Entombed East Bay Body Identified

Remember how Hassan Ben Ali committed suicide in front of Berkeley police last week? Then, after doing a search of Ali's Ashby Avenue apartment, the police found an entombed body at his residence? Well, it turns out the dead body, -- which was discovered "wrapped up and hidden behind a wall in the laundry room of the complex," according to reports -- was Hassan 's son, Taruk Joseph Ben Ali. It is believed that the latter died of a drug overdose in 2004. Allegedly. Anyway, it turns out his father was keeping his corpse behind a false wall (lined with air fresheners!) in an effort to get free rent. The Chronicle says that "Benali had owned the property, and police believe Bin Ali hid his son's body to continue collecting rent." (Huh?) Although according to KNTV, "[b]oth father and son had been living in and managing the apartment complex," our local rag claims that a "tenant of the building has told The Chronicle that in recent years [Taruk] had been paying rent to Bin Ali, who said he was collecting on behalf of his son." So...yeah. When we know more, we'll update.