NYPD Offers $22,000 Reward For Capture of Killers Of Gay Man

 

NYPD sketches of suspects in murder of Lou Rispoli

Almost a year later, the NYPD is making another push to solve the murder of a gay-rights leader in Queens by re-releasing sketches of the suspects.

Lou Rispoli died last October

Louis "Lou" Rispoli, 62, a beloved LGBT community leader, was bludgeoned in the head around 2 am Oct. 20, 2012 in the Sunnyside neighborhood, according to police. Left in a coma and hospitalized in critical condition, Rispoli was later removed from life support and sent to hospice when he died from his injuries on Oct. 25.

Rispoli worked as an administrator at Greenwich House Music School and had married his longtime partner, Danyal Lawson, 60, on the first day that New York legalized marriage equality. The couple had been together for 32 years.

NYPD this week re-released the sketches of two suspects in the attack. One suspect is a white man in his 20s and the other one is a Latino in his 30s. Both men had short-cropped hair, according to witnesses. A third man was involved in the attack, but witnesses were unable to describe his appearance.

Witnesses believe that the suspects fled in a gray or white four-door sedan that had a loud muffler.

New York Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, who was a friend of Rispoli's, condemned the attack in an interview last month with NY1 News.

"What happened to Lou is awful, is a horrifically violent crime, and we have to make sure the people who did this are punished and taken off the streets," Van Bramer said.

Another friend, Mark Horn, called the killers "cowardly."

"For someone to be so cruel and so cowardly as to take the life of someone who is so good, it just, it makes me sick," Horn said.

Detectives are still trying to determine whether the attack was an anti-gay hate crime. NYPD is offering a reward of up to $22,000 for tips that result in a conviction. The local Crime Stoppers toll-free line is 800-577-TIPS.

New York | GLBTNN by Ken Williams