gay – CrimeFeed

PACOLET, SC – As a gay man driving in full drag in small-town South Carolina, getting stopped by the cops might understandably seem like an occasion to flip your wig.

For Brandon James, however, his encounter with Pacolet patrolmen at a standard license checkpoint last Friday night really tickled his tassels.

James had been on his way home from a viewing party of RuPaul’s Drag Race at Club South 29. He reported on Facebook that at first he felt fear, writing:

“I freaked out because I was in full drag, live in a very small town and, well, the police aren’t always accepting.”

To his done-up delight, however, James then writes:

“I couldn’t have been more wrong! I would like to thank the Pacolet Police Department for being incredibly kind and reassuring me that I am safe in my town and that they support me and are very progressive. I’m proud to call the town of Pacolet my home!”

The Pacolet Police Department replied to James’s post on its own Facebook page, writing:

“No matter your race, sex, income status, or sexual orientation: We serve and protect you. Everyone is welcome in Pacolet… aside from the criminals. They usually don’t enjoy their stay [winking emoji face].”

On its official webpage, the town of Pacolet recently posted: “Close to everything … far from ordinary’ is more than our community slogan; it is a new attitude. Pacolet’s attitude is best-described in our community covenant, where we promise to take care of each other and preserve nature’s blessings entrusted to us.”

It seems like this is one community that talks it like they (cat)walk it. Shante, you stay, Pacolet!

Read more:
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Fox Carolina
WYFF

Main photo: Brandon James [Facebook]

The post SC Drag Queen Brandon James Stopped By Cops After RuPaul Party — We Loved What Happened Next appeared first on CrimeFeed.

The Corpsewood Manor Murders in North Georgia by Amy Petulla, from Arcadia Publishing, explores this controversial case from 1982 in which two men were brutally and senselessly slain.

Dr. Charles Scudder was a professor of pharmacology at Loyola University in Chicago and the assistant director of the Institute for the Study of Mind, Drugs, and Behavior, where he performed government-funded experiments using psychoactive drugs. He resided with his younger partner, Joey Odom, in a Chicago mansion house full of Renaissance-era antiques, that Scudder referred to both as a mausoleum and a tomb.

In 1976, Scudder had tired of academic politics and city life. He craved the ability to throw himself into a simpler and yet more hedonistic lifestyle, and the privacy to do so. He resigned from his job on his 50th birthday, and after receiving a small inheritance that left him with a monthly stipend, he sold off or gave away most of his possessions and purchased a large plot of land deep in the remote woods of Georgia. He and Odom and their two giant Mastiff dogs, Beelzebub and Arsinath, relocated and basically camped while clearing the land and building, by hand out of 45,000 bricks, what Scudder referred to as their “castle in the country.” The process took about two years to complete.

In 1981, Scudder wrote an article for Mother Earth News in which he described the only thing he’d still enjoyed about his city life was the rats who drank from the pool in his garden. He referred to the move as a “magical metamorphosis” akin to “crawling out of an old, outworn skin.” When Scudder and Odom arrived on their land, they were greeted by a rotting, dead horse, so they named the trail that led to their manor Dead Horse Road. Similarly, the manor itself was dubbed Corpsewood after the stark, bare trees that covered the property. In his article, Scudder rhapsodized about sitting in the courtyard and listening “to the tree frogs and whippoorwills, while bats fly and the clouds drift across the full moon.”

The interior of their castle was bedecked with human skulls, occult symbols and artifacts, gaycentric literature and paintings, and contained a small drawer where the 12,000 doses of LSD Scudder had pocketed from his job resided. According to Petulla, Scudder didn’t use drugs himself, and had stated they can cause “you to run your mouth about your personal life,” but he would share them at parties and probably made some money selling them to local bikers.

They put up signage, perhaps in tribute to the Addams family, that read “Beware of the Thing,” posted a large pink gargoyle at their front entrance, and their gothic dream land was complete.

A gargoyle above the entrance to Corpsewood Manor. Photo: Ralph Van Pelt from The Corpsewood Manor Murders in North Georgia

A gargoyle above the entrance to Corpsewood Manor. [Ralph Van Pelt from The Corpsewood Manor Murders in North Georgia]

To be clear, Scudder and Odom were “Satanists” of the Anton LaVeyan tradition, which, it’s important to understand, means they didn’t actually believe in Satan or a Devil as an entity or deity, but merely as a symbol of self-reliance, independence, and individuality. As confirmed by Church of Satan High Priest Peter Gilmore, Scudder was in fact a “card-carrying” member of the Church of Satan, according to Petulla.

A talented artist, Scudder crafted this stained-glass window for the Manor, depicting Baphomet, a sigil used by the Church of Satan.

The so-called “devil worshippers” were hospitable, welcoming strangers into their home and sharing their homemade wine and even their beds with their guests. They had built a small structure separate from their home, called the “Chicken House,” which actually did house poultry on the lower level, and stored canned food and their porn collection on the middle floor. Upstairs was the “Pink Room,” which was reserved for playtime with the ex-cons, models, and teenagers Scudder would correspond with and invite to the property for sex parties. It contained mattresses, BDSM implements, more porn, and a guest book in which the sexual preferences and photos of their guests were collected.

Occasionally, locals would partake of their sexual hospitality as well, including a small-time teenage criminal named Kenneth Avery Brock, who had met the pair while hunting on their land. According to Petulla, Brock accepted an invitation to party in the Chicken House, where Scudder’s potent wine was free-flowing. Inhibitions fell, and Scudder performed oral sex on Brock. Petulla writes, “While he would later express embarrassment and anger over the encounter, it did not keep the teen from returning for more visits and more sexual encounters.” He even started bringing his roommate, Tony West, with him to Corpsewood. West had a troubled history of murder and mental illness, and was known as a “bad seed.”

West was happy to put any discomfort with the queer couple aside to partake in a free buzz, although when Scudder “had homosexuality with Avery,” and then tried the same on West, he says, “I told him I didn’t believe in it, and I wasn’t brought up that way, and I left.”

West’s obvious disapproval may have affected Brock who, after a few conversations with his roommate, decided that he’d been taken advantage of. The roommates began to conspire to rob the isolated men at Corpsewood, having decided that they must be wealthy. They of course hadn’t realized that part of the point of Corpsewood was to live a spartan existence, without even electricity, and certainly no cash on hand.

In 1983 the Rome News-Tribune covered the testimony of two teens who were basically along for the ride, Joey Lavon Wells and Theresa Lynn Hudgins. They described how Scudder and Odom shared their homemade wine with the foursome and allowed them to partake of huffing the mixture of varnish and paint thinner and other chemicals they’d brought along, although not partaking themselves.

At some point during this drug- and alcohol-fueled hangout, Brock got a rifle he’d brought along from the car, went into the main house, and shot Odom and the two dogs. He then forced Scudder into the house, where he was faced with the carnage, and Brock and West threatened and tormented him in an attempt to find the money they believed was in the house.

When no money was forthcoming, the two men eventually shot Scudder five times in the head, one bullet right in between his eyes, and made off with some silver and jewelry and a Jeep.

Brock and West were eventually captured after an attempt to flee to Mexico, during which they killed another victim, Kirby Phelps, and stole his car. West was found guilty of two counts of murder and sentenced to death. Brock received three consecutive life terms.

This 1983 article states that the Chattooga County authorities “labelled Scudder and Odom as homosexual devil worshippers.” Ironically, considering the attention given to the lifestyle of the victims and their religious beliefs, the two killers actually identified as Christian and had in fact just attended a Bible study only two days before their crimes.

Another compelling and eerie part of this story is the matter of Scudder’s self-portrait, which is visible here. The story goes that Odom had a vision, and after he shared it with his partner, Scudder was inspired to paint the image. The painting shows Scudder with a gag in his mouth and five bullet holes in his forehead. A friend of the couple is said to have claimed that Scudder had told her, about the painting: “That’s how I’m going to die.”

The Corpsewood Manor Murders in North Georgia

Mother Earth News

The Lewiston Daily Sun

Rome News-Tribune

Main image: The Corpsewood Manor Murders in North Georgia cover art

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LEEDS, ENGLAND — On April 23, 2008, 36-year-old Anthony Morley — a muscular chef who in 1993 had won the first-ever title of Mr. Gay UK — murdered, dismembered, cooked, and partially consumed his 33-year-old lover, Bent magazine executive Damian Oldfield.

More specifically, Morley slit Oldfield’s throat, stabbed him more than 20 times, and cut off a piece of his leg. The experienced cook then fried the human meat with herbs, oil, and seeds, and took a bite. After chewing up the cannibal cutlet, Morley spit some out, and threw the rest in his kitchen trashcan.

From there, the blood-splattered Morely ambled over to a nearby kebab restaurant and announced to the staff: “I have killed someone. Call the police.”

Upon being arrested, Morley initially claimed self-defense, telling cops, “I know what I have done is wrong, he tried to rape me, at least he won’t be able to do it again.”

Morley and Oldfield had been in a stop-and-start flirty friendship for several months. Morley, who had previously identified as bisexual, apparently grappled with his orientation.

On the day leading up to the murder, Morley texted to Oldfield: “I have never been happy being properly gay.” In response, Oldfield texted back, “Try me… I’m not your average poof.”

