ThoughtFox
Expecting the Unexpected
From today's San Francisco Chronicle (March 18) - a fairly long article about the "aimless travels" of this family, particularly when they lived on a series of boats in Marin County. This is just an excerpt.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/03/18/MNGTB5MUOE1.DTL
Fresno suspect stuck out in eccentric West Marin
Locals found him odd but harmless
The seemingly aimless travels of Marcus Delon Wesson and his large family landed him for a time in the quiet, seaside town of Marshall in rural Marin County, where he and his kin fixed up an old wooden tugboat for a voyage that never came. Wesson, 57, was an odd duck even in a tiny, insular community where loners and eccentrics have been known to hide out from the cruel fates. But nobody believed the "big, dreadlocked hippie-type guy," as one local described him, would ever harm anyone. . .
. . . . . But one could not help but notice the strange, disconnected way Wesson's children behaved around strangers, rarely addressing anyone or looking them in the eye, locals said. Wesson and his wife, Elizabeth, purportedly homeschooled all the children, but to most people, it seemed like a lonely, disordered way to live.
"Most of his kids were real quiet. They wouldn't talk to you or look at you," said Zahl, who ran into Wesson and his children often because their houseboat project was right next to where he stored his oyster bags. "Something seemed strange, and it was kind of a bizarre little construction project he was working on, putting furniture posts and bedposts on the boat. But it all seemed real positive, which makes what happened so surprising."
Jeremy Fisher-Smith, the owner of Fisher-Smith Boatworks, next to the harbor where Wesson's boats are still anchored, said everybody just assumed Wesson was eccentric.
"It was universally assumed that there was something odd about his domestic situation," he said. "All along, this person's behavior was abnormal, but this is America, where we pride ourselves on our diversity. So we gave him the benefit of the doubt."
Anna Konatich, who owns Tony's Seafood with her husband, Felix, said the children would often borrow water from the faucet out front, sometimes coming in the middle of the night. She said they were always polite, but bashful.
"I would tease them, asking them who is older and who is the boss, things like that," Konatich said. "They would just smile."
Konatich said at least two of the daughters worked at the nearby Marconi Conference Center, a state-owned retreat and conference center, and would regularly pass by on their way to work. She said she would often pass Wesson on the way to the post office.
"They were always sawing and pounding, and I would say to him, 'C'mon, this boat hasn't gotten very far,' " Konatich said. "He would smile and say, 'Tell them that,' gesturing toward his kids."
Last fall, sheriff's officers ordered Wesson and his family off the boats, which were deemed to be unsafe for children. They also didn't have any bathrooms, and locals were worried about effluent polluting Tomales Bay and poisoning nearby oyster beds, a major industry in Marshall.
Two officers from the Marin County sheriff's dive team sat in an inflatable boat next to the Sudan on Wednesday. Sgt. Doug Pittman, the sheriff's spokesman, said the team was "assisting the Fresno Police Department in their investigation" but would not elaborate.
The people in Marshall said they are mostly concerned now about the surviving children. Wesson's friend Bob said he doesn't know what went wrong.
"He loved his kids," Bob said. "They were all going to sail away together. "
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/03/18/MNGTB5MUOE1.DTL
Fresno suspect stuck out in eccentric West Marin
Locals found him odd but harmless
The seemingly aimless travels of Marcus Delon Wesson and his large family landed him for a time in the quiet, seaside town of Marshall in rural Marin County, where he and his kin fixed up an old wooden tugboat for a voyage that never came. Wesson, 57, was an odd duck even in a tiny, insular community where loners and eccentrics have been known to hide out from the cruel fates. But nobody believed the "big, dreadlocked hippie-type guy," as one local described him, would ever harm anyone. . .
. . . . . But one could not help but notice the strange, disconnected way Wesson's children behaved around strangers, rarely addressing anyone or looking them in the eye, locals said. Wesson and his wife, Elizabeth, purportedly homeschooled all the children, but to most people, it seemed like a lonely, disordered way to live.
"Most of his kids were real quiet. They wouldn't talk to you or look at you," said Zahl, who ran into Wesson and his children often because their houseboat project was right next to where he stored his oyster bags. "Something seemed strange, and it was kind of a bizarre little construction project he was working on, putting furniture posts and bedposts on the boat. But it all seemed real positive, which makes what happened so surprising."
Jeremy Fisher-Smith, the owner of Fisher-Smith Boatworks, next to the harbor where Wesson's boats are still anchored, said everybody just assumed Wesson was eccentric.
"It was universally assumed that there was something odd about his domestic situation," he said. "All along, this person's behavior was abnormal, but this is America, where we pride ourselves on our diversity. So we gave him the benefit of the doubt."
Anna Konatich, who owns Tony's Seafood with her husband, Felix, said the children would often borrow water from the faucet out front, sometimes coming in the middle of the night. She said they were always polite, but bashful.
"I would tease them, asking them who is older and who is the boss, things like that," Konatich said. "They would just smile."
Konatich said at least two of the daughters worked at the nearby Marconi Conference Center, a state-owned retreat and conference center, and would regularly pass by on their way to work. She said she would often pass Wesson on the way to the post office.
"They were always sawing and pounding, and I would say to him, 'C'mon, this boat hasn't gotten very far,' " Konatich said. "He would smile and say, 'Tell them that,' gesturing toward his kids."
Last fall, sheriff's officers ordered Wesson and his family off the boats, which were deemed to be unsafe for children. They also didn't have any bathrooms, and locals were worried about effluent polluting Tomales Bay and poisoning nearby oyster beds, a major industry in Marshall.
Two officers from the Marin County sheriff's dive team sat in an inflatable boat next to the Sudan on Wednesday. Sgt. Doug Pittman, the sheriff's spokesman, said the team was "assisting the Fresno Police Department in their investigation" but would not elaborate.
The people in Marshall said they are mostly concerned now about the surviving children. Wesson's friend Bob said he doesn't know what went wrong.
"He loved his kids," Bob said. "They were all going to sail away together. "
