O-Bits: Lost and Found Edition

The Florida desk here at Obit is working overtime. The Sunshine State is again the venue for an O-Bit. This time, though, the story is more sad than weird. Jabez Spann, 14, was least seen at a Labor Day BBQ in Sarasota. That was less than a week after Spann was reported to have witnessed the murder of Travis Combs, whose body was found with a gunshot wound to the upper torso, the Miami Herald reports. The FBI has put up a $25,000 reward is being offered for any information on his whereabouts.

Even in northernmost Minnesota, it’s still too early to take a chance on the ice. The bodies of a couple who had gone missing after taking an ice-fishing trip to Upper Red Lake were found today. Minnesota State Patrol officers discovered a hole in the lake’s ice, and using sonar, found their ATV submerged in the water. The bodies of  Melissa Seidenstricker, 29, and Zeth Knyphausen, 28, were recovered soon after.

Finally, two bodies discovered in a rural area outside Montgomery, Alabama were identified as musicians Edward Reeves, known as Bambino Gold, his cousin, Kendrick Stokes, known as Skooly Kee Da Tooly.  WSAV-TV says both were known on the Atlanta rap scene, but were in Alabama to attend the Alabama National Fair. They were both victims of homicide, their bodies discovered a off a road in Macon Country, Alabama, a few miles apart. There have been no arrests.

Steven Mirkin

Steven Mirkin’s diverse career has taken him from politics to pop culture to high art, offering him a front row seat to some of the most fascinating events and personalities of our time: writing speeches, fundraising appeals and campaign materials for Ed Koch, John Heinz and independent presidential candidate John B. Anderson; chronicling the punk/new wave scenes in New York and London; interviewing musicians such as Elton John, John Lydon and Buck Owens; profiling modern masters Julian Schnabel, Paul Schrader and Jonathan Safran Foer; and writing for TV shows including 21, The Chamber, Let's Make A Deal, and Rock Star: INXS.