October 19, 2023 • 11 mins
Unsafe Spaces is an investigative, serialized true crime podcast that explores the crimes that take place in the places we’re supposed to feel safest.
In Season One: Tampa’s Missing Men, I explore how two different missing persons cases, reported on the same day, opened a Pandora’s Box of unreported assaults, cold missing persons cases, ignored rapes, and unsolved murders within Florida’s gay community; and the two men who could be responsible for all of them. Not to mention cold cases of missing gay and murdered men in Georgia, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and beyond.
Check out Unsafe Spaces: www.UnsafeSpacesPodcast.com
In Season One: Tampa’s Missing Men, I explore how two different missing persons cases, reported on the same day, opened a Pandora’s Box of unreported assaults, cold missing persons cases, ignored rapes, and unsolved murders within Florida’s gay community; and the two men who could be responsible for all of them. Not to mention cold cases of missing gay and murdered men in Georgia, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and beyond.
Check out Unsafe Spaces: www.UnsafeSpacesPodcast.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Everyone. Karen and Ellen will beback next week because today I want to
share my newest podcast with you,Unsafe Spaces. Unsafe Spaces is an investigative,
serialized true crime podcast that explores thecrimes that take place in the places
we're supposed to feel the safest.In season one, Tampa's Missing Men,
(00:23):
I explore how two different missing personscases reported on the same day opened a
Pandora's box of unreported assaults, coldmissing persons cases, ignored rapes, and
unsolved murders within Florida's gay community,and the two men who could be responsible
for all of them, not tomention the cold cases of missing gay men
(00:47):
in Georgia, Illinois, Pennsylvania,New Jersey, South Carolina, and beyond.
I'm going to play you a clipnow from Unsaved Spaces while you're listening.
Subscribe to Unsafe Spaces wherever you getyour podcasts. Let's violate the world.
Let's bring our fantasies to realities.I'm extreme, calculated and loved.
(01:14):
Easy to make them vanish with nolink to us in the least, easier
to find a loner guy, lessconnection. I do a chokehold from behind.
You hold him down strap him up, not to be found again.
He wasn't going to be going back. These are quotes from America Online instant
(01:41):
messages between Master Scott, whom wenow know is Scott Schweipert, and Dom
Dude for sub who we now knowis Stephen Lorenzo. Whenever I take on
(02:01):
a new case, the first questionI find myself asking is how did we
get here? What series of events, both personal and anthropological, created an
environment for these crimes to have occurred? And in this case, the answer
(02:23):
is a lot more complicated than inothers I've covered, because in order to
understand these crimes, we have tounderstand not just gay culture, but societies
effect on it. We have tounderstand power dynamics and couples. We have
to take a look at law enforcementsand media's roles in crime. It's often
(02:46):
a challenging, convoluted, and heartbreakingstudy in humanity, and so it's hard
to know just where to start,because more often than not, beginnings are
just the reverberations from a coalescence ofevents that came before. Few things rarely
(03:07):
begin anymore. Usually they just carryover. But for now, I guess
we'll start with December twenty second oftwo thousand and three. On December twenty
second, two thousand and three,there were two different missing persons cases filed
(03:31):
with the Tampa, Florida Police Department. The first was of twenty six year
old Jason Rodney Galehouse, a gayman who had recently moved to Tampa from
Sarasota, Florida. Jason was reportedmissing by his roommate at eleven twenty five
am on the morning of the twentysecond. His roommate reported that on the
(03:53):
night of Friday, December nineteenth,he, Jason, and two of their
friends a couple, had gone outbar hopping in Tampa. The four of
them eventually ended up at twenty sixoh six, a gay bar on North
