Michelle Noce memorial service
SYRACUSE -- A memorial service Wednesday afternoon provided new insight into the life and death of a Syracuse homeless woman.
Michelle Noce, 42, was found unconscious under a bridge near Franklin Square. Police say she later died of a head injury.
Noce's death is labeled "suspicious" and though investigators believe she was involved in a violent confrontation earlier, they can not determine exactly how she suffered the head injury.
Police spokesman Sergeant Tom Connellan says, "the investigation is ongoing" and no one has been charged in connection with the case.
Wednesday afternoon, friends and acquaintances of Michelle Noce gathered in a small park in Franklin Square for a memorial service led by the Reverend John Manno of St. James Catholic Church.
Attending the ceremony were two women who remember Noce as a classmate at Chittenango High School. Laurie Hooper-Medico and Mary Carr-Bersani say Noce had an infectious smile and lived a normal life. Neither knows how she ended up homeless and both were shocked to hear of the circumstances of her death.
Carr-Bersani says she recently saw Noce on a Syracuse street corner begging for money. She says she asked Noce if she needed help but the woman refused.
Two more recent acquantances, Kelly Neilly and Chris Fry told CNY Central's Jim Kenyon that they had lunch with Noce the day before she died. They said she was bruised and battered and complained that she had been in a fight. Fry said the fight was over a nearby street corner that has become a popular spot for panhandling.
During the service, three police officers stood nearby.
In 2009, the City of Syracuse tried to crack down on panhandling by passing a law that was later thrown out on constitutional grounds.
Police then began enforcing a vehicle and traffic law that prohibits people from blocking interstate highways based on complaints that panhandlers were begging for money on exit ramps. A police spokesman says it’s a difficult law to enforce if the panhandlers stay off the road shoulders.
Police can charge a panhandler with harassment if they become too aggressive and physically block your way. But the spokesman says police either have to personally witness the behavior or the victim has to lodge a formal complaint which rarely happens.