Morley and Oldfield shared a further connection by having both been 1996 contestants on the “sexy man” game show, God’s Gift. In addition, on the episode in which Morley competed, Oldfield was in the audience. Eagle-eyed viewers have since picked out a moment when both players appear in the same TV frame.

After Morley’s rape claim quickly fell apart, he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. His trial commenced in October. On the stand, Morley testified that he and Oldfield had been in bed watching a DVD of Brokeback Mountain when he lost control of his impulses, stating:

“I remember feeling that he was on top of me doing what he was doing. I felt numb and out of control. I felt uncomfortable and betrayed. We had talked about the whole situation. I was not comfortable with having a sexual relationship when we had only just got to know each other. I can only say at some point Damian’s body had just become something I would deal with at work; a piece of meat. That’s the only thing I can think of. That was my daily task, preparing meat.”

The prosecution called multiple psychiatrists and mental-health experts who, after examining Morley, refuted his claims. The court also brought up Morley’s past incidents of drunken violence, including one wherein he chased a male lover around his apartment with a meat cleaver, smashed everything in his room, and threatened responding EMT workers with an air rifle.

The jury took just three hours to return a guilty verdict. Several days later, Judge James Stewart sentenced Morley to life in prison, and told him:

“Before this case, I had associated cannibalism with eras long gone, with the tale of Robinson Crusoe. No longer. You have plumbed depths rarely encountered in our court.”

At present, Morley is behind bars and will be eligible for parole in 2018.

Main photo: Anthony Morley mug shot [Leeds Police Department]

The post Crime History: When “Mr. Gay UK” Killed, Cooked, And Ate His Game Show Lover appeared first on CrimeFeed.

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — On April 27, 1997, 27-year-old Andrew Cunanan bludgeoned his “old friend” Jeffrey Trail to death with a claw hammer in the apartment of a mutual pal, Minneapolis architect David Madson.

Two days later, Cunanan fatally blasted a bullet through Madson’s skull. And, with that, a murder spree kicked off that would ultimately stump the FBI and terrify and mesmerize the entire planet.

Before it ended, Cunanan would kill five victims total — including world-renowned fashion designer Gianni Versace — and ultimately blow his own head off onboard a houseboat with the entire world tuned in from afar.

Andrew Phillip Cunanan was born in California to a Filipino-American father and Italian-American mother. They raised their boy strictly Catholic in a conservative area of San Diego, two factors that presumably stirred conflict within young, ardently homosexual Andrew.

After dropping out of college, Cunanan spent the 1990s cruising chic gay bars, peddling pleasure to high rollers who maintained him as a “kept man,” and eagerly getting mixed up in drugs and two-bit criminal activity.

Andrew Cunanan Wanted poster [FBI]

Related: Crime History: When “Mr. Gay UK” Killed, Cooked, And Ate His Game Show Lover

Cunanan made the 1997 trip to Minnesota after telling friends he was relocating to San Francisco. The exact reasons as to why he murdered Trail and Madson remain a mystery, as do his motives for the next three killings.

From Minnesota, Cunanan drove Madson’s Jeep to Chicago. Once there, he captured 72-year-old real estate mogul Lee Miglin, bound him with duct tape, and stabbed him 20 times with gardening shears and a screwdriver before finally slicing through the millionaire’s neck with a hacksaw.

After that, Cunanan swiped Miglin’s Lexus and hit the road for New Jersey, where he shot William Reese, a 45-year-old Civil War–cemetery caretaker.

The FBI placed Cunanan on its famous Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List and searched frantically for him over the next two months. Remarkably, Cunanan “hid in plain sight” among Miami’s bustling gay scene.

With startling effectiveness, Cunanan frequently changed his appearance. One witness speculated that he had several wigs. The FBI even issued a Wanted posted featuring variations on the fugitive’s different “looks.”

At one point, though, either out of desperation or cockiness, he pawned some items for cash using his real name. As a result, law enforcement agencies knew generally where Cunanan was as he continued to elude them. They just couldn’t catch him.

On July 15, Cunanan shocked the entire planet when he brazenly walked up to Gianni Versace, then 50, and shot the beloved international fashion icon dead outside the designer’s own home. It happened in broad daylight, as Versace returned from a morning walk. A witness gave chase, but Cunanan escaped.

As the public reeled in shock, investigators found Reese’s truck in a nearby parking garage, containing Cunanan’s clothes and newspaper clippings about his other murders. Authorities tightened the dragnet around Miami.

Eight days later, the caretaker of a locally docked houseboat reported an intruder. Officers deduced it was Cunanan and prepared for a standoff and possibly even a gunfight.

As if knowing his time was up, Andrew Cunanan pointed the same semi-automatic pistol he’d used to kill his three shooting victims against his own temple and squeezed the trigger. Police, not knowing that their suspect lay dead inside, surrounded the boat for five hours before going on board and discovering Cunanan’s body.

Immediate speculation cropped up as to what Cunanan’s motives may have been. The most popular theory early on was that he had been diagnosed as HIV-positive, and the spree was some kind of “revenge run” against other gay men or former partners. An autopsy, however, proved that Cunanan did not carry the virus.

A 1997 New York Times article discussing what might have set Cunanan off brings up that he had recently lost his place as the “kept man” of an older millionaire he’d been living with for a year. Cunanan had been forced to move into a modest apartment that he shared with a rommate. Tim Barthel, the owner of a gay bar Cunanan frequented, stated, ”He complained to friends that he was broke. He had gotten rid of his car. He was living in a dumpy apartment. All the pretenses were gone. He couldn’t be the top dog anymore. He couldn’t be the center of attention.” Barthel then added, ‘‘Well, I guess I shouldn’t say that, because he is now.”

Still, the most direct answer to the question of why Andrew Cunanan did what he did remains, simply, that no one knows. As such, more than just a serial killer died on board that vessel on July 24, 1997. He took with him a tragic secret that can only keep the world guessing.

Main photos: Andrew Cunanan [FBI]

The post Crime History: Versace-Killer Andrew Cunanan’s 1997 Murder Spree Begins appeared first on CrimeFeed.

MISSION VIEJO, CA — On May 14, 1983, Randy Kraft got pulled over for suspicion of drunk driving. That suspicion proved right on the money. Upon exiting his Toyota Celica, Kraft dumped the contents of a beer bottle onto the pavement and promptly failed a sobriety test.

California Highway Patrol Officers Michael Sterling and Sergeant Michael Howard noticed that Kraft’s pants were unbuttoned. Howard also observed somebody slumped over in the passenger seat. Upon trying to rouse the young man, Howard realized he was dealing with a corpse. The passenger turned out to be Terry Lee Gambriel, a 25-year-old Marine that Kraft had strangled to death.

Gambriel was also the last of Kraft’s murder victims, one of an unknown number of men the outwardly successfully computer programmer had slaughtered since 1972 and kept track of with a coded list, hence prompting his nickname, “The Scorecard Killer.”

Randy Kraft on trial [WikiPedia]

In April 1989, a jury convicted Kraft for 16 of those homicides. Judge Donald A. McCartin, upon sentencing Kraft to be executed, said, “If anyone ever deserved the death penalty, he’s got it coming.”

Over his horribly prolific run, Randy Kraft did more than merely murder the men he typically lured into his vehicle with the offer of a ride (many victims were hitchhikers) or a wild night out (many victims were also young gay men looking for a place to party).

The killer’s modus operandi involved plying his prey with alcohol and drugs, then binding them, raping them, and committing unspeakable agonies upon their bodies.

Kraft burned many victims’ genitals with his car’s cigarette lighter. He shoved foreign objects up their rectums. One man had a swizzle stick inserted deep inside his urethra. Still others had their penises and testicles cut off. Dismemberment, in general, was common.

After hours of such horror, Kraft usually strangled his victims, but he also beat some to death, and stabbed at least one. Afterward, Kraft would ditch their bodies alongside or near freeways, usually in California, but also in Oregon and, at least twice, in Michigan.

Due to this disposal method, Kraft initially came to be called “The Freeway Killer.”

Randy Kraft, 2007 mug shot [California Department of Corrections]

That moniker changed, however, upon his arrest, when police discovered his neatly handwritten, fastidiously kept record of criminal activities. The list goes up to 61, but suggests 76 total murders. After that, Kraft became, and remains, “The Scorecard Killer.”

The original entry on Kraft’s scorecard reads “Stable.” It’s a reference to a Long Beach gay bar called The Stables, where 30-year-old Wayne Dukette served drinks. He also became Kraft’s first known victim. Once investigators figured out that cryptic note, cracking the code became possible, but still loaded with challenges.

Some items proved easy to connect to crimes, such as “EDM,” the initials of victim Edward Daniel Moore, or “Marine Head BP,” a reference to military recruit Mark Marsh, who Kraft decapitated near Buena Park.

Police have linked Kraft’s scorecard to 45 murders and disappearances. Twenty-two coded bits remain mysteries, and Kraft has proven resolute in not assisting officers with unraveling those puzzles.

Among the other unanswered questions surrounding Kraft is whether or not he always worked alone. Many in law enforcement believe he had at least one accomplice with him for more than one killing, usually lovers with whom he was in a relationship.

