December 24, 2024 • 38 mins
Relations between law enforcement and the LGBTQ community were hostile in the decades after Stonewall. Queers breaking out of the closet were often unlucky enough to find themselves handcuffed in the back seat of a police cruiser — picked up in police raids on bars and baths. So, you may be surprised to learn that cops and queers set aside their differences in Los Angeles in 1981, at least long enough to bring a killer to justice.
In this true-crime feature, journalist David Hunt has the story of a West Hollywood manhunt with a Hollywood ending.
Hear retired LAPD Detective Mike Thies recount his relentless efforts to solve a random assault case, ultimately uncovering a sinister pattern: a serial killer targeting gay men in local bars. The episode explores how Thies, in an unprecedented move, sought the help of the gay community to crack the case, marking a profound shift in police-community collaboration.
Despite legal setbacks that saw the suspected killer released twice, Thies and the gay community refused to give up, tracking down witnesses who provided enough evidence to charge the prime suspect, Donald Miller, with multiple murders on Christmas Eve, 1981.
In a deeply personal narrative, Madeline Brancel shares her poignant discovery about the life and death of her uncle, Robert Sanderson, one of Miller's victims. Her journey uncovers not only the tragedy of his untimely death but also the broader societal shifts since then.
David Hunt, who covered the murders as a reporter for Pacifica Radio in the 1980s, brings the story to life through court documents, interviews, archival sound recordings and personal recollections. This feature originally aired on This Way Out: The International LGBTQ Radio Magazine.
David Hunt is an Emmy-winning journalist and documentary producer who has reported on America's culture wars since the 1970s. Explore his blog, Tell Me, David.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
David Hunt (00:04):
Go back in time with me.
It's Saturday, February 14th1981, Valentine's Day, a holiday
celebrating courtship andromantic love in countries
around the world.
In Los Angeles, California,police working the Hollywood
division are overwhelmed withcases.
Crime is soaring throughout thecity, with robberies and
(00:27):
murders up more than 25 percentin the past year.
But LA is also in the midst ofa budget crunch and there are
300 fewer cops on the job.
Hollywood's overworkedinvestigators ask colleagues in
the elite robbery homicidedivision to handle a case that
needs a closer look.
An unidentified man has beenfound robbed and beaten into a
(00:50):
coma on a residential street.
Detective Mike Thies, who tookover the case, remembers those
days like they were yesterday.
Mike Thies (00:59):
During that time it was kind of interesting.
The city of LA, the county ofLA, we had several serial
murders going at the same time.
We had the Hillside Stranglerand the Night Stalker, the Skid
Row Stabber.
It was just crazy.
It was just some real crazytimes and our murder rate was
(01:19):
just skyrocketing.
David Hunt (01:22):
Thies didn't know it when he started working the
case, but he was on the trail ofanother serial killer in Los
Angeles.
This one frequented gay barsand expressed interest in
hooking up with other men.
The gay men who thought theywere leaving the bar for a
one-night stand ended up beatenand robbed, or worse.
To bring a halt to the crimespree, Thies did something that
(01:46):
had never been done before bythe Los Angeles Police
Department (01:49):
he worked with the gay community to catch a serial
killer.
I'm David Hunt.
In this program, I'll return toa story I first covered as a
radio reporter in the early1980s.
I'll share more of my interviewwith the retired detective who
(02:10):
led a dramatic manhunt, forgingan unlikely alliance of cops and
queers to crack the case.
I'll revisit a controversialCalifornia Supreme Court
decision that nearly let thekiller go free before trial and
the detective work thatultimately saved the case and
sent the killer to death row.
And I'll bring the story intothe present day, talking with
(02:33):
the queer niece of one of thevictims, who's striving to learn
more about the life and timesof a relative who died before
she was even born.
Join me now for Manhunt on ThisWay Out.
(03:04):
After two years in the Army atthe height of the Vietnam War,
Mike Thies came home to LosAngeles in 1968 to a different
kind of battle.
He returned to his job as apatrol officer with the LAPD at
a time when crime was rapidlyaccelerating, fueled by the rise
(03:25):
of street gangs and illicitdrug use.
By 1981, the year the majorcrime rate peaked in Los Angeles
County, Thies was anexperienced detective with the
Robbery Homicide Division.
The assault and robbery case hetook over from the Hollywood
Division on Valentine's Day 1981, seemed routine for the time.
(03:48):
The victim was in a coma andcouldn't provide details of his
attack.
The man's wallet and ID weremissing, so Theis didn't even
know his name or where he lived.
What he did know was that theman, later identified as
28-year-old Ernesto Ramirez, alocal hairstylist, had been
found after midnightunconscious, lying on the curb
of a residential street inHollywood.
(04:08):
His skull, face and right earwere badly injured and he was
covered with blood.
Thies got his first break inthe case a week later when the
victim's friends reported himmissing.
Luckily, one friend, MarioAguirre, had seen Ramirez
leaving a West Hollywood gay bar, the Rusty Nail, with another
(04:28):
man on the night he wasassaulted.
On February 20th, Aguirre satdown with a police artist to
create a composite drawing ofthe suspect.
Unsatisfied with the result, heasked to be hypnotized to
enhance his memory.
As a result, the drawing wasslightly modified.
Meanwhile, Thies got down tobusiness.
Mike Thies (04:50):
After I got the case , of course, Ernesto was in a
hospital.
He remained in a coma for, Iguess, almost two months before
he died.
But I talked to Aguirre and theother people, his friends, and
then I just started looking intoother cases for similarities,
(05:11):
and that's, it just starteddeveloping from there.
David Hunt (05:16):
Thies reasoned that if the assailant targeted one
gay man at one gay bar, he mayhave targeted other gay men at
other gay bars, and so he calleddetectives in the Sheriff's
Department and other LAPDdivisions throughout Los Angeles
to see if they had unsolvedcases involving violent crimes
against gays.
In the Hollywood division alone, police had reports of more
(05:39):
than a dozen unsolved murders ofgay men in 1980.
After poring over copies ofcrime reports for hours — this
was years before the LAPD'srecords were computerized —
Thies found what he was lookingfor: a pattern.
Here are the cases he began toconnect.
On July 11, 1980, MichaelThomas, a 32-year-old West
(06:05):
Hollywood florist, had beenfound bloodied and beaten on a
local street.
He died of head trauma a fewhours later.
Friends told detectives thatThomas was last seen at a
popular West Hollywood leatherbar, the Spike, just after
midnight.
An autopsy showed that Thomashad been struck on the head at
least four times with a heavy,blunt object.
(06:25):
On November 29, 1980, RobertSanderson, the 36-year-old owner
of a Burbank hair salon, hadbeen found by a security guard
on a West Hollywood street at1.30 in the morning, staggering
and covered with blood.
Sanderson remained consciousjust long enough to give his
name and say that he'd beenattacked.
(06:46):
A friend told detectivesSanderson was last seen at a gay
bar, the Rusty Nail, just twoblocks from the Spike.
Sanderson died in the hospitalon February 12, 1981, of head
trauma.
An autopsy showed that he'dbeen struck on the head with a
heavy object.
On January 24, 1981, the body ofDanny Harman, a 22-year-old
(07:14):
Kentucky man who'd moved to LosAngeles just weeks earlier, had
been found in a Compton,California park south of Los
Angeles.
A friend told detectives thatHarman was last seen at a gay
bar, Woody's Hyperion, in theSilver Lake District of Los
Angeles.
An autopsy showed that Harmanhad been beaten with a heavy
blunt object and had died ofhead trauma.
On February 21st 1981,28-year-old Douglas Allison had
(07:35):
been found on a HollywoodStreet at 1:30 in the morning,
bloodied and gasping for breath.
According to a police report,Allison had sustained multiple
facial fractures, includingfractures to both his upper and
lower jawbones.
A surgeon who treated himstated that the injuries were
caused by blows of substantialforce with a smooth and probably
(07:57):
heavy blunt object.
