Tulsa Police Refuses to Investigate Suspicious Death of Gay Activist

                                                                         

   

A gay man was found naked and dead in his blood-soaked apartment, but the police have refused to conduct an investigation.

Benny Longoria, 40, was discovered by a friend in his Tulsa, Oklahoma, home on June 20, but police there allegedly failed to notify his family for more than a month. 

Benny Longoria

No autopsy was performed and Longoria’s body was immediately cremated at the request of police, because he was HIV-positive.

Requests for an investigation have been denied by Tulsa Police Sgt. Dave Walker, who insists Longoria died of natural causes.

“Mr. Longoria’s death was not suspicious in nature therefore it was not further investigated,” said a police spokesperson. “The Tulsa Police Department does not investigate deaths in which there are no signs of foul play and the individual’s attending physician will sign the death certificate.”

LGBT activist C.D. Kirvin told the Dallas Voice she has obtained a copy of Longoria’s death certificate, but that it has not been signed by any doctor.  Kirven says Walker told her  “the Longoria family can get a lawyer or whatever else they want to do — he doesn’t care. And he will never allow Benny Longoria’s death to be investigated.”

When Kirven mentioned that no autopsy had been conducted, and that Benny Longoria’s doctor did not support the police department’s statements on cause of death, “Sgt. Walker hung up on me.”

A representative from Walker’s apartment complex allegedly told the Longoria family that the police burned all of Benny’s belongings because he was HIV-positive and there was blood everywhere.

Kirven is helping the Longoria family file a complaint with the U.S. Justice Department alleging a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The Tulsa Police Department maintains the information in the Voice  article is false.