Angel of Darkness by Dennis McDougal, front cover image [Amazon]

In 1991, journalist Dennis McDougal authored Angel of Darkness, a true-crime book about Kraft. Two years later, Kraft sued the writer, claiming he’d sullied his “good name” by maliciously painting him as a “sick, twisted man.” A California court dismissed the suit shortly thereafter.

McDougal stuck with covering the case, though. In 2000, he interviewed Bob Jackson, a petty crook who claimed to have assisted Kraft with two killings. Jackson also talked to the police, and said that the scorecard only tallied Kraft’s “memorable” atrocities. The real death toll, according to Jackson, is closer to 100.

Thirty-four years after his arrest, and 28 years since being shipped to death row, Randy Kraft remains alive in San Quentin State Prison. He continues to file appeals for his release, frequently changing attorneys, many of whom describe dealing with Kraft as “extremely difficult.”

As noted in 2013 by Kraft trial jury foreman James Lytle, “He’s lived longer in prison than the whole lives of most of the kids that he killed. I mean, come on now.”

Main photo: Randy Kraft, 2007 mug shot [California Department of Corrections]

The post Crime History: Randy Kraft, The Sicko “Scorecard Killer,” Gets Busted appeared first on CrimeFeed.

Between 1992 and 1999, John Bunting and a trio of sadistic associates splattered the South Australian district of Adelaide blood-red with 12 horrific slayings.

Aided and abetted by worshipful friends James Vlassakis, Robert Wagner, and Mark Haydon, Bunting orchestrated, oversaw, and actively executed the torture-laden homicides. The group largely targeted individuals Bunting judged to be “homosexuals and pedophiles” or, at the very least, “weak.”

The makeshift murder gang dismembered and stored their prey in hidden barrels until finally getting busted on May 21, 1999. At their trial, prosecutors said the men even cooked and ate one victim.

Despite only one killing happening in Snowtown, the case came to be known as the “Snowtown Murders.” The stigma still afflicts the city to this day, where many residents wish the killings’ original nickname had stuck: the “bodies-in-barrels murders.”

John Justin Bunting initially hatched his plan while befriending and mentoring James Vlassakis, the brother of his wife, Elizabeth Harvey. Vlassakis rapidly latched on to his brother-in-law as a father figure and followed him everywhere.

A post shared by @scarybickies on Jun 30, 2014 at 5:46pm PDT

Bunting next enraptured his neighbor, Robert Wagner. (Bunting and Wagner are pictured above.) Mark Haydon also declared himself on board. Fueled by hate of those they deemed degenerates, Bunting knew his boys would back him wherever his rage would take them.

Twenty-two-year-old Clinton Trezise died first. Bunting invited the young man into his home and bashed in his skull. Afterward, Bunting buried Trezise’s remains in his backyard. Next, Bunting murdered Suzanne Allen, a local woman who apparently had become infatuated with him. He dumped her out back alongside Trezise.

Before she died, Allen accused her intellectually disabled neighbor Ray Davies of making sexual advances toward her grandsons. Bunting and Wagner killed him together, after which Bunting kept cashing Davies’ welfare checks. Davies, too, was disposed of in Bunting’s backyard.

Now fully inflamed with a taste for homicide, Bunting, accompanied by Wagner and Vlassakis, slaughtered at will over the next few years. The killings almost always involved torture first which, at the trial, was said to include the use of a hammer, pliers, syringes, cigarettes, rope, handcuffs, and an electric shock generator.

Their victims included:

• Michael Gardiner, 19, a gay crossdresser.

• Barry Lane, 42, another gay crossdresser who had actually been in a previous live-in, romantic relationship with his most vicious assailant, Robert Wagner.

• Thomas Trevilan, a former housemate of Wagner’s who suffered from mental illness and who had helped him murder Barry Lane. Bunting and company killed Trevilan to keep him quiet.

• Gavin Porter, 31, a friend of Vlassakis who was addicted to heroin.

• Frederick Brooks, 17, a schizophrenic relative of Mark Haydon’s by marriage. He was found hanging from a tree, prompting investigators to originally deem his death a suicide.

• Gary O’Dwyer, 29, who suffered debilitating handicaps as a result of a car accident. Bunting ordered him dead so he could collect his welfare payments.

• Troy Youde, 21, a stepbrother that Vlassakis accused of molesting him.

• David Johnson, Vlassaskis’ half-brother who Bunting deemed weak. After torturing Johnson to get his bank account info, the gang fried and ate parts of his body.

With this many people going missing so quickly in so small an area, police took notice. Bunting’s boys felt the heat and leased an unused bank building to hide the barrels into which they ditched all the lifeless bodies.

In January 1999, the gang murdered Elizabeth Haydon, Mark’s 37-year-old wife, in order to steal her pension. Officers investigating this latest disappearance smelled something fishy about Mark and his friend suddenly acquiring the bank property.

Police launched surveillance operation of the bank and, shortly thereafter, discovered the horrifying reality contained in all those barrels.

The trial of Bunting and Wagner, his main accessory, lasted an entire year, making it the longest in Australian history. Neither expressed remorse. After being found guilty, Bunting was sentenced to 11 consecutive life terms; Wagner got 10.

Vlassakis turned state’s evidence and pleaded down to four guilty murder verdicts. Haydon went down for assisting with five murders.

Following the trial, Snowtown experienced a brief tourist boom, and local shops even sold bad-taste gag gifts such as miniature barrels marked, “Come to Snowtown — you’re in for a barrel of fun.” The macabre humor streak didn’t last, though, and Snowtown citizens have long campaigned for a name change.

Main photo: Barrels [Pixabay]

The post Bodies In Barrels Down Under: Australia’s Hate-Fueled “Snowtown Murders” appeared first on CrimeFeed.

CHICAGO, IL — After seven months of conceiving and planning “the perfect crime,” University of Chicago students Nathan Leopold, 18, and Richard Loeb, 17, lured 14-year-old Bobby Franks, Loeb’s second cousin, into a rented car on May 21, 1924.

While Leopold drove, Loeb reached up from the backseat and smashed Franks in the skull repeatedly with a chisel. The boy died gurgling shortly thereafter.

The murder arose from Leopold and Loeb’s obsession with philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s concept of the “superman” — an individual of supreme intellect and extraordinary abilities beyond the unwashed masses surrounding him.

Leopold and Loeb prison mugshots [Illinois Department of Corrections]

Nathan Leopold, a brilliant scholar and gifted athlete, believed himself to be just such a superman. In short order, he convinced Loeb that he, too, shared the same elevated status.

Leopold even wrote at the time:

“A superman is, on account of certain superior qualities inherent in him, exempted from the ordinary laws which govern men. He is not liable for anything he may do.”

Numerous observers have mused on what role the boys’ shared “otherness” played in their drawing this conclusion, as well. Both Leopold and Loeb came from prominent, wealthy families, both were Jewish, and — most dangerously, given the time and place in which they lived — they were homosexual lovers.

Emboldened by their “superman” identities, the pair embarked on a petty-crime spree that soon escalated up to the coldly calculated slaying of Bobby Franks.

An intense police investigation matched a pair of eyeglasses found near Bobby’s remains to Leopold. Under interrogation, Loeb cracked first, saying Leopold did it. In turn, Leopold said Loeb did it. The death penalty was very much on the table when the two youths went before a jury.

In what was deemed “The Trial of the Century,” larger-than-life defense attorney and capital punishment opponent Clarence Darrow represented the accused. He claimed the boys were insane, and used their homosexuality as evidence.

Clarence Darrow [WikiMedia Commons]

Darrow’s closing argument consisted of a 12-hour speech, thought by many to be the greatest of his legendary career, in which he argued against the state killing criminals. It worked. Leopold and Loeb each got a life sentence for the murder, plus 99 years for the kidnapping.

In 1936, Loeb got slashed to death by his cellmate, James E. Day.

Leopold lived far longer. He reinvented himself as a model prisoner, teaching high school and college courses to his fellow inmates and volunteering for experimental malaria treatments. After 33 years, Leopold was paroled in 1958. He moved to Puerto Rico, married a woman, and worked as a medical technician. He died at age 66 in 1971.

The case has fascinated the public from the moment it broke. Leopold and Loeb remain fixtures in gay culture, as well as objects of endless examination and debate. Here are five examples of the killer duo in popular culture.

ROPE (1948)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: John Dall, Farley Granger, James Stewart

Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope is adapted from a popular 1929 British play of the same name that substitutes the names Brandon and Granillo for Leopold and Loeb, and switches the setting to London.

Hitchcock moved the action again to 1940s Manhattan and called the killers Shaw and Morgan. The Master of Suspense also performed an artistic experiment with Rope: it appears to happen in real time and through one continuous, uninterrupted take. [New York Times]

COMPULSION (1959)
Director: Richard Fleischer
Cast: Dean Stockwell, Bradford Dillman, Orson Welles

Compulsion is a dynamic big-screen adaptation of an eponymous best-seller by Meyer Levin based closely on the Leopold and Loeb Case. Levin was a classmate of the killers at the University of Chicago. Leopold sued him for defamation and lost.

