NEW YORK CITY: Police Seek Prostitute In Strangulation Murder Of Chelsea Gay Man

On Friday night Manhattan resident John Laubach, 57, was found bound, gagged, and apparently strangled to death in his Chelsea apartment. Police are seeking a young man that Laubach may have hired that evening on Rentboy.com.

Police late Monday released a set of surveillance photos of a man allegedly caught trying to using John Laubach's bank card after he died, police said. The photos are from an ATM machine camera. Earlier Monday, police questioned a 24-year-old man but released him after interviewing him. Law-enforcement sources told NBC New York that they were led to the man after using facial recognition software on a still photo taken from a surveillance camera. The search turned up a possible hit -- an old mugshot for the 24-year-old man. John Laubach was found unconscious in his fourth-floor apartment at 212 West 22nd St. in Chelsea just before 8 p.m. Friday, when a friend went to check on him, according to police. His arms were found bound to the bedpost by an electrical cord, his mouth gagged with tape and his face covered with a towel, authorities said.

Friends say Laubach was active in a local gay-affirming church and had been studying to become a pastor. Neighbors report that Laubach lived quietly and occasionally had young male visitors. Below are the ATM surveillance shots released by the NYPD.RELATED: Late last year Craigslist prostitute John Katehis was found guilty for the gruesome 2009 stabbing murder of CBS newsman George Weber. Several other high-profile murders related to internet prostitution have rocked New York City in recent years.

23 Year Old Transgender Woman Killed At Washington D.C. Bus Stop

Deoni Jones, a 23 year old transgender woman was fatally stabbed on Thursday night at a bus stop at the 4900 block of East Capitol Street, N.E. in Washington, D.C.

Police issued a statement Friday saying that a Metro transit police officer was flagged down at about 8:15 p.m. Thursday to report an assault at the bus stop. “Upon arrival, the officer located a transgender female who was unconscious and unresponsive suffering from a stab wound,” the statement says. “Units from the Sixth District and D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services personnel responded to the scene. The victim was transported to a local hospital and was admitted in critical condition.  On Friday, Feb. 3, 2012, at 2:35 a.m., the victim was pronounced dead.”

 

Asked whether evidence exists to indicate the killing was a hate crime, Asked whether evidence exists to indicate the killing was a hate crime, Homicide Branch Lt. Robert Adler stated  “At this time we are still investigating if it is or is not a hate crime. And as the investigation proceeds we should probably get a better idea of whether that was a factor in the assault.”

Gay Berlin Man Missing for Three Weeks Found to Be Victim of Gruesome Murder

Berlin's gay community has been rocked by the gruesome murder of a man missing since New Year's Day:

The BZ daily reported on Wednesday that the deceased, Carsten Srock, was found with his limbs expertly carved off with either an axe or large knife. The body pieces were then wrapped fastidiously in plastic bags and cling-wrap, and left to sit in the two-room flat for around three weeks. His head was found, partially cooked, by the police. Prosecutors on the case told the BZ they believe the victim was “murdered for sexual pleasure.”

Owner of the Mariendorf apartment is a 43-year-old man identified as Michael S., who was rescued by paramedics after trying to take his own life. The unemployed Berliner attempted to open a main vein, before calling the emergency services minutes after.

It was only upon the arrival of the paramedics that the gruesome truth began to come to light.

 

The BZ daily reported on Wednesday that the deceased, Carsten Srock, was found with his limbs expertly carved off with either an axe or large knife. The body pieces were then wrapped fastidiously in plastic bags and cling-wrap, and left to sit in the two-room flat for around three weeks.

His head was found, partially cooked, by the police.

Prosecutors on the case told the BZ they believe the victim was “murdered for sexual pleasure.”

Owner of the Mariendorf apartment is a 43-year-old man identified as Michael S., who was rescued by paramedics after trying to take his own life. The unemployed Berliner attempted to open a main vein, before calling the emergency services minutes after.

It was only upon the arrival of the paramedics that the gruesome truth began to come to light. The paramedics contacted the police, who arrived at the scene to find not only Michael S. bathed in blood, but the body parts of his occasional sexual partner Srock, dotted around the residence.

