Panic True Queer Crime

This is one of those stories whose details are almost too surreal to believe, but they also provide a sharp insight into what can happen when a group of people is ostracized and treated like pariahs. In 1952, 34, Dale Jennings went into a public restroom and was propositioned by a vice cop. When Jennings showed no interest, the cop followed him home, barged his way inside, and attempted to seduce...

Susan Hyde In 1978, the women's tennis team at California State University, Northridge was rocked by a grisly murder borne out of jealousy. Susan Hyde and her partner of several years, Janis Hasse, lived and worked together on campus, but Hasse's relationship with 21, Loni Andersen, carried on even though Hasse lived with Hyde. When Hyde was out of town, Hasse and Andersen would get together. Fina...

In this episode, the murder of Richard Heakin for whom San Francisco's Butterfly Brigade was named.  On June 6, 1976, 21-year-old Richard Heakin of Lincoln, Nebraska, was leaving Tucson's Stonewall Tavern, a gay bar, when a group of teenage boys attacked him in the dirt parking lot. They had reportedly gone there "looking for fags to beat up," and witnesses saw them kicking Richard on the ground b...

While researching the 1976 murder of Robert Hillsborough, I encountered references to San Francisco's Butterfly Brigade — officially known as the Richard Heakin Memorial Butterfly Brigade. Why would a hate crime murder in Arizona become the rallying cry for LGBTQ+ folks in San Francisco? In researching that question, I stumbled on five murders, including Mr. Heakins. In this episode, a 1970s gay c...

In this episode an update, stories of intimate partner violence, and folks you should know about. I wanted to bookend the episode with a story of bravery and power. Please stick around til the end, you will want to know about Chris Bearchell. She rocks.  I'd like to thank Feedspot for alerting us to the amazing fact that Panic: queer True Crime is, for the second year, in the top ten most listened...

At first glance, these stories might seem disparate in time, history, and gender—but they aren't at all. From resistance to bar raids, arrests, and harassment long before Stonewall, to hate crime murders and legal defenses ratified in courts across the world, until gay panic could no longer be sustained as a murder rationale. Each one of these stories of heartbreak and victory adds a vital detail...

On March 16th, 1973, three members of the Schallock family were found dead in their driveway as their home burned behind them. This episode explores the tragic descent of Brent William Bedayan, a former athlete whose treatment of schizophrenia couldn't prevent the devastating, violent outcome.  Discover how the defense relied on the discredited psychiatric theory "homosexual panic," even though th...

Sex, Identity, and The Fight for Basic Rights Two landmark cases that overturned the targeted attempts on the part of states across the United States to criminalize being queer. In 1982 and 1998, both Michael Hardwick, John Geddes Lawrence Jr., and Tyron Garner were arrested for having sex in the privacy of their own homes. A State of Emergency: Violence Against Black Trans Women, A Cry for Justic...

A Serial Killer in the Suburbs of Paris The first victim was spotted by a passerby on August 13, 2025, as officials fished the body out of the Seine in a suburb of Paris near a known gay cruising spot. Divers searching the area found another body, then another, then another. As investigators search for answers and other possible victims, speculation swirls about the motive for the murders.   The M...

Paul Carlile and William Sakosky On November 5, 1982, Paul Carlile and William Sakosky checked into a room at the gay Florida resort Parliament House, only one of them would leave. Alana Miccolis and Megha Saluja Alana Miccolis and Megha Saluja agreed to spend a weekend at the Waldorf Astoria in Orlando, Florida. No one could have imagined how the trail of texts would lead detectives to a volatile...

The story of Ian McLoughlin's murder spree contains mentions of crimes against teenagers and children. Viewer discretion is strongly advised. This content is intended for educational purposes only and aims to examine flaws in the justice system. It is not suitable for viewers under 18. Please prioritize your mental health and well-being. Ian McLoughlin - a serial killer who exploited the UK's cont...

To belatedly celebrate Pride, this special month-long podcast series highlights four extraordinary figures—some queer, some allied—whose lives and work shaped LGBTQ+ history in ways both bold and quietly revolutionary. We begin with the mysterious, evocative collaboration between African American model T homas McKeller and famed artist John Singer Sargent. Their decade-long connection, hidden in S...

Two corrections: The pronunciation of Beaulieu is closer to "B-you-ly" or BYOO-lee. In the episode, I mention that the age of consent was 16. That was the age of consent for heterosexuals only. Homosexuality was illegal across all ages until a minor reform in 1967. The Sexual Offences Act 1967 legalized homosexual acts between two men over 21 in private. This did not apply to the armed forces or t...

