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Hopes for better life cut short Photo by Andy Atkinson Coleen Attanasio and daughter Summer, 7, share memories of Ronald Pageau. Friends fondly recall slain homeless man By JULIE SWENSEN He was more than "just a transient." More than a man who could be dismissed as a nobody -- homeless, unemployed and addicted to alcohol and drugs. To friends of 39-year-old Ronald Albert Pageau, who was killed in Medford this week, he was more than that. He was a man hoping for a better life. "He wasn't just a nobody transient," said Coleen Attanasio, a close friend of Pageau's. "He was a person. He was a father. "He had dreams, too." Pageau's body was found Tuesday in the yard of an abandoned house on North Central Avenue; he'd been hit in the head. Police arrested Howard William Baker and David Leon Zahner, both transients, in connection with Pageau's death. Although Baker and Zahner were initially charged with murder and manslaughter, a grand jury indicted the pair Thursday only on one count each of first-degree manslaughter, a charge that carries a mandatory minimum 10-year prison sentence. According to the Jackson County District Attorney's Office, evidence in the case called into question whether Baker and Zahner acted with the specific intent to kill Pageau. Pageau's death floored Attanasio, who befriended Pageau when he and her common-law husband, Bill, completed a substance-abuse treatment program for fathers through OnTrack Inc. in Medford. Because of confidentiality rules, OnTrack officials said they couldn't confirm that Pageau attended the program. But Bill, who asked that his last name not be used, said Pageau was doing well in the program and was known as "The Miracle Man.'' While Pageau was a tough-looking guy with a tattoo of a noose around his neck, beneath that exterior he was a caring person who wanted to be a productive member of society, Bill said. He also wanted to regain custody of his children, for whom he'd never before taken responsibility. Pageau was optimistic upon graduation from the program and quickly got a job at a metal fabrication plant in Talent. When he'd come to the couple's house, he talked of his desire to stay clean, his love for his children and how he wanted to get things right. He stayed clean while taking care of his son, who idolized him, and his stepdaughter, whom he treated as his own. But once the gradeschoolers' visit from their home in Spokane was over, Pageau's six months of sobriety ended. Attanasio said that when Pageau was alone again, "There just wasn't as much for him to live for." The relapse cost him a place to live at a local men's recovery house, jobs and his car. The couple had to take him to detox a few times. A few days before his death, when Pageau last visited the couple, their three children and six pets, "he said that this was how it was supposed to be," Attanasio remembered. "I think he wanted a family and some stability, and I think he just didn't think he could do it," she said. "I know that he wanted to have a normal life." The couple said they want people to know that Pageau was more than just a transient. While he was known to fight a lot when he was drinking, Attanasio said, "That wasn't the Ron that we knew." She grew to learn that the man with a "demon addiction on his back" was a good person who had a lot of love in his heart. She remembers him as a nice, trustworthy person who had a good sense of humor and who meant a lot to the people who knew him. Attanasio, who still receives Pageau's mail, mentioned she'd like to go see the suspects in jail and tell them who her friend was. "I'm sure it was over a few dollars or drugs or something stupid," she said. "And now he's gone." This is not a story. It's for formatting. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA