There is something that is just NOT right about this.  I can feel it.  --Laura, aka, whereabouts.

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Police: Suicide victim was robber

JOLIET -- Police say it appears the man who hanged himself last weekend in Pilcher Park was the same man who robbed two gas stations with dynamite.

David L. Newberry, 44, of Joliet was found hanging from a tree at 5:25 p.m. April 19 by a father and son hiking through the park.

"We had probable cause to believe he was involved in two robberies on April 16," Deputy Chief Patrick Kerr said.

At 1:55 a.m., a man came into the Marathon Gas Station, 1529 N. Broadway, and placed a clear plastic bag containing red cylinders on the counter. The man told the cashier the cylinders were an explosive device.

"As long as you give me cash, I won't blow this place to smithereens," he told the cashier. The man took $200 and left in a pickup.

At 5:35 p.m., Clark Oil, 1522 Clement St., was robbed when a man came in and opened his coat to show "six red sticks held together by electrical tape."

The man told the cashier, "Give me all your money or I'll blow this place up." After taking $1,167, he left in a green pickup. No one was injured in either robbery.

Kerr said Newberry was "positively identified" from the Marathon robbery and appeared to be connected to the Clark robbery.

"Our detectives had been actively looking for him on the day his body was found," he said.

Newberry, listed as a mechanic, was arrested by Joliet police in October on charges of forgery and identity theft. In April 2006, he was arrested by New Lenox police on a charge of driving on a revoked or suspended license.

Kerr said Monday police had not recovered any explosives or cash during the investigation.