Allison survived the attack butremained in a coma for two
months.
Friends told detectives thathe'd visited several gay bars on
the evening before his attack,including the Spike and the
Rusty Nail.
With the passing of ErnestoRamirez on April 20, 1981, the
(08:17):
death toll stood at four.
Thies knew he needed the helpof the gay community if he had
any chance of stopping thecarnage.
There was only one problem.
Cops and queers in LA weredivided into warring camps back
(08:43):
then.
You're listening to This WayOut: the International LGBTQ
Radio Magazine.
I'm David Hunt.
At a May 1980 hearing in frontof the City Council's Public
Safety Committee, dozens ofangry gays and lesbians
confronted three LAPD divisioncommanders, demanding an end to
(09:03):
police harassment of gay barsand their patrons.
The owner of one gay club,circus Disco, said repeated
police raids had effectivelyshut down his club but resulted
in no prosecutions.
Four city council memberssharply criticized the police
for devoting too much attentionto gay bars and not enough to
(09:24):
serious crime.
One suggested that the councilcould trim the LAPD's budget
even more unless the departmentchanged its priorities.
In a newscast for PacificaRadio I reported that gays and
lesbians felt squeezed betweentwo oppressors gay bashers on
one side, police on the other.
(09:47):
It is not just criminals whoterrorize gays and lesbians.
Raids of gay businesses andhomes by vice officers and even
the FBI are facts of life inmany parts of the country,
Despite the bad blood.
Thies realized that there wasone very good reason for the gay
community to put the pastbehind and work with his
investigation.
Mike Thies (10:06):
Well there, you know mutual interest.
You know their community isbeing victimized, so they've
certainly got an interest inhelping out.
David Hunt (10:16):
Detectives, assisted by Ernesto Ramirez's friends,
began circulating copies of thecomposite drawing of the
suspected killer to gay barsthroughout the city.
They hoped someone could matcha name to the face Mario Aguirre
.
The friend who had seen Ramirezleave the Rusty Nail with the
killer went a step further.
He agreed to take part in astakeout of the Rusty Nail in
(10:39):
hopes that the killer wouldreturn looking for his next
victim.
On Friday, february 27, 1981,aguirre joined two detectives at
a restaurant across the streetfrom the bar, while backup
undercover officers cruised thesurrounding streets.
After nearly three hours waitingand watching, aguirre and the
detectives decided to go insidethe bar, on the off chance that
(11:02):
the killer had used the backentrance.
Still, they knew running intothe killer was a long shot, as
they waited for a traffic signalto change so they could cross
Santa Monica Boulevard.
Aguirre looked to his right andsaw a man crossing the street
toward him.
A familiar man, that's him, heshouted to detectives, I'd like
(11:36):
to say the search for the killerof four gay men in Los Angeles
concluded with the arrest of a40-year-old welder, donald
Miller, outside the Rusty Nailin West Hollywood on February 27
, 1981.
The truth is, the easy part ofthe investigation was over, the
lead detective, mike Thies,would soon find that keeping
(11:57):
Miller behind bars and buildingan airtight case against the
suspect would put him at oddswith the Los Angeles County
District Attorney's Office and,ultimately, the California
Supreme Court.
The high-tech tools of modernpolice work were limited in
those days.
Mike Thies (12:14):
We didn't have DNA, we didn't have computerized
fingerprints, we didn't have allthe surveillance cameras that
are so prevalent today.
So it was a challenge.
David Hunt (12:26):
Simply put, the case against Miller was largely
circumstantial.
He was seen leaving the RustyNail with Ernesto Ramirez.
He drove the type of sports carthat witnesses had seen in the
vicinity of the assaults onMichael Thomas and Robert
Sanderson.
He lived near Woody's Hyperion,the bar where Danny Harmon was
last seen alive, and he grew upless than a mile from the park
(12:49):
in Compton where Harmon'slifeless body was found.
The key piece of evidence,though still circumstantial, was
found inside Miller's 280Zparked across the street from
the rusty nail.
It was a piece of metal pipestored behind one of the car's
bucket seats For Thies.
Discovering the heavy metalpipe confirmed his suspicions.
(13:11):
He knew he had his killer.
Mike Thies (13:14):
You know it's a steam pipe from the railroad.
He was a welder and these pipes, I mean you can't be a fairly
strong guy to even wield them,and Miller was a big guy, I mean
he had to be a fairly strongguy to even will him, and Miller
was a big guy.
David Hunt (14:05):
But when Thies presented the case to the D.
A.
's office, prosecutors rejectedit, citing insufficient evidence
.
Thies would need more evidenceor additional witnesses.
Four days later, Donald Millerwas released from police custody
.
Unwilling to give up on thecase, Thies ordered plainclothes
cops to put Miller undersurveillance.
If he tried to kill again, theLAPD would be watching.
(14:25):
You're listening to This WayOut: the International LGBTQ
Radio Magazine.
I'm David Hunt.
I'll return in a moment withthe next chapter of Manhunt.
(15:15):
Take a step back in time with me.
It's Friday, May 8th 1981, acloudless evening in Los Angeles
, California.
James Mack rides the bus toHollywood to visit a few of the
town's popular night spots.
11 o'clock finds him at Woody'sHyperion, a gay bar in the
Silver Lake neighborhood east ofHollywood.
Mack didn't know it when hestarted his bar crawl, but he
(15:45):
would soon come face to facewith a serial killer, a killer
who targeted men he met at gaybars.
Whether he would survive theencounter depended on a
tenacious police detective andluck.
About 30 minutes after hearrived at Woody's Hyperion,
(16:07):
James Mack struck up aconversation with a man standing
at the bar, a man whointroduced himself as Robert and
said he lived in Long Beach,about 25 miles south of LA.
What brings you up to LosAngeles?
Mack inquired.
I was looking for you, the manflirted.
Mack left the bar with Robertand the two men drove around in
Robert's sports car, ending upat a dark house with a long
(16:28):
driveway in front.
It turns out the men weren'talone.
Robert, whose real name wasDonald Miller, was the prime
suspect in the murders of fourgay men.
As Detective Henry Cadenawatched from a distance, Miller
and Mack got out of the sportscar and began walking up the
driveway.
Then Miller stopped, turned andstruck Mack hard on the right
(16:49):
cheek with his fist.
Before Cadena could sprint upthe driveway to stop the attack,
Miller hit Mack again, thistime in the mouth.
Mack fell to the groundbloodied but alive.
Within seconds Donald Miller wasback in custody.
(17:11):
Now Thies believed he hadenough evidence to charge Miller
with four counts offirst-degree murder.
Police had literally caught thesuspect in the act of attacking
a gay man he had picked up at agay bar, the same bar where
22-year-old Danny Harman waslast seen alive in January 1981.
But prosecutors in the DA'soffice told Thies he had a
problem.
His suspected metal pipe killerwas caught beating a man with
(17:33):
his fists.
Where was the heavy metal pipethat would connect the assault
on Mack with the murders ofDanny Harmon, Robert Sanderson,
Ernesto Ramirez and MichaelThomas?
Thies theorizes there was asimple explanation.
Mike Thies (17:48):
He forgot his pipe that night because the
surveillance guys had a goodvisual on him, and when he gets
out of the car he's lookingbehind his seat, which is
normally where he kept that pipe, but for some reason he had
forgotten that.
David Hunt (18:04):
As it stood, the case was highly circumstantial.
Prosecutors would have to relyon the testimony of just one key
witness, Mario Aguirre, who sawhis friend Ernesto Ramirez
leave a gay bar on the night hewas murdered in the company of
Donald Miller.
But because Aguirre hadundergone hypnosis to enhance
his memory of that night,prosecutors feared his testimony
(18:26):
wouldn't be allowed by thecourts.
And so, for the second time in10 weeks, the DA's office
refused to charge Miller.
The killer had escaped justiceagain and Thies was convinced
would kill again.
