January 7. 2000 ? ¡mat mot
IJ lu ; h ; ivj lim e u rs
t’s just too odd.
“Oh, my God, yes,” agrees Pam Mon-
ette, who a few weeks back suggested that
Just Out do a story on Lindsey Alexander,
a drag queen who worked at the popular
Old Town cabaret club Darcelle X V and disap
peared 10 years ago.
"It was sort of big for a minute, and then it
died down— but that’s the kind of thing we need
to remember,” Monette adds.
“Every time I hear they’ve found a body, I
think it might be her,” Darcelle commented in
mid-December. “But nothing has ever turned up
that I know of.”
Then, on Dec. 24, 1999, Portland police
found the skeletal remains of Lindsey Alexan
der, a k a Todd Alexan
der Asay, buried in the
back yard of a South
east Portland home.
Asay was last seen
alive May 26, 1989, in
front of Silverado, a gay
bar on Southwest Stark
Street in downtown
Portland.
A reporter called
Darcelle with news of
the grisly discovery.
“I said, ‘W ait a
minute while I get
myself back together,’ ”
recalls Darcelle during
a second interview with
Just Out. “It was such a
shock.”
Monette and Dar
celle are good friends
and often wondered
about Lindsey’s disap
pearance.
“It was such a mystery,” says Monette. “We
have had so many losses anyway, so Lindsey kind
of gets included in the list of people that we
miss.”
Darcelle always felt that Lindsey did not
vanish of her own free will.
After all, she was an up-and-coming per
former at Darcelle XV. She was in the process of
expanding her wardrobe and ordering publicity
photos. And she had just received a bottle of her
favorite perfume.
“It was quite a loss,” notes Darcelle. “I had
never known anybody to just disappear off the
face of the earth. It was very scary.”
While Lindsey’s disappearance was frighten
ing, Darcelle doesn’t think of 1989 as a particu
larly troubled time— at least not like the early
’80s, when there was a rash of gay bashings in
Portland.
“We never felt unsafe,” recalls Darcelle. “But
M urder M ystery
After a decade of uncertainty, the remains of missing drag queen
Lindsey Alexander are discovered in Southeast Portland by P at Young
I certainly put the word out to my comrades that
if you’re going to get into somebody’s car, you’re
in harm’s way and you had better watch out.”
According to Darcelle, Lindsey was popular
and got along well with the other performers.
She enjoyed doing her renditions of the top
tunes of the day and was known for her trade
mark red wig and great smile.
“W ho could resist that smile7' remembers
Darcelle. “It was always there and always for
somebody. She was really warm and a real good
friend.”
And Lindsey was always presentable, albeit
sometimes provocative, when she went out—
whether she was wearing her drag street clothes
or her “boy clothes,” as Darcelle calls them.
It was near Memorial Day weekend and after
her last performance on a Wednesday night that
Lindsey left everything at her makeup station as
if she were coming back the next day. Then,
dressed in drag, she headed to Silverado. Lind
sey didn’t return to Darcelle’s on Thursday night
for her scheduled show. She didn’t call. No one
had seen her. W hen she was still absent on Fri
day, Darcelle knew something was wrong.
“It wasn’t like her,” says Darcelle. “She was
always working.”
She adds: “We felt so bad. We left her station
as it was for weeks. We didn’t move anything,
just hoping that maybe one day she would walk
in.”
But that day never arrived.
“I’m really saddened by the fact that they
found her in a horrible grave like that,” says Dar
celle. “But glad too, that it’s closure now for her
friends and family.”
Portland police believe Brian David Hill, 36,
shot and killed Asay in 1989 and buried the 25-
year-old in the back yard of the Southeast Port
land home where Hill used to live.
Hill was recently charged with shooting to
death his ex-wife. He was arrested Dec. 19 and
charged with murdering Anna Lee Hill.
Hill has not been charged with Asay’s mur
der. However, a Multnomah County grand jury
is reviewing the case.
According to police, someone came forward
following Hill’s arrest and provided specific
information about where Asay’s body was
buried.
According to media reports, Asay was
known to prostitute himself and was last seen
dressed as a woman outside Silverado. There has
been some speculation that someone picked up
Asay, thinking he was a woman, and became
angry and violent upon learning otherwise.
“No one really knows what [Lindsey] was
doing that night. But we do know that she was
a man dressed as a woman, which says a whole
bunch of things,” says Monette. “It would have
been a surprise. A shock.”
She adds: “I think today it might be a little
different. T he whole world is more aware of
transgender, cross-dressing people.”
Still, she says, “I believe that the same exact
thing could happen today. Maybe for different
reasons, but I do believe that the danger is
there."
T hat’s because prejudice, discrimination and
bigotry remain a pervasive problem.
“I want the young men and women of the
gay, lesbian, trans, bi community to know that
they can really get hurt,” she says. “I just hope
that people pay attention.”
She is hopeful that the newly formed C iti
zens Foot Patrol will help create a safer environ
ment.
Originating from the Sexual Minorities
Round Table, the foot patrol represents an
extension of that partnership between the queer
community and the Portland Police Bureau.
The patrol— which covers areas of Old Town
and Southwest Stark Street— is designed to
deter harassment and violence directed toward
the queer community.
“We will be out on the streets so that our
brothers and sisters at least know there is a
friend out there,” says Monette.
A safer environment that perhaps could
have helped Lindsey.
“She was a real nice person,” adds Darcelle.
“Just think, she would be 35 now.”
■ For m ore information about the CITIZENS FOOT
P a t r o l program, call (503) 295-9785 or contact
Pam M onette at (503) 940-5373.
P a t YOUNG is a Portland-based free-lance
uniter and gay and lesbian historian. She is current
ly uniting a book about Ballot M easure 9.
R emembering
a F riend
L indsey A lexander , a k a T odd A say
1964-1989
fter 10 years of not knowing, Lindsey’s
friends now can say goodbye. Join oth
ers at 3 p.m. Jan. 30 at Darcelle XV, 208
N.W. Third Ave. in Portland. To learn more
about the gathering, call (503) 222-5338.
If you have photos, please bring them to
share at the memorial.
A
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