Indy Gay Community’s Involvement in Death Probe

by Lindel Hutson

A police task force’s failure to solve the killings of eight men and boys linked to the homosexual community here has triggered charges that officers are so ignorant about gays “they don’t know what they are looking for.” Homosexuals have asked to attend police meetings on the case, and one says investigators should bring in a gay police officer from San Francisco because the murder scenes might yield clues that only a homosexual would understand. “We are in the heart of the Bible belt, and the police don’t like to admit that we exist,” said Stanley E. Berg, publisher of The Works, a monthly magazine for gays, and owner of The Body Works Health Spa.

“Police have never had anything to do with gay people in the past, and because of that they don’t know what they are looking for,” Berg said. “They just know so little.” The killings began in June 1980 with the death of Michael S. Petree, 15. Six of the victims died in the past year, four in the last six months. The victims included a 14-year-old boy and men ranging in age up to 27. Police had feared a 19-year-old Indianapolis man missing since June 24 was the ninth victim. However, Joseph J. Serruzzi called his parents Thursday night and said he was safe in Columbus, Ohio. All of the victims were in some way acquainted with the gay community by Berg’s estimate, gays make up 50,000 to 130,000 of the metropolitan area’s 1.5 million people. Some of the victims were hustlers, police say.

While the killings have not panicked the city’s gay community. Berg said homosexuals are worried. “The police have tended to treat gay murders much as they used to treat the deaths of poor blacks: just one less to have to worry about,” Berg said. “And they file it away.” Captain Larry Carmichael of the state police investigations section said he understands the gays’ frustration, but “there are certain procedures we have to comply with.” Referring to the homosexual community, he said, “We have no intention of sidelining them.” Carmichael is working with a task force of city and state officials and representatives of police agencies from counties surrounding Indianapolis. He has met with “a couple of representatives of the gay community, including Stanley Berg Says police ignorant about gays Berg.

We have a fairly good relationship going and they’ve been very helpful so far. Any leads they get, they will call us. We’ve also put some money into a reward fund in hopes we can entice someone to come forward with information.” The reward is $1,500, including $500 each from the state police, The Works magazine and the Greater Indianapolis Gay Business Association. In addition, an estimated $3,200 was raised for the reward fund by a local night spot. The 21 Club, as part of Gay Pride Week. Some of the contributors were police officers. “It was quite a change, quite a turnaround,” said Ronnie Summers, an organizer of the fund drive.

Carmichael said officers focus on the eight murders daily, “but the leads at this point are kind of slow.” The investigation has taken officers from remote rural areas of Marion, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks and Putnam counties, where bodies of the victims were found, to areas frequented by the city’s gay population. While there are few clues, all of the victims were found with some article of clothing missing. All lacked so-called defensive wounds, indicating there was little struggle or that each was prevented from fighting his attacker. Seven victims were white; one was black. Three victims were strangled and two stabbed. The causes of the deaths of the others, including the Petree youth, have not been determined, but authorities say all were killed none died of natural causes or committed suicide.

Police believe at least two killers are involved. If there were only one, “he would stay with the same method of operation,” said state police investigator Dick Rice. FBI agents in Washington have given police psychological profiles of two killers. One is that of a middle-class, middle-aged man who doesn’t sleep with his wife. He desires children sexually and is ashamed of it. The second profile is of a young man set on proving his manhood. He represses his homosexuality and is angry. FBI experts studied the files of three victims Delvoyd L. Baker, 14, John L. Roach, 21, and Daniel S. McNeive, 22, in establishing the theoretical profiles.

The other victims, in addition to the Petree youth, are Gary D. Davis, 25, Dennis A. Brotzge, 27, Maurice A. Taylor, 22, and Michael A. Riley, 22. Berg believes the investigation could be enhanced by allowing a gay person to inspect murder scenes and by asking San Francisco police for the “loan of one of their 30 openly gay officers. “There is the possibility the killer might be leaving clues at the scene that only a gay person might pick up on,” he said. Police haven’t responded to the request to bring in a San Francisco officer, but they have refused to allow a gay person to visit murder scene. “The more people at the scene, the more confusion,” said Indianapolis Deputy Police Chief Robert L. Ward.

Berg said no member of the gay community has been invited to the joint police meetings “even though we asked to attend.” Said Carmichael: “He’s right. The meetings were an attempt to get all the police together and establish some procedures for the investigation. I’m sure that at some time in the near future some representatives will be invited.” The killings have changed the gay community, Berg said, in that “people aren’t going home with strangers like they used to. People have to at least be known by a friend before they go home with someone. “We’re not in a state of panic, but we’ve had to rearrange our lifestyles so we will be less affected by these murders.”