Newly uncovered diary entries written by a gay escort prior to his death at the home of a political donor last year accuse the prominent Democratic supporter of getting him hooked on a drug that would eventually cause the fatal overdose.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Gemmel Moore, 26, was found dead at Ed Buck’s West Hollywood, California apartment on July 27, 2017. Police initially ruled the death an accidental drug overdose, but the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office launched a homicide investigation in August after seemingly credible questions about the circumstances of Moore’s death raised by his family.
Fox News reports that Buck, 63, has made contributions in excess of $500,000 to various local and national Democratic campaigns, including Hillary Clinton’s presidential run.
Moore’s mother Letisha Nixon reportedly accused Buck of habitually getting escorts to take risky amounts of meth for his own enjoyment, and offering them financial incentives for increasingly dangerous behavior.
The family has launched a website, “Justice 4 Gemmel,” and shared pages of what Fox News says is Moore’s diary entries specifically blaming Buck for his drug addiction with the news station.
“I honestly don’t know what to do. I’ve become addicted to drugs and the worst one at that,” Moore reportedly wrote in December 2016.
“Ed Buck is the one to thank. He gave me my first injection of crystal meth it was very painful, but after all the troubles, I became addicted to the pain and fetish/fantasy.”
According to the Fox News report, Moore’s last entry from December 3, 2016 reads, “If it didn’t hurt so bad, I’d kill myself, but I’ll let Ed Buck do it for now.”
The Fox News report notes that police found drug paraphernalia scattered around Buck’s apartment on the day of Moore’s death. The items included “24 syringes containing brown residue, five glass pipes with white residue and burn marks, a plastic straw with possible white residue, clear plastic bags with white powdery residue and a clear plastic bag containing a piece of crystal-like substance,” according to the report.
Authorities are continue to investigate Moore’s death. Lt. Joe Mendoza of the homicide bureau told the news station that authorities are offering immunity to anyone with knowledge of Buck’s behavior in regards to the accusations, to encourage them to speak freely.
“We’re just in a holding pattern until we can get those people interviewed,” Mendoza said.
As the Los Angeles-based blog WEHOville reported in August, Buck’s attorney Seymour Amster has denied the allegations.
“It is unfortunate that the sheriff’s department is reacting to unsubstantiated allegations,” Amster said in a statement to the local news outlet.
“This is a tragedy, not a crime. He had no involvement in Gemmel Moore’s death. Unfortunately, he opened his home to an individual who was troubled. Whatever Moore did, Mr. Buck was not around when he did it. He was in the apartment at the time of his death. We’re not sure where Mr. Moore took whatever he took to cause the overdose.”
Amster insisted again to Fox News that his client has done nothing wrong. He described Buck and Moore as “friends,” and said his client was “legitimately trying to help.”
[Feature image: GoFundMe/Gemmel Moore]
