Gay True Crime Story Wednesday

Some updates on the Robert Wone case (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Robert_Eric_Wone)........

-The question of consent. Many people online--on the Who Murdered Wone? site--argue that consent vs. no-consent doesn't matter here. The argument is this: Look, Wone surely did not consent to be murdered. Whether or not he was a willing participant in the sex stuff? That's useless hair-splitting.

I have to disagree. Of course Wone didn't ask to be murdered, and his killers should be held accountable for having committed murder. But who could seriously believe that details do not matter? Details are everything. Details are what make life fascinating. I can see a few scenarios for Wone:

(1) Wone arrives for a kinky night, the drugs go wrong, Wone is dying, Price panics, Price stages a murder (by "intruder") to cover up the drug-intake issue. This is pretty awful--but it's not *the most awful scenario imaginable* ...

(2) Wone arrives with no plan for a kinky night, Wone is drugged and assaulted, the drugs go wrong, Wone is dying, Price panics, Price stages murder (by "intruder") to cover up the assault and drug-intake issue. Clearly, this is *more* awful than scenario (1) because it involves deliberate sexual assault. But it's still not the most awful scenario imaginable....

(3) Wone arrives with no plan for a kinky night; by design, Price assaults and murders Wone. This is all part of some sick Alfred Hitchcock "Rope"-esque "Can I get away with assault and murder?" situation. Clearly, *this* is the most awful scenario imaginable.

Aren't you interested in degrees of awfulness? I can never understand how people can pretend that details do not matter.

-The mouthguard. Wone had his mouthguard in when he was found dead. This, to me, is seriously damning; this suggests that maybe Wone wasn't a willing participant in the sex stuff. Why would he have inserted his mouthguard if he was going to involve himself, knowingly, in a kinky sex night? I find this bit of evidence far more damning (for Price, et al.) than the "none of Wone's friends ever heard about him getting involved in gay sex" argument. It is very possible that a person can have a secret life. This has been done before.

-The child, or children. Zaborsky and Price have at least one child together? My mind reels...

-Why choose a known victim? I recognize that powerful men sometimes commit assault. I'm thinking of Bill Clinton, Harvey Weinstein, Donald Trump, Kevin Spacey, Bryan Singer, and OJ Simpson, to name a few. I can't understand why Price, et al. would assault someone they knew well. And why assault someone whose wife would know precisely where he was meant to be on that particular night? I think of the Long Island Serial Killer--who preyed on society's most vulnerable people, i.e. prostitutes. LISK did this surely because he knew there wouldn't be a concerted effort to bring the killer to justice. But Wone was a powerful person, and Price, et al. were strongly connected to him. Why would Price, et al. choose Wone as the victim (of sexual assault and/or murder, depending on how much pre-planning you imagine occurring in that townhouse)?

That's all for now. So maddening to think that no one may be brought to justice for this crime.

How to Host a Baby

-You have assumed responsibility for a mewling, puking ball of life, a yellow-lab pup. He will spit his half-digested kibble all over your shoes, all over your hard-cover edition of Jennifer Haigh's novel Faith . He will eat your tables, your chairs, your "I {Heart] Montessori" magnet, placed too low on the fridge. When you try to watch Bette Davis in Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte , on your TV, your dog will bark through the murder-prologue, for no apparent reason. He will whimper through Lena Dunham's Girls , such that you have to rewind several times to catch every nuance of Andrew Rannells's ad-libbing--and, still, you'll have a nagging suspicion you've missed something. Your dog will poop on the kitchen floor, in the hallway, between the tiny bars of his crate. He'll announce his wakefulness at 5 AM, 2 AM, or while you and another human are mid-coitus. All this, and you get outside, and it's: "Don't let him pee on my tulips!" When...

Joshie

When I was growing up, a class birthday involved Hostess cupcakes. Often, the cupcakes would come in a shoebox, so you could taste a leathery residue (during the party). Times change. You can't bring a treat into a public school, in 2024, because heaven knows what kind of allergies might lurk, in unseen corners, in the classroom. But Joshua's teacher will allow: a dance party, a pajama day, or a guest reader. I chose to bring a story for Joshua's birthday (observed), but I didn't think through the role that anxiety might play in this interaction. We talk, in this house, quite a bit about anxiety; one game-changer, for J, has been a daily list of activities, so that he knows exactly what to expect. He gets a look of profound satisfaction when he sees the agenda; it doesn't really matter what the specific events happen to be. It's just about knowing, "I can anticipate X, Y, and Z." Joshua struggled with his celebration. He wore his nervousness on his f...

Josh at Five

Joshie's project is "flexibility"; the goal is to see that a plan is just an idea, not a gospel, not a guarantee. This is difficult. Yesterday, we went to a restaurant--billed as "open," with unlocked doors--and the owner informed us of an "error in advertising." But Joshie couldn't accept the word "closed." He threw himself on the floor, then climbed on the furniture. I felt for the owner, until he nervously made a reference to "the glass windows." He imagined that my child might toss himself through a sealed window, like Mary Katherine Gallagher, or like Bruce Willis, in "Die Hard." Then--thank the Lord!--I was able to laugh. The thing that really has therapeutic value for Joshie is: a firetruck. If we are out in public, and he spots a parked truck, he wants to climb on each surface. He breathlessly alludes to the wheels, the door, the windows. If an actual fire station ("fire ocean," in Joshie's parla...

Liars and Saints

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