LA deputies reopen ’17 case after another man dies in political donor’s home

Jan. 8 (UPI) — The death of a man at a Los Angeles-area apartment 18 months ago is getting another look after another man turned up dead there this week, authorities said.

The discovery of the second body in the Southern California home of Ed Buck has led to a new police investigation, and protests in the community.

The body, belonging to a man whose identity wasn’t released, was found Monday at Buck’s West Hollywood apartment, authorities said. The cause of death is unknown.

The discovery marked the second body found in Buck’s home in less than two years. In July 2017, 26-year-old Gemmel Moore was found dead of an overdose inside the residence. In that case, the district attorney’s office found no evidence implicating Buck.

The man found Monday was in his 50s. Buck, a man known for donating tens of thousands of dollars to the Democratic Party over the last decade, has not been arrested.

“The individual came over, had already been partying, apparently had already been taking substances,” Buck’s attorney Seymour Amster said in a report by KABC-TV. “There are some individuals in our society who have a huge heart — maybe bigger than what they should have — and they allow individuals to come over when probably some of us would not allow them to come over and then things happen thereafter.”

Buck, a champion for lesbian, gay and bisexual and transgender rights, has donated more than $53,000 to Democratic candidates since 2008. As a result of pressure from Moore’s death, Buck resigned as a member of the Stonewall Democratic Club, a Los Angeles LGBT political group.

Some activists, who accuse Buck of targeting young black men, staged a protest outside his apartment Monday, that included a vigil for the unidentified man who died.

“It’s clear that there’s a pattern and a practice of Ed Buck to prey on vulnerable, young black gay men who are homeless, who are HIV positive, who he can manipulate with his money — and they end up dead inside his house,” activist Jasmyne Cannick said. “No matter what Ed Buck’s attorney tries to spin it and say — it is very clear that Ed Buck plays a role in these young men’s deaths. He needs to be stopped.”

Authorities are re-opening the investigation in to the death of Moore, who was a gay male escort, NBC News reported.