BY WALT SCHAEFER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
NORWOOD -- Colin Shaun McClain relapsed into drug use, but had called the Salvation Army's Adult Rehabilitation Center here less than a week ago, seeking help.
Wednesday, Mr. McClain's body was found in the kitchen of his tiny, two-room, second-floor Kenilworth Avenue apartment, the apparent victim of a stabbing, perhaps drug related, neighbors and police said. Police continued their search for suspects Thursday.
Norwood police Detective Lt. Steve Crowe said the body was found by Douglas L. Hughes, 29, who lives in an adjacent apartment in the 2400 block of Kenilworth Avenue, east of Smith Road. Mr. Hughes could not be reached for comment Thursday.
"Shaun was a very articulate man," said Karen Graziani, counseling supervisor at the rehabilitation center on Park Avenue, which houses 70 to 80 men -- most of them trying to overcome drug and alcohol abuse.
"If you just met Shaun, you would have no idea he was involved in that kind of culture," Ms. Graziani said. Mr. McClain had graduated high school and spent a year in college, she said.
Ms. Graziani said Mr. Hughes and the victim struck up a friendship while in a rehabilitation program both completed at the center. They had found jobs and apartments and were restarting their lives, she said.
Detective Lt. Crowe declined to comment on the investigation and said he was awaiting a coroner's ruling on the cause of death.
"Everyone here who knew Shaun had relapsed had rallied around him and were pulling to get him back in treatment," Ms. Graziani said. "We are in the business of help. Something like this puts an end to that. And, it's sad. Absolutely, I think Shaun would have made it. He could have succeeded. He was bright, educated, articulate and had potential."
Ms. Graziani said Mr. McClain, 40, was from Lima, Ohio, where his family lives. He apparently came to Cincinnati in the early 1990s. He entered the Salvation Army's Adult Rehabilitation Program in April 1994 and left in July of that year. He returned last December, completed the program and had found a "very good and decent job" at a wholesale food service business.
The first inkling something was wrong came when Mr. McClain's employer called Ms. Graziani to say he had missed work.
"About a week ago, Shaun called and said he had relapsed. We sent him to a local detox center and he made it there. Then he walked out," she said.
Stefani George, who lives in a first-floor apartment in the seven-unit building with her two children, was the second person to see the body.
"I was out on the steps, and the next thing you know Doug came down saying, "Hi, you guys, how you doing?' Then he went back upstairs and came back down white as a ghost," Ms. George said.
"Doug said he thought his friend had just killed himself. I didn't believe him so I went back up and looked myself," Ms. George said.
She found the body face-up on the kitchen floor.
Ms. George said the victim had lived in the building about three weeks.
"I've lived here since November and there have been problems. There was drug use up there, yes.
"The other day (Mr. McClain) comes down and I was sitting (outside) . . . with my kid. He don't even know me and he tells me how he got messed up a couple nights before. I even heard (the two men) come out and ask neighbors, "Where can you get crack (cocaine)?" she said. Bob Miller, 54, who lives across the street from the apartment building, called it "a menace to the street. There's all kinds of stuff going on over there."
Residents of Kenilworth Avenue did not express great concern about their neighborhood when asked by a reporter Thursday.
Kenilworth is a typical Norwood neighborhood street, lined with mostly well-kept, single-family two-stories, with a few traditional brick four-unit apartments.
"We have mostly single-family homeowners on this street," said Matt Murray, 28, a local Realtor who lives near Mr. McClain's building.
