What ever happened to" Wild Bill " who lived in the woods of Penn Hills

He was a former City of Pittsburgh Police Officer who accidentally killed a young child when responding to a call. Bill Reinstien or Wild Bill as everyone knew him slowly went from an average guy to a Hermit  in the 1990's a restless soul who walked around the town with a backpack and lived in a tepee made of blue plastic tarps  in the woods after his home got so bad the township tore it down. He never bothered a soul but some people especially kids taunted him with the name " Chester the Molester" a fictional character from Play boy magazine
The township went after bill in 1995 to remove the tepee and he was arrested at one point and ordered to tear it down but he persisted in living in the woods in late 1990's   his tepee caught fire and when I was with Penn hills 4# we responded and put the fire out .
Supposedly funds where  raised to help get him into a personnel care or other supervised setting but no one knows if it ever happened or where Bill is no he would be 80 years old today he supposedly had a police pension his sister managed but again all speculation. I was reminded of wild bill when I saw a homeless man who looked just like him sitting in a park in monroeville couple days ago was it bill sure could be he may be 80 but age means nothing to some people.
  Last time I talked to Bill was at the Old Dairy Queen on Saltsburg Road in late 90's
  and he was still full of mind and just wanting to live life his way not the way the gov told him.




1 comment:

  1. The way I understood it Bill could not receive his pension because he did not have a permanent residence. That is what he told my friend anyway.

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