The nation is still reeling over the shooting murders of 24-year-old WBDJ-TV reporter Alison Parker and 27-year-old cameraman Adam Ward.
Shortly after the shooting, the suspected gunman, former WBDJ employee Bryce Williams, who’s real name was Vester Flanagan, took his own life, but not before emailing his manifesto to ABC News, in which he confessed his motivation for the killing was mistreatment he felt he received for being a gay black man.
Now, People is reporting that before his career in television news, Flanagan “exchanged sex for money in the mid-1990s.” Sources say Flanagan worked as a male escort during a period of unemployment between 1995 and 1997, when he was in his early 20s.
An extended family member claims Flanagan found customers in online chat rooms geared towards casual hookups.
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“In his profile, he had a lot of dollar signs, and that was a sign to the people he was chatting with that he was willing to hook up for money,” the family member said. “He kept it a secret from his parents, but he did tell a few other family members in his generation who he thought might accept it. I won’t say he was proud of it, but he wasn’t ashamed, either.”
The family member also revealed that Flanagan’s family were devout Jehovah’s Witnesses. “So obviously, he couldn’t tell everyone about it. It was a secret that only a few people knew.”
Friends of Flanagan claim he kept most of the details about his personal life to himself, sharing only minimal details about his past.
“He said he did what he had to do,” childhood friend Shaun Barton, who called the time Flanagan worked as an escort a “dark period” in his life. “But he had a lot of dark periods in his life.”
Related: WBDJ Gunman Bryce Williams’ Bizarre Manifesto Reveals His Sexual Orientation
EdWoody
Two hardly counts as mass murder.
Xzamilio
Okay, yeah… now, you’re just being ridiculous, Queerty. Unless him being an escort had something to do with him murdering two innocent people, this is sensationalist garbage.
No, I’m NOT posting comments too quickly!!!
Alexis Barros
Mass murderer?! I believe you have to kill four people to be considered a mass murderer. This is what, a double homicide? Damn Queerty you are dramatic.
Travis Zepp
on rentboy?
Mykel C. Johnson
Who wasn’t?
Tino Dreamerr
sexy but crazy guy 🙁
Peter McKinney
That must be where all those black men attacked him.
jwtraveler
Well, there you have it: Gay escort = psycho killer. Good reason to shut down Rentboy and any other male prostitution business.
@Xzamilio: “No, I’m NOT posting comments too quickly!!!”
Me neither.
Scotty Be
i think we should really examine how he was treated by society that led to his mental breakdown.
Paul Ditz
What is the point of this story?
Tony Chaplinski
only in america can a mass murderer have a classification of 5 bodies, not two. Gun control anyone to try and stop these senseless killings
DannyHaszard
Orwellian Watchtower World.
Coping & reasoning skills are lacking among folks who are raised JWs.
According to US studies, “Jehovah’s Witnesses are more likely to be admitted to psychiatric hospitals than the general population”.
“According to an article in the British Journal of Psychiatry,” he said, “they are three times more likely to be diagnosed as suffering from schizophrenia and four times more likely to be paranoid schizophrenics.
“As a writer in the American journal Free Inquiry puts it: ‘Either the Jehovah’s Witness sect tends to ATTRACT an excess of pre-psychotic individuals who may then break down, or else being a Jehovah’s Witness is itself a stress that may precipitate psychosis. “‘Possibly both of these factors operate together …'”
The religion in their very own literature will ADMIT to Jehovah’s Witnesses members *high stress levels* in other words manifestation of member mental illness: PTSD, depression,suicidal ideation,anxiety etc….
They ADMIT to this when propaganda serves them to advertise the *hardships” and *persecution* associated with being in the *one true religion*.
Do a search google*Jehovah’s Witnesses* scroll past their ‘official’ propaganda page and find out what others who have had dealings with them say.
Xzamilio
@jwtraveler: Nah, I might be going a little crazy. Got downtime until 2 so I have been all on this site lol
But seriously, who needs this kind of backstory on this guy?
@Scotty Be: Yeah, we should, but we’re not going to… we never do. Especially if it doesn’t make for good clickbait. Still, I personally just don’t think we are there to be treating this guy like a victim, especially when he just murdered two people who — unless I’m mistaken — had nothing to do with his maligning and indignation.
Curty
This is lower than low. Even for this sleazy site… this man killed people and this site digs into his escort past? Shouldn’t there be a feature on the victims and their contributions to society and family? This is disgusting and this man was a mad man who blame everyone but himself for his shortcomings. If there is a hell, hope he fires.
