You might say he's gone to that Big Crib in the Sky. William Windsor, better known to Phoenicians as "Baby Man," has sucked his last pacifier. According to Phoenix police, Windsor -- a former country-western singer, Broadway actor, heir to the Popular Mechanics fortune, and full-time adult baby/diaper lover -- was found dead in his modest home at 1422 E.Weldon Ave. on January 30. He was a few months shy of his 58th birthday.
A postal employee called police after the mail at Windsor's home had built up for a couple of weeks. Phoenix police spokesman Luis Samudio said that a death investigation was under way, and there were no further details available. A call to the Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed that it has Windsor's body, and that an autopsy was being performed this morning to determine cause of death.
No word yet on whether Windsor died with his diapers on. A visit to his home this morning found his tan Buick with the license plate "DIAPER 1" parked in his driveway next to empty cat food bowls. In the backyard, frilly pink baby nighties, like the kind Windsor wore 24-7, hung on a clothesline. Through the side door, Windsor's oversize crib, which he slept in as part of adopting the lifestyle of an infant, could be glimpsed in the distance.
Windsor earned minor celebrity through former New Times reporter Joe Watson's 2005 cover story, "Baby Man," which documented Windsor's infantilism and remains one of New Times' most popular stories online. Watson described meeting the beer-drinking, cigarette-smoking adult bambino at a local tavern for their initial interview. Windsor wore "a pink bonnet over his golden locks," a pink dress, a diaper, bobby socks, and patent-leather shoes. According to Watson, Windsor reeked of baby powder.
Although Windsor traced his baby obsession all the way back to his earliest memories, it wasn't until 2004 that he went "24/7 AB/DL," not long after his father's death in late 2003, which netted him a cool $1.25 million inheritance. After that, he went everywhere dressed as an infant. Trained himself to go to the bathroom in his diapers. Ate baby food. Adopted an alter ego named "HeidiLynn." Hired women to "mommy" him.
When Watson did his story, Windsor was living in a small one-bedroom apartment. Documents at the Maricopa County Recorder's office show that he purchased the property at 1422 E. Weldon Ave. in the fall of 2006.
Windsor appeared on a memorable episode of The Jerry Springer Show dedicated to adult babies, and he maintained a Web site about his activities at heidilynnsworld.com. His neighbor Rose Hartman remembered him as a quiet man who mostly kept to himself.
"He never came out in the daytime much," said Hartman, who lives across the street from Windsor's home. "He only came out at night."
Hartman said she never knew Windsor's name, and simply referred to him as "Diaper Man," though Windsor had once introduced himself to her as HeidiLynn. She related that the mailman told her he had looked through Windsor's window to check on him, and saw a mass of flies.
"It smelled like 16 cats had died in there," said Hartman. "When the police came, they had to break down the back door to get in. I don't know where he was [in the house], but the maggots and everything were on him and stuff. He was just like a blob, that's how people described him."
Police would not say how long Windsor had been deceased. Interestingly, the blog site CrankyJennie reported a Baby Man sighting the weekend of January 10 at a local performance of the Broadway musical Hair. According to Watson's story, Windsor "starred in Hair, in the lead role of Claude, at the height of the anti-war movement of the early 1970s."
Windsor's demise has already been noted on the DailyDiapers chat board, where HeidiLynn's comrades and friends are posting remembrances.
"You were never down on life, and we will miss you," writes "Vic" on the thread dedicated to Windsor. "May all of us remember her for the great friend that she was to us all."
