Ex-boyfriend kills West Palm Beach gay bar's owner, hangs self, police say

By ANTIGONE BARTON, Palm Beach Post

WEST PALM BEACH — Michael Brown, right, owner of H.G. 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.

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, right, hung from a strap hung over the closed bedroom door.

Police believe Hines killed Brown late Wednesday or early Thursday, when a neighbor heard shouting and crashing.

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.

He answered the telephone that afternoon and said Brown was not available when someone from H.G. Roosters called, police said. But calls from the bar to the apartment after Brown did not appear at work Friday were not answered.

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.

Brown and Hines apparently had an on-and-off relationship for several years that was sometimes volatile, West Palm Beach police Lt. Chuck Reed said. 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's 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.

Friends also believed, though, that Brown had tried to help Hines, and said that was typical of the big man with a shaved head and ever-present smile who never said no to people or causes in need.

"He was the person who made everyone feel like they were related," said Tony Plakas, a longtime friend and former executive director of Compass Inc., the county's gay and lesbian community organization.

A onetime PrideFest parade grand marshal, Brown made the bar where he started pouring drinks in the late 1980s a place customers could feel at home, and a place where charities looking for support could count on rousing fund-raising events, friends said Saturday.

With Monday night bingo games and other events, 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 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.

On Saturday night scores of men and women packed H.G. 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.

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.

Comments

[DAVID]

RIP BRANT AND MIKE..
Brants cousin David NJ

[Michael]

Never knew Brandt was gay. He was always talking about women.

[Warren]

I am located in Virginia, I am helping a mother find her gay son whom disappeared on July 30, 2007. He has friends in West Palm Beach, his mom does not know their names, please if everyone could look at the wesite www.findjohnmorris.com, if you recognize him please contact the authorities listed on the site or if you don't want to get too involved, tell John to call his mom, she is heartbroken over his disappearance.
Thank-you