Source: Palm Beach Post, South Florida Sun Sentinel

Michael Brown

Michael Brown, owner of HG Roosters, a bar that has been a gathering spot for the city's gay community for more than two decades, was beaten and stabbed to death by a former boyfriend who was found dead in his apartment with him Friday evening, police have determined.

On Saturday night scores of men and women packed HG Roosters, where candles flickered in front of a flower-decked shrine to the man they called "La La." The bar fell silent in his honor as one after another spoke of the difference Brown had made in their lives.

A memorial guest book set up for Brown by Palm Beach Post has attracted 30 messages of condolences from contributors who emphasize Brown's warm friendship and generosity.

Brown's violent death was an unfitting end to a life characterized by friendship, leadership, a contagious sense of fun and great generosity, friends said.

"Whatever happened up there had nothing to do with the life he lived," Tim Carey, a friend of Brown's, said Friday.

Police were dispatched to Brown's 3705 S. Flagler Drive condominium about 5 p.m. Friday because the affable bar owner had not shown up to work. They found a blood-spattered apartment in disarray and Brown's body in the bedroom. Brown, 50, died of blunt trauma to the head and multiple stab wounds, an autopsy showed.

The body of Brant Hines, 27, hung from a strap hung over the closed bedroom door.

HG Roosters bar workers called Michael Brown's home several times on Thursday, police said, but Hines told them Brown wasn't available. Bar workers called police on Friday after Brown again didn't show up at the bar and calls to the apartment were not answered.

On Thursday Hines had a black eye when he opened the door of Brown's apartment to a neighbor who had lost a key to another apartment. Hines also was seen walking Brown's two dogs that day.

Police believe Brant hanged himself Thursday night or Friday morning. He did not leave a suicide note, but had logged off an Internet social networking account that investigators are trying access.

"Apparently they had an on-again, off-again relationship. It was somewhat of a volatile relationship even when it was on," police Lt. Chuck Reed said. "We believe it was the result of a violent domestic disturbance."

Hines is originally from New Jersey and appears to have moved to Palm Beach County in 2003, according to court records.

He was arrested several times on misdemeanor offenses, including writing a bad check, driving without a valid license and failing to appear in court.

Arrest records show previous addresses in Delray Beach, West Palm Beach and Brown's Flagler Drive apartment.

Brown grew up in a quarter-horse community in Mansfield, Ohio, and moved to Florida about 24 years ago after visiting a friend, said his sister, Becky Peters.

She knew Hines and said he used her brother for money and shelter.

When she confronted her brother about this, he said: "I wouldn't put a homeless dog out in the street and I certainly wouldn't do it to a person," Peters said.

"He was the person who made everyone feel like they were related," said Tony Plakas, a longtime friend.

Brown was a fixture at his West Palm Beach bar, which has been around for more than two decades and is a relaxed place dubbed "the gay Cheers." He made the bar where he started pouring drinks in the late 1980s a place where customers could feel at home, and a setting for rousing charitable events.

"He was somebody who connected everybody in Palm Beach County," Plakas said.

The guy is somebody who everybody would think was family."

Plakas, who used to run Compass, the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of the Palm Beaches, said it wouldn't have existed if not for Brown.

With Monday night bingo games and other events at his bar, Brown raised hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years for causes such as Toys for Tots and Compass.

"He was an icon in this community," Compass Executive Director Scott Fox said.

In October, he was honored with the Comprehensive AIDS Program's Fundraiser Extraordinaire Award.

Brown was a grand marshal of the gay pride parade in West Palm Beach in 1997.

"That person lived more for other people," Carey said.

"It's going to be tough to find another community leader because he led with his heart. What a ball of warmth."

It was his generosity that led to his death, Brown's sister said.

"He was a good person and he had a big heart and a big heart is inevitably what cost his life," Peters said.

Brown also traveled the country in his volunteer work supporting the Names Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, for which he was a board member of the South Florida chapter.

Brown inherited the bar that has stood at 823 Belvedere Road since 1984 from its previous owner, Bill Cappozzi, who knew that Brown would carry on the bar's legacy, friends said.

"It wasn't about a moneymaking venue; it was about making sure that gay people had a place to go and feel comfortable," Carey said.

Full article: Ex-boyfriend kills gay bar's owner, hangs self, police say | West Palm Beach Post
West Palm Beach gay activist killed by partner, police say | Sun-Sentinel