Several of these stories and their victims are part of the anti-queer wave of legislation put in place by the UK conservative government seeking to outlaw homosexuality. As the anti-queer rhetoric rose, so did the violence against the LGBTQ+ community.   The de Gruchy case was the first time the mainstream press began to use the term "queer-bashing" to describe the murderous level of hate crimes....

One of the reasons I wanted to cover the murders of actor, Michael Boone, and hotel porter William Dalziel is that, like me, some of you will be surprised at when they happened. As it turns out, the crackdown on gay men using indecency laws meant gay men were arrested, and the signal to the homophobes was that it was hunting season. In 1990, the lives of lesbians and gays, not to mention trans and...

When I started telling these stories, I understood the organized efforts to shame homosexuality out of existence. What I didn't expect was the level of criminality that would grow out of the demonizing of LGBTQ+ people. In the 1960s, Chicago police officer John J. Pyne began to organize a group of criminals and con men in an extortion ring that would go on to scam more than 1,000 men out of a mill...

In my ongoing exploration of the history of homophobia in life and the law, I've been researching the trends, and I do mean trends, of attacks fueled by the targeting of mostly gay men. From the late 1950s through the 1970s in the United States, "Rolling a Queer" became such an epidemic that both Democrats and Republicans came together to introduce legislation that would create some minor protecti...

In this episode, five cases of homophobic rage, mental illness, alcohol abuse, and murder. Dream City Fire: One of the worst fires in modern London that you've probably never heard of. A combination of alcohol and anger sparked a series of events that ended in the death of 11 men in an unlicensed and uninspected second and third-floor cinema. Ashia Davis: On June 01, 2023, Carlos Scotland and Ashi...

In the television show The Sopranos, the character of "Big P*ssy" was based on a New York or New Jersey mobster targeted because of his sexual antics, but in Italy, there was a similar situation involving a highly respected hitman who stepped out of line by loving and wanting to make a life with the man he loved.  Anthony "Bubbles" Torres was a character, a creation. He tended to amuse and sometim...

While researching a story for the next episode I found a 1960 article examinign the growth of homophobic attacks on mostly gey men for financial gain. Rolling a Queer crimes grow to such a degree that lawmakers across the country sought to minimize legal prohibitons agaisnt LGBTQ folks as a partial remedy. Most of these efforts failed contributing to the mid-sixties appearance of homosexual panic...

Molotov Cocktail of Hate Pamela Cobbas, Mercedes Roxana Figueroa, Andrea Amarante, Sofía Castro Riglos   Intimate Partner Violence The Murder of Chen Chen Fei The Murder of Quanesha Shantel   The Murder of William Nicholas Abraham   Disappearance The Murder of Levi Davis?   Ex Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Michael Jeffries Charged: Human Trafficking and Assault   The Shocking Murder Of Eduardo Xol   Ex-...

In 1960, Smith College's Professor Newton Arvin and two of his colleagues were swept up in a scandal concocted in large part as a way of shaming being queer out of existence.  Efforts to control the flow of what is erotica or smut is an ongoing crusade in the United States and in many places in the world. When those crusades are weaponized against targeted groups of people they can be lethal.  Som...

This collection of cases includes the murder of three trans women of color, the most at-risk group in the LGBTQ+ community. Two cases of intimate partner violence, please see this description for help.  The murder of a 19-year-old murder in prison because he was gay and black. A gay man was murdered in his home by a jealous boyfriend and the victim's friend, and two gay men were murdered by a grou...

Peter Coshan Lisa Stone Curtis Marsh Gaurav Gopalan Matthew Mickens-Murrey Ukea Davis and Stephanie Thomas Vanity Williams     Several of the cases in this episode involve unsolved cases. In the next episode, I will delve into the reasons why this might be the case.  Two of these cases involve the murder of black trans women, the highest rate of murder in the LGBTQ+ community.  The last two cases...

Anna Flores Pauly Likens Alex Rodda Liara Tsai Bruce Becker Curtis Marsh Kevin Clewer Charles Gibson   Brad Nelson Winters   Here is a collection of murders some of them due to intimate partner violence and some hate crimes. The thing they have in common is the loss and heartache of family and friends.   While might surprise some that young men, mostly, still struggling with their sexual identity...