Hey everyone, I recently wrapped my other show, Unsafe Spaces. It's an
investigative serialized true crime podcast that looks into Stephen Lorenzo and Scott Schweikert, two
gay men who were targeting and murdering other gay men in the Tampa Bay area
of Florida. Season one is complete and bingeable now, So while you're waiting
for the next season of true crime bullshit coming next month, I'll be sharing
the first four episodes of Unsafe Spaces with you here. Listen and then head
on over to Unsafe Spaces and Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening now and binge
the rest of the season. This is a studio both and production. Scott
Paul Schweikert was born in Peru, Illinois, on August tenth of nineteen sixty
five. The Schweikerts were a prominent and well connected family in the area,
with thirteen children. According to the Tampa Bay Times, Scott was a quiet
and polite boy who attended the local Catholic church and graduated high school with a
three point sixty four GPA. He went on to earn two bachelor's degrees from
Illinois State University. His family and community had high hopes for him. Of
course, by now we all know what happened during Scott's time at ISU,
an assault and attempted rape on a fellow student, for which Scott merely served
six months in jail. Halfway through that jail time, his parents wrote to
the judge requesting that Scott be let out early so he could attend their fiftieth
anniversary. Make of that what you will. Five and a half years later,
after bouncing around from courthouse to courthouse and state to state, Scott met
Steven Lorenzo and in short order found himself in Orlando, Florida in October of
twenty three. Where are you living, how long had you lived in and
what was the purpose for your moving to Moran and were you in the process
of taking that course in personal training in October of two thousand and three?
Are you familiar with an online application call of America Online and were you familiar
with America Online in October of two thousand and three prior to two thousand and
three? Had you utilize America Online to conduct instant missing chats with individuals?
Did you have a stream name? What was your streaming an st R Scoff
prior to October of two thousand and three. Did you know the defendant Stevie
Lorenzo. Do you recall how you were acquainted with or how you were introduced
to Stephen Lorenzo? Tell us about the place I was telling from the name
in spend part stream stuff and he had a contract a Nazi prior to my
making contact to expand and he noticed that I was d uh a superanda was
in Tampa and you got wet sails and we be able to make donomic.
All right, do you use the termine? I want to get clarified here.
You used used another dominant? Explain to us what you mean by it
the dominant? Uh? You got government, you have the business subvisions,
submissions are looking to submit it to somebody, to have somebody dominated as the
dominant. You want to dominate, So you and the game community were consider
yourself as a dominant. Yes, and then an expander was aware that you
were a domin Uh. Obviously limited Extander decided that it was an It maybe
good for you to meet Stephen Lorenzo. Did you did you come to learn
based upon your communications with Stephen Lorenzo or Limit Expanders why it was that the
limited expander decided that it was it was important for you to meet Stephen Lorenzo.
Well, he said that we had similar interest. You've been talking with
n I guess for a while and then for sure at home, and we
had doctor a couple of times and we discussed all we got into it,
and you thought that we were in aliz Okay. So then tell us about
what you were into and specifically what you were into that limited extander thought that
Stephen Lorenzo was into, so that you could be all right, won't expand
upon that a little bit later as a result of that the suggestion of women
expander, did you then have communications in any form with the person you later
learned to be Stephen Moreno? Tell us about the communications. Tell us about
how you got booked up with Stephen Morenza. We had finally a guy again
poll on Crest message check through or two maybe three weeks before we actually met
face to face, talking about our scenery as what we would like to do
to a sedizit h A. Colm m. The first available AOL chat between
Scott Schweikert and Stephen Lorenzo is from October fifteenth, two thousand three, less
than two and a half months before Jason Galehouse and Michael Walcholtz went missing twenty
three hours apart in Tampa, Florida, and if this is in fact their
first ever online chat, it begs the question of how they were introduced,
under what context, and whether there was any other prior contact. Because the
two men are immediately comfortable discussing, raping and disappearing victims. We don't have
access to their chats and their entirety, but we do have snippets as made
available in court documents. The first chat opens with Scott asking Lorenzo which gay
clubs he frequents in Tampa. One exchange goes follows. Scott asks Lorenzo if
he frequents the gay bar Chambers. Lorenzo, I am a mile from Chambers,
but don't go often since it's all pretty much twinks. Scott, I
know I am not into the stripper and twink scene either. Lol. Does
the twink know you are looking to take him permanently? Lorenzo Metropolis, Yes,
twenty six o six submit many guys from there, sort of like full
moon. Scott, that's cool now, whether taking a twink permanently refers to
murdering them or kidnapping them into sex slavery is unclear, but in either case,
Scott is bringing up either murdering or kidnapping someone in what is allegedly their
very first conversation, and so you have to ask just how much did their
mutual friend Limit Expander know about both of them. The conversation continues, wherein
they discussed kidnapping a specific person, someone who uses the screen name Johnny Torture.
