News
2007-07-03
Gay
activist/radio host found murdered
Former radio
talk-show host and longtime gay activist Mike Webb was found
murdered in his Seattle home Thursday. The controversial
ho
Former radio
talk-show host and longtime gay activist Mike Webb was found
murdered in his Seattle home Thursday. The controversial
host, who came to prominence covering the riots in San
Francisco following Harvey Milk's assassination in
1978, had been missing since April 13.
The body was
discovered after Webb's landlord realized Webb had not paid
his June rent. Assuming Webb left the property, the landlord
hired a cleaner to prepare the property for rental.
The cleaner found Webb's "badly decomposed" body
wrapped in a tarp, stuffed behind a bookcase and some
boxes. The body was confirmed as Webb's during an
autopsy late Friday.
When Webb
originally went missing, police brought a cadaver-sniffing
dog to the house, but no findings were produced.
The article
reports that Webb had gained enemies in angry listeners
during and even after his time as a radio host, and obtained
a concealed-weapons permit because of death
threats.
Friends of Webb
say he was hindered late in his life by the AIDS-related
death of his longtime partner in the '90s as well as the
more recent death of his dog. Neighbors reported to
police that Webb had been visited by "a series of
seedy characters," according to the article.
Webb's career
following his work covering the Milk riots included a stint
as a talk-show host at KWRM FM in Seattle. Webb alleged the
station fired him in 1997 for being gay. He then
worked at talk-radio station KIRO as a host until
2005, when he was fired after being convicted of filing a
false insurance claim. In his last years he launched his own
Internet talk show and freelanced as a radio producer.
(The Advocate)
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