It is with great sadness and great frustration that I report my knowledge of the events surrounding the murder of my friend "Biloxi Mike" Surber. The report by Jay of his contact’s story is only partially true. I've avoided even looking at the posts concerning this subject on AZbilliards. It would be unbearable to read all the hysteria, innuendo, fabrication and misinformation regarding this horrible event that is the hallmark of that site.
I came to Skeeter's Billiards at my usual time Tuesday afternoon (Nov. 10). Mike was playing friendly pass-time one-pocket with another friend of mine, Jerry, who works at the Beau Rivage with Mike. Mike and Jerry have been friends for years. I took the table next to theirs, and commenced to practice.
Shortly I noticed a stranger standing about 15 feet away, intently watching Mike and Jerry play. He just stood there sipping on a bottle of beer and watching. Presently he came up to the two men, and asked Mike if anyone liked to gamble. Mike said he did, and they walked up to the bar for a conversation. Mike then came back and resumed play with Jerry.
The stranger presently walked over again and told Mike that he had been watching him play, and that he couldn't beat Mike. Mike remarked that one-pocket was his best game, but that he also played 9-ball. At that point the guy started telling the two that he and partners had a recording studio in Atlanta, and that he was in the Gulfport/Biloxi area to scout locations for a new studio. From then on I paid only partial attention to what they were saying. Most of it I wasn’t interested in. Some of it I couldn't hear.
I didn't like the looks of the guy. He was rather swarthy looking, with dark hair pulled back into a pony-tail. He had on a medium blue long sleeved dress shirt, and dark slacks. He had a soft voice-- rather disarming and non-threatening, and had the allure of an experienced con. That package put up a red flag to me, and I didn't even want to meet the guy. However, I just figured him for a bullshitter.
I heard him tell Mike that he needed someone to show him around the casinos, and help him get the lay of the land. He asked Mike if he'd do it. Mike said, "You mean right now?" I recall thinking to myself that that was the wrong answer. Why would Mike even consider it?
Anyway, Mike agreed to help the guy out. Mike called another friend of his to tell him that he and this guy would be driving Mike's pickup over to the friend's house to pick up Mike's car (Mike had left it at the friend's when he had anticipated damage from tropical storm Ida), and then they would drop Mike's pickup back at Mike's house so that they could use his car for the "tour".
They left the poolroom at around 4 PM. Then Jerry moved over to my table to play pool with me. We both were surprised that Mike would take this guy at his word, and leave with him. We thought it was strange --that although Mike was a normally a wary guy, and usually very cautious and suspicious-- but this time he seemed to drop his natural guard. I think Mike had simply fallen for this guy’s line of crap.
They first stopped off at an attorney friend of Mike's, to see if the guy might need any legal assistance in setting himself up in Biloxi. The attorney was not in the office, so the guy left his business card (which turned out to be a stolen card), and they left. I talked with the secretary today. She said the guy creeped her out, and she couldn't figure what Mike was doing with that guy.
They next stopped by Mike’s friend’s house to get Mike’s car. The friend told me he didn’t bother to go out, but that he looked out the glass door and saw Mike start his car, and the guy following in Mike’s pickup.
Very little is known from that point until Thursday (yesterday) morning, when Mike’s car was noticed in the parking lot, parked in an area that was blocking some deliveries. The owner of Skeeter’s saw Mike’s car. He saw that the doors were unlocked, and the keys were in the ignition, so he simply moved it to another spot. Later Jerry came to the poolroom, having heard that Mike never showed up for work at the casino, which had never before happened. He and another guy opened up Mike’s car and saw Mike’s credit cards and license in a rubber band, with no money attached. The then knew that something was very wrong.
They drove over to Mike’s house, but couldn’t get any answer at the door. They came back to the poolroom and called the Ocean Springs police. The police said they couldn’t break in, but that they’d look the other way if his friends wanted to do so. A group of guys then back over to Mike’s. They kicked open a hole through some storm plywood in the back window, and looked in. Mike was laying face down in a pool of blood. They then called the police, who immediately cordoned off the scene, and wouldn’t let anyone in the house.
The consensus opinion of Mike’s friends is that he had been bludgeoned in the back of the head and left for dead. They believe that if he’d been shot, that close-by neighbors would have heard it. They suspect that the murderer then took Mike’s money, and possibly whatever else he could from the house; then drove Mike’s car back to the poolroom, and fled in the perpetrator’s own vehicle.
The police have naturally not commented on any aspect of the case. They and the family will have an autopsy done. I assume that they’ll call in someone from either Jackson or New Orleans. Until then, we have only conjecture to explain this sad and sickening set of circumstances.
We locals are in deep shock over this. One of the guys said he felt as though he was in a coma. I’ve never before had a close friend who was senselessly murdered. It's an awful feeling. I’m just hoping and praying along with everyone else here that they can somehow find the guy who did this.
Doc
