It appears to have been an unbeatable drug habit that repeatedly thwarted Billy Rajah Jr.’s attempts to live a healthy life.
The former Fort Ord soldier from a North Carolina family was said to have a heart as big as his once-hulking frame, but he became homeless last year after a final attempt to beat addiction failed, court records show.
Rajah, 47, became Salinas’ first homicide victim of the year Tuesday when, police say, he was run over by an SUV after an argument with the driver.
Adnan Nijmeddin, 54, was arraigned on murder charges Wednesday.
In Rajah, former girlfriends paint a picture of a promising young man who lost his way once drugs entered his life.
The son of a veteran, Rajah was a 6-foot, 260-pound soldier who left military service in the 1990s.
He moved in with a woman in Seaside. That’s when he succumbed to a persistent crack addiction that would plague him for years.
At first, Rajah cleaned up and moved to Santa Cruz, where he worked in a print shop.
But after returning to live in Seaside, he abruptly relapsed after five years staying clean, friends say.
Nearly 12 years ago, he turned himself in to his probation officer and did time on drug charges.
After he came out, he moved in with a Salinas woman, got a job and appeared once again to be doing well.
On New Year’s Day 2011, it all fell apart.
Rajah’s girlfriend said he showed up at home early that day after disappearing for a week.
“He had been running
around on drugs,” she wrote in her request for a restraining order. When Rajah returned, he was “kicking down the front door and socking pictures on the wall.”
He yelled and threatened, but did not strike or injure her or her daughter — instead, he pounded the walls and dented her car.
“We had to call the police to make him stop acting crazy,” she wrote.
By February, the court ordered him to stay away from her and move out of her Salinas residence.
“He lost his job due to drug use,” his former girlfriend wrote.
The court orders were served to him one afternoon at Market and Soledad streets, the same Chinatown corner where the ravages of drugs and homelessness are visible every day.
Nearly one year later, it was the corner where Rajah lost his life.
Relatives say authorities have told them Rajah was hanging around a campfire that day with friends and was seen arguing with Nijmeddin.
Financial troubles
Adnan Nijmeddin, also known as Eddie, had his own struggles.
Hailing from Fresno, he listed a previous address as Amman, Jordan, when he filed for bankruptcy in 2005.
Six years earlier, records show, he was a homeowner in Oregon.
Married with two young children, by 2005 he reported more than $350,000 in unpaid bills to creditors — and no income for three years.
His assets had become meager: the clothes on his back, $10 in the bank and a 25-year-old car.
His criminal record was nearly as sparse: He had a couple of petty theft charges and one misdemeanor harassment charge, but nothing worthy of a prison term.
On Dec. 27, 2010, after he had arrived in Monterey County, Nijmeddin claimed he was “severely injured” after stumbling into a “dangerous” pothole on Paloma Street in Salinas.
He filed a claim and later a lawsuit against the city. In his complaint, Nijmeddin said his injuries will “result in some permanent disability.”
But the record shows he had other troubles.
After a drug arrest last August, he pleaded guilty to possessing base cocaine.
By year’s end, he was still waiting to start court-ordered drug treatment — help that was delayed because of his medical issues.
A court conference was scheduled for April 13 concerning his lawsuit.
But on Wednesday, both cases were overshadowed by Nijmeddin’s arraignment on a single charge of first-degree murder.
Buried back home
The day Rajah died in Chinatown, police said Nijmeddin came after him in a sport utility vehicle, striking Rajah with the SUV and then running over him.
Nearly lifeless, Rajah was flown to a San Jose hospital.
He died that night during surgery.
Rajah’s body was returned to Monterey County, where an autopsy was performed Wednesday.
Relatives say his next stop will be North Carolina, where he will be buried next to his father in a veterans cemetery.
Those close to Rajah say they have no idea what the argument between the two men was about.
Julia Reynolds can be reached at 648-1187 or jreynolds@montereyherald.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment