Whatever happened to ... Alcohol too much for Darryl to overcome

photo Darryl Linticum sits outside Generations Group Home. He was sent to the group home after being arrested hundreds of times in Hamilton County and East Ridge for public intoxication. Staff photo by Joan Garrett McClane

Q. Whatever happened to Darryl Linticum?

A.The last time the Times Free Press wrote about Darryl Linticum in June 2011 ("A burden so great"), he had been sent by a judge to a group home near Memphis to sober up.

Darryl is a local man with schizophrenia. He had been arrested at least 160 times for public intoxication and racked up thousands of dollars in unpaid court costs.

While at the group home, if he took his medication and stopped drinking, then and only then would his sister Paula Tucker allow him to return to the family home in East Ridge.

They hoped, after nearly 20 years of suffering from the debilitating mental illness and alcoholism, he would finally find help.

But after less than a year at the group home, Darryl left the support behind and started walking the roads again.

According to arrest reports, he was picked up on Jan. 31, 2012, in Shelbyville, Tenn., about halfway between Nashville and Chattanooga. A story that ran in the local newspaper, the Times-Gazette, said he was charged with public intoxication after jumping in front of a car.

He told officers he wanted a ride to Chattanooga, police said.

When he got out of jail and back to East Ridge, he lived with his sister Judy for a few months. But his drinking again took a toll, and he was arrested for public intoxication in June 2012, arrest records show. Judy couldn't care for him, and their mother, Vicki, refused to let him come home, Paula said.

Paula decided then to drive Darryl to Nashville. He told her he wanted to be taken to a halfway house in the city. So she left him in front of the Nashville Rescue Mission on Lafayette Street, she said.

His family hasn't heard from him since. Workers at the mission said the last time they saw him was September 2012.

"He didn't even say 'bye to me," Paula said.

This update was written by staff writer Joan McClane. Contact her at jmcclane@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6601. Follow her on Twitter at @Joan GarrettCTFP. To suggest a topic for Whatever Happened To, email news@timesfreepress.com.

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