Murder
Continued from Page 1
Pomeroy realized that he was a medical doctor. Then, when looking at the certificates on the wall, he noticed that they weren't in the name of Peter Richards. When he mentioned it, Peter told him that they belonged to his partner. After making a telephone call, Peter drove Pomeroy home.
Pomeroy later told The News, a Los Angeles lesbian-gay paper, that he considered that evening with Peter as the beginning of a nice friendship. Peter, he said, did not give any indication of a sexual interest, and neither did he toward Peter. It was nice, he said to have someone to talk to as a friend.
So, when Peter called a few days later and asked if he would like to go out to dinner at a nice seafood restaurant in Glendale, he accepted. The date of their dinner was set for Friday, April 1.
And again, after picking Pomeroy up, Peter asked if it was alright if they stopped by his office for a moment so he could check on a patient. Pomeroy said that he didn't think anything of it. After reaching the office, during general conversation, Peter asked Pomeroy if he would like to have an electrocardiogram. Why not, thought Pomeroy, so he let Peter administer the test. When Peter excused himself to make yet another call afterward, Pomeroy again thought it was nothing out of the ordinary.
When Peter returned to the room where Pomeroy was waiting, Pomeroy said that Peter opened his arms as if he wanted a hug.
But, as it turned out, Pomeroy was wrong. "He started jabbing me with a stun gun, just constantly.
Kowalski
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it was so
for Karen Thompson filed a motion for restoration of Kowalski to capacity, and the tests were ordered as part of the proceedings on that motion.
Thompson said that before her arrival, Dr. Dorothy Rappel, a psychologist working with Kowalski, had asked Kowaski why she thought Thompson had not visited her in so long. Kowalski's response was, "Too far?" She said that Dr. Rappel took the time to explain to Kowalski that Thompson had not been allowed to visit, and added that Kowalski "got tears in her eyes" when she saw Thompson for the first time, and that when visiting hours ended that evening, "Sharon wouldn't let go of my hand. She spelled right out on her alphabet board, 'I love you"
Thompson said she spent the day at the hospital on Friday February 3, attending all of Kowalski's therapy sessions in communication, memory and comprehension, and physical workout/stretching. She said Kowalski was extremely responsive to all her exercises, laughed a lot, and was consistently alert. "She did as well as I ever hoped she would do." Thompson said she was encouraged by the therapists to participate in the sessions, and to carry out exercises and assignments with Kowalski during their weekend visits. She said the therapists, three women and one man, are prioritizing Kowalski's sense of power over her life. “At every session they are giving Sharon choices, even if what she wants is to be left alone. I feel they are doing an excellent job with Sharon. They believe Sharon understands and is capable, and they're giving her honest information. With professional people now saying what professional people should have been saying all along, we're on our way."
Thompson was distressed by the deterioration in some aspects of Kowalski's physical condition since 1985. She said that the tendons in Kowalski's legs had been allowed to become so tight that is questionable whether even surgery could restore her feet to a proper 90 degree angle. "I can't believe that anyone could let her get like that," she said. “She may
strong, I didn't know what was going on, it didn't dawn on me... but he just kept poking me and poking me and wrestling. And then, after I slammed his arm against the examination table, the gun fell to the floor." Somehow in the struggle, Pomeroy said, he got a large cut on his neck, and even now, a small scar remains.
He said that he was bleeding profusely, getting blood all over his and Peter's shirts. "He said he thinks I better have stitches put in, and I thought 'you're not touching me'... Then he said he was very sorry, said he doesn't know what got into him, that he had some problems that he knew that he had and he gets some spells, or something to that effect, and he that he was going to get professional help.”
Pomeroy said that during the struggle that he took a deep breath and got so strong, "it was like 'this is it, do or die.'. ..this guy is trying to kill me... So I got that strength.."
Pomeroy said that after he got Peter calmed down, "He was so nice and everything, he was so sorry, a totally different person, he was so obliging, like he was really upset about what happened."
Then, Peter offered him a ride home, but said that he needed to stop by his apartment first, that he was having a problem with his roommates. "What a fool, I got in the car," Pomeroy said. “I probably wasn't thinking right, I didn't think twice [then], but now that I look back at it..." Peter went into the apartment and when he returned, drove Pomeroy back to Hollywood.
Peter called one more time a few days later, Pomeroy said, and asked him how is was. The conversation was brief and they haven't spoken since.But the burns
not ever be able to stand again. It was not necessary." Before Kowaski was moved to the nursing home, she had been receiving therapy to prevent such leg problems.
Thompson added that when the occupational therapist asked what music Kowaski wanted to "work out" to, she spelled out, "Cris Williamson." Williamson is a performer who is well known among feminist, gay, and progressive audiences.
Thompson said she brought with her a giant card from Colorado that had been signed by dozens of people on Free Sharon Kowalski Day in August 1988, in honor of Kowalski's 32nd birthday. "She doesn't understand yet why all of these people from faraway places are saying these wonderful things, but she's very excited by it."
Thompson said she expects to be able to visit Kowaski whenever she can make the three to four hour drive from St. Cloud to Duluth, -provided she notifies Dr. Rappel in advance to avoid confrontations with the Kowalskis.
