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 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)