Victim Remembered: More Than a 'Homeless Person Causing Trouble'

BOSTON, MA — The Boston Police Department on Tuesday identified a man killed this weekend on Massachusetts Avenue, reportedly involved in a fight and severely beaten.

A suspect in the incident has been taken into custody, after witnesses reported a fight between two apparently homeless men.

One of those men, since identified as Stephen Cherup, 50, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, was taken to the hospital, where police say he died of his wounds. The alleged assailant, 53-year-old Peter McGowan, has been held without bail on homicide charges.

Cherup's sister, Kristin, told Patch her brother led "a difficult life, at times struggling with mental illness and addiction."

It's a common story.

Mental illness is a major contributor to homelessness in this country, and can take a significant toll on families. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development estimates more than a quarter of homeless adults staying in shelters live with serious mental illness, and an estimated 46 percent live with severe mental illness and/or substance use disorders.

Over the past seven years, his sister said, Cherup had turned things around.

He grew up in Pittsburgh and later moved to New Hampshire, where he volunteered and sang in a local church choir, she said via email.

"He was well liked in the community and I am being told will be missed greatly. Some of my family members remember how he could make you laugh so easily. He will be missed but is at peace now," she wrote. "I am not sure what happened recently that led him to this fate. But I hope if you include this about him, readers will see he wasn't just a homeless person causing trouble. He was deeply religious and cared for people when he was well."

Image courtesy Kristin Myers