Gay man shot, killed in Logan Circle

Here in Washington, DC, Durval V. Martins was killed last night on his way home from the 17th street bars in the area of 11th and Q. This is the same general area where Tony Hunter, another gay man, was killed a few months ago. The Washington Blade reports:

A 35-year-old gay man was shot in the head and killed shortly after 3 a.m. Tuesday at 11th and Q streets, N.W., while walking home from the Fox & Hound, a restaurant and bar near Dupont Circle, according to D.C. police.

The victim was identified as Durval V. Martins of the 200 block of Bates Street, N.W. A police statement said Martins also suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the body.

Acting Lt. Brett Parson, who oversees the police’s Gay & Lesbian Liaison Unit, said the motive for the killing was unknown but could have been robbery. He noted that officers found the victim’s wallet in his hand.

Martins’ credit cards, cash, cell phone, and jewelry were still in his possession, Parson said.

The victim lived off of New Jersey Avenue near Q Street, Parson said. The residence is located about 16 blocks from the Fox & Hound.

Parson, who also responded to the scene, said a police officer on patrol along the 1000 block of Rhode Island Avenue, N.W., “heard multiple gunshots and observed several individuals fleeing north on 11th Street.”

Upon arriving on the scene, the officer found the victim unconscious with a gunshot wound to the head, Parson said. Emergency medical responders found no signs of life.

Parson told the Blade that people who knew the victim said he had patronized the Dupont Circle gay bar Omega and the 17th Street restaurant Jack’s before going to the Fox & Hound.

People who knew the victim said he was openly gay and apparently worked at a D.C. restaurant, Parson said.

You can find out more about this incident after the jump...

The Lexington News reports an officer has been found guilty of killing his gay lover because he feared the student would reveal their relationship to his wife and family. The officer slashed the students throat and left the young man's body in the yard of a neighbor.

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- A former Columbia police officer was convicted yesterday of first-degree murder in the death of a gay college student from Kentucky with whom he had an affair.

The jury, brought in from Clay County, Mo., deliberated nine hours before convicting Steven Rios of slashing Jesse Valencia's throat last June. Valencia, 23, of Danville, was attending the University of Missouri-Columbia.Rios, 28, was also convicted of armed criminal action and faces a mandatory sentence of life without parole for the murder conviction.

The jury recommended a 10-year term for armed criminal action. Formal sentencing was set for July 5.

"I hope every day he's in prison, he suffers," said the victim's mother, Linda Valencia of Perryville, Ky. "I never felt compassion for him while I looked at him because he had no compassion for my son."

You can find the full account after the jump...

Bashing victim publishes photos of injuries

By ZACK ROSEN, Washington Blade

One of three men injured in an Adams Morgan anti-gay attack in July has sparked renewed media interest in the case by releasing photos of his injuries.

In the July 13 incident, three gay men were assaulted by a group of five men who used anti-gay epithets. The Blade covered the attack a week after it happened. This week, the victim released photos of himself that appeared on a blog, thenewgay.net. Since then, local radio station WAMU has covered the story.

The victim in question, who asked to be identified only by his first name Todd, said that he chose to release the graphic photos to raise awareness about homophobia and hate crimes in Washington.

Find more after the jump...

Man Charged in Murder of NYC College Student

by Kilian Melloy
EDGE Contributor


The alleged killer of a college sophomore expressed no remorse when he spoke with his father and confronted the media, multiple news sources reported.

22-year-old Jeromie Cancel was charged in connection with the Labor Day weekend slaying of Kevin Pravia, an honor student at Pace University.

Pravia was murdered in the Chelsea, NY, apartment he shared with roommate Josephine Madonna, who discovered his body when she returned from a trip out of town.

Cancel claimed responsibility for the slaying, describing to authorities how he punched Pravia in the face, then wrapping a cord around his neck and suffocating him.

Cancel had been detained by police on an unrelated matter, after Cancel's father reported that he had been robbed, reported The New York Times in a Sept. 2 story.

According to GLBT news site Towleroad, the victim was a gay man.

Police said that though Pravia had been found in his underwear, there was no indication that anything sexual had taken place.

Cancel told authorities that he had met Pravia early on the morning of Aug. 30 in Union Square Park. According to the suspect, he had gone to the park looking to buy drugs; police said there was no evidence that Pravia had supplied any drugs to Cancel.

As reported in the NY Times and The New York Post, Cancel said that he had accompanied Pravia back to the student's apartment before attacking and killing him. Then, Cancel said, he watched a movie while sitting next to Pravia's body: the 2004 horror film Saw.

Cancel then left the apartment, taking Pravia's iPod, laptop and cell phone, which he said that he subsequently sold.

Cancel was charged with first- and second-degree murder following his confession, but he exhibited no remorse. In photos published at the New York Post, Cancel looked into the camera lens with a smile.

