Police are looking for the unidentified youth (left) whose photo was taken when he tried to use an ATM card belonging to John Laubach, a gay man found murdered in his Cheslea apartment Friday night, reports NBC 4 in New York.
Authorities say they believe Laubach met his killer on the hookup site Rentboy.com. (Though Laubach’s studio apartment was ransacked, there was no sign of forced entry.)
The victim, 57, was found in his bedroom with duct tape across his mouth, his hands bound with an electrical cord and a towel draped over his head. He was naked except for a white T-shirt.
Police have already questioned a “person of interest” in the case but are now looking for this second suspect.
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Photos via Facebook, NBC 4
Hyhybt
This is sounding very much like a well-trod tale, which boils down to “no matter where your interests lie, don’t be stupid.”
Clockwork
This case is a hell of a lot more scary and important than Dharun Ravi.
Gay folks seem afraid to defend and ask for justice in cases where a date/meeting goes horribly wrong.
If a woman gets murdered from meeting a guy online no one is afraid to push the story in the media and demand justice. If someone is bullied-assaulted the case goes viral online.
This murder victim will likely fall through the cracks of gay criminal activism.
mylife
It’s not a good look that the man uses rentboy.com. The local papers all began their stories with “John was a churchgoer.” Clearly, he wasn’t paying attention. These guys have to learn that you can’t safely deal with some people. He learned the lesson the hard way.
scott ny'er
@mylife: not only did he use rentboy but from what i read he would only “date” men in their young 20s. Now, I’m all for being who you are and liking what you like. But it is a little sad and pathetic when you see how shallow gay men (and straight men) are.
Bob
If we don’t get to “chose” our preference for men over women, why do you think we get to “chose” our preference for young men over mature men?
Greg
It’s horrible what happened to the guy who got murdered but unlike a lot of the people commenting here I don’t think that he somehow deserved to get murdered or have anything bad happen to him just because he was having sex with a prostitute he paid for, having sex with someone he met online, and just because he was having sex with a younger adult. In reality he could have met this guy in public and been dating him or even had a relationship for awhile and the guy who killed him being a sociopath would have killed him anyway or attempted to.
LittleKiwi
Lacey Peterson was married to the man who hacked her apart while she was pregnant with his child.
Hyhybt
@Greg: Unless some comments have been removed (and quickly enough that they didn’t go out by subscription email) then nobody here has even suggested he deserved to be murdered.