Tag Archives: cold case

New York City - NYPD To Reexamine LGBT Unsolved Cold Cases.

New York City – NYPD To Reexamine LGBT Unsolved Cold Cases.

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After the recent rash of crimes against LGBT individuals rising, the NYPD along with the Adams administration has unveiled a new plan to allow individuals to ask the police to re-evaluate unsolved cases — including decades-old cold cases — involving LGBT victims.

The city has created a dedicated web page where individuals, such as concerned families and friends, can submit requests to re-examine cases. The requests will be reviewed by the NYPD’s detective bureau, which will deliver information to folks regarding the status of a given case and decide whether a case should be re-evaluated. The page notes that all investigations will stay open until there are arrests or the suspect dies.

“New York City is one of the most diverse places on the planet, and the New York City Police Department is committed to providing fair and equitable public safety for all,” NYPD Commissioner Keechant L. Sewell said in a written statement. “To that end, it is critical that we amplify the voices of our LGBTQIA+ community — especially the voices of victims. This case review process reinforces that work, and in turn makes every community in our city safer. I thank the mayor’s office and all of our law enforcement partners for their ongoing efforts to enhance the public safety of all the people we serve.”

You can find more information and submit a request here.

COLD CASE: The 1990 Murder of Gay Porn Star Billy London (William Arnold Newton) Solved.

COLD CASE: The 1990 Murder of Gay Porn Star Billy London (William Arnold Newton) Solved.

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Thought to be a victim of Jeffery Dahmer’s Billy London was actually murdered by a white supremacist transgender skinhead.

Only in Los Angeles.

LAPD Det. John Lamberti, with the help of Circus of Books Documentarian Rachel Mason, and amatuer sleuth Clark Williams, have helped solve the cold case murder and identified the killer of William Arnold Newton, who went by the gay male porn names Billy London.

Dubbed the Black Dahlia of the gay community. Newton was last seen at The Rage Nightclub in West Hollywood. His head and feet were found in a dumpster in Hollywood off of Santa Monica Boulevard on October 29, 1990.

London was originally believed to be one of Jeffery Dahmer’s unidentified victims was actually mudered by Darrell Lynn Madden, a former self-proclaimed white supremacist and skinhead who now identifies as an Orthodox Jewish woman named Daralyn Madden.

Madden pleaded guilty to killing a gay man in Oklahoma named Steven Domer and another man named Bradley Qualls, who had been Madden’s accomplice in Domer’s murder and has since confessed to abducting, robbing, beating and strangling Newton to death.

Madden said she approached Newton and put her arm calmly around his shoulder and told him that they were going to rob him and “probably beat the crap out of him,” and that he was going to go with them without making a scene. She said she couldn’t remember where they had taken Newton, but that she had ended up strangling him to death, which matched the coroner’s findings. She didn’t dismember Newton’s body, she knows who did but she refuses to “snitch.”

L.A. County Dist. Atty. George Gascón’s office has decided not to file charges against Madden, citing a lack of evidence beyond the confession, too many unanswered questions remain and prosecutors would have a difficult time proving Madden’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt after 30 years.

William Arnold Newton’s grizzly murder will be the subject of a documentary by Rachel Mason the documentary will be a follow-up to Circus of Books and will be much “deeper dive into the world behind the videos.”

Via: The WeHo Times

Arrest Made in 1988 Cold Case Murder of American Student in Australia

Arrest Made in 1988 Cold Case Hate Crime Murder of American Student in Australia

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Detectives in New South Wales, Australia have arrested and charged a man with the 1988 hate crime murder of American math scholar Scott Johnson.

The 27-year-old’s body was discovered on December 10, 1988 near Manly’s Blue Fish Point in Sydney. At the time, Johnson’s death was seen as symbolic of authorities’ willingness to overlook hate crimes in the gay community after the PhD student’s death was initially ruled a suicide.