It is a perfectly cast film, directed with crackling energy by Richard Fleischer (10 Rillington Place). Dean Stockwell stands in for Leopold as “Steiner”; Bradford Dillman plays Loeb as “Strauss.” In the Clarence Darrow part as “Jonathan Wilk,” Orson Welles delivers one of his career-best bravura performance, particularly during his hugely moving closing argument. [TCM]

SWOON (1992)
Director: Tom Kalin
Cast: Craig Chester, Daniel Schlachet, Ron Vawter

As part of the early ’90s “new queer cinema” movement that launched filmmakers such as Gus Van Sant and Gregg Araki, Tom Kalin’s Swoon is a confrontational, blackly comic take on the Leopold and Loeb case from a defiantly gay perspective.

Like the killers themselves, Swoon offers no sympathy to Bobby Franks or his loved ones, and instead focuses on the unjust oppression of homosexuality that it contends in no small part motivated the murder. [Roger Ebert]

THRILL ME: THE LEOPOLD AND LOEB STORY (2003)
Creator: Stephen Dolginoff

Featuring a book, music, and lyrics by out-and-proud New York theater mainstay Stephen Dolginoff, Thrill Me recounts the Leopold and Loeb saga as, of all things, a song-and-dance extravaganza.

The show debuted as a small production in 2003 and moved to Off Broadway in 2005. It has since been performed all over the world in more than 100 productions in 16 countries and 10 different languages. [Dramatists]

BEHIND MANSION WALLS: “THE PERFECT CRIME” on Investigation Discovery (2011)

Behind Mansion Walls is an acclaimed Investigation Discovery documentary series that delves deep into true crimes committed by the very rich. New York Times journalist Christopher Mason acts as host.

The show’s second episode, “The Perfect Crime,” examines Leopold and Loeb’s killing of Bobby Franks, along with its ongoing cultural aftermath, through the use of vintage photos, expert interviews, and dramatic recreations. The resulting take on this continually provocative tragedy proves to be shocking, educational, and moving. [Investigation Discovery]

Main photo: Nathan Leopold (left) and Richard Loeb [WikiMedia Commons]

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In the early morning hours of June 12, 2016, a gunman walked into Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, and opened fire.

Hours later, 49 people would be dead and 53 more wounded. Police faced a scene of mass carnage and a dance floor full of bodies, broken glass, blood, and the haunting rings of cell phones that would never be answered.

But what was the crazed killer’s true motivation? Was he a member of a terrorist organization? Mentally ill? Or, as some have suggested, a man struggling with his sexuality whose secret life filled him with rage?

The attack, which would become the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, is the subject of a new episode of The Real Story With Maria Elena Salinas on Investigation Discovery.

Angel Santiago [Investigation Discovery]

Salinas spoke to survivors of the attack including Angel Santiago and his friends, Jeff and Valatou Tassopoulos — better known as “V.” According to Angel, the atmosphere at Pulse — where they were holding Latin night — was “popping” as people drank, danced, and had fun.

At 1:45 A.M., the DJ announced last call, and Angel and Jeff went to the bar to order a drink, while V waited by the speakers.

That’s when Jeff said they heard several “pops,” and saw flashes. Angel went to the bathroom to wait it out, and Jeff soon followed him. The men locked themselves inside the bathroom’s handicapped stall along with 15 or 20 other people who were huddled down in terror.

Like many of the survivors, Jeff and Angel first believed that the shooting was some type of domestic dispute. They had no way of knowing that Omar Mateen, the 29-year-old American-born son of Afghan immigrants, was set on killing as many people as possible in the club.

According to the FBI, Mateen had been investigated in the past when he was working as a security guard, and concerned coworkers called and said Mateen claimed to have terrorist connections.

Jeff and Angel Santiago in happier times [Investigation Discovery]

Former coworker Daniel Gilroy said that Mateen was “obsessed” with mass shootings and expressed hatred for various groups.

“This was very little about religion, terrorism, Muslims, anything to do with that. This was a frustrated, angry man who had mental issues and he took it out on the people who he felt were the cause of his pain and anger.”

As the rampage continued, Orlando’s 911 dispatch was flooded with calls from people hiding inside the building.

Back in the bathroom, the survivors were horrified when Mateen made his way in, and shot under the bottom of the stall. Jeff was shot in the leg; Angel was shot on his right knee and his left heel. “There was blood everywhere. It was chaotic,” he said.

At some point they heard a sound that resembled police walkie talkies, and according to Jeff, one of the wounded victims started screaming for help. But it wasn’t help coming; it was Mateen — and he had a police scanner.

“When he came back, he shot her point-blank,” Jeff said. “She fell back. She died in my arms.” Jeff said that the group could hear the shooter reloading — and laughing — before shooting the stall again.

Luis Leal [Investigation Discovery]

This time, Jeff was shot in the collar area. Believing that he was about to die, Jeff posted a good-bye message on social media to his friends and family.

That’s when Angel and Jeff heard a voice and realized that V, who they had lost in the chaos, was packed into the same stall as them. While V applied first aid to Jeff’s wound, Angel crawled out of the bathroom on his elbows.

When he saw SWAT team members in the hall, he told them that survivors needed help.

Eventually, police made the decision to blow through the exterior wall in the bathroom — and then slammed a SWAT truck into it to make the hole larger so that survivors could crawl out. After the last survivor came out through the hole, the gunman appeared, and police shot him dead.

The scene outside Pulse was chaotic [Investigation Discovery]

In a call to 911, Mateen identified himself as an “Islamic Soldier” and pledged his allegiance multiple times to the militant Islamic Jihadist group ISIS. But it soon emerged that Mateen, who was married with a young child, was leading a double life.

A man, Luis Leal, who said he was a former lover of Mateen’s, told Salinas that the man he knew was “quiet and gentle,” and appeared to be looking for love. Leal said that the pair had been lovers for several months after meeting online, and Mateen told him that his father had forced him into marriage for religious reasons.

Jeff was in critical condition after the shooting [Investigation Discovery]

Leal said that Mateen was a regular at Pulse due to the fact that he loved Latino men, but that he had become angry after he spent the night with two Puerto Rican guys — and in the morning one of them jokingly said that he was HIV-positive. Leal believes that this may have enraged Mateen, and sent him into the club looking for revenge.

Mateen’s wife, Noor Salman, told The New York Times that she had no idea what her husband was planning, and expressed sympathy for the victims. Initially, though, she had said that she was with her husband when he went to buy ammunition and a holster the night before. Salman said that Mateen was physically and emotionally abusive, often hitting her and calling her the Afghan word for “slut.”

The FBI is still investigating Mateen’s possible connections to terror groups, and as the investigation into the gunman’s motives continues, the survivors are attempting to move on with their lives.

Jeff was in critical condition, and woke up in the hospital two days later. V said that she still struggles with flashbacks of the horrific night. But Angel said that something positive came out of his experience: It motivated him to re-enroll in school and study to become a nurse.

To learn more about this case, watch Investigation Discovery’s “Pulse Nightclub: The Hidden Truths” episode of The Real Story With Maria Elena Salinas on ID GO.

Business Insider

Main photo: Omar Mateen [Wikimedia Commons]

The post Maria Elena Salinas Reveals Exclusive Interviews On The Pulse Nightclub Mass Shooting appeared first on CrimeFeed.

QUEBEC, CANADA — Luka Magnotta, the “Canadian Cannibal” porn star who filmed himself killing and eating a victim in 2012, has found romance behind bars.

Even more delicious, the lovebirds share a common quirk: They’re both cold-blooded murderers!

After hooking up on the website Canadian Inmates Connect, Magnotta, 34, is set to wed fellow life-termer Anthony Jolin, 36, in a ceremony at the Port-Cartier Institution on June 26.

Anna Yourkin, Magnotta’s mother, will serve as a witness. Sorry, the public is not invited.

Jolin had been doing a six-year assault stretch in 2003 when he and cohort fatally shanked another inmate in the shower. Jolin subsequently got life.

Magnotta last made headlines in 2015 when he initially posted a personal ad in pursuit of, as he put it, his “Prince Charming.” Specifically, that meant:

“A single white male, 28-38 years of age, white and in shape … who is loyal, preferably educated, financially and emotionally stable for a long term committed relationship.”

Just a month later, Magnotta apparently met Jolin online. Bells have been ringing for the deadly darlings ever since.

Luka Magnotta horrified humanity in 2012 after he posted a video online, “1 Lunatic, 1 Icepick,” in which he murders, dismembers, and cannibalizes Montreal student Jun Lin. He also rapes Lin’s corpse and feeds part of him to a little dog — which he also killed — all to the tune of “True Faith” by synth-rock group New Order.

Afterward, Magnotta mailed parts of Lin’s body to school and political party offices around Canada.

This repulsive tragedy occurred after years of Magnotta desperately chasing Internet notoriety. Along the way, Magnotta modeled, performed in pornography, auditioned for reality-TV shows, claimed to be dating “Barbie Killer” Karla Homolka, and made an unforgivable animal torture video titled “1 Boy, 2 Kittens.”

And now, soon, Luka will have a husband!

Main photo: Luka Magnotta/”CoverGuy” audition YouTube video [screenshot]

The post Cannibal Killer Luka Magnotta To Marry Fellow Murderer In Big Gay Prison Wedding appeared first on CrimeFeed.