Armenia Avenue, in the early morninghours of December twentieth. Because the four
(04:14):
friends had driven to twenty six ohsix together, Jason didn't have his car
with him, and when it wastime to leave, Jason told his friends
that he didn't need a ride becausehe was going to go home with two
guys he'd met at the bar.It was the last time that Jason's friend
saw him, and unfortunately, noneof them saw either of the two men
(04:36):
that Jason left the bar with.Detective Carlos Lastra was the responding officer in
Jason's missing person case, and hetook the disappearance seriously. Immediately following Jason's
roommate's interview and AffA, David Lastrawent to Jason's place of work, a
(04:56):
flower shop where Jason was a floraldesigner, and upon interviewing Jason's boss,
he learned that Jason hadn't been towork in three days, which was very
unlike him. In a follow upinterview with Jason's roommate, the one who
had reported him missing, he toldLastra that he had known Jason for years,
(05:18):
that they were childhood friends. Backin Sarasota, he let Lastra search
the house that he shared with Jasonand another roommate, and when pressed about
Jason's life, he admitted that Jasonhad been to the hospital on two different
occasions for drug overdoses, but thathad been years prior. He said that
(05:39):
since then, Jason no longer usedGHB. JHB is a depressant drug that
slows down messages traveling between the brainand the body. It's also a party
drug and often referred to as thedate rape drug, but he said that
Jason did still occasionally snort cocaine,so that Jason had been going to twenty
(06:00):
six oh six every weekend for thepast several months. He said that Jason
did have a habit of using recreationaldrugs and hooking up with guys from the
bars, and he confirmed that afterreaching out to friends, no one in
their friend group had seen nor heardfrom Jason since he left the bar that
night. The second missing person's reportthat was filed with Tampa PEEDEE on the
(06:30):
twenty second was for twenty six yearold Michael Wockles. Michael had recently moved
to Tampa from Tarpin Springs, Florida, about forty miles away northwest. He
was working as a waiter at BahamaBreeze. According to his former roommates,
Michael was a happy, go luckyguy who'd recently reconnected with his estranged mother
(06:55):
and had begun dating again after abreakup the previous year. They said that
Michael had started going out with menhe'd met in internet chat rooms and that
it was something they worried about,but it was Michael's new room mate,
Fred van Denebil, who reported himmissing when he failed to return home from
a night out. According to reports, Michael was last seen in his red
(07:20):
nineteen ninety two Jeep Cherokee leaving hisBay Club apartment in Tampa's Rocky Point neighborhood
between eleven p m. And midnighton December twentieth, almost twenty four hours
after Jason Galehouse was last seen leavingtwenty six o six. It was unclear
(07:41):
where exactly Michael was headed that night. He spoke with several friends on his
cell phone after leaving his apartment,but only said that he was going out
for drinks. Michael's cell phone andjeep disappeared with him, and there'd be
no signs of Michael nor any majorleeds in his case for two weeks following
his disappearance. Now, there area few different things at play in the
(08:11):
production of this podcast. For one, I am a gay man around the
same age Michael and Jason would benow, so it's hard not to experience
this investigation or see the people involvedthrough a personal lens. Second, and
more critical, the only way todiscuss this case holistically is to share as
(08:35):
best I can the gay experience andgay culture written large. It's a defining
factor in both this story and inthe spaces we'll be discussing, and despite
how media often portrays it, homosexualityis not a monolith. So throughout the
season, I'll be playing conversations I'vehad with gay men across the country and
(08:58):
of all ages about their experiences andhow those experiences have defined their relationship with
homosexuality, their relationships with other gaymen, and their identity as a whole.
