Dec 26, 2003  |  By: LOU CHIBBARO JR.  | COMMENTS     

D.C. police are seeking help from local gay residents in an investigation into the killing of a gay music promoter whose body was found Dec. 9 inside a duffel bag in his Dupont Circle apartment.

United States marshals called police to the apartment of Tymon “Tymex” Birchett, 28, at the State House Apartments, at 2122 Massachusetts Ave., NW, about 3:45 p.m., after they discovered his body while removing his belongings during an eviction, according to a police statement.

A member of the staff of the D.C. medical examiner’s office pronounced Birchett dead on the scene, the police statement said. Two days later, the medical examiner’s office disclosed that he had been strangled and beaten.

District Police homicide detective Scott Guthrie said Birchett was last seen alive Sunday night, Dec. 7, at Lizard Lounge, a weekly gay dance party held at 1223 Connecticut Ave., NW. Guthrie said he and other investigators are calling on anyone who may have seen Birchett between late Sunday night, Dec. 7, and Monday, Dec. 8, to contact him or another detective at the department’s Violent Crimes Branch at 202-645-9600.

Guthrie said that in addition to frequenting Lizard Lounge, people who knew Birchett said he also patronized the gay nightclub Apex at 22nd and P Streets, NW.

The detective said he has contacted Sgt. Brett Parson, commander of the police Gay & Lesbian Liaison Unit, for assistance in the probe into Birchett’s death.

According to Guthrie, police suspended the eviction and returned Birchett’s belongings to his apartment to enable Birchett’s family to eventually gain access to the items. Parson said police sealed the apartment as a crime scene and were going over Birchett’s belongings with the hope of finding evidence that might lead them to a suspect.

Guthrie said there were no signs of a forced entry into the apartment.

The killings of more than a dozen gay men in D.C. over the past decade remain unsolved in cases that police and gay activists refer to as “pickup” murders. In each of these cases, police have said they found the victims dead in their houses or apartments, with no evidence of a forced entry.

This suggests that the gay male victim most likely met his killer at a gay bar or other meeting place and invited the assailant to his house or apartment, police have said.

Motive unclear
Parson said investigators have yet to determine the motive in the Birchett killing and lack sufficient evidence to classify the case as a pickup killing.

Parson said people who knew Birchett told police he associated with gays but did not identify himself as being gay. However, at least two of his acquaintances told the Blade that Birchett, while preferring not to disclose his sexual orientation to many of his business associates, was known to be gay among a wide circle of gay friends.

Glenn Berkheimer, a gay former D.C. resident who lives in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., said he met Birchett through mutual gay friends in D.C. and occasionally socialized with him.

Sgt.trong> Brett Parson said investigators have yet to determine the motive in the Birchett killing and lack sufficient evidence to classify the case as a pickup killing.

“Everyone seemed to like him,” said Berkheimer. “Some said he was too nice. He would give you the shirt off his back.”

A source familiar with the D.C. music and nightclub scene, who spoke on condition that he not be identified, said Birchett was gay but not out.
“ Anyone who knew anything about him said he was gay,” the source said.

Relatives of Birchett told the Washington Post that he did independent promoting work for record labels.

“He’s always been around music, from DJ-ing in clubs to promoting,” one of his cousins, T.J. Miller of Los Angeles, told the Post. The Post reported that relatives said Birchett grew up in Montgomery County and attended American University.

None of the relatives could think of any reason why someone would want to harm Birchett, the Post reported.

Teresa D. Ruiz, president and CEO of TC Talent Mix, Inc., a national television production company operating out of Bowie, Md., stated on her firm’s Web site that Birchett worked as a crewmember for one of the firm’s television programs. In a tribute to Birchett that Ruiz posted on the site, she called him “sweet, sincere, hard working and dedicated to music and his way of life.”

“He never had a bad word to say about anyone,” Ruiz wrote. “[H]e would call me to make sure that I had received invitations to the most ‘hip’ or ‘gotta be there’ parties. He made sure I had all the new ‘must have’ CDs … Tymex was my friend. I feel the loss deeply and really will miss him.”