Jan 16, 2004  |  By: PHIL LaPADULA  | COMMENTS     

TAMPA, Fla. — Gay activists in Florida expressed concern last week that a serial killer may be preying on gay men in Tampa following the death of one man and the disappearance of another.

The body of Michael W. Wachholtz, 26, who went missing on Dec. 20, was later discovered in the back of his Jeep Cherokee. On the same day, another local gay man, Jason R. Galehouse, also 26, vanished after leaving a gay bar with two unidentified men.

According to Florida gay activists, at least two other gay men have disappeared in the Tampa area since 1995, and a transgendered person was killed in nearby Largo, Fla. in early December.

Equality Florida, a statewide gay rights organization, played host to a town hall meeting Jan. 10 at its Tampa office to address the growing fear in the local community. Members of the Tampa Bay police department attended the town hall meeting.

“We’ve gotten dozens of e-mails from members of the community wanting to help and to separate fact from fiction,” said Brian Winfield, communications director for Equality Florida. The organization posted information about the missing person cases and the photos of the two men on its Web site.

According to his roommate, Wachholtz left their home in Rocky Point, Fla., on Saturday evening, Dec. 19. According to Equality Florida’s Web site, an eyewitness reported talking to Wachholtz late Saturday evening or Sunday morning when he requested a jump start for his maroon Jeep Cherokee. The witness reported seeing Wachholtz and a “couple of other guys” working on his vehicle around 3:30 a.m. Dec. 20.

Galehouse was last seen at the 2606 Club, a gay bar in Tampa, on Dec. 20 at about 2:45 a.m. He told friends that he was leaving with two unknown males. The 6-feet-tall, 185-pound man has not been seen or heard from since.

“Both men went missing on the same day, but there is no other connection between the two men that we are aware of,” said Joe Durkin, spokesperson for the Tampa Police Department.

On Friday, Jan. 9, Tyler Hall, who has been a friend of Galehouse for the past seven years, was preparing to lead a search of the Hillsborough River and nearby area. Hall said he was disappointed in the police response so far, but he was hopeful that the town meeting would produce some positive results.

Hall described Galehouse as a “very outgoing, artistic person” who worked at a flower shop and was majoring in interior design at Hillsborough Community College. “He had no enemies,” Hall said.

Equality Florida has sent a letter to Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist asking him to respond to a rash of anti-gay violence in the Tampa Bay area in recent months. Besides the killings and disappearances, there have been two gay-bashing incidents in the past 16 months.

The latest incident occurred in November 2003 when a gay couple and their friends were attacked and brutally assaulted at a Tarpon Springs restaurant.

In July 2002, three people were assaulted after a Gay Pride event at the Florida Aquarium. Although the 21-year-old attacker in that assault, Devon Angus, cracked the victim’s skull and a tooth, he was sentenced as a youthful offender and received no jail time.