At some point following the murder, Cancel seems to have gone to his father's apartment in Queens, Towleroad reported; Cancel's father, Jesus Soto, described his son's demeanor to the Post, saying, "He's mentally imbalanced."

Added Cancel's father, "He seemed off-balance. He didn't seem right."

In June, the media sources said, Cancel had stayed with Soto for a couple of weeks before disappearing, along with some of Soto's property, including a PlayStation.

Towleroad and the Post quoted Soto as saying that when Cancel visited him in the Queens apartment, "All the time he was gloating, like it didn't mean nothing to him."

"He was not remorseful, like he was happy with what he did."

Added Soto, "He had this big smile on him."

Police showed up at Soto's apartment to take Cancel into custody.

The Post quoted Soto as saying, "I called the cops, and when they pulled up... he just turned to the cops and told them he just killed someone."

Find article after the jump...

The Post reported that as Cancel was taken out of police headquarters, he told reporters that he had killed Pravia "because I wanted to," and then challenged, "You got a problem with that?"

Murder of Md. lesbian shrouded in mystery

By LOU CHIBBARO JR, Washington Blade Jul 2, 4:09 PM

Investigators with the Prince George’s County police and fire departments had yet to uncover a motive this week in the June 24 shooting death of a 46-year-old lesbian whose charred body was found in a fire that destroyed her house in a quiet, upscale subdivision in Bowie, Md.
Police said an autopsy revealed that Vilma Artis Butler, who lived in a two-story, single-family house on Jenkins Ridge Road, was murdered in an upper floor bedroom shortly before neighbors called 911 about 4:45 a.m. last Tuesday to report that her house was on fire. Neighbors also reported hearing loud popping noises that sounded like gunfire about an hour before they noticed the fire.
“The cause of death was a gunshot wound,” police said in a June 26 statement.
Firefighters found her badly burned body in a second floor bedroom after they extinguished the fire. Prior to the autopsy finding, authorities speculated that she likely died from burns or smoke inhalation.
Corp. Clinton Copeland, a Prince George’s County police spokesperson, said police homicide investigators have no suspects in the case and are still seeking to determine a motive for the slaying.
Prince George’s fire department spokesperson Mark Brady said fire investigators have classified the fire as “suspicious” but have yet to label it as arson. He said investigators have not disclosed whether they detected a flammable substance that might have been used to start the fire.
Channel 9 News reported that fire department sources disclosed that someone had turned off the emergency sprinkler system at the house before the fire broke out, leading some to speculate that someone intentionally started the fire.
Friends and relatives said Butler’s 17-year-old son, Nick, one of three children from a previous marriage, lived with her in the Bowie house but was out of town visiting a friend at the time of the fire and the discovery of Butler’s body.
Butler was an active member of the Metropolitan Community Church of Washington, which has a mostly gay congregation.
Dozens of Butler’s friends and family members packed the church last Sunday for a memorial service that was not publicly announced.
Butler sang in the MCC choir and performed in the church’s theater group, MCC members said.
“She was a valued member of our theater ministry and she will be greatly missed,” said Shirli Hughes, director of MCC’s music ministry. “I spoke with our staff and I was told that’s all I can say,” Hughes said.
An MCC staff member told the Blade this week that at the request of Butler’s family, the church agreed not to disclose any information about Butler other than that she was a member of the church.
Butler’s friends and family members could not be reached this week for comment. Last week, Butler’s former domestic partner, Vanessa Lee, and her ex-husband, Timothy Butler, told the Washington Post that it was inconceivable to them that anyone would target Butler for murder.
One of Butler’s friends, Rita Sullivan, told the Post she believes a stranger committed the crime and in an apparent random act.
But residents of Collington Station, the upscale subdivision where Butler lived, said serious crimes like murder and home invasions are virtually unknown in that area.
“We’ve had break-ins and burglaries but not that kind of crime,” said Russ Ideo, president of the Citizens Association of South Bowie. “That’s not a high crime area.”
Some of the residents said speculation that Butler was targeted by someone who knew her surfaced after fire department sources told the news media of their discovery that someone had turned off the emergency sprinkler system inside Butler’s house before the fire started.
Lee told the Post that she and Butler, who separated as a couple in 2006, jointly owned the house and had been trying to sell it. A sign displayed on the front lawn at the time of the fire announced that an auction sale of the house was pending.
A real estate listing for the auction states that Butler and Lee had recently lowered the selling price after having taken the house off the market as a conventional home sale and placed it up for auction. The listing does not indicate the house was in foreclosure. Realtors are required under law to disclose if a property on sale is in foreclosure.
Jeff Shelton, owner of Beltway Auctions, said one auction was held about a month ago but was cancelled when the bidding did not reach a minimum reserve price set by the owners. One listing of the property placed the minimum reserve at $389,000.