In a bold move, Thies wentpublic with his frustration and
anger at the DA's foot-dragging, telling the Los
Angeles Times, "n my mind thecase is solved.
(18:50):
The Times headline trumpetedprosecution lags in gay murders.
Thies knew public pressure onthe DA's office would only go so
far.
What he really needed was moreevidence and additional
witnesses.
Once again, the detectiveturned to the gay community for
help.
With the assistance ofvolunteers from the Gay and
Lesbian Community ServicesCenter, thies distributed more
(19:12):
than 2,000 flyers to local gaybars and he picked up the phone
and called a reporter at theAdvocate, a bi-weekly gay and
lesbian news magazine.
Mike Thies (19:22):
You know from talking to people I knew the
Advocate had a nationwidedistribution.
It was highly read in the gaycommunity and it certainly
proved quite useful.
David Hunt (19:34):
In an article in the Advocate, Thies appealed to the
gay community for help solvingthe case.
He implored anyone who hadsurvived a similar attack in Los
Angeles to contact him.
The gambit worked.
The story in the Advocateyielded two new victims and,
more importantly, potentialwitnesses.
Richard Salida, a gay Chicagoman, told Thies he visited Los
(19:56):
Angeles in May 1980 to see afriend.
During the visit he hitched aride from a man in a black
sports car on Santa MonicaBoulevard in West Hollywood.
After a few minutes the driverpulled onto a side street and
asked Salida if he wanted tomake out.
When Salida declined andstarted to get out of the car,
the driver struck him on theback of the head with a heavy
(20:16):
metal pipe, inflicting an injurythat required seven stitches.
Next Thies heard from a SanFrancisco man, Rodolfo Pambid,
who said he visited Los Angelesin October 1980.
During his visit, Pambid wasattacked by a man he met at the
Spike.
The attacker used a club ofsome sort that he had retrieved
(20:37):
from the back seat of his blacksports car, Pambid told Thies.
Pambid managed to block theblow with his arm and run from
the car.
A West Hollywood man, MichaelPietilla, also called Thies
after seeing a flyer about theinvestigation at the Spike.
He told an eerily familiarstory of being attacked by a man
driving a black sports car whohad offered him a ride on Santa
(21:00):
Monica Boulevard in WestHollywood
on December 31, 1980, new Year'sEve.
Thanks to the cooperation ofthese gay men, thies finally had
enough evidence to bring thecase to trial.
You're listening to this WayOut the international LGBTQ
(21:33):
radio magazine.
I'm David Hunt.
On Christmas Eve 1981, the DA'soffice charged Donald Miller
with four counts of murder andthree counts of attempted murder
.
An additional attempted murdercharge was added later, but
nothing about the case was evereasy.
On March 11, 1982, theCalifornia Supreme Court handed
(21:56):
down a controversial ruling thatthreatened to sideline the
trial before it even got started.
I reported on the developmentfor Pacifica Radio.
Here in Los Angeles, the manpolice believe brutally murdered
as many as five gay men maynever even go on trial due to
illegal technicality legaltechnicality.
(22:19):
In March, the CaliforniaSupreme Court dealt a
near-deadly blow to the caseagainst the suspect, Donald
Miller, when it prohibited theuse of any witness who has
undergone hypnosis.
The key witness against theaccused steel pipe killer was
placed under hypnosis a year agoto help him recall details
about the suspect.
Without his testimony, aconviction might be impossible,
according to the districtattorney's office.
(22:39):
In an interview shortly afterthe ruling, Deputy District
Attorney Dino Fulgoni, theinitial prosecutor on the case,
shared his thoughts with me onthe use of testimony aided by
hypnosis.
Dino Fulgoni (22:51):
My opinion as to the effect of hypnosis on a
witness is that I'm opposed topeople hypnotizing witnesses
because I think it can affecttheir credibility.
Problem with the Supreme Courtdecision is that it is a flat
exclusion.
All witnesses who have evertestified, whoever been
(23:12):
hypnotized, are prohibited fromtestifying regarding the subject
of their hypnosis.
There are cases and I've citedsome in a brief that I'm doing
to try to get the Supreme Courtto rehear.
There are cases where therecouldn't possibly have been any
suggestion because the policehad no idea at the time the
hypnotism was done who the guywas, where you can rule out this
(23:37):
confabulation or making up ofdetails by showing that after
the hypnotism occurred, that theresults of the hypnotism were
confirmed by independentevidence.
David Hunt (23:51):
In June 1982, due to the efforts of Fulgoni and
others, the California SupremeCourt added a footnote to its
March ruling, giving prosecutorssome hope that the issue would
be resolved in their favor.
When I interviewed Fulgoni asecond time, he was cautiously
optimistic.
Dino Fulgoni (24:10):
We're up in the air.
What I think they mean is thatthey're going to take it on a
case-by-case basis, see what theevidence is in each case and
make a determination as towhether or not the hypnotic
session interfered with thereliability of the witness.
So there is a good chance thatwe might be able to use the
(24:30):
witness that was excluded underthe rule decision.
David Hunt (24:35):
Ultimately, the trial judge allowed prosecutors
to put Mario Aguirre on thewitness stand, even though he
had undergone hypnosis toenhance his memory.
Deputy District Attorney SteveSowders, who took over the case
just weeks before trial, toldjurors that Miller's history of
violence spanned 20 years.
The gay men who responded tothe Advocate article testified
(24:57):
about their experiences on thereceiving end of Miller's rage,
although it meant traveling toLos Angeles from out of town and
sitting for hours in a crowdeddowntown courtroom.
I reminded Thies that cops andqueers didn't mix well in the
1980s.
He shrugged off the suggestion.
In his eyes, they were on thesame side.
Mike Thies (25:17):
I had nothing but positive relationships, off the
suggestion.
In his eyes they were on thesame side.
I had nothing but positiverelationships with the community
.
I found them to be probablysome of the best witnesses I
ever had.
You know, I'd tell them okay,you got to be in court at 8 30.
Well, they were there at eighto'clock, Never complained.
No, they were just very, veryresponsible witnesses.
(25:38):
No, I had no problems at all.
David Hunt (25:42):
On October 13, 1983, a jury of six men and six women
found Donald Miller guilty ofthe murders of four gay men and
the attempted murders of fourothers.
They handed down the deathpenalty.
In a final twist, theCalifornia Supreme Court took up
Miller's appeal in 1990 andthrew out Aguirre's testimony
(26:03):
ruling.
It was inadmissible, but theyagreed that the testimony of the
other witnesses was sufficientto justify the jury's guilty
verdicts on all counts.
Had Thies not worked with thegay community and the media to
bolster the case, the guiltyverdicts almost certainly would
have been overturned on appeal.
Thies has no doubt that Millerwould have continued his killing
(26:27):
spree.
Mike Thies (26:29):
He was vicious.
I mean you see the results ofhis actions.
I mean it's horrible.
Who knew what deep sociologicalissues created this monster
that we saw that carried out allthese crimes?
David Hunt (26:43):
Donald Miller died of heart disease at San Quentin
Prison in California on October14, 2005, after 22 years and one
day on death row.
You're listening to This WayOut: the International LGBTQ
(27:11):
Radio Magazine.
I'm David Hunt, continuing myfeature on an unlikely alliance
of cops and queers that caught aserial killer in 1981.
Flashback to 1980, to aconference room at Parker Center
headquarters of the LAPD.
The eight-story mid-centurybuilding nicknamed the Glass
(27:33):
House features a jail withunbreakable tempered glass
windows instead of bars.
Ignoring the old adage thatpeople in glass houses shouldn't
throw stones, assistant PoliceChief Robert Vernon lobs an
insult across the conferencetable aimed squarely at his
guests leaders of LA's gay andlesbian community.
You are all blasphemies, heshouts, referencing the Old
(27:58):
Testament book of Deuteronomy.
Respond to that.
Vernon would get a response,but not the kind of response he
was looking for.