NEW YORK, NY — Manhattan jet-setter Jeffrey Rackover — hailed by society’s elite as the “Jeweler to the Stars” — is facing a new lawsuit that alleges he attempted to cover up a November 2016 murder committed by an ex-con he regards as his “son.”

On May 11, 2017, James Rackover, the 26-year-old unofficial “adopted son” of Jeffrey Rackover, was officially charged with the beating, strangling, and stabbing death of Joseph Comunale, 29. James’s pal Lawrence Dilione, 28, who allegedly participated in the crime as well, was also charged with the murder.

The killing took place in James Rackover’s fourth-floor, luxury Upper East Side apartment, which was paid for by his “father.” The jeweler himself lives in the same building, up on the 32nd floor.

New York Daily News dated November 18, 2016 [front cover image]

Related: Party Boy Charged In Cocaine-Fueled Stabbing Death After Fight Over Cigarettes

Dilione and James Rackover — who legally changed his name from James Beaudoin after the jeweler took him “under his wing” — met Comunale that evening while partying. Reportedly, the violence arose during a fight over cigarettes.

After the killing, James Rackover allegedly attempted to dismember Comunale’s body. Three days later, Comunale’s remains turned up, burned and buried, in Oceanport, New Jersey.

Dilione initially confessed to both the killing and the transport of Comunale’s corpse for disposal. James Rackover maintained he was innocent — loudly.

The new civil suit, filed by Joey Comunale’s father, Pat, cites surveillance video that allegedly depicts Jeffrey Rackover visiting his “son” while Joey’s body is in the apartment. The suit further claims that Jeffrey provided James with cleaning materials and access to a 2015 Mercedes in order to move the corpse.

The Manhattan Supreme Court filing also contends that Jeffrey Rackover and James Rackover’s “intimate relationship” hinged on the older man supplying his pseudo-ward with “drugs, money, and other benefits” in exchange for “sexual pleasure.”

In addition, the suit proposes that the cover-up was carefully calculated:

“ [Jeffrey and James] further discussed the coverup as they watched the Dallas Cowboys football game inside of [Jeffrey’s] 32nd-floor apartment . . . just hours after [James] and Dilione killed Joey.”

Talking to the New York Post, Pat Communale explained why he filed the suit, saying:

“[I want] to get justice for my son [and] hold everybody involved accountable for this horrific crime. These guys need to go away for a long time. All of them — and whoever else.”

Jeffrey Rackover, to date, has not been charged with any crime in connection to the murder of Joseph Comunale.

Read more:
New York Post
New York Daily News
Daily Mail

Main photo: James Rackover, when he was known as James Beaudoin [Broward County Sheriff’s Office]

The post Lawsuit: Did Celeb Jeweler Cover Up Murder Committed by His “Son”? appeared first on CrimeFeed.

GALVESTON, TX — Sixty-five-year-old “Mexican card reader” Jose Leyva has been charged, along with three accomplices, in the May 23 murder of Francisco Esparza, 64.

The violence flared over a “cleansing ritual” that Leyva had proposed undertaking on Esparza’s 19-year-old son. The occultist said he could suck out a demon called “The Black Reaper” by performing oral sex on the teen.

Court documents indicate that Leyva had already conducted “prayer sessions” with the teen that involved rubbing olive oil all over the young man’s nude body, including the genitals.

Police allege that once Francisco Esparza caught wind of Leyva’s salacious spiritual practice, he told the “healer” to back off. In response, according to the arrest records, Leyva allegedly ordered Santos Botello, 40; and brothers Jaime Posada, 24; and Ricardo Posada, 21, to execute the concerned dad.

After a May 5 incident during which an unknown assailant stabbed Esparza’s son, the teen started visiting Leyva, who had been a family friend, hoping to break his run of rotten luck. The teen said Leyva worshipped the Roman Catholic Saint Cyprian, but also practiced witchcraft.

After three hands-on Leyva “rituals,” the teen wanted to stop, despite encouragement from his mother and sister to keep going. That’s when, the young man said, Leyva took to dropping by his house constantly and calling him “eight to ten times a day” to warn of the Black Reaper and talk up his sure-fire cure.

On May 23, Francisco Esparza attempted to confront Leyva, specifically to put an end to the harassment of his son. Esparza approached a pickup truck occupied by two men. One of the men shot Esparza multiple times, killing him on the spot.

A passing tow-truck driver saw the commotion and snapped a photo of the pickup as it fled. Due to his quick thinking, the participants were found soon after.

Police believe Leyva ordered the hit, Jaime Posada coordinated it, Ricardo Posada drove the truck, and Santos Botello acted as the shooter.

Leyva said he just sent his goons there to “beat someone up.” He’s presently free on $250,000 bond.

Read more:
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Main photo: Jose Leyva [Galveston County Jail]

The post Sucking Out “The Black Reaper”: Occult Teen Sex And Murder In Texas appeared first on CrimeFeed.

CrimeFeed has been reporting about the film My Friend Dahmer ever since the announcement of a big-screen adaptation of John “Derf” Backderf’s award-winning 2012 graphic novel.

Following the stunning news that the teenaged Jeffrey Dahmer would be played by Disney Channel heartthrob star Ross Lynch (Teen Beach Movie, Austin & Ally), and the movie’s sensational premiere at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival, an official trailer was just released at ComicCon.

The scenes in the teaser video very much evoke Backderf’s moving, funny, and ultimately tragic autobiographical work. The plot chronicles the writer and cartoonist’s high school friendship with young Jeff prior to the sadistic cannibal killings that shocked the entire world.

Ross Lynch looks perfect in the title role. As the trailer moves through moments of Jeff watching his parents, his turning to alcohol to cope, and his winning friends by “acting” insane, Lynch exudes an uncanny mix of soul-deep agony and sympathetic charisma.

It’s easy to see what attracted Backderf and his group of pals to this outsider who is described, fairly, as “a little off.”

FilmRise acquired distribution rights to My Friend Dahmer the day after its debut. The company plans to release the movie to theaters in the fall.

Read more:
Rolling Stone
Nylon

Main photo: Ross Lynch as Jeffrey Dahmer/ “My Friend Dahmer” trailer via YouTube [screenshot]

The post “My Friend Dahmer”: First Trailer For 2017’s Most Anticipated True Crime Film appeared first on CrimeFeed.

NEW YORK, NY — The Kidd Creole has been arrested and charged in connection with the stabbing death of a homeless man in midtown Manhattan.

The 57-year-old rapper, who was one of the founding members of the iconic hip-hop group Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, was arrested on Wednesday at his home in the Bronx.

Law enforcement sources say that Creole, whose real name is Nathaniel Glover, used a small knife to stab the man twice in the chest and once in the head on Tuesday night. The fight started after the victim, who was later identified as John Jolly, 55, allegedly called Glover a gay slur.

According to the Daily News, Glover became enraged because he believed Jolly was hitting on him. Glover had reportedly gotten into a shouting match with Jolly at the corner of E. 44th St. and Third Avenue before the stabbing occurred. Afterward, he fled and left the victim bleeding. Jolly was taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he later died.

Police were reportedly able to identify the rapper through surveillance footage. Sources said Glover works in the area where the murder occurred as a maintenance man and security guard.

Just finish listening to "Fight The Power" @MrChuckD's voice and rhyme pattern makes him one of my all time favorites

A post shared by The Kidd Creole (@thekiddcreole) on May 12, 2015 at 1:27am PDT

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s most significant hit was the 1982 electro rap song “The Message,“ which feature lyrics detailing a grim narrative about inner city violence, drugs, and poverty and made the group a household name. Grandmaster Flash was also recently the associate producer of Baz Lurhman’s The Get Down.

In 2007, the group became the first rap act to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Fox News

TMZ

Main photo: The Kidd Creole (a.k.a. Nathaniel Glover) [Wikimedia Commons]

The post Rap Pioneer The Kidd Creole Of Grandmaster Flash Arrested For Murdering A Homeless Man appeared first on CrimeFeed.

HOLLYWOOD, CA — On September 13, 1943, David Gaspar Bacon, a handsome and wealthy playboy who found fame playing “The Masked Marvel” in the movies, was the victim of a fatal stabbing.

Bacon’s murder mystery — which is still unsolved — and the cryptic clues left behind would prove to be as bizarre as any of the twists he filmed onscreen.

On the day he died, a witness saw Bacon’s car weaving erratically near Washington Boulevard before crashing into a bean field, and a second spectator ran to help Bacon. The actor climbed out of his car wearing only swim shorts and staggered a few feet before collapsing in a pool of his own blood.

An investigation later determined that Bacon had been killed by a single knife wound to the back. A wallet and camera were found in his car, and when the film from the camera was developed, it was found to contain only one image of Bacon — nude and smiling on a beach. Police theorized that the photograph had been taken shortly before his death by his killer.

Police found blood smears and fingerprints in the car — which, according to reports, all belonged to Bacon. Another clue was a crew-neck sweater with several blond hairs, which was found in the car and placed by a witness under Bacon’s head as he lay dying. Since the sweater was too small to fit Bacon. police believed that it could have belonged to the killer.