This is a part of a conversationI had with an old friend,
Eric Schmidt, about drug and alcoholabuse amongst gay men. Drug and alcohol
(09:24):
abuse runs pretty rampant within the gaycommunity, or at least it did when
you know, when we were Ithink it's I think it still does,
and you know, I, forme, I can only imagine that that
comes from, or I will speakfor myself, like when I have over
(09:45):
imbibed or putting myself in risky positionswith substances, it was because I didn't
feel comfortable in my own skin,or I had self loathing or lack of
confidence and was just afraid and neededsomething to take my head away from my
(10:09):
body. I guess yeah, andI wonder if that has been your experience
as well. I absolutely, Iwould say absolutely, I think. I
think also, you know, againgoing back to that like we don't we
don't date as teenagers, we don'tlearn how to form intimate relationships with people
(10:33):
as teenagers, and then drugs andalcohol sure do make that easier. I
think a lot of my drug usewas was very wrapped up in the perceived
intimacy of either getting high with somebody, using with somebody, the sex that
(10:56):
we were going to have while wewere while we were high, I absolutely
went hand in hand with me beingable to move into a sexual space that
I you know, didn't get inthe shallow end of the poolong
Everyone. Karen and Ellen will beback next week because today I want to
share my newest podcast with you,Unsafe Spaces. Unsafe Spaces is an investigative,
serialized true crime podcast that explores thecrimes that take place in the places
we're supposed to feel the safest.In season one, Tampa's Missing Men,
(00:23):
I explore how two different missing personscases reported on the same day opened a
Pandora's box of unreported assaults, coldmissing persons cases, ignored rapes, and
unsolved murders within Florida's gay community,and the two men who could be responsible
for all of them, not tomention the cold cases of missing gay men
(00:47):
in Georgia, Illinois, Pennsylvania,New Jersey, South Carolina, and beyond.
I'm going to play you a clipnow from Unsaved Spaces while you're listening.
Subscribe to Unsafe Spaces wherever you getyour podcasts. Let's violate the world.
Let's bring our fantasies to realities.I'm extreme, calculated and loved.
(01:14):
Easy to make them vanish with nolink to us in the least, easier
to find a loner guy, lessconnection. I do a chokehold from behind.
You hold him down strap him up, not to be found again.
He wasn't going to be going back. These are quotes from America Online instant
(01:41):
messages between Master Scott, whom wenow know is Scott Schweipert, and Dom
Dude for sub who we now knowis Stephen Lorenzo. Whenever I take on
(02:01):
a new case, the first questionI find myself asking is how did we
get here? What series of events, both personal and anthropological, created an
environment for these crimes to have occurred? And in this case, the answer
(02:23):
is a lot more complicated than inothers I've covered, because in order to
understand these crimes, we have tounderstand not just gay culture, but societies
effect on it. We have tounderstand power dynamics and couples. We have
to take a look at law enforcementsand media's roles in crime. It's often
(02:46):
a challenging, convoluted, and heartbreakingstudy in humanity, and so it's hard
to know just where to start,because more often than not, beginnings are
just the reverberations from a coalescence ofevents that came before. Few things rarely
(03:07):
begin anymore. Usually they just carryover. But for now, I guess
we'll start with December twenty second oftwo thousand and three. On December twenty
second, two thousand and three,there were two different missing persons cases filed
(03:31):
with the Tampa, Florida Police Department. The first was of twenty six year
old Jason Rodney Galehouse, a gayman who had recently moved to Tampa from
Sarasota, Florida. Jason was reportedmissing by his roommate at eleven twenty five
am on the morning of the twentysecond. His roommate reported that on the
(03:53):
night of Friday, December nineteenth,he, Jason, and two of their
friends a couple, had gone outbar hopping in Tampa. The four of
them eventually ended up at twenty sixoh six, a gay bar on North
Armenia Avenue, in the early morninghours of December twentieth. Because the four
(04:14):
friends had driven to twenty six ohsix together, Jason didn't have his car
with him, and when it wastime to leave, Jason told his friends
that he didn't need a ride becausehe was going to go home with two
guys he'd met at the bar.It was the last time that Jason's friend
saw him, and unfortunately, noneof them saw either of the two men
(04:36):
that Jason left the bar with.Detective Carlos Lastra was the responding officer in
Jason's missing person case, and hetook the disappearance seriously. Immediately following Jason's
