A 78-year-old man fond of helping others who was beaten and burned in his Brighton home died of a blow to the head, according to Adams County coroner James Hibbard.
Firefighters found Robert Moreland in his burning home early Sunday morning after neighbors spotted smoke coming from the house at 13444 Kennedy Ave.
“He was a nice guy who was always helping people. That’s the part that really gets me,” said Everett Moreland, the victim’s son. “I don’t know if that’s what got him.”
The younger Moreland said that when he went to help his father with a new lawn mower Thursday evening, three down-on-their-luck guests were at his father’s home — a sandy blond in her 40s or 50s possibly named Laura, and two guys in their 20s.
The woman, his father told him, had lost her job, couldn’t afford rent and needed help.
“There was a lot of trauma to the body and a hole in his head,” Everett Moreland said of his father.
Moreland’s 1989 maroon Chevrolet custom van was found abandoned on a Brighton street about 7:15 p.m. Sunday.
By Monday afternoon, the Adams County Sheriff’s Office has not released information about possible suspects.
Moreland was a semi-truck driver who still made short-haul trips, his son said.
The elder Moreland’s wife, Elizabeth, died in 2005.
“I can’t believe it happened to him, especially on Father’s Day,” said neighbor Howard M. Jones.
“I’ve known him for 25 or 26 years, and I couldn’t say a bad thing about him,” said neighbor Joe Stone.