In the coming years, relationsbetween the LAPD and the gay
community would improve, andsome of the credit for that goes
to Detective Mike Thies and togays and lesbians across the
city who put aside theirdifferences with law enforcement
(28:21):
to bring a killer to justice.
The 1983 conviction of a42-year-old welder, Donald
Miller, for the murders of fourgay men in Los Angeles was
welcome news for the city'sLGBTQ community, proving that
cops and queers could worktogether if they respected each
other.
After their tense meeting withAssistant Police Chief Robert
(28:44):
Vernon, gay and lesbian leadershad regrouped.
They convinced LA Mayor TomBradley, a retired cop, to
create the Los Angeles Gay andLesbian Police Advisory Task
Force to give gays and lesbiansofficial standing with the
city's police commission.
Captain Ken Hickman, who laterearned a PhD in criminal justice
(29:04):
at the Claremont GraduateSchool, was appointed the police
department's liaison to theLGBT community in 1981.
In a public presentation at theGay and Lesbian Community
Services Center, Hickman pointedto the Miller case as one of
the year's success stories.
He thanked gays and lesbiansfor helping police circulate
more than 2,000 flyers to gaybars in LA and West Hollywood.
(29:28):
The flyers resulted in a keywitness coming forward to
testify against Miller, vitalevidence in what was largely a
circumstantial case against thekiller.
As important as the Miller casewas to strengthening relations
between the LAPD and the LGBTQcommunity in the early 1980s.
I don't want to overstate thepace of progress.
(29:49):
By 1991, 10 years after themurders, the LAPD had just six
openly queer cops on a force ofmore than 8,000 sworn officers.
The department finally agreedto stop discriminating against
LGBTQ employees and jobapplicants in 1993, and then
(30:10):
only to settle a lawsuit.
Police conduct towardmarginalized people and
communities remains a concern tothis day.
After Miller's conviction, thecase disappeared from the media
and quickly faded from publicmemory.
In 2016, 35 years after thekilling spree, I told the story
of the case on my blog,tellmedavidcom.
(30:32):
The mass shooting at the Pulsenightclub in Orlando, Florida,
was in the headlines, and thesavagery of the attack on the
gay club triggered memories ofthe killings I had covered in
the early 1980s in Los Angeles.
I felt compelled to honor thememory of four young gay men who
had been senselessly andbrutally killed in places they
(30:52):
thought were safe by a man theythought they could trust.
It seemed unlikely that I'd hearfrom anyone who knew any of the
victims, but in April 2022, aman named Bob Taylor posted a
comment, a tribute to along-departed friend.
Robert Sanderson was a sweet,kind individual that I had the
privilege of knowing, he wrote.
(31:13):
He was also a hard-workingindividual and hairdresser that
owned his own shop over byWarner Brothers Studios in
Burbank.
He is thought of often and willnever be forgotten.
Then, in July 2024, a visitorposted another comment about
Sanderson.
Robert Sanderson was mygrandmother's brother and the
(31:33):
only other gay person in myfamily besides me that I know of
.
She wrote.
His story is heartbreaking andI would love to learn more about
who he was.
And that's how I met MadelineBrancel, a policy manager at a
research center in Boston, who'son a quest to understand the
life and times of a gay relativewho died before she was even
(31:54):
born.
We spoke recently.
Madeline Brancel (31:57):
I have one memory of sitting with my
grandma at her kitchen table andI must have been pretty young
because I was trying to get asense of like who, what her
family was like and who hersiblings were and she told me
then that she had had a brotherwho had passed away, and she
said that he was.
He lived out in California.
(32:17):
I think she told me at thatpoint that he was gay and he had
moved out to CaliforniaCalifornia, he opened up his own
hair salon and that he hadbasically gotten kind of beat up
at random one day when he wasleaving his hair salon and that
he had ended up dying while hewas out there.
David Hunt (32:38):
Until she was an adult.
That's all Brancel knew abouther Uncle Bob.
In 2015, the year same-sexmarriage was legalized in the
United States, Brancel fell inlove with her partner, Alex.
The couple traveled toBrancel's hometown to share the
news with her extended family.
The family's positive responsemade Brancel wonder if Sanderson
had been supported and acceptedwhen he came out in rural
(33:00):
Wisconsin more than 50 years ago, and so she asked her
grandmother to share what sheknew of Sanderson's life before
he moved to California.
Madeline Brancel (33:08):
I think she reflects on that period with
just so much empathy for him.
It sounds like he didn't have alot of close friends or she
doesn't remember a lot of closefriends coming around, and she
hasn't given me specifics but itsounds like he had a really
rocky relationship with mygrandma's dad, who was actually
his adoptive dad.
(33:29):
It sounds like theirrelationship was bad.
I didn't get a sense of like ifit was violent or what exactly
that looked like, but my grandmasaid that it was really rough
for him.
David Hunt (33:39):
After Sanderson moved to Los Angeles, his family
rarely saw him.
In the days before textmessaging and email, news
traveled slowly if at all.
Madeline Brancel (33:48):
Like I wonder how much of the distance was due
to his sexuality, either on hispart or on their part.
I think my grandma said it wasnever really explicitly talked
about, that they kind of knewthat it wasn't talked about.
His life in California was abig black box.
David Hunt (34:05):
Brancel shared some of the information on my blog
with her grandmother, revealingdetails.
She hadn't known that herbrother wasn't killed at his
salon but near a gay club,targeted because of his sexual
orientation.
But she also shared thethoughtful comment posted by
Sanderson's friend, Bob Taylor,declaring that Sanderson was
kind and hardworking and wouldnever be forgotten.
Madeline Brancel (34:28):
The look on my grandma's face was she was so
surprised and so moved and shecouldn't stop thanking me and
she gave me a huge hug and shesaid that this was a really
momentous moment for her to seethat someone in California had
known him and respected him.
It was just so meaningful forme to see my grandma, just like
(34:50):
a small snippet of information,be so meaningful to her and that
made me want to keep going onthis journey and finding out
more information, because I justcan't imagine from her
perspective like you're in yourearly 20s your brother leaves,
you don't get to see him veryoften, you don't know much about
his life, you know that he'sgay but nobody talks about it
and like all the signals you'regetting are probably that that's
(35:11):
bad and that's a sin.
Well, you're still kind offiguring out what you think
about things at that age andthen he dies super violently and
you never really get anyclosure.
David Hunt (35:23):
Although she was shocked to discover that her
uncle was killed by a serialkiller who targeted gay men,
Brancel took heart from the waythe community responded.
Madeline Brancel (35:32):
For me the most interesting piece is the
collaboration between the LGBTcommunity and police at the time
, because I had just come off ofreading this book that was
talking about how difficultthose relations were kind of
across the country in the 70s80s.
Relations were kind of acrossthe country in the 70s 80s and
so I was really curious as tolike why, what were the drivers
(35:53):
who were like the championswithin the police department who
made this work and whointeracted respectfully with the
gay community at the time?
And then I was really movedonce I started digging deeper
and I learned that like the gaycommunity had put up some like I
don't remember if it was two orthree hundred or thousands of
flyers around kind of placesthat were key landmarks in West
Hollywood for gay people tofrequent and they were all kind
(36:15):
of warning about this happeningand kind of trying to raise
awareness and trying to catchthis person.
And so that was moving to me,just knowing that like people,
like an entire community ofpeople, had rallied that an
entire community of people hadrallied.
David Hunt (36:30):
Brancel yearns to learn more about her uncle's
life in Los Angeles and hisexperiences as a gay man in the
1970s and 80s.
She wonders as well what heruncle Bob would make of his
young relative, a proud queerwoman with a loving partner and
a supportive community.
Madeline Brancel (36:44):
I've thought about what he would think of how
easy my life is in my family,how easy my life is in society.
I think I live a prettyprivileged existence, even for
today.
