In 2018, the new investigation offered a one million Australian dollar ($729,500) reward for information which led to a conviction. Steve Johnson (pictured) said in 2020, after White's arrest, that it marked 'a very emotional day' in a video message shared by police The inquest is understood to have heard that soldiers at the Army School of Artillery at North Head used to brag about attacking gay men and calling it 'fun and games'.Īfter the 2017 coroner ruling, a new police investigation - Strike Force Welsford - was set up, led by Detective Chief Inspector Peter Yeomans, ABC reported. The final inquest is understood to have heard how police had failed to investigate a number of gay hate crimes that took place in Sydney at the time. North Head, where Mr Johnson's body was found, was a well-known gay beat which was targeted by gangs in the 1980s, according to 9News.
Mr Barnes found gangs of men had roamed various Sydney locations in search of gay men to assault, resulting in the deaths of some victims, while some people were also robbed. The coroner concluded Mr Johnson 'fell from the cliff top as a result of actual or threatened violence by unidentified persons who attacked him because they perceived him to be homosexual'. Mr Johnson's family sought a third inquest, and state coroner Michael Barnes ruled in 2017 that Mr Johnson was killed in a gay hate crime. Mr Johnson's brother Steve (pictured), from Boston, pursued justice for and reportedly spent up to $1million on an investigator to prove his brother's death was the result of foul play Police had initially concluded that Mr Johnson had taken his own life, despite the discovery that his wallet was missing from his clothes, which were neatly folded near the cliff top.Ī coronial inquest - a court-like proceeding held after unusual deaths - ruled in 1989 that the openly gay man had taken his own life, while a second coroner in 2012 could not explain how he died.ĭuring the first inquest, police were reported to have incorrectly told the first coroner that North Head was not a gay beat - an area frequented by gay men often for sexual liaisons. 'The last conversation we know he had was with his professor … as far as his professor was concerned, my brother could get a job at any university in the world.'
' was brilliant, but more modest than he was brilliant, so you would never hear him say that,' Steve said. Steve added that his brother, who was a doctoral student at Australian National University, was a 'proud' gay man and was his best friend. What a fun day this was.He said proving the death was a homicide 'wasn't easy' but his faith had now been 'restored'. This is the second part of the shoot we did that day with both Nate and Dylan. I will post the video a little later this week. I’m glad we took a few more photos at the end without the sun glasses because Nate is gorgeous! We made a hot video of Nate getting off at the end of the photoshoot too. But I have learnt a good lesson for the next time we head out there. My photos of Nate in the water didn’t turn out as good as I expected. We found an inflated truck tire tube by the road and used that to float around on. The speedo came off pretty quickly as he took a dip in the cold water. Then he got changed into a speedo for some shots down in the creek. We started with some photos around, and on top of the car. But then we swapped and it was time for Nate to get naked too. I had him filming some BTS for Dylan’s nude photoshoot. Nate was pretty excited for this road trip stop. Our trip out to regional Victoria involved a stop down by this creek for a skinny dip with the boys Nate and Dylan.