Today, Sydney has a thriving and prominent gay community., but in the 1980’s, however, packs of young men roamed popular meeting places for gay men, intending to beat and rob them. Gay men were told to carry whistles to call for help if they were attacked.

Detectives arrested 49-year-old Scott White at Lane Cove about 8.30am on Tuesday, before a search warrant was executed at a nearby home.

Steve Johnson said in a statement that his brother symbolizes those who lost their lives to homophobic-inspired violence.

“It’s emotional for me, emotional for my family, my two sisters and brother who loved Scott dearly, my wife and three kids who never got to know their uncle,” Johnson said.

On Tuesday morning, NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller praised the Johnson family for their determination, which he said “inspired” his officers.

“Making that phone call this morning is a career highlight — Steve has fought so hard for so many years, and it has been an honour be part of his fight for justice,” Commissioner Fuller said.

After 34 Years Portland Cold Case Detectives Solve 1982 Hate Crime Murder Of Gay Man.

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Robbie Altmon Hate Crime Murder Solved After 34 Years

 

After 33 years the hate crime murder of Robbie Altom has finally been solved.

Alton was found beaten and unconscious in Portland Oregon back in November of 1982. He died three days later from blunt force head trauma. The family was skeptical that the case would ever be solved but just this past week, authorities announced that they have identified the killer

On Wednesday, Portland Police Bureau cold case homicide detectives announced they’ve identified Altom’s killer as Cecil Corrie Turner, who was 24 years old at the time of the murder.

Altom was killed because he was openly gay and death is what is now called a hate crime, said Det. Angela Hollan.

The original investigators learned a man was harassing Altom in the bar before he left.

The man used gay slurs and pushed Altom off a bar stool.

Turner was a person of interest during the initial investigation, but police did not have enough evidence to arrest him.

Cold case detectives recently spoke with a witness, who provided them with new information.

“Thirty-three years later she remembered some things she wasn’t really wasn’t willing to tell police back in 1982,” said Hollan. “I think there was a lot of fear about what might happen to her.”

That woman’s statements helped them determine Turner is “without a doubt” responsible for Altom’s death, said Hollan.

“Robbie was tired of being harassed and decided it was time to go home. Cecil followed Robbie outside the bar and this is what happened,” said Hollan.

My uncle Robbie was a good man,” she Altoms surviving niece. “He didn’t deserve to die because he was gay.” And added “But It’s just nice knowing that my uncle’s not in a box sitting in a warehouse somewhere with the words cold case written on him,” said Luna. “He’s not. It’s solved and now it’s put to rest.”

Corrie Turner, who was 24 years old at the time of the murder died in Oregon in 2009

NYPD Re-opens Investigation Into Transactivist Marsha P. Johnson’s Death 20+ Years Later

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Transsexual activist Mariah Lopez has gotten the Manhattan D.A.’s office to assign someone to look more closely into the death of NYC icon and transgender activist Marsha P. Johnson whose body was found floating in the Hudson River off the West Village Piers shortly after the 1992 LGBT Pride March.

One of NYC’s best known and loved figures of the LGBT revolution Johnson was a leader in clashes with the police amid the Stonewall Riots  and was a co-founder, along with Sylvia Rivera, of Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (S.T.A.R.) in the early 1970s. She also was the “mother” of S.T.A.R. House along with Sylvia, getting together food and clothing to help support transgender  youth and lesbian and gay kids both living in the house on the lower East Side of New York and at the piers on the Westside highway.

Police originally ruled Marsha Johnsons death a suicide. But  Johnson’s friends and supporters said she was not suicidal, and a people’s postering campaign later declared that Johnson had earlier been harassed near the spot where her body was found.

Attempts to get the police to investigate the cause of death were unsuccessful until now 21 years later.

Ms. Lopez is also pushing for a permanent tribute statue of Marsha P Johnson  by the Christopher Pier which would be a wonderful homage to one of NYC’s first and most loved Stonewall era icons.

H/T Queerty