The things that he would havehad to go through to just feel
comfortable in his own skin andfind his people is just
(37:04):
something that I've never evenhad to imagine going through,
and I hope that he would be veryhappy looking down on me and
the experience I have as his gayniece just kind of thriving and
living my best life with a lotof ease, which I'm very
fortunate for.
David Hunt (37:29):
I'd like to thank Madeline Brancel for discussing
the life of her uncle, RobertSanderson.
Other voices you heard in thisfeature belong to retired
Detective Mike Thies and formerDeputy District Attorney Dino
Fulgoni.
Information also came from alegal deposition by former
Police Captain Ken Hickman andcoverage of the Miller case by
the Los Angeles Times and UnitedPress International.
(37:51):
Special thanks to the OneNational Gay and Lesbian
Archives at the University ofSouthern California for
preserving audio cassettes ofsome of my radio reporting from
the early 1980s.
For this Way Out.
I'm David Hunt.
Go back in time with me.
It's Saturday, February 14th1981, Valentine's Day, a holiday
celebrating courtship andromantic love in countries
around the world.
In Los Angeles, California,police working the Hollywood
division are overwhelmed withcases.
Crime is soaring throughout thecity, with robberies and
(00:27):
murders up more than 25 percentin the past year.
But LA is also in the midst ofa budget crunch and there are
300 fewer cops on the job.
Hollywood's overworkedinvestigators ask colleagues in
the elite robbery homicidedivision to handle a case that
needs a closer look.
An unidentified man has beenfound robbed and beaten into a
(00:50):
coma on a residential street.
Detective Mike Thies, who tookover the case, remembers those
days like they were yesterday.
Mike Thies (00:59):
During that time it was kind of interesting.
The city of LA, the county ofLA, we had several serial
murders going at the same time.
We had the Hillside Stranglerand the Night Stalker, the Skid
Row Stabber.
It was just crazy.
It was just some real crazytimes and our murder rate was
(01:19):
just skyrocketing.
David Hunt (01:22):
Thies didn't know it when he started working the
case, but he was on the trail ofanother serial killer in Los
Angeles.
This one frequented gay barsand expressed interest in
hooking up with other men.
The gay men who thought theywere leaving the bar for a
one-night stand ended up beatenand robbed, or worse.
To bring a halt to the crimespree, Thies did something that
(01:46):
had never been done before bythe Los Angeles Police
Department (01:49):
he worked with the gay community to catch a serial
killer.
I'm David Hunt.
In this program, I'll return toa story I first covered as a
radio reporter in the early1980s.
I'll share more of my interviewwith the retired detective who
(02:10):
led a dramatic manhunt, forgingan unlikely alliance of cops and
queers to crack the case.
I'll revisit a controversialCalifornia Supreme Court
decision that nearly let thekiller go free before trial and
the detective work thatultimately saved the case and
sent the killer to death row.
And I'll bring the story intothe present day, talking with
(02:33):
the queer niece of one of thevictims, who's striving to learn
more about the life and timesof a relative who died before
she was even born.
Join me now for Manhunt on ThisWay Out.
(03:04):
After two years in the Army atthe height of the Vietnam War,
Mike Thies came home to LosAngeles in 1968 to a different
kind of battle.
He returned to his job as apatrol officer with the LAPD at
a time when crime was rapidlyaccelerating, fueled by the rise
(03:25):
of street gangs and illicitdrug use.
By 1981, the year the majorcrime rate peaked in Los Angeles
County, Thies was anexperienced detective with the
Robbery Homicide Division.
The assault and robbery case hetook over from the Hollywood
Division on Valentine's Day 1981, seemed routine for the time.
(03:48):
The victim was in a coma andcouldn't provide details of his
attack.
The man's wallet and ID weremissing, so Theis didn't even
know his name or where he lived.
What he did know was that theman, later identified as
28-year-old Ernesto Ramirez, alocal hairstylist, had been
found after midnightunconscious, lying on the curb
of a residential street inHollywood.
(04:08):
His skull, face and right earwere badly injured and he was
covered with blood.
Thies got his first break inthe case a week later when the
victim's friends reported himmissing.
Luckily, one friend, MarioAguirre, had seen Ramirez
leaving a West Hollywood gay bar, the Rusty Nail, with another
(04:28):
man on the night he wasassaulted.
On February 20th, Aguirre satdown with a police artist to
create a composite drawing ofthe suspect.
Unsatisfied with the result, heasked to be hypnotized to
enhance his memory.
As a result, the drawing wasslightly modified.
Meanwhile, Thies got down tobusiness.
Mike Thies (04:50):
After I got the case , of course, Ernesto was in a
hospital.
He remained in a coma for, Iguess, almost two months before
he died.
But I talked to Aguirre and theother people, his friends, and
then I just started looking intoother cases for similarities,
(05:11):
and that's, it just starteddeveloping from there.
David Hunt (05:16):
Thies reasoned that if the assailant targeted one
gay man at one gay bar, he mayhave targeted other gay men at
other gay bars, and so he calleddetectives in the Sheriff's
Department and other LAPDdivisions throughout Los Angeles
to see if they had unsolvedcases involving violent crimes
against gays.
In the Hollywood division alone, police had reports of more
(05:39):
than a dozen unsolved murders ofgay men in 1980.
After poring over copies ofcrime reports for hours — this
was years before the LAPD'srecords were computerized —
Thies found what he was lookingfor: a pattern.
Here are the cases he began toconnect.
On July 11, 1980, MichaelThomas, a 32-year-old West
(06:05):
Hollywood florist, had beenfound bloodied and beaten on a
local street.
He died of head trauma a fewhours later.
Friends told detectives thatThomas was last seen at a
popular West Hollywood leatherbar, the Spike, just after
midnight.
An autopsy showed that Thomashad been struck on the head at
least four times with a heavy,blunt object.
(06:25):
On November 29, 1980, RobertSanderson, the 36-year-old owner
of a Burbank hair salon, hadbeen found by a security guard
on a West Hollywood street at1.30 in the morning, staggering
and covered with blood.
Sanderson remained consciousjust long enough to give his
name and say that he'd beenattacked.
(06:46):
A friend told detectivesSanderson was last seen at a gay
bar, the Rusty Nail, just twoblocks from the Spike.
Sanderson died in the hospitalon February 12, 1981, of head
trauma.
An autopsy showed that he'dbeen struck on the head with a
heavy object.
On January 24, 1981, the body ofDanny Harman, a 22-year-old
(07:14):
Kentucky man who'd moved to LosAngeles just weeks earlier, had
been found in a Compton,California park south of Los
Angeles.
A friend told detectives thatHarman was last seen at a gay
bar, Woody's Hyperion, in theSilver Lake District of Los
Angeles.
An autopsy showed that Harmanhad been beaten with a heavy
blunt object and had died ofhead trauma.
On February 21st 1981,28-year-old Douglas Allison had
(07:35):
been found on a HollywoodStreet at 1:30 in the morning,
bloodied and gasping for breath.
According to a police report,Allison had sustained multiple
facial fractures, includingfractures to both his upper and
lower jawbones.
A surgeon who treated himstated that the injuries were
caused by blows of substantialforce with a smooth and probably
(07:57):
heavy blunt object.
Allison survived the attack butremained in a coma for two
months.
Friends told detectives thathe'd visited several gay bars on
the evening before his attack,including the Spike and the
Rusty Nail.
With the passing of ErnestoRamirez on April 20, 1981, the
(08:17):
death toll stood at four.
Thies knew he needed the helpof the gay community if he had
any chance of stopping thecarnage.
There was only one problem.
Cops and queers in LA weredivided into warring camps back
(08:43):
then.
You're listening to This WayOut: the International LGBTQ
Radio Magazine.
I'm David Hunt.
At a May 1980 hearing in frontof the City Council's Public
Safety Committee, dozens ofangry gays and lesbians
confronted three LAPD divisioncommanders, demanding an end to
(09:03):
police harassment of gay barsand their patrons.
