Openly Gay Surgeon Stabbed to Death in Own Home in New Orleans
From Towleroad News 11/2/2009 11:22 AM
- 1247 views
Dr. Ralph Edward Newsome Jr. was stabbed to death in his home in the French Quarter, and someone lit the home on fire after the murder attempting to cover evidence, the Times Picayune reports:
"Dr. Ralph Edward Newsome Jr., 45, died after being stabbed multiple times inside his three-story town house in the 900 block of Toulouse Street about 3 a.m. His body had no burns, and he had not inhaled any smoke, meaning someone set fire to the home after he was stabbed, New Orleans coroner's chief investigator John Gagliano said...A 911 call reporting a blaze led New Orleans firefighters to Newsome's home. They found smoke flowing out of the second floor and soon discovered a large fire burning toward the back of an attic. They struck three alarms and rushed 68 firefighters to the scene, spokesman Edwin Holmes Jr. said.
Newsome's neighbors told rescuers that they never saw him exit his house. Firefighters barged into the home and found an unconscious Newsome on the second floor, stabbed several times.
Firefighters brought him outside to waiting New Orleans EMS paramedics. They took him to LSU Interim Public Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
New Orleans police detectives haven't announced any suspects or a motive in the case, spokeswoman officer Shereese Harper said."
Newsome was a plastic surgeon at Tulane University, specializing in disfigured trauma victims and skin cancer patients. Said Dr. Benjamin Sachs, the dean of Tulane's School of Medicine: "It is a tragedy for this city to lose such a brilliant surgeon. We have
lost a major leader and gifted educator. He was an extraordinary physician."
I agree Scott the sory has not been concluded there is no motive or suspect at this point but my guess would be a disgruntled client and thats just going off of the fact that he was indeed a high profile plastic surgeon...come on u guys watch Nip-Tuck lol j/k
how many more of us have to die before we take a stand? a preacher in arizona is calling on good strong christians to be the hand of god and kill all sodomites. how many before we stop hooking up and take a stand and educate our neighbors, or friends, our enemies?
I have to agree with Neil on this one. As the story is written there is no evidence he was killed because he was gay, his sexuality shouldn't be mentioned at this point. Pointing out that someone is gay in a news article when not pertinent is often used as a mitigating excuse to say, "Well, he was gay, don't worry about it, he got what he deserved"
Multiple Stabbing also infers passionate anger, generally someone who knows the person (Not always)
A good friend of mine that used to live in New Orleans, knew him well.
Surgeon gets stabbed to death with a knife... ironic.
But, I'm confused. The investigator said that his body "had no burns" and therefore the fire was set AFTER he was stabbed. But, uh, wouldn't a dead body still get burns on it? I imagine they look different somehow, but the comment seemed to imply a dead body doesn't burn at all.
Anyway, DUH they set the fire afterword; only an idiot would light the fire and then stay on scene stabbing the guy as emergency crews arrive.
Let's see... He worked with disfigured trauma victims, and arson was involved with the crime... Gay or not, it looks to me like maybe one of his patients didn't like his work!
Is this going to be like the guy who was stabbed to death and found dict taped? Only it later was reavealed that some kid he invited over freaked out when he busted out a knife for some role-play and stabbed him to death?
That is called sensationalism. If he was openly polygamist or anything else slightly interesting that would have been added. I'm openly gay and would be pissed if that was the adjective before my profession in a news article. And if they are insinuating something they should damn well have, and present, the evidence for it.
If we are 5-10% of the population you would expect we would be 5-10% of the victims of murder. Are you aware of how many murders occur in the US each day? And do you know how much money a plastic surgeon makes? Enough for many to kill for I'll assure you.
I'm saying that until there is evidence there should not be insinuation or speculation...that is it. And again without evidence that this is a hate crime it isn't relevant to most gay people's lives.
Black (or Female or Latino or whatever) doctor killed in Los Angeles....WTF?? It IS local news....just not national.
ummm as much as a lot of people don't like to think about it...
being gay DOES make you more of a target. and the fact that he was killed in his own home makes it even more evident that whoever killed him really wanted to.
also, in light of recent hate crime legislation that has been passed in the senate and the house, the fact that a gay man was killed is a very big issue, it seems that more gay people are being attacked. the thing is, that if they can find the killer and prove that he was killed for something that has to do with his sexual orientation, that person could be guilty of a federal crime. regardless...it's still relevant to things that are going on right now in society at large.
Because the headline clearly says "Openly Gay Surgeon Stabbed to Death in Own Home in New Orleans", Neil. "Openly gay" is the key 2 words of the headline. It in itself is insinuating exactly what you say it isn't.
11/3/2009 11:07 PM
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Neil
Oh good LORD....all of you are blaming this on religion or homophobes and there is nothing to suggest that yet. FBI stats show you are most likely to be killed by a "loved" one or someone that knows you well. And the major motives are still greed, jealousy, anger etc etc.
Sure, maybe it was some angry catholic homophobe that saw him on the street coming out of a gay bar in the quarter. ORrrr....maybe it was an ex-lover, or a family member who wanted his money.
It could be anything. And because it could be anything (and keeping in mind that I'm an MD and psychiatrists get attacked...some killed.) why is this "news" outside of NO?
ugh sucks. any educated and gifted gay person is a huge asset to our community. i hope this wasn't due to hate of gays. was probably some crazy person who did it for 20 bucks off his kitchen counter. hopefully they'll find the person and electrocute them.
So unfortunate. The article doesn't state if he was killed because he was open gay, but I'm sure that's a given.
One way or the other, it's still an innocent human being. =[
My heart goes out to his friends and family.
11/3/2009 4:31 PM
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Vladimir
As I said, it's sad to see any innocent human being killed. And I also hope that they catch who did this. As the gay community, we shouldn't somehow think we're above everyone else
OMG!!!
this is so sad to see an innocent gay man killed.
i hope they catch who did this.
11/3/2009 4:25 PM
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Vladimir
I'll go with Jesse. Nothing in this synopsis hints to the guy being killed because he was gay. In fact, the body of this blog post doesn't even have the fact that he was gay mentioned.
Certainly sad to have a good surgeon murdered, but at this time I'm not going to go complain about the homophobia that might have caused this or the religions that might have either.
hatred backed my religion probably. The same types of religions that are against abortions because of "human life" seem the be the basic mind set for people who kill for their religion.
Another sent to lady death...at least she's a nice lady, Neil Gaiman tells me. The slaughter continues...we're not even human to some people. I don't know what to say. Going crazy hunting the killer won't solve anything. He's still dead. I hope he finds peace, someplace nice to rest his consciousness, where ever consciousness goes.
He looks like he was a sweet man. He chose a profession that on the surface is simply cosmetic, but he used it to better people's lives in a way that is deeply helpful. It helped people stay more themselves after disaster.
11/2/2009 11:05 PM
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D.
My guess would be tragic closet cases, who can't deal with their own homosexuality.