“Officials questioned the man in hospital,” a spokesman for the state prosecutors told the paper. During questioning Michael S. reportedly admitted to the murder. An warrant for his arrest was issued on Tuesday.

Srock was reported missing by his partner January 2. According to the gay news portal queer.de the bank manager, who reportedly worked part-time at a Berlin gay sauna called "Boiler", finished his shift behind the bar on the evening of New Years Day.

He then took out a large sum of money from a nearby cash point possibly to help Michael S. pay off debts, or to exchange for sex, reported the BZ.

Srock then rang his partner to say that he had other arrangements and would not be returning home that night. The next day, his phone had been turned off.

“It did not take long for us to narrow the search down to the 43-year-old Michael S.,” a police spokesman told Die Welt newspaper. He also added that investigators had discovered that the pair had apparently agreed to partake in sex games beforehand.

An autopsy later confirmed that the two men had taken part in sexual activity together shortly before the murder. Exact time of death remains, however, unclear.

Berlin's gay community has been rocked by the revelations, which have sparked condolences on internet forums for the 37-year-old victim.

The gruesome incident is reminiscent of the murder committed in 2001 by Armin Meiwes, dubbed the "Cannibal from Rotenburg" for castrating, butchering and eating a man. After meeting a 43-year-old engineer from Berlin online, Meiwes and his victim agreed to the killing and cannibalism.

The Local/jcw

Teen gets 21 years in prison for killing gay classmate

 

A teenager who fatally shot a gay classmate in the back of the head at an Oxnard middle school was sentenced Monday to 21 years in prison.
A Ventura County judge issued the sentence a
 month after Brandon McInerney agreed to plead guilty to second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter in the death of classmate Larry King.

McInerney was shackled during the sentencing and handcuffed as he was led from the courtroom.
McInerney, who was 14 when he pulled a gun out of his backpack and shot King two times at point-blank range, will be kept behind bars until he is 39 under the terms of the deal struck by Ventura County prosecutors.

In an unusual arrangement, the 17-year-old pleaded guilty to the charges after the judge declared a mistrial in his first trial. In return, prosecutors agreed not to go forward with a second trial, which could have resulted in a life sentence.

McInerney's first trial ended in a hung jury in early September, with jurors torn between murder and manslaughter. Some jurors said they believed the district attorney's office was being overly harsh in trying McInerney as an adult and several showed up Monday wearing "Save Brandon" bracelets.

McInerney shot King in a school computer lab at E.O. Green Junior High in Oxnard in February 2008, after days of conflict between the boys. Students and teachers at the trial testified that King had been dressing in women's accessories and wearing makeup, and was flirting aggressively with male students on campus who did not want the attention.

School administrators sent a memo advising teachers to give King his space, but to report safety problems.
Teachers at the trial testified that when they tried to report growing tensions between King and several boys, school leaders shunned them.

6 Parishioners Dead After Lying Pastor Tells Them They’ve Been Cured of HIV

 

A Sky News undercover investigation has revealed that evangelical churches in the UK have been lying to HIV positive patients about the curative powers of holy water, and insisting that patients stop taking their HIV medications. Now at least six are dead.

The broadcaster sent three undercover reporters to the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), in the south London Borough of Southwark.

 

All of them were told by pastors they could be healed.

The team – who are all HIV positive – had water sprayed in their faces as part of the healing process.

They were also shouted at and told it would rid them of the devil.

One of the pastors, Rachel Holmes, told Sky News, that SCOAN has a “100% success rate”, adding: “if symptoms such as vomiting or diarrhoea persist, it is actually a sign of the virus leaving the body”.

Except that’s diarrhea and vomiting aren’t a sign that HIV is rocketing out of your body because Christ commands it to. No, those are signs you are dying of HIV. 

Multiple investigations into the – we’re just going to go ahead and play fortune teller here for a second – criminal actions these churches are engaged in.

In addition to the deaths that have been reported, a case of HIV transmission has been documented by the boyfriend of a male parishioner who stopped HIV treatment after being “cured” by his pastor.

