Police in Australia have arrested a suspect in the murder of 27-year-old Scott Johnson, a gay American mathematician. Johnson died in 1988 while studying in Australia for his doctorate.
The BBC reports that law enforcement formally charged 49-year-old Australian man Scott Price with the crime. Johnson’s body turned up at Sydney’s North Head cliff in the suburb of Manly in 1988. At the time, police ruled his death a suicide, though his family suspected otherwise.
Related: Hunting gay men for sport: Man’s fall from cliff ruled a hate crime 30 years later
In the subsequent years, pleas from the Johnson family and queer community forced police to reexamine the crime. As many as 88 gay men died under similar circumstances in the region around the same period. In 2017, the coroner determined that Johnson had been pushed off a cliff by a gang as part of hate crime. Police apologized for not protecting the gay community at the time, and opened a new investigation into the case, treating it as a murder.
“While we have a long way to go in the legal process, it must be acknowledged that if it wasn’t for the determination of the Johnson family… we wouldn’t be where we are today,” police commissioner Mick Fuller said.
“This is a very emotional day,” Scott’s brother, Steve Johnson said in a video message statement. “He was my best friend and he really needed me to do this. I hope the family and friends of the other dozens of gay men who lost their lives find solace in what’s happened today.”
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
88 men died there???? I hope all those investigators are burning in Hell ..
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Chrisk
88 gay men ended up dead from being pushed off the same damn cliff with a atta boy from the police.
What a horrendous way to die. Reminds me ISIS and their throwing gay men off roof tops.
bsg1967
Living in Sydney at around the same time this was happening, I can guarantee most, if not all of the police didn’t care about homosexual deaths then and and still don’t now,which is proven by only having one victory in a string of horrific murders.
Joshooeerr
It’s worse than that. There are numerous documented cases of the NSW police actually committing or participating in the violence.
Cam
There is a good Australian miniseries that fictionalized this issue called “Deep Water”. It’s on either Prime or Netflix I think and worth checking out.
brandon52
88 men! W.T.F.? I did not know that Australia has NO law enforcement! I bet that the men were all gay and NO one in the police department gave a SHIT about them because they were gay! If any of the people responsible for looking into these deaths are working now, I would fire them AND take them to court. If they have retired, I would take their pensions away from them AND take the to court. GAY LIVES MATTER and these MONSTERS need to be held accountable!
nmarkwb
OMG 88 Men.
Black Pegasus
Wow 88 gay men dead from 1976-2000.
Apparently there was a culture of marauding young men who would seek out gay men to harm and kill. To imagine all of those men killed in cold blood and the probable dozens of murderers still living freely makes my stomach turn.
Gary Q VV
I’m boiling mad to hear about these murders. Can you image the horrid feeling of being pushed off a cliff? I’m boiling mad to hear that the NSW police did nothing about the murders. I’m boiling mad that it has taken this long for the police to take any action to even investigate the murders. Karma’s real, and those evil murderers and limp investigators will have to deal with their deadly fate. RIP Scott, and all of our other Gay brothers.