Florida man gets life in prison for murder of marriage equality activist

A Florida man has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of an LGBTQ+ rights activist.

On Friday, 38-year-old Steven Yinger was found guilty of first-degree murder, grand theft, grand theft of a motor vehicle, tampering with physical evidence, and criminal use of personal identification information in connection with the 2022 murder of Jorge Diaz-Johnston, the Tallahassee Democrat reported.

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Man indicted for strangling gay marriage activist & dumping his body in landfill

“He touched so many people with his kind and generous heart,” his husband wrote on Facebook. A grand jury believes one of those people may have killed him.

Diaz-Johnston’s body was found in a Jackson County, Florida landfill in January 2022 after his estranged husband, Don Diaz-Johnston, reported him missing. Yinger was indicted the following April.

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Jorge Diaz-Johnston, a paralegal and the brother of former Miami mayor Manny Diaz, reportedly struggled with alcoholism and knew Yinger through a recovery program. Yinger, who has an extensive criminal record that includes convictions for burglary, grand theft, and drug-related crimes, moved into Diaz-Johnston’s apartment after being released from prison in October 2021.

But according to the Tallahassee Democrat, Diaz-Johnston ordered Yinger to move out on January 3, 2022. Yinger reportedly strangled Diaz-Johnston to death the following day, dumping his body in a trash bin before stealing the victim’s car and using his bank cards to go on a shopping spree.

Jorge and Don Diaz-Johnston were at the forefront of the fight for marriage equality in Florida. In July 2014, a judge in Miami-Dade County declared the state’s ban on marriage equality unconstitutional in a historic ruling. The Diaz-Johnstons – who would later get married – were plaintiffs in that case, which Equality Florida helped bring.

In a written statement following Yinger’s sentencing, Don Diaz-Johnston thanked the Tallahassee Police Department (TPD) “for their outstanding dedication and commitment to not only solving the crime but also to meticulously building the case against the murderer.”

However, he blasted the TPD for initially naming him as a suspect in its investigation and never publicly clearing his name. “Even when the indictment against the actual perpetrator was announced, there was no official clarification regarding my status. This omission is significant because baseless rumors have persisted, insinuating my involvement in my husband’s untimely death,” he wrote. “The toll of such an accusation, both emotionally and financially, is incredibly profound and lasting. Emotionally, being wrongly named as a suspect in a heinous crime can shatter a person’s mental and emotional well-being. The constant fear, anxiety, and humiliation that accompany such accusations are unbearable.”

As Don told local ABC affiliate WPLG in 2022, police suspected Yinger early in their investigation. But in his statement, Don said that Assistant State Attorney John Fuchs advised him not to push to have his name cleared until after Yinger’s indictment, “claiming it was necessary to mislead the actual killer.”

“It has since become evident that this was a falsehood, as law enforcement was aware of the solid evidence they had against the true perpetrator and had no need for such tactics,” Don wrote. “To put it simply, Mr. Fuchs gave me a choice: clear my name or risk jeopardizing the conviction of my husband’s killer. That was cruel. At the time, I was unaware of the extent of the evidence in their possession, but I am now fully informed.”