01/28/2008
Still No Suspects in Fatal Stabbing of Gay Man in Boston
Last week I posted about the murder of Daniel Yakovleff in Boston. Police are still searching for answers. Yakovleff, a 20-year-old hair stylist, was found early in the morning on January 17th stabbed to death in an apartment belonging to Steven Odegard in the city's Dorchester neighborhood.
How he got there is unknown, the Boston Globe reports:
"The night Yakovleff was killed, he went to the Eagle bar on Tremont Street in the South End, then to a Dorchester apartment, police and friends said. The third-floor flat belonged to Steven Odegard, who had met Yakovleff that night, and later found him dead in his apartment, said Odegard's lawyer, John Swomley. Odegard told police he was asleep and woke to find Yakovleff dead in a back bedroom, police said. 'He is not a suspect,' Swomley said. Odegard has been cooperative, and police are looking for a third person, Swomley said. 'We're hoping police find the killer.' Department spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll said detectives have interviewed Odegard and are working 'around the clock' to solve the homicide. Driscoll said police are searching for witnesses who saw Yakovleff leave the Eagle that night."
I'm not sure how Odegard could be ruled out as a suspect, given those details, but apparently there's some kind of alibi or detail we're note being given here if police have absolutely ruled him out.
Odegard's lawyer John Swomley maintains his client's innocence: "My client didn’t do it and is innocent. ... I know my client has cooperated fully with the police up to this point, told them everything he knows and has denied all involvement in the stabbing of this guy."
Fatal stabbing shakes city's gays [boston globe]
Dorchester man denies involvement in stabbing [bay windows]
Posted 10:58 AM EST by Andy Towle in Boston, Crime, News | Permalink
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C'mon...this Odegard guy knows more than he's admitting! How does someone end up dead in your home and you have no idea how it happened? This guy is either lying or was completely fucked up the night of the stabbing, maybe fucked up enough to have stabbed him himself?? Hmmmmmmm.
Posted by: john | Jan 28, 2008 11:06:38 AM
Hey Boston guys this is the third guy taken home from the eagle and killed remember David Hall and sorry can not remember the other victims name but they are silmilar MO's stabbed in bed after tricking at the Eagle my partner and I are alwys carefull when at the eagle but going step it up even more.
Jimbo
Posted by: jimbo | Jan 28, 2008 11:26:26 AM
gays murders happen just as in the str8 community, though ill-founded community pressure often precludes cooperation. And, the police are often unwilling/unable to thoroughly, capably, & professionally investigate gay murders. We have numerous unsolved gay murders here in Chicago, and neither the community nor police care.
Posted by: Bob | Jan 28, 2008 1:03:23 PM
Unfortunately, gay men and MSM men are homicide victims just as others are. Sometimes because of their sexual orientation and sometimes not. But frequenting certain venues and engaging in high-risk activities (taking strangers home) sometimes result in murder, as the victims become accessible & vulnerable to predators. This murder sounds similar to the unsolved Chicago murders of Brad Winters, Kevin Clewer, Richard Markley, Irwin Rosenbloom and Johnathan Fields. This newest murder should serve as a warning to other MSM to be careful.
Posted by: Bob | Jan 28, 2008 3:36:20 PM
Thank you for reporting on this. As much as I wished one of my friends would wind up on here or queerty I never hoped it would be for this. I truly miss seeing Dan nearly daily on my trips down termont. He was such a sweet guy and deserved so much more than this.
Posted by: Me | Jan 29, 2008 11:26:22 PM