Xzamilio
@DannyHaszard: It’s a fucking cult. I was raised in a Jehovah’s Witness household and saw firsthand how awful some of them can be.They discourage higher education, treat disfellowshipped members like dirt and completely shun those that leave the organization. It’s no different from those other crazy branches of Christianity/Islam/Judaism that attempt to put total control on morality and human nature and make you submit fully to the doctrine. Hell, you can’t even read the bible unless you have a Watchtower magazine, because apparently you can’t understand the bible unless you have a pamphlet telling you what it says.
Add being gay to the mix… man, that was the worst period of my life.
J Shayne Morgan
Why are we even giving this guy more coverage in the press. This is what he wanted. Shame on your queerty for sensationalizing the man. Let’s focus on the victims and pray their families, friends and loved ones can find some sort of peace through this all.
Cagnazzo82
This is all a bit morbid at this point.
sfbeast
Ick! You mean someone actually paid him?
BJ McFrisky
@Scotty Be: Really? You think this piece of shit gunned down two innocents because of society’s neglect? Let me guess—he wasn’t hugged enough by his father or given enough trophies as a kid. Yeah, bullshit. Face it, whackos exist, and they have to be held accountable, not excused because of some perceived victimhood by first-year psych majors. To blame anything else is to ignore the problem while spitting on the memory of his victims.
Giancarlo85
This isn’t about society’s neglect. I know a lot of people who are fucked over by republican asshole right wingers, but they don’t do go around killing people. This man had some serious psychological issues and is a nutcase.
But there are some serious problems in this country. That isn’t to be denied or ignored. Right wing fascist organizations like the NRA and the republican party will want you to ignore those issues, but there are some serious fucking problems in this country.
Sorry BJ you’re partially wrong.
martinbakman
Next on Nancy Grace,
Sex crazed gay Jehovah Witness goes on killing spree. This murderous criminal was an on-line stalker of men for money.
Jon Mackey
Okay so is this trying too say he killed because he was a male escort? :-p
Captain Obvious
@sfbeast: Yes go ahead and make nasty lil r@cist comments about his appearance to support his statements about how black gay men are treated, Moron.
While I don’t agree with what he did, people like you, and Queerty make it quite easy to see how he could’ve snapped.
Carl McClanahan
Who cares ???
Why give him more attention?
Why not do some stories about his victims.
Kangol
The man was obviously mentally ill, on top of everything else. He should never had access to a gun. Before the Virginia TV station fired him they urged him to get psychological help, though I don’t know whether he did so or not.
What I do know is that he ended up murdering two people, wounding a third, and killing himself. His mental illness was very likely exacerbated by his social marginalization, but that doesn’t excuse his behavior. It’s a tragic story.
Highlighting lurid sliver of this man’s past, though, with this photo, is really over the top, Queerty. Leave that to TMZ, the Daily Mail and the Enquirer.
Peter Edward Hughes
Leave it to queerty to highlight the sexual history of a murderer.
Dave Basora
#WHOCARESHESFUCKINGDEAD
Blackceo
This is so disgusting. Like National Enquirer trashy. Bang up job Queerty.
Realitycheck
@Scotty Be: Yes I also
have to wonder what would drive a person to do this, yes mental illness and
a life go abuse from his own mormon family and a r-ist society and who knows what else.
I feel ashamed to say I feel sorry for the guy, because he is the perpetrator and the real victims are the innocents and their families, yet I cannot help it to think
of him as a victim as well.
We do live in a sad world.
Bob LaBlah
It is sad to say this but much better pictures of this guy have emerged since this tragedy that show he did have a hot body but it was nothing to go bonkers over as he no doubt believed. If you do a Google search of him there is a picture of him in a white muscle shirt with a cowboy hat that is hot. He was hot, buffed up and smiling but behind the smile the look on his face showed even then a troubled person.
Back in the early 1990’s I worked with a guy at the phone company who was very good looking, muscular and all that but as soon as he opened his mouth you knew immediately he had NO social skills. He had a weird laugh and would never make eye contact for more than three seconds. We all left him alone. He transferred to Pennsylvania and got fired. He comes back to the office with TWO live hand grenades that he had stolen when he was in the Marine Corps (he had been discharged for being gay) and threatened to blow up the place. Several people jumped out of windows, one suffered a broken back after falling down the stairs from running so fast, the SWAT team showed up and worst yet it was nearly a month before that office got back to being ok.