The owner of one gay club,circus Disco, said repeated
police raids had effectivelyshut down his club but resulted
in no prosecutions.
Four city council memberssharply criticized the police
for devoting too much attentionto gay bars and not enough to
(09:24):
serious crime.
One suggested that the councilcould trim the LAPD's budget
even more unless the departmentchanged its priorities.
In a newscast for PacificaRadio I reported that gays and
lesbians felt squeezed betweentwo oppressors gay bashers on
one side, police on the other.
(09:47):
It is not just criminals whoterrorize gays and lesbians.
Raids of gay businesses andhomes by vice officers and even
the FBI are facts of life inmany parts of the country,
Despite the bad blood.
Thies realized that there wasone very good reason for the gay
community to put the pastbehind and work with his
investigation.
Mike Thies (10:06):
Well there, you know mutual interest.
You know their community isbeing victimized, so they've
certainly got an interest inhelping out.
David Hunt (10:16):
Detectives, assisted by Ernesto Ramirez's friends,
began circulating copies of thecomposite drawing of the
suspected killer to gay barsthroughout the city.
They hoped someone could matcha name to the face Mario Aguirre
.
The friend who had seen Ramirezleave the Rusty Nail with the
killer went a step further.
He agreed to take part in astakeout of the Rusty Nail in
(10:39):
hopes that the killer wouldreturn looking for his next
victim.
On Friday, february 27, 1981,aguirre joined two detectives at
a restaurant across the streetfrom the bar, while backup
undercover officers cruised thesurrounding streets.
After nearly three hours waitingand watching, aguirre and the
detectives decided to go insidethe bar, on the off chance that
(11:02):
the killer had used the backentrance.
Still, they knew running intothe killer was a long shot, as
they waited for a traffic signalto change so they could cross
Santa Monica Boulevard.
Aguirre looked to his right andsaw a man crossing the street
toward him.
A familiar man, that's him, heshouted to detectives, I'd like
(11:36):
to say the search for the killerof four gay men in Los Angeles
concluded with the arrest of a40-year-old welder, donald
Miller, outside the Rusty Nailin West Hollywood on February 27
, 1981.
The truth is, the easy part ofthe investigation was over, the
lead detective, mike Thies,would soon find that keeping
(11:57):
Miller behind bars and buildingan airtight case against the
suspect would put him at oddswith the Los Angeles County
District Attorney's Office and,ultimately, the California
Supreme Court.
The high-tech tools of modernpolice work were limited in
those days.
Mike Thies (12:14):
We didn't have DNA, we didn't have computerized
fingerprints, we didn't have allthe surveillance cameras that
are so prevalent today.
So it was a challenge.
David Hunt (12:26):
Simply put, the case against Miller was largely
circumstantial.
He was seen leaving the RustyNail with Ernesto Ramirez.
He drove the type of sports carthat witnesses had seen in the
vicinity of the assaults onMichael Thomas and Robert
Sanderson.
He lived near Woody's Hyperion,the bar where Danny Harmon was
last seen alive, and he grew upless than a mile from the park
(12:49):
in Compton where Harmon'slifeless body was found.
The key piece of evidence,though still circumstantial, was
found inside Miller's 280Zparked across the street from
the rusty nail.
It was a piece of metal pipestored behind one of the car's
bucket seats For Thies.
Discovering the heavy metalpipe confirmed his suspicions.
(13:11):
He knew he had his killer.
Mike Thies (13:14):
You know it's a steam pipe from the railroad.
He was a welder and these pipes, I mean you can't be a fairly
strong guy to even wield them,and Miller was a big guy, I mean
he had to be a fairly strongguy to even will him, and Miller
was a big guy.
David Hunt (14:05):
But when Thies presented the case to the D.
A.
's office, prosecutors rejectedit, citing insufficient evidence
.
Thies would need more evidenceor additional witnesses.
Four days later, Donald Millerwas released from police custody
.
Unwilling to give up on thecase, Thies ordered plainclothes
cops to put Miller undersurveillance.
If he tried to kill again, theLAPD would be watching.
(14:25):
You're listening to This WayOut: the International LGBTQ
Radio Magazine.
I'm David Hunt.
I'll return in a moment withthe next chapter of Manhunt.
(15:15):
Take a step back in time with me.
It's Friday, May 8th 1981, acloudless evening in Los Angeles
, California.
James Mack rides the bus toHollywood to visit a few of the
town's popular night spots.
11 o'clock finds him at Woody'sHyperion, a gay bar in the
Silver Lake neighborhood east ofHollywood.
Mack didn't know it when hestarted his bar crawl, but he
(15:45):
would soon come face to facewith a serial killer, a killer
who targeted men he met at gaybars.
Whether he would survive theencounter depended on a
tenacious police detective andluck.
About 30 minutes after hearrived at Woody's Hyperion,
(16:07):
James Mack struck up aconversation with a man standing
at the bar, a man whointroduced himself as Robert and
said he lived in Long Beach,about 25 miles south of LA.
What brings you up to LosAngeles?
Mack inquired.
I was looking for you, the manflirted.
Mack left the bar with Robertand the two men drove around in
Robert's sports car, ending upat a dark house with a long
(16:28):
driveway in front.
It turns out the men weren'talone.
Robert, whose real name wasDonald Miller, was the prime
suspect in the murders of fourgay men.
As Detective Henry Cadenawatched from a distance, Miller
and Mack got out of the sportscar and began walking up the
driveway.
Then Miller stopped, turned andstruck Mack hard on the right
(16:49):
cheek with his fist.
Before Cadena could sprint upthe driveway to stop the attack,
Miller hit Mack again, thistime in the mouth.
Mack fell to the groundbloodied but alive.
Within seconds Donald Miller wasback in custody.
(17:11):
Now Thies believed he hadenough evidence to charge Miller
with four counts offirst-degree murder.
Police had literally caught thesuspect in the act of attacking
a gay man he had picked up at agay bar, the same bar where
22-year-old Danny Harman waslast seen alive in January 1981.
But prosecutors in the DA'soffice told Thies he had a
problem.
His suspected metal pipe killerwas caught beating a man with
(17:33):
his fists.
Where was the heavy metal pipethat would connect the assault
on Mack with the murders ofDanny Harmon, Robert Sanderson,
Ernesto Ramirez and MichaelThomas?
Thies theorizes there was asimple explanation.
Mike Thies (17:48):
He forgot his pipe that night because the
surveillance guys had a goodvisual on him, and when he gets
out of the car he's lookingbehind his seat, which is
normally where he kept that pipe, but for some reason he had
forgotten that.
David Hunt (18:04):
As it stood, the case was highly circumstantial.
Prosecutors would have to relyon the testimony of just one key
witness, Mario Aguirre, who sawhis friend Ernesto Ramirez
leave a gay bar on the night hewas murdered in the company of
Donald Miller.
But because Aguirre hadundergone hypnosis to enhance
his memory of that night,prosecutors feared his testimony
(18:26):
wouldn't be allowed by thecourts.
And so, for the second time in10 weeks, the DA's office
refused to charge Miller.
The killer had escaped justiceagain and Thies was convinced
would kill again.
In a bold move, Thies wentpublic with his frustration and
anger at the DA's foot-dragging, telling the Los
Angeles Times, "n my mind thecase is solved.
(18:50):
The Times headline trumpetedprosecution lags in gay murders.
Thies knew public pressure onthe DA's office would only go so
far.
What he really needed was moreevidence and additional
witnesses.
Once again, the detectiveturned to the gay community for
help.
With the assistance ofvolunteers from the Gay and
Lesbian Community ServicesCenter, thies distributed more
(19:12):
than 2,000 flyers to local gaybars and he picked up the phone
and called a reporter at theAdvocate, a bi-weekly gay and
lesbian news magazine.
Mike Thies (19:22):
You know from talking to people I knew the
Advocate had a nationwidedistribution.
It was highly read in the gaycommunity and it certainly
proved quite useful.