Scott, so, how do you get him to submit to the bondage?
Drug him? Kidnapping scenes are always the best ever Take a straight boy,
Lorenzo. Yes, yes, yes, all of the above, but
no idea where they are no trace to find me once released. They go
on discussing the use of drugs to make boys submit, making straight boys disappear,
and how when straight boys do disappear, they are often considered runaways by
both their families and law enforcement. Scott tell them we are going to a
party and invite them. Malan tell them we need to stop off at one
of our places, drug them there, and then that is it for them,
Lorenzo, easy to make them vanish with no link to us in the
least six days later. On October twenty first, Lorenzo and Schweikert discuss kidnapping
a submissive to use as a sex slave. Lorenzo, I knew of a
couple of boys that were sold to others and used in a few snuff type
movies, so their fate was sealed right after they were sold. They didn't
know that, of course, until it was happening to them. Scott,
then, the fear is real and death is unexpected. Just need to keep
the fantasy ones and the ones that will work in the real world clear in
our minds. Lorenzo, Yes, don't get greedy or sloppy, but be
realistic. If a situation like it is going to shit, back off and
wait for another time. Around the time of these first two chats is when
Scott Schweiker abruptly and somewhat randomly moved from his family home in Peru, Illinois,
to Orlando, Florida, supposedly to take a personal training course. Two
weeks later, the pair discussed luring a specific man from Atlanta to Tampa and
then kidnapping him. And you'll remember from the last episode that Stephen Lorenzo had
a particular interest in missing gay men from Georgia. Scott, he would not
submit willingly. Lorenzo. Okay, could set it when he is taken down
to say something different Scott. But he trusts me enough to go out and
drink under the guise of hunting other boys and to talk and learn. Lorenzo,
I can get all we need to drug him, Scott. Great.
After that he is gone forever. Get him good and drunk and drugged.
Just need to be sure that he has not told anyone where he is gone
or that he will be visiting me. The pair then decided to meet in
person, face to face for the first time. They agreed to meet the
next night, November tenth, at twenty six o six, the club Jason
Galehouse was last seen at, so they could further discuss abducting a submissive.
They then circle back to the man from Atlanta. Scott, he won't suspect
a thing, Lorenzo and set having a vehicle to whisk him away. Scott,
just tell him we are going to another bar and that he can ride
with us. Then when the drugs kick in, he will pass out in
the van. Then we just hit the highway and he is gone. He
will just think it's my play van. He won't think anything of it.
Lorenzo. I do a chokehold behind you, hold him down till he is
out, and we strap him up not to be found again. Scott perfect.
Or if we have access to drugs, simply drug his drink and as
soon as he finishes it, tell him we are ready to move on to
another bar. Lorenzo. Yep, all and many ways, Scott. Then
we have enough time to get him to the van before the drugs kick in.
Lorenzo and Schweikert continued planning the abduction of the man from Atlanta for the
following two weeks. In those subsequent chats, they discuss drugging both him and
another local boy at the same time, and then torturing them both together.
