AMHERST, Mass. -- A peace demonstrator who immolated himself in an apparent protest against the Persian Gulf war was a 30-year-old, part-time schoolteacher with no known connection to the anti-war movement, police said Tuesday.
Gregory D. Levey of Amherst, the son of a Boston Globe columnist, was identified by state police following an autopsy of the charred body by a state pathologist earlier in the day.
Levey, who police said was single and lived alone, walked onto the Amherst Common Monday afternoon, poured as much as 2 gallons of paint thinner over his body and then set himself ablaze with a match, according to witnesses.
A sign reading 'Peace,' with Levey's driver's license taped to it, was found near his body.
Stunned bypassers ran to Levey's aid and tried to smother the flames with coats and a blanket. A police officer finally doused the flames moments later with a fire extinguisher.
It was believed to be the first incidence of self-immolation in the country since the Persian Gulf war began Jan. 16. The town common has been the scene of almost weekly anti-war protests since the Gulf war began, but there were no demonstrations at the time, and police said Levey apparently acted alone.
Levey was the son of the Globe's food critic, Robert Levey, and the stepson of Globe syndicated columnist Ellen Goodman, the newspaper said.
A spokesman for the Globe said the newspaper would have no other statement on the death, saying it was 'private matter.'
The autopsy, performed in Springfield by Dr. Laren Mednick, a state pathologist, showed Levey suffocated in the fireball which engulfed him, a state police spokesman said.
'He died from asphixiation because of self-immolation,' said Trooper Jay Bowman.
Levey, a 1984 graduate of the University of Massachusetts, was a substitute teacher at the Hampshire Educational collaborative in South Hadley, police said.
He had no known connections with any of the anti-war groups in Amherst, which is home to Amherst and Hampshire colleges as well as the 25,000-student university, and no current connection to any of the schools, authorities said.
Bowman said investigators went through Levey's Kendrick Place apartment after the incident, but said they found indication that he was planning to kill himself.
'A check of his apartment revealed nothing outstanding, that this was going to occur, no affiliation with any group, anti-war or any other thing,' Bowman said.
Investigators also found no evidence that Levey had mentioned his plan to friends or relatives, Bowman said.
'At least not at this point, and no one has come forward with any information,' he said.
A woman who was arrested on the common when she tried to place an evergreen 'peace' branch on site of the immolation was arraigned Tuesday in Northampton District Court on charges of trespassing and disorderly conduct. An innocent plea was entered on behalf of Pamela Jeffreys, 42, of Amherst, who was released without bail pending a pretrial conference March 28.
Police said Jeffreys was arrested after she ignored orders not to cross a cordon around the site and insisted on placing the branch on the charred ground.
Police said Levey appeared on the Amherst Common about 2 p.m. After dousing himself with the paint thinner, witnesses said he struck a match, which went out, then lit another which ignited the highly flammable liquid and engulfed him in flames.
The two empty 1-gallon cans of thinner were found nearby, police said.