David Hunt (19:34):
In an article in the Advocate, Thies appealed to the
gay community for help solvingthe case.
He implored anyone who hadsurvived a similar attack in Los
Angeles to contact him.
The gambit worked.
The story in the Advocateyielded two new victims and,
more importantly, potentialwitnesses.
Richard Salida, a gay Chicagoman, told Thies he visited Los
(19:56):
Angeles in May 1980 to see afriend.
During the visit he hitched aride from a man in a black
sports car on Santa MonicaBoulevard in West Hollywood.
After a few minutes the driverpulled onto a side street and
asked Salida if he wanted tomake out.
When Salida declined andstarted to get out of the car,
the driver struck him on theback of the head with a heavy
(20:16):
metal pipe, inflicting an injurythat required seven stitches.
Next Thies heard from a SanFrancisco man, Rodolfo Pambid,
who said he visited Los Angelesin October 1980.
During his visit, Pambid wasattacked by a man he met at the
Spike.
The attacker used a club ofsome sort that he had retrieved
(20:37):
from the back seat of his blacksports car, Pambid told Thies.
Pambid managed to block theblow with his arm and run from
the car.
A West Hollywood man, MichaelPietilla, also called Thies
after seeing a flyer about theinvestigation at the Spike.
He told an eerily familiarstory of being attacked by a man
driving a black sports car whohad offered him a ride on Santa
(21:00):
Monica Boulevard in WestHollywood
on December 31, 1980, new Year'sEve.
Thanks to the cooperation ofthese gay men, thies finally had
enough evidence to bring thecase to trial.
You're listening to this WayOut the international LGBTQ
(21:33):
radio magazine.
I'm David Hunt.
On Christmas Eve 1981, the DA'soffice charged Donald Miller
with four counts of murder andthree counts of attempted murder
.
An additional attempted murdercharge was added later, but
nothing about the case was evereasy.
On March 11, 1982, theCalifornia Supreme Court handed
(21:56):
down a controversial ruling thatthreatened to sideline the
trial before it even got started.
I reported on the developmentfor Pacifica Radio.
Here in Los Angeles, the manpolice believe brutally murdered
as many as five gay men maynever even go on trial due to
illegal technicality legaltechnicality.
(22:19):
In March, the CaliforniaSupreme Court dealt a
near-deadly blow to the caseagainst the suspect, Donald
Miller, when it prohibited theuse of any witness who has
undergone hypnosis.
The key witness against theaccused steel pipe killer was
placed under hypnosis a year agoto help him recall details
about the suspect.
Without his testimony, aconviction might be impossible,
according to the districtattorney's office.
(22:39):
In an interview shortly afterthe ruling, Deputy District
Attorney Dino Fulgoni, theinitial prosecutor on the case,
shared his thoughts with me onthe use of testimony aided by
hypnosis.
Dino Fulgoni (22:51):
My opinion as to the effect of hypnosis on a
witness is that I'm opposed topeople hypnotizing witnesses
because I think it can affecttheir credibility.
Problem with the Supreme Courtdecision is that it is a flat
exclusion.
All witnesses who have evertestified, whoever been
(23:12):
hypnotized, are prohibited fromtestifying regarding the subject
of their hypnosis.
There are cases and I've citedsome in a brief that I'm doing
to try to get the Supreme Courtto rehear.
There are cases where therecouldn't possibly have been any
suggestion because the policehad no idea at the time the
hypnotism was done who the guywas, where you can rule out this
(23:37):
confabulation or making up ofdetails by showing that after
the hypnotism occurred, that theresults of the hypnotism were
confirmed by independentevidence.
David Hunt (23:51):
In June 1982, due to the efforts of Fulgoni and
others, the California SupremeCourt added a footnote to its
March ruling, giving prosecutorssome hope that the issue would
be resolved in their favor.
When I interviewed Fulgoni asecond time, he was cautiously
optimistic.
Dino Fulgoni (24:10):
We're up in the air.
What I think they mean is thatthey're going to take it on a
case-by-case basis, see what theevidence is in each case and
make a determination as towhether or not the hypnotic
session interfered with thereliability of the witness.
So there is a good chance thatwe might be able to use the
(24:30):
witness that was excluded underthe rule decision.
David Hunt (24:35):
Ultimately, the trial judge allowed prosecutors
to put Mario Aguirre on thewitness stand, even though he
had undergone hypnosis toenhance his memory.
Deputy District Attorney SteveSowders, who took over the case
just weeks before trial, toldjurors that Miller's history of
violence spanned 20 years.
The gay men who responded tothe Advocate article testified
(24:57):
about their experiences on thereceiving end of Miller's rage,
although it meant traveling toLos Angeles from out of town and
sitting for hours in a crowdeddowntown courtroom.
I reminded Thies that cops andqueers didn't mix well in the
1980s.
He shrugged off the suggestion.
In his eyes, they were on thesame side.
Mike Thies (25:17):
I had nothing but positive relationships, off the
suggestion.
In his eyes they were on thesame side.
I had nothing but positiverelationships with the community
.
I found them to be probablysome of the best witnesses I
ever had.
You know, I'd tell them okay,you got to be in court at 8 30.
Well, they were there at eighto'clock, Never complained.
No, they were just very, veryresponsible witnesses.
(25:38):
No, I had no problems at all.
David Hunt (25:42):
On October 13, 1983, a jury of six men and six women
found Donald Miller guilty ofthe murders of four gay men and
the attempted murders of fourothers.
They handed down the deathpenalty.
In a final twist, theCalifornia Supreme Court took up
Miller's appeal in 1990 andthrew out Aguirre's testimony
(26:03):
ruling.
It was inadmissible, but theyagreed that the testimony of the
other witnesses was sufficientto justify the jury's guilty
verdicts on all counts.
Had Thies not worked with thegay community and the media to
bolster the case, the guiltyverdicts almost certainly would
have been overturned on appeal.
Thies has no doubt that Millerwould have continued his killing
(26:27):
spree.
Mike Thies (26:29):
He was vicious.
I mean you see the results ofhis actions.
I mean it's horrible.
Who knew what deep sociologicalissues created this monster
that we saw that carried out allthese crimes?
David Hunt (26:43):
Donald Miller died of heart disease at San Quentin
Prison in California on October14, 2005, after 22 years and one
day on death row.
You're listening to This WayOut: the International LGBTQ
(27:11):
Radio Magazine.
I'm David Hunt, continuing myfeature on an unlikely alliance
of cops and queers that caught aserial killer in 1981.
Flashback to 1980, to aconference room at Parker Center
headquarters of the LAPD.
The eight-story mid-centurybuilding nicknamed the Glass
(27:33):
House features a jail withunbreakable tempered glass
windows instead of bars.
Ignoring the old adage thatpeople in glass houses shouldn't
throw stones, assistant PoliceChief Robert Vernon lobs an
insult across the conferencetable aimed squarely at his
guests leaders of LA's gay andlesbian community.
You are all blasphemies, heshouts, referencing the Old
(27:58):
Testament book of Deuteronomy.
Respond to that.
Vernon would get a response,but not the kind of response he
was looking for.
In the coming years, relationsbetween the LAPD and the gay
community would improve, andsome of the credit for that goes
to Detective Mike Thies and togays and lesbians across the
city who put aside theirdifferences with law enforcement
(28:21):
to bring a killer to justice.
The 1983 conviction of a42-year-old welder, Donald
Miller, for the murders of fourgay men in Los Angeles was
welcome news for the city'sLGBTQ community, proving that
cops and queers could worktogether if they respected each
other.
After their tense meeting withAssistant Police Chief Robert
(28:44):
Vernon, gay and lesbian leadershad regrouped.
They convinced LA Mayor TomBradley, a retired cop, to
create the Los Angeles Gay andLesbian Police Advisory Task
Force to give gays and lesbiansofficial standing with the
city's police commission.
