What happened to Aloysius R. Clarke in the parking lot of his neighborhood bank in Northeast Washington has bewildered family members and authorities for more than three weeks. Was the 76-year-old former priest beaten and robbed? Did he simply fall to the ground? Where did his wallet go?
Police and family members said that Clarke, the executive director of two group homes for the mentally challenged in Brookland, went to his neighborhood Riggs Bank branch about noon Jan. 10. He finished his business inside the bank, then headed to his car in the parking lot, police said.
"This doesn't need to happen to somebody else," Roland Clarke said of the death of his father, Aloysius R. Clarke, who suffered a head injury.
(Photos Ricky Carioti -- The Washington Post)
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A videotape taken by a bank surveillance camera shows a man resembling Clarke approaching a car in the lot, police said. But then there appears to be a gap in the footage, and Clarke is suddenly shown on the ground, police said.
A few seconds later, the videotape shows a man approach and briefly stand over Clarke before walking away, police said. Clarke's wallet has vanished, and police and family members suspect this man took it, perhaps after assaulting Clarke.
Clarke soon was spotted by a passerby, and paramedics rushed him to Washington Hospital Center, where he died Jan. 17. The D.C. medical examiner has ruled that his death was caused by a severe head injury, police said. Pathologists have not determined whether Clarke was struck by an object or hurt himself when he fell, authorities said.
Police detectives are treating the case as a homicide and urge anyone with information to call them at 202-645-5525, said Sgt. Fred Johnson of the D.C. police violent crimes branch.
Brookland, a neighborhood near Catholic University, has been the site of recent robberies and shootings. The bank is in the 3800 block of 12th Street NE, near some of the other troubles. In November, George Longshore, a Pennsylvania business executive, was shot and killed during a robbery nearby as he and three relatives left a wedding reception at St. Francis Hall at the Franciscan Monastery.
The lack of answers or arrests in Clarke's case has made dealing with the death much harder, family members said.
"This doesn't need to happen to somebody else," said Clarke's son, Roland Clarke, 35.
His father was known to loan money to clients to help finance group trips, employees of a group home he managed said.
Clarke lived in the 1200 block of Quincy Street NE, at one of two group homes he managed. Employees said he treated them like extended family. "He was like a father to me," said Beatrice Ogunlegan, 48, a manager at the Quincy Street facility.
Clarke graduated from Armstrong High School in the District and soon entered the Catholic priesthood. He earned bachelor's degrees in theology and philosophy and a graduate degree in medieval history. He also mastered six languages. Clarke, who was black, sometimes had disagreements with church leaders on civil rights and other issues, family members said.
He left the priesthood in the late 1960s and married Anne Miles, a white teacher in Georgia who had seven other children. The couple had one son together. The family fled Georgia in 1970 after a cross was burned in their front yard, the first of many tense moments for the couple, said Roland Clarke.
Aloysius Clarke separated from his wife many years ago. He eventually returned to the District, working as a labor relations representative, a personnel manager and consultant. In 1988, he became executive director of the nonprofit Black Leadership and Christ's Kingdom Society, which ran group homes for mentally challenged adults.
In the past two years, Clarke had battled bone marrow cancer.
