Little Rock Weatherman Wakes to Dead Companion in Empty Jacuzzi
A Little Rock, Ark., weatherman was found sleeping in an empty Jacuzzi-style bathtub next to the body of a young friend, a Sept. 6 Arkansas News Bureau story said.
The dead man, Dexter Paul Williams, 24, was wearing a dog collar, news reports said. Williams and meteorologist Brett Cummins, 33, who appears on Little Rock's KARK-TV, had apparently slept in the tub.
The owner of the home where the death occurred, John Barbour, 36, described the previous evening's activities, telling authorities that Cummins and Williams came over at about 8:00 on the evening of Sept. 4. The three men got into the tub together at around 10:00 p.m., Barbour said, and they had already used drugs and alcohol by that point. The men continued drinking while in the tub, according to Barbour's statement.
Barbour said that he left Williams and Cummins together in the tub about an hour later and went to bed. He was awakened the following morning by snoring from the bathroom.
When he went into the bathroom, Barbour said, he found Cummins asleep and Williams dead. Upon being awaken and seeing Williams, Barbour told authorities, the weatherman screamed and fled the bathroom, then got sick on the living room carpet.
The police report noted that Williams was wearing a dog collar, news sources noted. The report described how an officer found a "naked white male lying on the floor of the tub," which was otherwise empty. The report went on to say that "the subject was lying on his right side in a fetal position, his face was blue and purple in color with a chain around his neck. The chain was silver in color and consistent with what I believed to be a dog collar."
Williams was "cold to the touch," the report added. There was some evidence of blood in the tub as well.
KARK-TV reported on the incident, with anchorman Bob Clausen saying, "Our meteorologist Brett Cummins was at the home at the time of the death and we felt we should share this with you our viewers. Brett will not be on the air while he is mourning the loss of his friend. Our thoughts naturally are with Brett and of course with the family and friends of Dexter Williams."
"We have not ruled out foul play," police spokesperson Jim Hansard told Fox News. "This is an open investigation."
The Fox News story said that Barbour's account made reference to the men having "snorted" drugs. The police said that they did not know what sort of drugs the men allegedly used.
Hansard also said that police were waiting for results from the crime lab. No charges have been filed so far, news sources said, and Cummins is not under suspicion.
A brief YouTube clip from 2009 in which Cummins can be seen throwing a pop-eyed look off-camera attracted fresh scrutiny after the story broke.
In the clip, the news program's anchors discuss a story as the camera dollies backwards. The camera seems to jerk and swerve, and Cummins can been seen looking off-camera with a wide-eyed expression. Cummins also looks momentarily discomfited.
Though it is unclear what, exactly, was happening in the studio at that moment, comments posted after the story of Williams' death refer to Cummins as "tweeking" [sic] and call him a "coke snorting homo."