Captain Ken Hickman, who laterearned a PhD in criminal justice
(29:04):
at the Claremont GraduateSchool, was appointed the police
department's liaison to theLGBT community in 1981.
In a public presentation at theGay and Lesbian Community
Services Center, Hickman pointedto the Miller case as one of
the year's success stories.
He thanked gays and lesbiansfor helping police circulate
more than 2,000 flyers to gaybars in LA and West Hollywood.
(29:28):
The flyers resulted in a keywitness coming forward to
testify against Miller, vitalevidence in what was largely a
circumstantial case against thekiller.
As important as the Miller casewas to strengthening relations
between the LAPD and the LGBTQcommunity in the early 1980s.
I don't want to overstate thepace of progress.
(29:49):
By 1991, 10 years after themurders, the LAPD had just six
openly queer cops on a force ofmore than 8,000 sworn officers.
The department finally agreedto stop discriminating against
LGBTQ employees and jobapplicants in 1993, and then
(30:10):
only to settle a lawsuit.
Police conduct towardmarginalized people and
communities remains a concern tothis day.
After Miller's conviction, thecase disappeared from the media
and quickly faded from publicmemory.
In 2016, 35 years after thekilling spree, I told the story
of the case on my blog,tellmedavidcom.
(30:32):
The mass shooting at the Pulsenightclub in Orlando, Florida,
was in the headlines, and thesavagery of the attack on the
gay club triggered memories ofthe killings I had covered in
the early 1980s in Los Angeles.
I felt compelled to honor thememory of four young gay men who
had been senselessly andbrutally killed in places they
(30:52):
thought were safe by a man theythought they could trust.
It seemed unlikely that I'd hearfrom anyone who knew any of the
victims, but in April 2022, aman named Bob Taylor posted a
comment, a tribute to along-departed friend.
Robert Sanderson was a sweet,kind individual that I had the
privilege of knowing, he wrote.
(31:13):
He was also a hard-workingindividual and hairdresser that
owned his own shop over byWarner Brothers Studios in
Burbank.
He is thought of often and willnever be forgotten.
Then, in July 2024, a visitorposted another comment about
Sanderson.
Robert Sanderson was mygrandmother's brother and the
(31:33):
only other gay person in myfamily besides me that I know of
.
She wrote.
His story is heartbreaking andI would love to learn more about
who he was.
And that's how I met MadelineBrancel, a policy manager at a
research center in Boston, who'son a quest to understand the
life and times of a gay relativewho died before she was even
(31:54):
born.
We spoke recently.
Madeline Brancel (31:57):
I have one memory of sitting with my
grandma at her kitchen table andI must have been pretty young
because I was trying to get asense of like who, what her
family was like and who hersiblings were and she told me
then that she had had a brotherwho had passed away, and she
said that he was.
He lived out in California.
(32:17):
I think she told me at thatpoint that he was gay and he had
moved out to CaliforniaCalifornia, he opened up his own
hair salon and that he hadbasically gotten kind of beat up
at random one day when he wasleaving his hair salon and that
he had ended up dying while hewas out there.
David Hunt (32:38):
Until she was an adult.
That's all Brancel knew abouther Uncle Bob.
In 2015, the year same-sexmarriage was legalized in the
United States, Brancel fell inlove with her partner, Alex.
The couple traveled toBrancel's hometown to share the
news with her extended family.
The family's positive responsemade Brancel wonder if Sanderson
had been supported and acceptedwhen he came out in rural
(33:00):
Wisconsin more than 50 years ago, and so she asked her
grandmother to share what sheknew of Sanderson's life before
he moved to California.
Madeline Brancel (33:08):
I think she reflects on that period with
just so much empathy for him.
It sounds like he didn't have alot of close friends or she
doesn't remember a lot of closefriends coming around, and she
hasn't given me specifics but itsounds like he had a really
rocky relationship with mygrandma's dad, who was actually
his adoptive dad.
(33:29):
It sounds like theirrelationship was bad.
I didn't get a sense of like ifit was violent or what exactly
that looked like, but my grandmasaid that it was really rough
for him.
David Hunt (33:39):
After Sanderson moved to Los Angeles, his family
rarely saw him.
In the days before textmessaging and email, news
traveled slowly if at all.
Madeline Brancel (33:48):
Like I wonder how much of the distance was due
to his sexuality, either on hispart or on their part.
I think my grandma said it wasnever really explicitly talked
about, that they kind of knewthat it wasn't talked about.
His life in California was abig black box.
David Hunt (34:05):
Brancel shared some of the information on my blog
with her grandmother, revealingdetails.
She hadn't known that herbrother wasn't killed at his
salon but near a gay club,targeted because of his sexual
orientation.
But she also shared thethoughtful comment posted by
Sanderson's friend, Bob Taylor,declaring that Sanderson was
kind and hardworking and wouldnever be forgotten.
Madeline Brancel (34:28):
The look on my grandma's face was she was so
surprised and so moved and shecouldn't stop thanking me and
she gave me a huge hug and shesaid that this was a really
momentous moment for her to seethat someone in California had
known him and respected him.
It was just so meaningful forme to see my grandma, just like
(34:50):
a small snippet of information,be so meaningful to her and that
made me want to keep going onthis journey and finding out
more information, because I justcan't imagine from her
perspective like you're in yourearly 20s your brother leaves,
you don't get to see him veryoften, you don't know much about
his life, you know that he'sgay but nobody talks about it
and like all the signals you'regetting are probably that that's
(35:11):
bad and that's a sin.
Well, you're still kind offiguring out what you think
about things at that age andthen he dies super violently and
you never really get anyclosure.
David Hunt (35:23):
Although she was shocked to discover that her
uncle was killed by a serialkiller who targeted gay men,
Brancel took heart from the waythe community responded.
Madeline Brancel (35:32):
For me the most interesting piece is the
collaboration between the LGBTcommunity and police at the time
, because I had just come off ofreading this book that was
talking about how difficultthose relations were kind of
across the country in the 70s80s.
Relations were kind of acrossthe country in the 70s 80s and
so I was really curious as tolike why, what were the drivers
(35:53):
who were like the championswithin the police department who
made this work and whointeracted respectfully with the
gay community at the time?
And then I was really movedonce I started digging deeper
and I learned that like the gaycommunity had put up some like I
don't remember if it was two orthree hundred or thousands of
flyers around kind of placesthat were key landmarks in West
Hollywood for gay people tofrequent and they were all kind
(36:15):
of warning about this happeningand kind of trying to raise
awareness and trying to catchthis person.
And so that was moving to me,just knowing that like people,
like an entire community ofpeople, had rallied that an
entire community of people hadrallied.
David Hunt (36:30):
Brancel yearns to learn more about her uncle's
life in Los Angeles and hisexperiences as a gay man in the
1970s and 80s.
She wonders as well what heruncle Bob would make of his
young relative, a proud queerwoman with a loving partner and
a supportive community.
Madeline Brancel (36:44):
I've thought about what he would think of how
easy my life is in my family,how easy my life is in society.
I think I live a prettyprivileged existence, even for
today.
The things that he would havehad to go through to just feel
comfortable in his own skin andfind his people is just
(37:04):
something that I've never evenhad to imagine going through,
and I hope that he would be veryhappy looking down on me and
the experience I have as his gayniece just kind of thriving and
living my best life with a lotof ease, which I'm very
fortunate for.
David Hunt (37:29):
I'd like to thank Madeline Brancel for discussing
the life of her uncle, RobertSanderson.
Other voices you heard in thisfeature belong to retired
Detective Mike Thies and formerDeputy District Attorney Dino
Fulgoni.
Information also came from alegal deposition by former
Police Captain Ken Hickman andcoverage of the Miller case by
the Los Angeles Times and UnitedPress International.
(37:51):
Special thanks to the OneNational Gay and Lesbian
Archives at the University ofSouthern California for
preserving audio cassettes ofsome of my radio reporting from
the early 1980s.
For this Way Out.
I'm David Hunt.
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