According to the autopsy surgeon, the blade was around six inches long — and Bacon could have lived for 20 minutes after being stabbed. It was never clear whether Bacon was stabbed inside or outside the car, and the murder weapon was never found.

Investigators searched for clues, but have never determined exactly what happened inside that car or if Bacon knew his attacker — or if, as some experts believe, he may have been forced to drive his killer, or killers, around as he bled to death.

Bacon was born on March 24, 1914, in Barnstable, Massachusetts. He came from a background of wealth and privilege. He had been educated at Deerfield Acadamy, Groton, and Harvard; his father served as Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts; and his grandfather had been Secretary of State for Theodore Roosevelt and Ambassador to France for President Taft.

While summering on Cape Cod, a young Bacon met James Stewart and Henry Fonda, who he later lived with while he struggled to establish himself.

After working as a commercial flyer and drifting for several years, Bacon moved to New York. During his time there he was supported by a wealthy British patron, which led to speculation that he was a gigolo.

Bacon later moved to Los Angeles, where he met and married Austrian opera singer Gretta Kellner in 1942. The couple lived in the Hollywood Hills, and in 1943, Gretta became pregnant with their first child.

But their perfect Hollywood marriage was a sham: In her later years, Kellner revealed that Bacon was homosexual and that she was a lesbian, and that their marriage had allowed both of them to maintain a facade of a “normal” couple so that they could continue to work in Hollywood.

Bacon’s height and striking green eyes soon landed him a screen test with Metro, and in 1942 his first movie, Ten Gentlemen from Westpoint, was released. This was followed by Crash Dive, Gals Incorporated, and The Masked Marvel — the 12 chapter serial for which he is best remembered.

Bacon played the Marvel, a hero dressed in a business suit and a face mask, who fights his Japanese archenemy Sakima. Since Bacon was wearing a mask, the audience did not know who played the hero until the ending.

On the day he was killed, Bacon had reportedly been planning to go to the Santa Monica beach house of their friend Geraldine Spreckles to take a dip.

At first, LAPD detectives believed Bacon could have been killed by a hitchhiker or stranger, but soon found evidence that pointed in another direction. They found out that Bacon had recently rented a cottage in Laurel Canyon, and, in his wallet, they found a key for that cottage.

The owner of the cottage told police that had met Bacon at the cottage in the company of an unidentified man less than 48 hours before his death. He described the man as about 35 years old, five foot eight inches, weighing 140 pounds, and “evidently an Austrian” — and said it seemed that he and Bacon had been arguing.

Gretta revealed that Bacon kept a secret diary written in code. Police searched for it, but it was never found. His attorney also claimed that Bacon had had a premonition that he would die, and left behind a hand-written will only three months before his murder.

Another witness came forward who claimed to have seen a man and woman riding with with Bacon on the day he died, while a man who had been at a service station about a half-mile west of the crash told police that he had seen two people — a man and woman — in the car with Bacon.

newspaper clipping from the Los Angeles Examiner

On September 20, the case took another strange turn when the Los Angeles Examiner was contacted by Blakely A. Patterson, an actor who said he had met Bacon while swimming at Santa Monica Beach and had dinner with him a couple of times. On the day of his death, Patterson claimed that Bacon had told him the man they ate with was blackmailing him for an unspecified reason.

But the next day Blakely recanted his story, saying he had mistakenly identified the man he met as David Bacon, and made up the extortion story. He was arrested, but soon released.

Gretta Bacon collapsed when she heard about her husband’s death. She was hospitalized, and it was later reported that her baby had been stillborn at Hollywood Hospital.

No one was ever charged in connection with Bacon’s murder, and the case remains unsolved.

TomChristopher.com

Main photo: Masked Marvel movie poster [Wikimedia Commons]

The post Who Killed The Masked Marvel? Hollywood Movie Star Murder Still A Mystery appeared first on CrimeFeed.

JACKSON, MI — On September 17, 1997, Benjamin “Tony” Atkins — a ruthless, sadistic rapist and murderer who came to be known as the “Woodward Corridor Killer” — breathed his last.

Atkins died that day in a prison hospital from conditions related to HIV. He was 29. Few mourned his passing.

Tony Atkins came of age in Detroit, the product of a nightmarish childhood. Atkins’ mother was a sex worker, and he said he frequently watched her in action. He also later claimed he’d been raped by (at least) one of his mom’s johns at age 10.

From that horrific milieu, Atkins grew up to become homeless crack cocaine addict. He supported the habit, he said, by working as “a part-time pizza cook and male prostitute.”

Atkins also absolutely despised women in general and sex workers in particular— so much so that, between December 1991 and August 1992, he beat, raped, and fatally strangled 11 of them.

Throughout his homicidal run, Atkins maintained a basic modus operandi. Cruising Woodward Boulevard along one of the scariest and most crime-ridden districts in Detroit, Atkins would score crack and offer to share it with one of the numerous streetwalkers working the area.

He’d then lure his target into a derelict building or an empty lot blocked from street view. Once there, Atkins would attack his victim sexually, and choke her to death while screaming such epithets as “You whore! You b—ch!”

In channeling his rage, Atkins prolonged both the rapes and the strangulations as long as he could. And as noted, he repeated this pattern 11 times in just nine months before got caught — a vile record that got Atkins deemed “America’s fastest serial killer.”

With bodies turning up with such horrific frequency, the Detroit Police teamed with officers from Highland Park, Michigan State Police, and even the FBI to hunt down the killer. Interviewing the locals, State Police detective Royce Alston came across “Donna,” the working girl now thought to be the first victim Atkins tried to murder.

Donna told the detective about somebody named Tony picking her up back at Christmastime. She said she got high with him in an abandoned Howard Johnson’s and then, after catching a vibe that things were turning ugly, she escaped by running stark naked out into the street.

Talking to a reporter later, Donna said, “I couldn’t figure out what else he was going to do but kill me, so I got away.”

On August 11, Donna took a ride with Detective Alston along the Woodward Corridor. She spotted Tony Atkins on a corner, presumably looking to turn tricks himself. Alston brought Atkins in for questioning. Initially, Atkins denied everything. He said he was gay and asked why he’d want to pick up women for anything, let alone sex.

After a while, Detroit homicide detective Sergeant Ronald Sanders took over the interrogation. He achieved a breakthrough by calmly and compassionately saying to Atkins, “You never had a father. I have a son exactly your age. You need to get this off your chest. Talk to me.”

While downing five cheeseburgers, Atkins did just that — he confessed every detail to Sanders. In describing what he did to each victim, Atkins said:

“After raping her, having sex, and hating her for being a woman, I had the desire to kill her for being a woman. I just wanted to hate her and cause her harm.”

He also added: “I killed all 11 of them so I didn’t have to worry about them pressing charges.”

Following a four-month trial, the court sentenced Atkins to 11 life terms, one for each murder. He died just four years later.

Upon learning of Atkins’ demise, prosecutor Michael Reynolds told reporters:

“While no one takes joy in another’s death — even one who has committed such hideous crimes — at least those who lost loved ones at Mr. Atkins’ hands can take comfort in knowing he will never be released back into society.”

To learn more about this case, watch the “Rage Killers” episode of Investigation Discovery’s Most Evil on ID GO now!

Main photo: Benjamin “Tony” Atkins [Michigan Department of Corrections]

The post “I Had To Kill Her For Being A Woman”: Benjamin Atkins, The Woodward Corridor Killer appeared first on CrimeFeed.

HOUMA, LA — After 10 years, innumerable sexual assaults, and confessing to 23 confirmed murders, justice came at last for Ronald Dominique on September 23, 2008 — even it was only partial.

As part of a deal Dominique cut with prosecutors to avoid the death penalty, the killer stood in a courtroom that day and pleaded guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder. District Judge Randy Bethancourt sent the 44-year-old Dominique to the Louisiana State Penitentiary for eight consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole.

Ronald Dominique would never again be free to stalk, rape, and slaughter human prey out in society — but his dire deeds forever impacted the gay landscape of small town southern Louisiana and his lethal legacy will remain forever chilling.

Born in 1964, Ronald Dominique came of age in Thibodaux, Louisiana, a small bayou town where, by all accounts, he never found a place for himself. Bullied for being short, overweight, and homosexual as a teenager, Dominique reportedly also made few friends after growing up and doing “bad” drag performances at backwoods gay bars.

An acquaintance from that bar scene claimed some other gays in the area mocked Dominique for riding around on a motorized bike he won from McDonald’s, mean-spiritedly referring to him as “Miss Moped.” In addition, Ronald Dominique regularly ran into trouble with the law.

Between 1985 and 2002, Dominique racked up charges for everything from telephone harassment to drunk driving to, most forebodingly, rape.

In 1996, neighbors reported a near-nude young man leaping from the window of Dominique’s home, then screaming for help in the street and saying that Ronald had just tried to kill him.

Cops arrested Dominique, but when the court date arrived, his accuser didn’t show. In retrospect, his absence paints a grim scenario.

The body of David Levron Mitchell, 19, turned up first, in early 1997. Later that year, a passerby came across the remains of Gary Pierre, 20. Shortly thereafter, someone found the corpse of Larry Ranson, 38.

