Jimmy? Is that you?

The saying goes that life imitates art...  (Speaking of art, the above illustration was graciously produced by Mario Zucca who's work can be found at www.mariozucca.com- contact him for your illustrating needs from there)

Just as Jimmy Detillo was troubled during his life, so was the actor who played him on the big screen.  Robert Pastorelli, best known for his role as Eldin Bernecky, the painter/nanny on Murphy Brown, died tragically in 2004.  Starting out as a young boxer, a near fatal car crash at the age of 19 ended his pugilistic hopes, where he then turned to acting.  Taking on roles in films like Dances with Wolves, Michael, and Sister Act II, his career eventually culminated in his masterful character study of Jimmy Detillo.

The links between Pastorelli and his Striking Distance alter-ego deserve close consideration.  

***Warning!  Spoiler Alert!  For those of you who have not seen the dramatic conclusion to Striking Distance, I urge you to see the film and come back later.***

A recent report in the local paper (Man Rescued from the Allegheny River, June 29, 2009), {Special thanks to The Captain for the link} with the discovery of an unidentified male, roughly fitting Pastorelli's description has raised doubts about whether Robert Pastorelli indeed died on that fateful night in 2004, or whether he has pulled an elaborate hoax on us just as Jimmy Detillo did a decade earlier.  The coincidences are shocking. 

Unable to deal the ensuing jail term he was to be charged with, as well as his fathers certain knowledge that Jimmy was behind the deaths of many women, Jimmy ended his own life by plunging from an unspecified Pittsburgh bridge (the McKees Rocks Bridge? Sewickly Bridge?) into the churning river waters below.  Years later he returns.

Robert Pastorelli likewise met his demise, by his own hand, dying of an apparent drug overdose.   While he did not jump into a river, he did jump into a sea of drugs after being sought in the firearm death of his then girlfriend Charemon Jonovich.  Initially charged as an "accidental death" the case was reopened months later with Pastorelli now labelled as a "person of interest."  Days later he was declared deceased.  The investigation into his girlfriend's death was closed,  and thereafter her cause of death was recast as homicide.

With the unknown body found nearly lifeless in the Allegheny River, just down stream from where Tom Hardy's houseboat was docked, new questions and coincidences arise.  Jimmy and Pastorelli were both tied up with the mysterious deaths of women.  Both were unstable individuals with formidable talents: one being a recognized thespian, the other being "the best cop now."  Both caused their own apparent suicides, taking their lives by their own hand.  But, only one has returned.... YET!

The appearance of an unknown male, roughly matching our subjects description, in our city's river, sure makes you wonder...

Jimmy?  Is that you?

"I got you.  Oooh, I got you good.  Admit it...

What a world!  Its hard to believe isn't it?

I jump off a bridge. I don't die.  Go figure."

-Jimmy Detillo

by Lord Johnson