"For 33 years, the murder of Bill Newton, also known as Billy London, a gay adult film star, who was killed and dismembered in West Hollywood, remained unsolved. Why did it take so long for Billy and his family and friends to get justice? Many people in the community (myself included) initially felt that Billy's murder wasn't taken seriously by law enforcement because he was a gay man in 1990."
"The common refrain was that Billy must have been like 'just another dead gay man' to the cops at that time because AIDS had taken hold, and the death toll was climbing. But more than that, gay people were openly ridiculed and reviled by mainstream society. We know that murders of gay people were historically under-investigated, but more so when the victim was thought to be a sex worker."
In 1990, Bill Newton, professionally known as Billy London, an adult film star, was murdered and dismembered in West Hollywood. The case remained unsolved for thirty-three years due to systemic indifference toward crimes targeting gay men and sex workers during that era. Filmmaker Rachel Mason investigated the cold case and created a documentary titled My Brother's Killer, which premiered at SXSW. Mason's work examines why society allowed the killer to remain free and highlights how law enforcement failed to prioritize the investigation because of Billy's identity as a gay man and sex worker. The documentary brings attention to the historical pattern of under-investigation and neglect of murders involving LGBTQ+ individuals, particularly during the AIDS crisis when mainstream society openly ridiculed gay people.
Read at Queerty
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