Horribly, the bodies just kept coming. All the victims had been strangled or suffocated and most appeared to have been raped prior to being dumped in a sugar cane field, a marshy bayou, or a random ditch.

Over the next nine years, the total known tally reached 23. In March 2005, law-enforcement officers from nine south Louisiana parishes assembled a task force to hunt down what they correctly concluded was a serial killer at work.

In late 2006, an anonymous tipster directed police to Ronald Dominique. The informant had apparently escaped from Dominique’s clutches just in time.

Officers arrested Dominique on December 1. He confessed to the 23 murders and, as Terrebonne Parish Sheriff Jerry Larpenter put it, “He stated how, when, and where they were killed.”

Dominique said he targeted men who appeared desperate — drug addicts, prostitutes, and the homeless.

He trawled gay bars for victims and offered money for companionship. If he thought a potential target was straight, he’d show a picture of a woman he said was wife and proposed they have a threesome.

Upon getting a man home, Dominique would break out a rope or other restraints, claiming it was part of sex game. Once he had the victim bound, Dominique proceeded to commit sexual assault and then either choke or smother his helpless victim to death.

Sheriff Larpenter laid out how Dominique described his mindset during the slaying:

“He [was] nothing on the street, a nobody. But here he had power. Once he got those ropes on them, they were his.”

Forensics connected Dominique to eight of the unsolved killings — the ones for which he eventually got eight life terms.

The total number of community members Dominique took from those seven rural parishes proved devastating, though. As one officer put it: “We don’t have that many homicides in a year.”

The final take on Dominique from Sheriff Larpenter says much:

“He said he killed them because he didn’t want to get caught. But I would think he discovered somewhere on the way to killing 23 that it was not just because of that. I think he discovered he liked it.”

Ronald Dominique, now 53, remains incarcerated at the State Pen in Angola. He is slated to die there.

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Main photo: Ronald Dominique [Louisiana Department of Corrections]

The post Ronald Dominique: “The Bayou Serial Killer” Who Decimated Gay Louisiana appeared first on CrimeFeed.

NEW YORK, NY — More than 25 years after LGBTQ icon Marsha P. Johnson’s body was pulled from the Hudson river on July 6, 1992, the circumstances surrounding her death remain a mystery.

Johnson, a drag queen, activist, and New York City icon who identified as a woman, was reported missing shortly after the 1992 Pride March on June 30. Six days later, her body was found floating in the Hudson River off the West Village Piers. She was 46.

According to the medical examiner’s office, Johnson drowned. The NYPD initially described her death as a suicide — a definition her family and friends reject.

The controversial case is the subject of a new Netflix documentary The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson. Filmmaker David France said he met Johnson soon after he moved from the Midwest to New York City, where she was a key figure in the political movement for LBGTQ equality.

The documentary follows retired Anti-Violence Project counselor Victoria Cruz as she re-investigates the case. Cruz seeks out witnesses and follows leads, including reports that Johnson was seen trying to escape two men down 22nd Street toward the water. The documentary also investigates rumors that she may have been targeted by the mafia or anti-LGBTQ forces due to her activism.

Johnson was born in New Jersey, and moved to Manhattan after graduating high school in 1963. She first worked in a restaurant before pursuing a new life as “the biggest drag queen in the world.”

Johnson modeled for Andy Warhol and performed onstage with the drag performance troupe Hot Peaches.

She was referred to as both the “mayor” and “saint” of Christopher Street, where she was frequently spotted wearing flowers. She participated in the Stonewall riots in the summer of 1969 — and many identified Johnson as the first to fight back against the police during the fracas. She then cofounded trans-rights organization STAR (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries) with activist Sylvia Rivera in 1970, an organization which helped young homeless drag queens and transwomen of color.

Though Johnson reportedly had mental-health issues, many friends and other members of the local community insisted she was not suicidal and noted that the back of Johnson’s head had a massive wound. Others believed that she may have experienced hallucinations, or that she could have jumped to her death in an effort to escape harassers.

One witness reportedly saw someone, a “known rabble-rouser” named Michael, fighting with Johnson days prior to her death and calling her a homophobic slur. Michael allegedly later bragged to someone at a bar, saying that he “had killed a drag queen named Marsha.”

Despite a campaign from Johnson’s friends and vigils at the site where Johnson’s body had been found, initial attempts to get the police to investigate the cause of death were unsuccessful. Finally, in November 2012, Lopez was able to get the New York Police Department to reopen the case as a possible homicide.

According to People, detectives were not available to discuss the investigation, and a spokesman with the district attorney’s office declined to comment.

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People

EqualityArchive.com

New York Daily News

Main photo: Marsha Johnson [Wikimedia Commons]

The post The Controversial Death Of LGBTQ Activist Marsha P. Johnson appeared first on CrimeFeed.

LARAMIE, WY — The murder of Matthew Shepard occurred October 12, 1998. He was only 21 years old. By any measure, the University of Wyoming student’s demise stands as a horrifying tragedy and a heinous, unconscionable act. But the crime quickly took on far larger connotations than just being a homicide.

Shepard died following a six-day coma that resulted from Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney — a pair of local hoodlums he met at the Fireside Bar, a relatively gay-friendly tavern — beating, torturing, and pistol-whipping him.

Henderson and McKinney culminated their pummeling of Shepard by tying him to a deer-proofing fence on a remote, rural roadside and setting him on fire. Afterward, they drove into town and picked a fistfight with a pair of Hispanic youths.

Eighteen hours passed before a passing bicyclist thought he saw a burnt, battered scarecrow hanging up on a fence. Upon closer inspection, the cyclist saw that the figure was Matthew Shepard and he summoned help.

The news story broke fast and went global. Worldwide candlelight vigils honored Shepard as he lingered in the hospital. When Shepard finally expired, the impact proved historic.

In death, Matthew Shepard instantly took on new life as an icon for the unconscionable human toll of homophobia. His murder mobilized the LGBT community to take definitive, outspoken, and active stands against “queer-bashing.” The case also initiated revolutionary legal changes by way of “hate crime” legislation nationwide.

Born in 1976, Matthew Wayne Shepard grew up in Casper, Wyoming. He was an outstanding student, showing an aptitude for politics, languages, and theater. The University of Wyoming selected Shepard to represent the school at the Wyoming Environmental Conference.

Still, Shepard struggled hard with a dark side. He fell prone to panic attacks and suicidal depression, and other mental-health issues prompted multiple hospital visits. To medicate himself, Shepard turned to drugs, both prescribed and otherwise. As a young gay man, he also acquired the HIV virus.

On October 6, 1998, after a meeting of the LBGT student group on campus, Shepard dropped by the Fireside Bar by himself for a drink.

High-school dropouts Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney idled in, bought a pitcher of beer with loose change, and struck up a conversation with Shepard. After hanging out for a while, the three men left the Fireside just after midnight and got into McKinney’s truck. The nightmare ensued from there.

Police picked up Henderson and McKinney after their post-murder brawl, during which they both got injured. Laramie PD Sergeant Rob Debree took McKinney’s statement.

According to court documents, McKinney said he and Henderson pretended to be gay in order to lure Shepard out of the bar so they could rob him. They reportedly commenced the attack after Shepard put his hand on McKinney’s knee. Throughout his interview, McKinney used anti-gay epithets, derisively referring to Shepard as a “fag” and a “queer.”

After committing their atrocities against Shepard, McKinney said they stole his wallet and keys with the intention of robbing the victim’s residence. On their way to Shepard’s apartment, then, the two killers got into the fight with the other two youths.

As authorities built their cases against Henderson and McKinney, the Shepard family had to lay Matthew to rest. Media attention had already turned what might have been a private, personal memorial and mourning period into a major news event.

Worse, the virulently anti-gay, publicity-chasing Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) entered the picture, adding to the Shepards’ anguish and overall tensions.

The WBC protested outside Shepard’s funeral, shouting coarse rhetoric and waving picket signs with messages such as, “Matt Burns in Hell,” and their perpetual go-to, “God Hates Fags.”

Later, the WBC kept up their demonstrations during legal proceedings against Shepard’s killers, but they were counter-protested by “Matthew’s Angels.” The group, founded by Shepard’s friend Romaine Patterson wore angel costumes with broad white wings that they used to obscure the WBC’s signs from public view.

On April 5, 1999, Russell Henderson cut a deal with prosecutors. He pleaded guilty to murder and kidnapping, and agreed to testify against McKinney in exchange for being spared the death penalty. He got two consecutive life sentences instead.

McKinney attempted to roll the dice with a trial. His lawyers maintained that robbery was the lone motivation, although they did propose a “temporary insanity” scenario, claiming that the killer experienced “gay panic” and was not responsible for his actions. The judge tossed that idea out quick.

The jury found McKinney guilty of felony murder. He, too, is presently serving two consecutive life sentences.

In the firestorm surrounding the Shepard murder and his killers’ convictions, political pressure arose to enact or expand “hate crime” regulations. Arguments about the various aspects of such rulings continued for years.

Finally, on October 22, 2009, President Barack Obama signed the “Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act” into law. The same year as Shepard’s murder, James Byrd, Jr., a Black man, was tied behind a car and dragged to death by a pair of racists.