This was during the days when the phone company was getting rid of people left and right and no one was safe as far as employment in the phone company went at that time. As you can well guess these god-fearing-white-christians had no problem putting god on the sidelines as they took advantage of the situation and claimed all kinds of psychological stress (can’t walk or drive near blacks, can’t enter a building without thinking back about said incident…..all kinds of shit that can’t really be proven but in the eyes of the law are valid). And yes, the guy at the root of all this was black. A damn good looking guy too but troubled.The number of people who filed workers compensation claims and more or less retired because of that guys actions was unbelievable.
He went to prison in 1992 and didn’t get released until 2009. Had this guy pulled this shit in the studio and the reports of a studio general manager being very difficult to work with by everyone would have caused a flood of the same type of claims that were filed in Pennsylvania. When opportunity knocks, the smart take advantage of it. I can imagine how many people who hate that general manager who is still on the job are trying to figure out how they too can take advantage of this situation. It happens folks.
David Quirk
bandwagon #jump
russellhm
While I abhor what this chap has done–murdering two people—I must wonder if small-town Virginia may have pockets of homophobia and if his firing was the result of that in the station’s ownership or management? He does seem to have suffered from many irrational behaviors.
Realitycheck
@Bob LaBlah:
The pictures are here, definitely a hot body, I can see what you meant about the look in his eyes, there is a bit of sadness ………….
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3212167/Vester-Flanagan-s-father-drafted-Green-Bay-Packers-legendary-coach-Vince-Lombardi-1960.html
Jeremy Breneman
It’s disturbing this focus on his sexuality. On CNN they were talking about his registering with gay porn sites. What’s the point?
Jim Van Matre
is 2 people mass murder?
sportyguy1983
The FBI classifies a mass Murderer as someone who kills four or people at once or within a very short period of time.
Captain Obvious
@Bob LaBlah: All it takes is one black guy to do something terrible and all black people become evil. A white guy can shoot up a theater, a church, bomb buildings, or be behind mass genocide of an entire group of people, and no one will claim all white people are evil.
The double standard is beyond dangerous and stupid. The actions of one shouldn’t weigh on anyone else but when it comes to blacks in America they always do. Even in some of the comments you can see it already and others just keep calling the man unattractive which only serves to prove his point ironically.
Peter Mins
Well, of course, he couldn’t b a FEMALE escort.
Realitycheck
@Jeremy Breneman: You know what the point is, obviously people are interested in the story and news outlets are digging as much as they can about the guy past and character and anything that might lend to some kind of explanation and motivation for his actions.
Realitycheck
@Jim Van Matre: Lets just say that our dear Queerty editors engage from time to time in tawdry journalism.
Charles Chan Massey
I am appalled that you used that in your headline. What exactly does one have to do with the other?
William Mc Gregor
And here we go. Everything in his past is going to be atributed to him being a killer!!!
Clark35
Old news queerty. Who would actually want to pay to have sex with him?
Juan Torred
Queety just Stop! Not worth it.
Adam Wayne Hrincevich
Not trying to split hairs here or minimize the tragedy that happened, but come on guysâ?¦ Mass murderer??? You all need some new writers or people with a little bit more experience.
meghanada
@Captain Obvious: Eh, that’s not what I’m seeing. The right is afraid to take on his race politics. It’s his gay side (and therefore gay people) who are paying the price in the right-wing blogosphere.
meghanada
Haven’t seen our resident race warrior Amaurys Arias these days.
Aromaeus
@meghanada: I’ve seen his racial motivation more emphasized than his gayness but it’s not a competition.
James Wilbanks
WHO GIVES A RATS ASS !!
He does not deserve this media coverage !! HE IS A MURDERER !!!
Michael Martinez
Are we glorifying killers now just because they happen to be gay? How about focusing on the victims instead?
Bob LaBlah
@Captain Obvious: I honestly do think (though I don’t know for sure because you and I have never met) that you are too young to remember this incident: Back in the early 1980’s a white male started all of this “going postal shit” when he walked into a McDonalds with a bag full of guns and just started shooting up the place. Two weeks later damn near every white fuck up the post office hired started walking back into the post office where they worked and started shooting up the place. I can only recall ONE incident at a post office where it involved a black guy and that was in Las Vegas.
It is sad to see how protests are going across the entire country about police shootings of blacks and some shit like this has to happen. I find it even SADDER that President Obama seemingly MUST say something every time it happens as compared to the deafening silence of BOTH Presidents Bush and Reagan. The country’s first black president, Bill Clinton, surprised me when he opened his mouth about Columbine (and there again those knuckled headed, sexually frustrated twinks were white). If you find ANYONE stupid enough to say this shit is limited to blacks tell their ass to go back and research mass shootings in the US of A and see for themselves just WHO have done it the most.