roommate's interview and AffA, David Lastrawent to Jason's place of work, a
(04:56):
flower shop where Jason was a floraldesigner, and upon interviewing Jason's boss,
he learned that Jason hadn't been towork in three days, which was very
unlike him. In a follow upinterview with Jason's roommate, the one who
had reported him missing, he toldLastra that he had known Jason for years,
(05:18):
that they were childhood friends. Backin Sarasota, he let Lastra search
the house that he shared with Jasonand another roommate, and when pressed about
Jason's life, he admitted that Jasonhad been to the hospital on two different
occasions for drug overdoses, but thathad been years prior. He said that
(05:39):
since then, Jason no longer usedGHB. JHB is a depressant drug that
slows down messages traveling between the brainand the body. It's also a party
drug and often referred to as thedate rape drug, but he said that
Jason did still occasionally snort cocaine,so that Jason had been going to twenty
(06:00):
six oh six every weekend for thepast several months. He said that Jason
did have a habit of using recreationaldrugs and hooking up with guys from the
bars, and he confirmed that afterreaching out to friends, no one in
their friend group had seen nor heardfrom Jason since he left the bar that
night. The second missing person's reportthat was filed with Tampa PEEDEE on the
(06:30):
twenty second was for twenty six yearold Michael Wockles. Michael had recently moved
to Tampa from Tarpin Springs, Florida, about forty miles away northwest. He
was working as a waiter at BahamaBreeze. According to his former roommates,
Michael was a happy, go luckyguy who'd recently reconnected with his estranged mother
(06:55):
and had begun dating again after abreakup the previous year. They said that
Michael had started going out with menhe'd met in internet chat rooms and that
it was something they worried about,but it was Michael's new room mate,
Fred van Denebil, who reported himmissing when he failed to return home from
a night out. According to reports, Michael was last seen in his red
(07:20):
nineteen ninety two Jeep Cherokee leaving hisBay Club apartment in Tampa's Rocky Point neighborhood
between eleven p m. And midnighton December twentieth, almost twenty four hours
after Jason Galehouse was last seen leavingtwenty six o six. It was unclear
(07:41):
where exactly Michael was headed that night. He spoke with several friends on his
cell phone after leaving his apartment,but only said that he was going out
for drinks. Michael's cell phone andjeep disappeared with him, and there'd be
no signs of Michael nor any majorleeds in his case for two weeks following
his disappearance. Now, there area few different things at play in the
(08:11):
production of this podcast. For one, I am a gay man around the
same age Michael and Jason would benow, so it's hard not to experience
this investigation or see the people involvedthrough a personal lens. Second, and
more critical, the only way todiscuss this case holistically is to share as
(08:35):
best I can the gay experience andgay culture written large. It's a defining
factor in both this story and inthe spaces we'll be discussing, and despite
how media often portrays it, homosexualityis not a monolith. So throughout the
season, I'll be playing conversations I'vehad with gay men across the country and
(08:58):
of all ages about their experiences andhow those experiences have defined their relationship with
homosexuality, their relationships with other gaymen, and their identity as a whole.
This is a part of a conversationI had with an old friend,
Eric Schmidt, about drug and alcoholabuse amongst gay men. Drug and alcohol
(09:24):
abuse runs pretty rampant within the gaycommunity, or at least it did when
you know, when we were Ithink it's I think it still does,
and you know, I, forme, I can only imagine that that
comes from, or I will speakfor myself, like when I have over
(09:45):
imbibed or putting myself in risky positionswith substances, it was because I didn't
feel comfortable in my own skin,or I had self loathing or lack of
confidence and was just afraid and neededsomething to take my head away from my
(10:09):
body. I guess yeah, andI wonder if that has been your experience
as well. I absolutely, Iwould say absolutely, I think. I
think also, you know, againgoing back to that like we don't we
don't date as teenagers, we don'tlearn how to form intimate relationships with people
(10:33):
as teenagers, and then drugs andalcohol sure do make that easier. I
think a lot of my drug usewas was very wrapped up in the perceived
intimacy of either getting high with somebody, using with somebody, the sex that
(10:56):
we were going to have while wewere while we were high, I absolutely
went hand in hand with me beingable to move into a sexual space that
I you know, didn't get inthe shallow end of the poolong
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