After son dies in Manassas jail, dying father seeks answers

Before William Creed succumbs to cancer, he wants to know why his 27-year-old son died in 2006 while in the custody of officials at the Prince William County jail.

A morphine drip in his arm covers the pain from his sarcoma, a disease that attacks the body's tissue.

Creed said his family has been handed "nothing but lies" from county jail officials each time they have asked about their son's death.

William H. "Billy" Creed was arrested in January 2006 after he took a car from a Woodbridge auto dealership for a test drive, and then kept it overnight.

During that time, he drove for hours on area highways. He was afraid that a former girlfriend with possible ties to a gang was after him, said Billy Creed's younger brother, 28-year-old John Creed.

Billy called John the next morning to tell him what he had done, and John talked him into returning the car and apologizing to the owner.

They returned it that day, and Prince William police said the owner pressed charges.

That incident sparked a string of events that would end in Billy Creed's apparent violent death.

John Creed, a large man of more than 6 feet tall, was worried about his brother days before Billy was jailed.

The day before the test drive, Billy inexplicably ripped electrical wiring out of his late model Mitsubishi Gal-lant.

"I'm the type of guy that never cries, but when the police were at my house that night looking for my brother, I told them he needs serious help. He needs to be in a hospital, maybe an institution, not jail. I cried that night," said John Creed.

Finding God

A week before he took the car on the joyride, John said Billy was talking about becoming a more spiritual person, which John admitted was unusual.

But he took it as a good sign that "he was trying to get his life on track."

Around the same time, Billy walked up to a police officer on the street and said something in reference to God. John Creed doesn't know for sure what he said, but his comments landed him in a Washington mental hospital for 24 hours.

His father came to the hospital the following day after Billy called repeatedly and told his father he couldn't stay there, and that he "wasn't crazy," William Creed said.

He was released the following day. He drove his Mitsubishi Gallant home, and then he gutted his car of the wir-ing.

Slipped into a coma

Jail officials wouldn't comment on the case and Prince William County Commonwealth's Attorney Paul B. Ebert did not return a request for comment about this story.

The Creeds say they have received much of the same treatment when they have asked questions about Billy's death.

On the first day he was in jail, his family said they couldn't talk to him and that he was not allowed a phone call.

On the second day, he slipped into a catatonic coma and was taken to Prince William Hospital in Manassas, where he stayed for nine hours.

"We told the nurse that we wanted the hospital to keep him overnight, but I guess the jail wanted him back," said John Creed.

They took him back as soon as he came out of the coma.

William Creed went to visit his son in the hospital for about four hours and then was told by authorities to leave, he said. He was then told his son would be eligible for bond in five days, though he wouldn't live that long.

Enlarged heart

County officials completed an investigation into Billy Creed's death and reportedly found no wrongdoing on the part of jail employees.

William Creed said he has never seen anything on paper with the results of that investigation. The only thing he has is his son's autopsy report from the state medical examiner.

The report said Billy Creed became combative with nurses and personnel at the jail, four days after he was returned to the Manassas detention center.

The report stated Billy Creed died from an enlarged heart, but also notes Billy Creed suffered blunt force trauma to the neck, head and wrists.

The report stated jail workers used restraints on him as well as pepper spray, and that they placed a spit mask on him.

After he died, his family was invited to see his body. While there, officials told the family Billy died as they were in the process of transferring him to yet another medical facility.

"When I saw his body, I saw his wrists were cut up pretty bad. That was one of the hardest things I had to look at," said John Creed.

His hands were covered with white gloves, he added.

He doesn't buy the enlarged heart finding of the medical examiner, calling his brother a good athlete who often squared off with him during intense basketball games.

Like their father, both men worked as private security guards in Fairfax and moonlighted as bouncers at Washington night clubs.

Talking with the jail

If Billy Creed's death wasn't hard enough for the family to take, silence from jail officials has made it even harder.

During the time Billy Creed was in jail, his family said they weren't allowed visitation and that he wasn't allowed to make phone calls.

Calls the family made to the jail while Billy was in custody were never returned, said William Creed.

After he died, the family placed repeated calls to Ebert and Jail Superintendent Col. Peter A. Melitis looking for answers. Only one of those calls was ever returned to John Creed's cell phone, he said.

He missed it, and they never called back.

The family filed a lawsuit against the county last year, claiming negligence. It has yet to go to trial.

William Creed, at age 51, was given a prognosis of death. Earlier this month he provided his lawyers a deposition that will be used in the case after he is gone.

He asked his son to represent the family during the trail, if it ever happens.

Toll on the family

William Creed was diagnosed with sarcoma after the death of his son.

He said he didn't drink or smoke before being diagnosed, and that he doesn't now.

"My doctors said that the stress of this could have brought this on, but I don't know. I just want to know what happened to my son," said William Creed.

William Creed's wife, 50-year-old Peggy Creed, was also hospitalized after Billy died. She tried to commit suicide, and still struggles daily with the reality of her son's death.

She stayed outside during the interview with her small dog.

John Creed, too, is trying to make the best of the situation.

"I just wished they would have answered the phone when we called. I wish they would have allowed us visi-tation. I miss him."

Staff writer Uriah A. Kiser can be reached at 703-878-8065.