Sketch released of suspect in Detroit gay bashing

Andrew Anthos murder suspect sketch Detroit Police Department | Advocate.com Police in Detroit released a sketch Thursday of the man suspected of killing Andrew Anthos, a 72-year-old disabled gay man whose dream was to light the Michigan state capitol dome red, white, and blue for Independence Day.

Anthos died February 23, 10 days after a fellow bus rider, spouting antigay slurs, paralyzed him with a blow from behind with a metal pipe. Police have since questioned several people aboard the bus, including the wheelchair-using friend Anthos was helping through the snow when he was struck.

"I promised two things—that I would get the dome lit and [pass] hate crimes [legislation]," Anthos's niece, Athena Fedenis, told Gay.com on Thursday. "I don't think I'll be getting enough rest till this is all done."

At Wednesday's funeral in Center Line, Mich., Fedenis said, about 80 people gathered to share memories of Anthos and how he had touched their lives. They included friends, loved ones, and folks from the post office and library branch from which Anthos used to post and e-mail his voluminous correspondence. The Singing Librarians, a chorale of Detroit Public Library workers, performed two numbers, one by Gershwin and one from Show Boat that had been sung by Anthos's beloved Ava Gardner.

"I can handle the R-E-E-L world," Detroit Free Press columnist Susan Ager remembered Anthos telling her, "but the R-E-A-L world scares me."

Melissa Pope, director of victim services for Michigan's Triangle Foundation, described the tribute as "very loving. Different branches of the family had never met prior to this horrific murder," Pope said. "They felt Andrew had brought them together."

A candlelight vigil is planned Friday in front of his Detroit apartment, near where he was fatally attacked. It will be at 6:30 p.m. at Windsor Towers, 1600 Antietam.

Anthos's family has set up a foundation to raise funds toward his dream of lighting the dome. Donations can be made to Andrew's Light, P.O. Box 66164, Roseville MI 48066.

Anyone with information on the slaying is asked to call Detroit police at (313) 596-2260 or anonymously call (800) SPEAK-UP. (Barbara Wilcox, The Advocate)

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