Current Affairs

New:
Towleroad Tools:
« From the Folks Who Brought you Butt | Main | »

05/19/2005


Missouri Murder Trial Begins

JamesvalenciaThe trial has begun for married Columbia, Missouri police officer Steven Arthur Rios who is accused of having an affair with 23-year-old college student Jesse James Valencia and murdering him for fear he would be exposed as a homosexual.

"Last spring, the paths of the two men intersected when Rios arrested Valencia for mouthing off to officers who were breaking up a noisy off-campus party," Court TV reports. "If such town-and-gown collisions in Columbia are routine, what followed was not. The married cop and the gay student embarked on a wild sexual affair, which authorities say led to Valencia's brutal murder at Rios' hands."

This case has "mesmerized" Columbia, where the University of Missouri is located, and rightly so. This tragedy includes a sexual encounter between Valencia and another student which Rios interrupted, and then allegedly joined, an escape by the officer from a mental health facility to a ledge where he intended to commit suicide, and a devoted wife and child.

Valencia was an openly gay student and an advocate for same sex marriage who ended up on a lawn with a four inch gash in his throat by an officer of the law determined to keep a secret.

The closet sure is an ugly place.

Gay affair between cop and student led to murder [court tv]

Sphere: Related Content

Posted 4:10 PM EST by Andy in Current Affairs | Permalink

Like it?

Subscribe to FREE Towleroad daily headlines with our RSS feed!

... or by Email
RECENT STORIES:

Comments

  1. What is sad, and maybe even true, this will be a made for TV movie soon.

    Posted by: Andre | May 19, 2005 7:58:02 PM


  2. Ironically enough, had it been the other way around and Valencia had murdured the police officer for some reason, he'd probably be facing the death penalty. As it is, I don't think Rios is facing a capial charge.

    Posted by: Steve | May 19, 2005 11:37:29 PM


  3. This makes me very sad. To see a life go away for something as routine as an extramarital affair. While Rios is definitely culpable, we need to ask ourselves if the kind of fear that prevented him from revealing his affair with Valencia does not have its roots in social disapproval of gay couples. Despite murmurs of support, the vast majority of gays still prefer remaining in the closet because they don't want to deal with the pain and the ostracization that a heterosexist society heaps on them. My profound sympathies for Valencia's family. My heart goes out to his mother.

    Posted by: Nik | May 20, 2005 11:24:20 AM


  4. I'm not 100% if you've got this up yet, but the trial ended last weekend. They found Rios guilty as sin. I'm from Columbia, MO. I've been following this from day 1. I didn't know Jesse. I knew of him. I think I danced with him once or twice. He dated a friend of a friend awhile back. I didn't know him. But when they found Rios guilty it totally brought a tear to my eye.

    Posted by: John D. | May 26, 2005 3:31:56 AM


Post a comment






Lijit Search