About an hour before his death, Donald Fishel was seen at a gay bar on Santa Monica Boulevard. His neighbors told the police that Fishel would often go out late at night dressed only in his shorts and return home with a man after driving around for some time. During the investigation, police found sexual paraphernalia and a movie projector with a gay film in the victim’s living room. At the time of the newspaper report (November 28, 1980), the case was unsolved. Fishel’s murder was one of 13 “homosexually related homicides” that were investigated during 1980 in the Hollywood and West Hollywood area.
“People have been hysterical. It’s been bizarre. A lot of gay people think they live in a place safe for gays. Now people are running around killing each other. It’s really scary to think the night isn’t safe anymore” said Stephen Schulte (executive director, Hollywood Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center).
Information presented here is from a print newspaper article issue of the Los Angeles Times on November 28, 1980.
First Documented
1980
Last Documented
1980
North Taft Avenue
Hollywood, CA 90028
United States
Abstract
Date of Death – October 2, 1980 (afternoon). Donald Fishel, age 49 and an Employment Development Department Employee, was found nude and beaten to death in the bedroom of his apartment on North Taft Avenue in Hollywood.
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Citations
Murders – GLBT Related --1980 – 1989, ONE Subject File collection, Coll2012-001, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, Los Angeles, California