The doctors will provide the judge with a progress report after 60 days. Ultimately the judge will have to make more directives about Kowalski's future. Thompson said, "Miller-Dwan doesn't keep people for the long term. I think they will recommend her placement in a good long-term facility." Tracie Dejanikus, co-chair of the National Committee to Free Sharon Kowalski, agreed: "This is a major victory for Sharon and everyone who's been working on this case. But Miller-Dwan is only an interim placement, and where she will go next is still undefined. The National Committee is going to continue working until Sharon is permanently ensured rehabilitation and reunited with Karen and the lesbian and gay community." Donald Kowalski's guardianship was reaffirmed by Judge Campbells' December order, and he retains all powers that are not altered by the court, as his power over visitation was altered.
Thompson said, "My goal is for Sharon to be moved from here to a place that's transitional to independent living. I see no reason why Sharon has to spend the rest of her life in an institution."
March, 1989 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE Page 3
from the stun gun were still painful and he related the story to good friend who urged him to see a doctor, Taking that advice, Pomeroy went to see his doctor on April 6, and on April 9, 15 days before Green was found dead in Boggs' office, he reported the assault to the Glendale police department.
By this time, Pomeroy believed that the man who assaulted him, Peter Richards, was really the person named in the certificates hanging on the wall: Richard P. Boggs.
On April 12, Pomeroy said that received a call from Glendale police Det. Jim Peterson. He alleges that Peterson said, "I've known Richard Boggs for 20 years," and that Boggs was an "outstanding citizen in the community." Pomeroy said that Peterson called again the following day and alleges that "he [Peterson} totally discouraged me from doing anything."
Whether those allegations are true is unknown, but Pomeroy's report was instrumental in the investigation that was to follow, and it was Peterson who made the discovery that the dead man in Boggs' office was not Hanson.
On June 9, a claims worker for the insurance company made a routine call to the Glendale police for a status check on police reports. The claims worker also asked if the police had compared the photo of the dead man with a photo of Hanson, which they hadn't.
After comparing the two photographs, there was still doubt, so a thumb print of Hanson's was obtained and compared. They didn't match. It would be three months before the dead man was identified as Henry Ellis Green, a native of Portsmouth, Ohio, who was last seen leaving a gay bar in North Hollywood.
:
It was in September also that Pomeroy was terviewed by supervising criminal investigators from the California Fraud Bureau, Department of Insurance. During those interviews Pomeroy said that he was shown a variety of pictures, and he claims that he identified Boggs as the man who assaulted him. He has not been contacted since by those investigators or any other law enforcement agency.
Newspaper reports of the investigation and arrests have made little mention of the gay aspects of the case and Pomeroy has thus far avoided interviews with the non-gay press. While the murdered man's sexual orientation in unknown, there is a strong likelihood that he way gay.
Taking Pomeroy's statements into account, it would appear that a gay man was purposely sought to replace Hanson.
And Hanson himself is known to be a gay man. While in jail in Texas he was held in the section reserved for those who say they are gay.
The News asked Jenkins if the alleged murder and conspiracy plot that is unfolding seemed bizarre to him, knowing both Hanson and Hawkins. "It doesn't seem bizarre, not at all," Jenkins said.
Jenkins is now very glad he was fired in March, 1986. "If I had continued to be employed by them, I might have been sucked into the whole thing." He said that Hanson was charming, that "he
could find your weak spot and get control of you in some way."
Jeff Jenkins, an open gay man living in Columbus, Ohio; worked for Hanson and Hawkins for almost a year, first in their original store in Lexington, Kentucky and then in Columbus. It was before the company grew to 22 outlets and so, Jenkins said, he worked daily with both men.
He said that Hanson was definitely gay, but that Hawkins' orientation was questionable. On one occasion in Lexington, they went to a gay bar together. Jenkins said that Hawkins danced with him and another man. But later, Jenkins said that when he alluded to the possibility that Hawkins was gay, “he just blew up. He was so defensive. I thought he was going to hit me."
On another occasion, Jenkins said that Hawkins ordered him not to hire anyone gay to work in the store. "He was adamant that he didn't want that kind of reputation," he said. But he said it was also obvious to him and others, that Hanson was in love with Hawkins. Jenkins said that the two men had been associated with each other since Hawkins was in his late teens. Hawkins in now 26. “Gene [Hanson] was so much in love with John he would do anything... John knew that and would use it to his advantage," he said.
He said that the newspaper stories about the allegations brought up a number of things about those months he worked for them he rather not think about. "It scared me. Sometimes [when working there] I felt like I would do anything for him [Hawkins]. You just wanted to please him, to make him happy."
The business, Pure Sweat, experienced phenomenal growth, but was continually receiving calls from unpaid creditors. Since Hawkins' disappearance last summer, allegations have been made that Hawkins embezzled $1.8 million and the company has declared bankruptcy.
Boggs has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and what the outcome of the trial will be is, of course, unknown. But it unfortunately appears to be yet another case where the homophobia instilled in people by society at large has resulted in at least one gay man being murdered.
A possible second murder is currently under investigation. ▼
Martha Pontoni contributed to this
story.
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