Tracy Kauffman Flew All The Way To Las Vegas Just To Murder His Ex-Boyfriend

After they broke up, 50-year-old Tracy Kauffman felt that his 26-year-old ex-boyfriend Phil Wells had taken advantage of him. So Wells moved from Knoxville, Tennessee to Las Vegas, Nevada to put some distance between them. In Nevada Wells took a bartending job at The Garage, a place where patrons came to love his smile, his friendly hugs and his willigness to help anybody.

Then this last Monday, Kaufmann stormed into the bar at 5:30am and shot at Wells. When Wells ran into a back storeroom to hide, Kaufmann ran after him and shot Wells 15 times in the back and head—he even re-loaded his gun and kept firing until he used all his bullets. When police discovered Well’s bullet-ridden body, Kaufmann was already driving back to his motel.

At the motel Kauffman showered, threw away his gun and clothes and watched a garbage truck collect the trash before heading back to McCarran International Airport. But Kauffman didn’t realize that The Garage security cameras had captured some of the murder. Police him arrested at the airport and charged him with murder with a deadly weapon and burglary with a deadly weapon.

Now while Kauffman awaits trial, Wells’ friends have set-up a makeshift memorial outside the bar, with posters, candles and flowers offered to the slain bartender who wanted to avoid this very sort of encounter.

Midwest LGBT Advocate Darius Chambers Beaten To Death In Chicago

November 3---Darius Chambers a well-known LGBT advocate in Cincinnati , OH and served as a board member at Equality Cincinnati, and who was involved with the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Cincinnati was beaten to death at a Chicago bustop at 3:00 am early Sunday morning in  a dispute over a cellphone.

Chicago police say Darius Chambers was at a bus stop with a friend at about 3 a.m. when a man approached asking to use a cellphone. His companion declined and police said the man who requested the phone and several others began beating Chambers as the friend ran to get help.

Darius was transported to the University of Chicago Medical Center where he was later pronounced dead
Chambers recently lost his job in Cincinnati and moved to Chicago to work for a program focused on the HIV/AIDS epidemic among men of color.

The Rev. Leslie Jones of the Truth and Destiny Fellowship UCC in Northside, Cincinnati was shocked when she heard of Chambers’ death. “Darius was a very loving and kind man,” Jones said. “He was very committed to social justice work for people of low income and marginalized individuals.”

Chicago Police have arrested two juveniles in connection with the incident. The suspects, both males, have been arraigned and are currently being held on a $1 million bond.

Darius Chambers did not have insurance and friends are attempting to raise funds to have his body returned to Selma, Alabama and his mother for burial.

Donations to help with burial expenses can be sent to the Truth and Destiny Fellowship UCC, 4663 Kirby Road, Cincinnati, OH 45223. Or sent electronically via http://www.truthdestinychurch.org/
Truth & Destiny will be forwarding all funds to Lewis Funeral Home in Selma, Alabama

Please feel free to call 513.628.7515 for further information if you would like to help.

Brandon McInerney To Be Retried As An Adult, Hate Crime Charge Dropped

Prosecutors announced today that they will be retrying teenage murderer Brandon McInerney as an adult for the murder of Larry King of Green Junior High and with no hate crime embellishment to the charges. A mistrial was declared last month after some jurors refused to convict McInerney as an adult. Those jurors have since formed a support group for McInerney.

Superior Court Judge Charles Campbell set a Nov. 21 trial date, according to Fox, but it's unclear if it will be held in Ventura County. The first trial was moved to Los Angeles County due to pretrial publicity. McInerney was 14 in February 2008, when he is accused of killing King at E.O. Green Junior High School during a computer lab class. Prosecutors contend McInerney embraced a white supremacist philosophy that sees homosexuality as an abomination. Police found Nazi-inspired drawings and artifacts at his house, and a white supremacist expert testified at trial the hate-filled ideology was the reason for the killing.

Former gay Porn Star--Ryan Idol Convicted of Attempted Murder!!!

Former gay porn star Ryan Idol (real name Marc Donais) has been found guilty of attempting to murder his girlfriend.

