Like many of you, I heard the news about the recently deceased St. Francis barber who made a deathbed confession about having killed two children 50 years ago. And I heard he lived in Bay View.

Then I saw the news photos of his home and realized that for the nearly seven years I lived in Bay View, this guy, Vernon Seitz, lived perhaps 100 feet from where I slept -- if that -- and maybe 40 feet from where I parked my car in the alley every night.

That's creepy.

But, if I ever saw the guy, I can't recall it. I remember his neighbors better. Well, not even them personally as much as the Latin conga and flute music emerging from their house, where it sounded like a small band rehearsed.

When Seitz's house was searched last month, police found books about cannibalism, bondage paraphernalia, new cement in the basement and big piles of dirt in the yard. But police tore up the basement floor and searched his barber shop.

Though they found some creepy stuff like newspaper articles on missing kids and a poster of a missing Minneapolis boy, they found no physical evidence connecting Seitz to any murders.

"We have no information to substantiate any allegation that the deceased was involved in any missing children cases or homicides of children," said MPD spokesperson Anne E. Schwartz in a statement. "We have exhausted all possible angles in this case. If we receive credible information that warrants investigation, we will pursue it.

"We want to make it absolutely clear that it is inaccurate to suggest there is ANY link to the Jacob Wetterling case or any other child homicide or crime involving children anywhere in the country. The search warrant yielded drawings by the deceased of children in sado-masochistic situations but absolutely no evidence that he was involved in any crimes. The search warrant was conducted at the beginning of December.

"We want very much to make sure the factual information is shared with the public."

It is possible that the would-be Sweeney Todd was more mentally ill than cold-blooded murderer. After all -- unless you're crazy, who wants to go out that way -- telling the world you not only killed, but that you killed children?

I sure hope he was nuts -- sad as that would be, too -- because thinking otherwise is much, much too painful a thought.