Richard Heakin and Decades of Hate

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 before one landed a brutal blow to his neck that proved fatal. He died shortly afterward at the University of Arizona Medical Center.

In April of 2023, in 48 hours period, Jer Auntey Pleasant lured San Antonio, Texas, Larry Wilson, and Joseph West. In April 2023, two gay men were lured through Grindr and murdered days apart, leaving a terrified community and a digital trail of evidence. In this short, we break down how the killer targeted his victims, what went wrong in those final meetings, and how investigators finally connected the dots.

Ed (Edward) Cornes was a 19‑year‑old gay first‑year history student at University College London who was found dead in a King's Cross hotel basement room in October 2021. The two men arrested for death were released, and the case was closed. The Cornes' family believes the investigation into their son's death was tainted by homophobic assumptions on the part of the Metropolitan Police.

On February 22, 2026, at 2:31 a.m., Orlando Police responded to a shooting outside Savoy Orlando nightclub on N Orange Ave. 33-year-old Julien Emmanuel Cruz was found with a gunshot wound during chaotic closing time—patrons scattering as cars passed and tensions boiled over into deadly violence.

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