The man whose lawsuit led to the uncovering of sexual assault allegations against former mayor Ed Murray has died, according to the King County Medical Examiner.
Delvonn Heckard, 47, died in Auburn Friday. According to the medical examiner, the cause and manner of his death are pending. The Seattle Times reports Heckard was found dead of an apparent drug overdose in an Auburn motel.
Delvonn Heckard sued Murray last April, alleging Murray raped and molested him in the 1980s when Heckard was a teenager struggling with drug addiction and Murray was in his 30s. By September, five men had publicly accused Murray of sexual abuse. Murray denied all of the allegations.
Two of those accusers, Jeff Simpson and Lloyd Anderson had attempted to come forward to the media nearly a decade earlier, but their allegations were not reported. Heckard’s lawsuit reopened the Seattle Times investigation into the story. Heckard’s lawyer, Lincoln Beauregard, wrote on Twitter Friday, “A hero died today.” Beauregard did not return The Stranger‘s requests for comment. MyNorthwest reports Beauregard will speak to KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson Friday afternoon.
Throughout last year, new information came to light about the allegations, but Murray refused for months to resign. Simpson, Murray’s former foster son, had contacted a lawyer about his allegations back in 2008. That lawyer told The Stranger in April he believed his client but did not pursue the case because of the statute of limitations. The Seattle Times then uncovered records from Oregon, where Simpson was Murray’s former foster son. Those records showed that Child Protective Services had found Simpson’s allegations valid. In September, Murray’s cousin Joseph Dyer became the fifth man to accuse Murray of abuse. Dyer said he was coming forward because he was angry at the way Murray was denying the other allegations. The same day the Seattle Times published Dyer’s allegations, Murray said he would resign.
“At least the public knows that everything I was saying was the truth, right?” Heckard told the Seattle Times that day. “I’m not just some crackhead, some criminal, some street kid, I was telling the truth. And really it’s not about him being mayor or not being mayor, it’s never been about his position and his job. I wasn’t in it for that, or for the money. Those were the least of my concerns. It was just me coming forward and telling the truth, and the public knowing that the man who was their mayor did this to me. Especially when we dropped the lawsuit—I know the public felt I was lying and that really hurt…They should know now I wasn’t lying.”
After initially filing the suit last year, Heckard dropped the case. Beauregard said at the time Heckard could not get a fair trial while Murray was mayor. He also said that Heckard, who was living in a recovery center in Kent, wanted to complete his counseling and recovery before re-filing the suit.
In October, Heckard re-filed his case. His second suit named not only Murray but the City of Seattle, saying the city allowed Murray to spread “false and harmful information” about Heckard. The city recently settled the case for $150,000.
This post has been updated with new information.
