earlier this year and Sarah, 18, is completing boot camp for the Army National Guard in Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.
But Mullen long struggled with alcohol abuse, which eventually led to his divorce. Although he was still a constant presence in his children’s lives, his addiction slowly consumed him, family said last week.
“He was always taking care of people,” Overton said. “Everyone but himself.”
Mullen spent years cycling through sobriety, work, relapse, rehab and living with each of his siblings. This summer, he spent a day cooking on the grill at Sarah’s birthday and high school graduation party at Overton’s home in Oakville, as if everything was stable again, only to wind up on the streets a few months later.
He was homeless for only about a month after recoiling from family and friends’ latest attempts to help him stay sober. He was only a few weeks from receiving benefits to secure housing, due after the New Year.
“It’s just hard to see ‘homeless man’ in the newspaper,” Jeffery Mullen said. It only just recently happened. He had greatness and many opportunities in his life, all through his whole life, and this was just within the past month or so.”
Comprehensive care
Police are still investigating Mullen’s death, but found no evidence of foul play. They expect to receive the results of the autopsy next month.
Mayor Mark Boughton and advocates who work in homeless services hope Mullen’s death at least sheds light on the difficulties of working with people who suddenly find themselves without safe shelter.
“It is tragic,” Boughton said. “It’s a balance, too ... We want to help these folks and have a system in place. But it takes time to build those relationships and work with these people and some people just outright refuse services.”
The city and a team of law enforcement, medical, social service, nonprofit and religious groups collaborate to provide a “comprehensive care” system designed to identify homeless individuals in Danbury and connect them with an array of services.
The back end of the system is able to track which agencies provide care — from meals eaten at Dorothy Day Hospitality House to nights stayed at Good Samaritan’s shelter to eligibility for government benefits like Social Security or disability.
A team of those officials meets regularly to compare notes, track cases and develop plans to build relationships with those most in need of intervention.
Mullen had been touched by that system and received some help, including at Dorothy Day, although confidentiality rules prohibit homeless advocates from discussing it in detail, they said last week.
As a result of the system, the city’s total number of homeless residents during the annual point-in-time survey has dropped from more than 180 four years ago to just over 120 this year, including all of the people living in shelters, transitional housing or on the streets on a single night early in the year, according to statistics kept by the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness.
“It’s so hard because when something like this happens ... it’s a great time to stop and look and say, ‘Are we making all the right decisions?’ ” she said. “While there’s always room for improvement, we’re heading in the right direction and the city is very much involved in that.”
Helping to heal
Other homeless people who live downtown and came to know Mullen remembered him as a caring, funny friend. They were shocked by the news of his death and mourned him early last week as someone who always sought to help others.
Friend Donnie Shaffer, who has been homeless in Danbury since August, said the system did not fail Mullen. He, like many others, turned his back on a process that could have helped him sooner.
“When you’re homeless, you’re just another random face,” Shaffer said. “We’re just trying to get by the best we can. We have the shelters to help us out and Dorothy Day. Everybody’s doing their part, but in the end, it’s up to us.”
Local leaders hope the incident helps inform the community at large about an issue few have experienced.
“Homelessness tends to be something you don’t think about until you’re facing it yourself or until someone you know experiences it,” Conderino said. “It’s a very panicky moment. The more people understand about the system, the better. We always want people to understand the first step, whether you need it today, tomorrow or never. You never who in your life might need it.”
Thumbing through photos of their father, brother and ex-husband, Mullen’s family simply hopes their tragedy helps breaks the stigma around the homeless community.
They will hold a private celebration of life ceremony Sunday and have asked for donations to local homeless service agencies in Mullen’s name. A GoFundMe campaign has raised more than $3,400 to help the family.
Jeffery Mullen, who lives in Danbury, plans to start volunteering with Dorothy Day on the weekends now.
“They helped my brother, so I’ve got nothing but to give back to them now,” he said, fighting back tears. “If I can do anything, I can at least do that. I’ll be volunteering on the weekends from here on and maybe talk to some of these people.
“They don’t like to open up, but their stories need to be told and maybe that will help them heal and help them move on.”