According to the United States Department of Justice:

“[The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Law] creates a new federal criminal law which criminalizes willfully causing bodily injury (or attempting to do so with fire, firearm, or other dangerous weapon) when:

(1) the crime was committed because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin of any person or (2) the crime was committed because of the actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of any person and the crime affected interstate or foreign commerce or occurred within federal special maritime and territorial jurisdiction.”

Around the same time as the law passed, doubts arose in the media — including in some factions of the gay press — as to whether anti-homosexual bigotry may have been Henderson and McKinney’s sole motive in murdering Shepard.

Naturally, this proposition has proven hugely controversial. What remains nondebatable, of course, is that Matthew Shepard met a fate that absolutely no one deserves, and that his loss did lead to gains in understanding and taking actions to correct the fully horrendous impact of unchecked hate.

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Main photo: Matthew Shepard [Wikipedia]

The post The Matthew Shepard Murder: How The Infamous Anti-Gay Hate Crime Changed History appeared first on CrimeFeed.

Two days later, Cunanan fatally blasted a bullet through Madson’s skull. And, with that, a murder spree kicked off that would ultimately stump the FBI and terrify and mesmerize the entire planet.

To learn more about the case, watch the “The Body in the Rug” episode of Investigation Discovery’s Six Degrees of Murder on ID GO.

Andrew Cunanan Wanted poster [FBI]

Related: Crime History: When “Mr. Gay UK” Killed, Cooked, And Ate His Game Show Lover

After that, Cunanan swiped Miglin’s Lexus and hit the road for New Jersey, where he shot William Reese, a 45-year-old Civil War–cemetery caretaker.

At one point, though, either out of desperation or cockiness, he pawned some items for cash using his real name. As a result, law-enforcement agencies knew generally where Cunanan was as he continued to elude them. They just couldn’t catch him.

Eight days later, the caretaker of a locally docked houseboat reported an intruder. Officers deduced it was Cunanan and prepared for a standoff and possibly even a gunfight.

A 1997 New York Times article discussing what might have set Cunanan off brings up that he had recently lost his place as the “kept man” of an older millionaire he’d been living with for a year. Cunanan had been forced to move into a modest apartment that he shared with a roommate. Tim Barthel, the owner of a gay bar Cunanan frequented, stated, ”He complained to friends that he was broke. He had gotten rid of his car. He was living in a dumpy apartment. All the pretenses were gone. He couldn’t be the top dog anymore. He couldn’t be the center of attention.” Barthel then added, “Well, I guess I shouldn’t say that, because he is now.”

Still, the most direct answer to the question of why Andrew Cunanan did what he did remains, simply, that no one knows. As such, more than just a serial killer died onboard that vessel on July 24, 1997. He took with him a tragic secret that can only keep the world guessing.

To learn more about the case, watch the “The Body in the Rug” episode of Investigation Discovery’s Six Degrees of Murder on ID GO.

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Main photos: Andrew Cunanan [FBI]

The post Crime History: Versace-Killer Andrew Cunanan’s 1997 Murder Spree appeared first on CrimeFeed.

On November 28, 1994, Jeffrey Dahmer — aka “The Milwaukee Cannibal” — departed his cell in Wisconsin’s Columbia Correctional Institute for his work detail cleaning a bathroom next to the prison’s gym.

As Dahmer attended to his duties, Chrisopher Scarver, a fellow inmate doing life for a 1990 murder, savagely beat the notorious serial killer about the face and head with a smuggled-in iron bar. Scarver also repeatedly slammed Dahmer’s skull against a wall. Guards rushed the barely alive Dahmer to a local hospital, where he died an hour after arriving.

“People” magazine cover, December 12, 1994

After the attack, Scarver said, “God told me to do it.” Dahmer’s notorious spate of sexual torture murders involving mutilation and cannibalism — particularly targeting gay men of color — disgusted Scarver. In that, he was hardly alone.

Scarver further alleged that Dahmer boasted and joked of his crimes in jail, even shaping his food like human limbs and pretending ketchup was blood. As a result, hatred of Dahmer boiled hot behind bars. Scarver even claimed prison authorities allowed the two men to be together unsupervised, knowing what would be the likely outcome.

Some view the vigilante execution of Jeffrey Dahmer as righteous jailhouse justice. Others reiterate that this was still just another brutal murder, endemic of the system’s failings.

Either way, Dahmer’s demise coincided with a profound technological change that largely transformed the means and the manner he had used to stalk and ensnare victims: homosexual cruising and pick-up spots in public places.

From around 1987 to his capture in 1991, Dahmer frequented gay bars, adult bookstores, bathhouses, and sex clubs in Milwaukee and nearby Chicago to hook up with sex partners. As we horribly found out, many patrons who accompanied Dahmer back to his apartment never made it out alive, let alone in one piece.

Dahmer and his ilk are psychopathic killers. The sexuality of such murderers in no way whatsoever moves them in that direction. The specific circumstances of pre-Internet cruising culture did, however, provide Dahmer and others before him with unfortunately fertile hunting grounds.

“Cruising” novel by Gerald Walker, 1970 cover

Just consider the clandestine nature of the gay cruising scene in the 1970s and ’80s, as well as how its participants were often intoxicated and may well have lived in fear of public shaming. Given those factors, a fully realized picture of serial assailants who picked gay cruisers to be victims is likely not possible.

The first such set of killings to be written about publicly struck New York in January 1973. Over the course of three weeks, a still unknown murderer stabbed six men in the West Village and Brooklyn Heights. Each victim had regularly visited BDSM-themed “leather bars,” which the New York Times described in its coverage as “cater[ing] to homosexuals in leather jackets and dungarees.”

Four years later, the “bag murders” plagued New York. Six male victims were chopped into pieces and deposited into black plastic bags that were dumped in the Hudson River. Subsequently, the bags washed ashore in lower Manhattan and New Jersey.

Police used distinguishing marks on the remains such as clothing and tattoos to conclude that the victims, while never positively identified on an individual basis, shared the consistent trait of being homosexual.

Then, in what appeared to be an unrelated incident, Paul Bateson, a Greenwich Village X-ray technician, picked up film critic Addison Verrill in a gay bar in 1977. Following sex in Verrill’s apartment, Bateson beat the critic in the head with a skillet and ended his life with a knife to the heart.

After being sentenced to 20 years in 1979, Bateson reportedly boasted that he was the “bag murderer” and provided convincing details. Bateson got out of jail in 2004, and he remains the case’s prime suspect. Lack of sufficient evidence and positive victim IDs keep him free.

“Cruising” (1980), European movie poster

As noted, these were just the cases that made the public record. In 1970, New York Times reporter Gerald Walker wrote Cruising, a novel about an NYPD detective who goes undercover in the leather-bar scene to pursue a serial killer. Although a work of fiction, Cruising emerged from and tapped into active fears among New York’s gay residents.

Inspired, then, by the “bag murders,” Hollywood filmmaker William Friedkin famously adapted the book for the screen in the 1980 cult classic of the same name starring Al Pacino. In a freak coincidence, Paul Bateson had previously appeared as a medical assistant in Friedkin’s best known film, The Exorcist (1973).

Throughout the eighties, HIV-AIDS decimated gay populations worldwide. Cruising and anonymous sex took on an unprecedented dimension of danger. Gay communities banded together, fought for medical research and legal rights, and adapted to the new reality.

While sex itself could be — and was — made safer, it nonetheless remains impossible to predict the presence of a monster like Bateson or Dahmer. Come the 21st century, technology would again reshape the slaying field.

Social media and online apps now seem to dominate the way by which individuals hook up with one another for dating, romance, and/or casual sex — gay, straight, or whatever. But this new technological convenience comes with its own new causes for concern.

Just recently, a UK court convicted London chef Stephen Port, 41, of multiple rapes and murders. Port used the gay hookup app Grindr to lure young men to his apartment where he drugged them with GHB and sexually assaulted them. He also killed four of his victims, then dismembered their bodies and dumped the parts around a nearby graveyard.

Grindr and other apps such as Jack’d have figured similarly in unrelated tragedies, such as a Sussex teen fatally stabbing a 52-year-old government tax advisor in the man’s home, the execution-style shooting of two men in Seattle, a Philadelphia man getting beaten to death in an alley, and three youths in Michigan choking an elderly resident to death inside his senior-living complex.

Considering such circumstances, Scotland Yard Chief Constable Jane Sawyers stated that such services should warn users to “get to know the person, not the profile” and that the companies should be “signposting [potentially dangerous] people to police.”

Sawyers took criticism for her comments. Ian Howley, CEO of the gay men’s health charity GMFA, responded: “It’s unrealistic to ask users to meet in a public place – a lot of these meet-ups happen on the spur of the moment. [Sawyer] needs to talk to agencies dealing with this on a day-to-day basis to find out the realities of what it is like to be a gay man using apps in the 21st century.”

Having authorities stay on top of such technologies for the safety of users can only be deemed a good idea. After all, the modern equivalents of Jeffrey Dahmer are most assuredly already doing so.

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Main photo: Jeffrey Dahmer mug shot [Milwaukee Police Department]

The post The Death Of Jeffrey Dahmer & The Evolution Of Cruising Serial Killers appeared first on CrimeFeed.