Gays Say Police Bigotry Hampers Probe
by Indianapolis (UPI)
Efforts to solve the slayings of eight young men in the Indianapolis area since 1980 have been made even tougher by police officers longstanding bigotry against homosexuals,” gay leaders charge. Police deny the allegation. It’s not that investigators don’t want to find the 1 killer or killers, gay leaders say, but that the antagonism police have shown homosexuals over the years may be preventing those who have evidence from stepping forward. “It’s made it very difficult to get gay people to come forward. They’re very leery of police, of getting put down, of having them named a “queer,” said Stanley Berg, publisher of a gay magazine, The Works, and owner of an Indianapolis gay spa and 1 club.
“I am quite certain the way this murderer has gotten around and with the number of people he has had contact with, just in terms of the deaths, that there are other people out there who were attacked and have gotten away,” Berg said. FBI agents believe the eight slayings since June 1980 may be the work of one or two killers. The bodies of the victims, all of whom had connections with the gay community, had been dumped in surrounding counties. Three of the victims were stabbed to death and two were strangled. Coroners have been unable to determine the cause of death for three of them.
The latest victim, Michael A. Riley, 22, was strangled last month after he met the killer at an Indianapolis night club, police said. His body was found in less than a foot of water in a Hancock County drainage ditch southeast of Greenfield. Riley, who was believed to have frequented gay bars but not to have been a homosexual, was missing his shirt. All of the victims were found missing some clothing or were completely nude. A 17-member police task force, pronounced fully operational Wednesday, has been formed to sort out the jumble of information gathered by county and city law enforcement agencies and spearhead a coordinated investigation.
Investigators have begun contacting police in other cities where unsolved strings of gay-related slayings have occurred. Police declined to say whether any link with the Indianapolis killings had been established. Detective Sgt. Jerry Schemenaur, one of the investigators of the Riley slaying, said he believes any fear among gays of police harassment is unfounded. “I can’t speak for the other agencies, only our agency, but on this particular case, I’m investigating a homicide. And be it a gay or a straight person, it makes no difference to me what the individual s sexual preference is,” Schemenaur said “A homicide is a homicide and I’m going to investigate it the same. It makes no difference to me,” he said.
“I think any of the guys in here, if they were assigned to this particular case, would investigate the same way I would.” Schemenaur added that he has been deluged with so many tips in the Riley slaying that he has not yet been able to investigate all of them. Tom Green, editor of The Works, said police officers typically react defensively to criticism because “they’re constantly being criticized by one group or another.” “What we’re trying to say is, ‘Open up the doors and let us help and provide you with information that you just don’t know because you’re not gay and you haven’t dealt with any aspect of the gay community except the criminal element,” Green said.
If a representative of the gay community were directly involved in the investigation, “people who maybe possess information would say, ‘Maybe we can deal with police,’ not only on this investigation, but on other things as well,” he said. “There is a general view of the police department that says they don’t want to take the time for us to help them,” Green said. “I don’t share the view that the police department doesn’t care.” “But I don’t think there’s that pressure that would be on them if these were housewives being murdered or if these were young children from out of the community,” he said. Berg said he believes telephone calls received on a “Gay Hotline” indicate some of the gays who are most desperately needed to solve the crime so far have been unwilling to talk to police.
“We have gotten half a dozen phone calls on our hotline alone from people who were attacked and said they had escaped,” he said. Although he admitted the authenticity of some of the calls is questionable, Berg said most police officers have made no special effort to convince gays, who even in the best of circumstances are hesitant to identify themselves, to provide information. An exception is Lt. Jerry Campbell, a 10-year veteran of the Indianapolis Police Department named to head the police task force whom Berg described “as a very good cop.” “Jerry Campbell, in my opinion, probably is more on the ball than the rest of the police department put together,” Berg said. “It has nothing to do with his being sympathetic to the gay community. It has to do with his desire to solve murders, any murders,” he said.
Campbell said, “it’s a possibility that people are in the community that may have information (but have not come forward).” But he disagreed with Berg’s assertion that some gays with information have not given it to police because they fear harassment. “I’m not so sure that that is the impression among the gay community,” Campbell said. “I don’t think it, is. I think that issue has been overdramatized.” “You have to crawl before you can walk,” Campbell said. “And right now that’s where we’re at. We’re in the crawling stages.” Schemenaur questioned how well Berg’s attitude toward police treatment of gays reflects the attitude of the city’s gay community.
