News (USA)

NY gay man found murdered; police searching for live-in lover

NY gay man found murdered; police searching for live-in lover

A man was found brutally stabbed to death inside his Hell’s Kitchen apartment Thursday, and detectives are looking to question his live-in lover.

John Lea

Justin Waller

John Lea, 41, wearing only boxers, was found dead underneath a pile of clothes in the bedroom of his apartment with a gash on his head and his throat slashed, police say. Lea’s body also had several defensive wounds.

“The bloody knife was right next to him,” one source said.

Police report they are looking to question Lea’s live-in boyfriend, identified by friends as Justin Waller.

“We’re, of course, devastated,” Lea’s father, John Lea, said from his Florida home Thursday night.

Friends and co-workers said the event planner with the boyish smile was gregarious, outgoing and always went out of his way to help people.

But that last quality may have led to his murder.

Investigators were trying Thursday to track down Waller, whom Lea allowed to stay at his flat after the two met recently at a nearby gym, according to friends and neighbors. One co-worker of Lea described Waller as “down on his luck.”

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