Donais, 45, was accused of using a toilet tank lid to batter his ex-girlfriend in the head in an attack at the woman's home on Sept. 5, 2009. The adult film star, who identifies as bisexual although he performed in gay porn, and the woman had broken up before the incident. During the trial, Donais testified that he thought his ex-girlfriend had a knife when they were in the bathroom, where she was taking a bath. He said he hit the woman in self-defense. Jurors, however, didn't buy his argument.

After retiring from porn, Idol tried his hand at acting and appeared in the Broadway revival of The Ritz. (I saw him in that.) In 2008 he got caught up in a financial scandal involving a Birmingham, Alabama city council member, who was accused of embezzling money from a children's charity to pay Idol $30,000 for "computer repairs."

Mucinex Made Man Kill Gay Roommate?

A man accused of murdering his gay roommate told a 911 operator that the damage he did to the victim was so extensive his body and face had become unrecognizable.
Michael Anderson, 19, called 911 to report that he had killed his roommate, Steven Starr, according to the Hickory Daily Record in Hickory, N.C.
Catawba County Sheriff's Department captain Joel Fish said Anderson shot Starr with a shotgun and a pistol, then hacked his torso with an ax. Anderson then also carved words into Starr's body.
When the 911 operator asked why the attack occurred, he said it was because Starr was gay. They met at a gay club, where Anderson reportedly told Starr he is straight but came to the club to experiment.
“I met him and went to his house and he took me in and I turned straight again," he told the operator. "And he wanted to touch me and stuff and I wouldn’t let him, and he kept trying. And I waited until he went to sleep and then I shot him three times. And I mutilated him very badly and I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Oh God, please help me.”
He added that he overdosed on Mucinex DM, which "makes him feel a little weird," he said.
Anderson was arrested Monday after the 911 call and made his first court appearance Wednesday. He is being held without bond.

Ashes Of Slain Journalist Carlos Castro Poured Down Times Square Subway Grate

They gave his remains to Broadway.

Saying they were fulfilling his wishes, yesterday family and friends of slain Portuguese journalist Carlos Castro poured his ashes into a subway grate in Times Square, just steps away from Broadway's famed theaters.
Family and friends of slain Portuguese journalist Carlos Castro honored the dead man's wishes yesterday by pouring his ashes down a subway grate in Times Square.
A funeral was held in Newark yesterday for Castro, 65, who was allegedly castrated with a corkscrew by his 20-year-old lover, male model Renato Seabra, on Jan. 7 in a room at the InterContinental Hotel in Times Square.
After the service, his sisters and a friend took a limo to Broadway and 43rd Street and quickly dumped his ashes without saying a word, said photographer Leandro Badalotti.

Slain Carlos Castro's sisters Fernanda (left) and Maria and a pal put his ashes down a Times Square subway grate

It wasn't immediately clear if the family had authorization to dispose of his remains in public.

 Many subway grates are directly above passenger platforms and it's possible that Castro's ashes landed on riders. Today the mayor's office says Castro's family did not have permission.
New York code states that scattering cremated remains on public property "may be allowed only by written permit."
A source said that the sisters got approval from a City Hall official to pour the ashes at Broadway and 43rd Street Saturday.  Mayor Bloomberg's spokesman, Stu Loeser, said, "We did not give them permission."

Update on Renato Seabra: "I Killed HIm"

Portuguese model Renato Seabra has confessed to the grisly murder of gay activist and fashion journalist Carlos Castro, whose mutilated body was found in a posh midtown NYC hotel over the weekend. Seabra told police that he used a corkscrew to sever Castro's testicles in order to free the older man of his "homosexual demons." Seabra added that he himself was "not gay anymore."
Seabra was charged with second-degree murder, police said Monday. Seabra and Castro came to New York from their native Portugal and by all accounts were a couple - but Seabra appears unable to admit that, police sources said. "He said he did it to get rid of [Castro's] homosexual demons," one of the police sources said. Police believe the two men had dated for several months, even though Seabra's family insisted the tanned hunk is straight. "My son was not Carlos Castro's lover," Seabra's mother, Odília Pereirinha, told a Portuguese TV station. "From the beginning, he never hid his sexuality, which is heterosexual." Castro was a high-profile gay activist and society columnist in his home country. Seabra's claim to fame was as a pretty boy contestant on a top model reality show.