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Community mourns man killed in Homewood fire

Community mourns man killed in Homewood fire

Tia Belvin doesn’t know all of the people who have come up to her in the last day or two, but they’re all telling her the same things about her father.

“[He] was a really good person, and they enjoyed knowing him,” she said, recounting a common theme in the stories.

Ms. Belvin’s father, Calvin Turner, 56, was one of three men killed in a Wednesday morning blaze at a boarding house in Homewood that police said was set by a woman who had been living there. That woman, Latoya Lyerly, 42, was arrested by Pittsburgh police Wednesday night and charged with three counts of homicide and other offenses.

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Mr. Turner, who went by the nickname “Carwash,” was well-known — and well-liked — in the Homewood community.

Latoya Lyerly was arrested by Pittsburgh police on homicide and other charges related to intentionally setting the blaze.
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Ex-mother-in-law: Fire suspect suffers from mental illness

“He washed all the cars in the neighborhood, hence the name Carwash,” said Sarah Machado, 44, of Homewood, who said she was friends with Mr. Turner.

Ms. Belvin, 32, of Duquesne, said that her father had experience selling and detailing cars. But she said she would describe her father as a Renaissance man.

He had some college education, enjoyed painting murals and reading history books, and never missed the opportunity to take walks in Schenley or Frick parks.

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“He liked to have a big canvas to draw on,” Ms. Belvin said. “He really liked to draw trees and flowers.”

Ms. Machado said that Mr. Turner was “very good” at drawing portraits, which he would then hang up in his room in the boarding house.

“That was one of the heartbreaking things,” Ms. Machado said. “When I saw Tia, she asked me if I knew anywhere else where he might have kept some of the paintings and I didn’t.”

Many of the paintings, including a portrait Mr. Turner drew of Ms. Machado, were destroyed in the fire, she said.

Ms. Belvin said that she isn’t bitter toward the woman who police said set the fire. She said that she is just focused on keeping the memory of her father alive.

“He taught me a lot of things that people don’t typically teach you, you only learn by experience,” she said, such as “what a walk can do for you, and when you do something, you make sure that you do it all the way.”

Ms. Belvin said she is planning a memorial service for her father and is organizing a blanket drive in his honor through the Free Store in Braddock.

Andrew Goldstein: agoldstein@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1352.

First Published: February 19, 2016, 5:00 a.m.

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Calvin "Carwash" Turner, of Homewood, was one of three men who died in a two - alarm fire at a Homewood boarding house Wednesday morning.
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