This is NOT a racial thing and frankly, I am saddened that this guy was black. He was just a hopelessly lonely, frustrated individual. Notice how there is NO ONE special in his life? Even in his early twenties when he was all buffed up I bet he was an absolute BORE in the bed. There are plenty of guys like him in the world. The problem is they all seem to be here in the US of A. Let us hope the next lonely gay guy comes to his senses and realizes the problem is HIM, not society overall.
I close with this: In EVERY European/Scandinavian country there are prison. The people being held there are being held there for GOOD reason. And the vast majority are WHITE. Get off of the race shit and learn to see reality, people and cultures for what they are. Damn Ozzie and Harriet.
Jaime Enrique Sibauste
Did he worked for Rentboy.com?
Bob LaBlah
@Realitycheck: Thank you for posting that link. I had figured it was religion that fucked him up as a kid. The first thing that went thru my mind was COGIC (Church of God in Christ) but it turns out it was the always “reliable” Jehovah’s Lie…er, um, Witness. Boy I tell you. Thanks again.
Felix Duarte
Just gets worse and worse.
Robert Dan
Wasn’t he also a reporter…
Giancarlo85
One of the greatest domestic terrorist attacks in the history of this nation was done by a crazed right wing white male known as Timothy McVeigh. 168 people died in that attack in Oklahoma City and another 680+ were injured.
Whenever anyone sees a right wing nutcase on a blog bring up the gay or race element to this story, just bring up Timothy McVeigh to shut them down.
gababy2
And they say white gays are problematic…
Donald Jecker
Looks like he probably didn’t do too well with that either. What was he thinking? Just something else to BLAME on other people, when he’s the one making bad decisions…
Stephen Mole
And? Before have millions of people gassed, Hitler was a house painter. What’s his CV got to do with it? Hardly a headline.
Tommy McDonald
If you read his manifesto you would understand why they are calling him a mass murderer. Maybe a wanna be mass murderer is better. But his intentions were clear.
Captain Obvious
@Tommy McDonald: That’s cute, but this “story” doesn’t deserve the attention it’s getting. He wasn’t a mass murderer and there have been other murders since getting no attention.
Hell a black security guard was just killed at the federal building and that got no attention.
Now here we are hearing stories about this man’s sex toys and silly manifestos. So what? He’s dead.
As gay men I’d think other gay men would be able to understand loneliness and isolation and what that can do to a person.
We don’t have to like or respect that he murdered people to understand what made him break.
meghanada
@Captain Obvious: How many people do you have to kill to become a mass murderer?
Plus, this was not just a random shooting fueled by mental illness or vulgar criminal intent – it was intended as a political statement, ergo, it was an act of terror. Too bad all this makes you uncomfortable, but the story *is* newsworthy.
And I don’t see why gay men should be more understandable towards terrorist murderers than anybody else. Is this something that we do and I didn’t know? Because I’ve experienced all that – loneliness, isolation, and anxiety disorders. And I’ve never felt like pulling the trigger on anyone.
sportyguy1983
Why the heck would anyone have paid money to have sex with him? He was fugly, even in the pic they are using in this article.
LadyL
I wonder if this act was also meant as a rebuke to his Jehovah Witness family? More than the sins of society we should look closely at Flanagan’s upbringing and especially his relationship with his parents. Did they know he was gay? Did he feel he could tell them? Did they “accept” him or reject him with ultimatums? I suspect he brought his rage into his jobs and everyone he encountered became a stand-in for his parents.
Magnus
Shame, shame, shame on Queerty for giving this man the attention he wanted.
Can Queerty at least remove the image of this snake in the “articles” you have written about him? I really don’t want to see it. This being who belongs in the sewer is ugly both on the inside and the outside. If there is a hell he is most certainly burning there.
If anymore stories about this worm are reported instead of stories about his victims I will boycott queerty and encourage others to do the same.
I as a gay man am disgusted by you Queerty. You ought to be really ashamed.
Tim Ryan
Lmao!!! “Mass murderer” not to take anything away from the victims but TWO people is not a mass.
Alistair Wiseman
@Giancarlo85:
“Whenever anyone sees a right wing nutcase on a blog bring up the gay or race element to this story, just bring up Timothy McVeigh to shut them down.”
Yes, because it is not about an open, civil discussion about the merits or facts of an issue, it is about shutting them down. Deep.
OrchidIslander
@Alistair Wiseman: Curious mind want to know. Exactly how many times have you had “an open, civil discussion about the merits or facts of an issue” with a right wing nutcase? IMHO, the subject, verb and adjective seem incongruous.
OrchidIslander
Sorry, curious minds……