Texas man beaten with rocks in Fort Worth dies. Sister mourns beloved brother
A North Texas man squeezed his sister’s hand while lying in a hospital bed in a coma, the last interaction she would have with her beloved brother.
Monroe Lingle, 44, was reported missing by family members on Aug. 8. The next day, his family found him at John Peter Smith Hospital after police said he was assaulted in Fort Worth with objects including rocks and a hammer.
A suspect, 63-year-old Carl Wayne Davis, was arrested in August on an aggravated assault charge and accused of hitting Monroe Lingle with a hammer, according to a police report and a criminal complaint filed in Tarrant County district court.
Monroe died in the hospital on Sept. 5 due to blunt force injuries to his head that he sustained during the assault, according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office. His death has been ruled a homicide.
Tarrant County Crime Stoppers posted a request for anyone with information on the attack to contact Fort Worth police. The post says the victim was attacked by several people armed with rocks and that the assault happened about 4 a.m. Aug. 9 near the intersection of East Presidio Street and Cypress Street.
A Fort Worth police spokesperson did not confirm how many other suspects are believed to be involved in the assault or if Davis might face other charges now that the victim has died. Davis is being held in the Tarrant County Jail with bond set at $100,000.
Sister mourns her beloved brother
Susan Lingle grew up in a household with brothers, and as the only girl in her family, she was loved and protected by them.
Susan told the Star-Telegram that her brother Monroe was “just very loving, caring and enjoyed being around family.”
Monroe loved fishing and everything outdoors. He mowed lawns for work because he enjoyed being outside, Susan said.
Susan said after her divorce about 13 years ago, her brother lived with her in Poolville for the most part, and they were “very, very close.”
“Me and him would get together in the evenings when he lived here, and we would cook dinner and drink a beer on the weekends, just reminisce and talk about old times,” Susan said.
After their father died in 1997, Monroe had struggled with mental health issues. “He was only 16 years old and that’s kind of where it started because it runs in the family,” Susan said.
Approximately two months before the assault, Monroe was admitted to the Red River Hospital for mental health care. After Monroe was discharged, he never went back to seek more medication, Susan said.
Victim was reported missing after leaving hospital
On the evening of Aug. 7, Monroe showed up unannounced at his sister’s house as she was leaving to go get dinner with her daughter, Susan said.
Within five minutes of Monroe being there, she could tell that symptoms of his mental illness were emerging. She took him back to where he was living with his son and ex-mother-in-law, Susan said.
Monroe went to work with his boss the next day. After their first job of the day, Monroe asked his boss to take him to a Weatherford emergency room for chest pains and back pain, Susan said.
He was released from the hospital about noon on Aug. 8. His last known location was a Subway restaurant near the hospital. After that, no one could reach him and he went missing, Susan said.
“How he got from Weatherford to where he was found — that’s just something we will never know,” Susan said.
Susan said Fort Worth police investigators showed the family video footage where Monroe was walking around looking “kind of aggravated” before the assault that caused his death.
“And that’s the way he got when he got in these mental stages, he was aggravated, kind of agitated, and he was yelling,” she said. “I’m assuming maybe he yelled something to the wrong people, and that’s what they did. Nobody in this world deserves what they did to him.”
Two days later, she learned her brother was found at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth.
Going to the hospital to look at him was “very hard,” Susan said in a shaky voice.
Investigators told the family that Monroe was beaten in the back of his head with a brick or other blunt objects that caused traumatic brain injury, and “we didn’t really know at that point how it was going to go,” she said.
Father reconnected with his kids
Monroe had four children, three boys and one girl. “To be honest, he wasn’t close with them growing up, but within the last five or six years, they’ve all reconnected and stayed pretty close,” Susan said.
She said that Monroe and his oldest son got “super duper” close. “It’s rough on all of them, but I think the hardest is the oldest too,” she said.
After the coma, her brother’s death “was kind of expected, but yet it was a blow to the face,” Susan said.
“The second time that I went to visit him, I did get him to squeeze my hand” she said. “I would joke with him and tell him that he needed to hurry up and get better because, you know, we had beer to drink and food to cook.”
“Sometimes I question why God keeps taking everybody from me. He took my dad, took my mom two years ago, took my brother Jason nine years ago, and now Monroe,” Susan said.
Now, she believes Monroe is reunited with the rest of their family in heaven, she said.
“Monroe was just Monroe — and to know him is to love him,” his sister said.