They discuss using multiple cameras and camcorders to film the torture and rape of book
both men and Lorenzo discusses his experience doing just that. Their last online discussion
regarding the Atlanta man occurs on November twenty eighth, and it's unclear if he
was ever found by investigators or if he ever met with foul play while in
Tampa, and on December sixth, the pair met at twenty six oh six
to essentially scope out potential victims. Five days later, they chat online regarding
one such potential victim they encountered on the sixth at twenty six oh six.
Scott thought about coming over there again and looking for that hustler kid again.
Lorenzo then brings up a man whom he and Schweikert previously brought back to Lorenzo's
house. Lorenzo spoke to that guy we had that morning. We'll fill you
in, Scott, I bet he went home and jacked off to what happened
to him many times over. Tampa Pede were able to track this man down,
and his story painted a picture of how truly dangerous Scott Schweiker and Stephen
Lorenzo were as a pair. On July nineteen of two thousand four, Tampa
Pede met with the man the court calls witness A, the man Lorenzo and
Schwikert talked about in their December eleventh AOL chat. Witness A was a closeted
married man, and Tampa Pde first approached him that morning at his place of
employment in front of his employer. They asked him about sexually explicit aol chats
he had with Lorenzo in front of his employer. Now, it's important to
stress that in two thousand and four, it was legal for employers to fire
their employees on the basis of being gay. Witness A could have been outed
by Tampa PD and subsequently fired by his employer, which is disgusting on its
own, and all the more disgusting when you take into consideration that Tampa PD
were pretty certain witness A was a victim of Lorenzo and Schweikert somehow. Nineteen
years later, it has only gotten more challenging for gay people in the state
of Florida, with a litany of new anti LGBTQ legislation, including don't Say
Gay laws enacted by Governor DeSantis. There are even travel advisory warnings issued by
the ACLU and the Human Rights Camp to protect gay and trans people from devastating
impacts of laws at are hostile to the LGBTQ community, and so witness A
denied participating in any such instant message conversations until his boss eventually left the room
briefly, at which point witness A told Tampa pdee that he'd be willing to
discuss the chats away from his place of employment. At a later time.
Six and a half hours later, witness A met with the investigators at a
fast food restaurant near twenty six oh six. Witness A told investigators that he
and his wife had been married for more than fifteen years, that they had
a young daughter together, and that he wasn't comfortable talking in front of his
employer because he was closeted and no one in his life, including his wife
and employer, knew that he was gay. He admitted that he did,
in fact chat with Stephen Lorenzo on a O L instant messenger at least once,
and possibly further. He said that he wasn't exactly sure how many times
because he was so traumatized by what happened that he's tried to forget Lorenzo altogether.
He said that on the morning of December seventh, the morning after Lorenzo
and Schweikert met at twenty six o six to look for potential victims, he
chatted with Lorenzo on line while his wife and daughter were out of the house.
He said that he was curious about the dominant submissive subculture. He said
that they chatted briefly and then he agreed to meet Lorenzo and another man at
a cash and carry store on the corner of West Hillsborough and North Armenia,
two and a half miles up North Armenia from twenty six o six and just
a mile and a half down West Hillsborough from Lorenzo's house at two thirteen West
Powaton Avenue. He reported that Lorenzo and the second man arrived in a small
red car, and that Lorenzo rode with Witness Ay from the cash and carry
back to Lorenzo's house on West Powaton. Upon entering the house through a rear
door concealed from the street, both Lorenzo and the second man immediately attacked witness
Ay. They forced him to the floor, blindfolded him, and tied his
hands behind his back. I'm going to share Witness A's account of what happened
next. Obviously, it contains talk of rape and torture. If you'd like
to skip it, just skip ahead one minute and thirty seconds. Witness Ay
began begging for them to stop, but they punched him repeatedly and told him
that if he didn't stop fighting, they would hurt him. Then one of
the men said, you might not leave alive. We can abandon your car
in a ditch and make you disappear. No one knows you're here, and
they'll never find your body. The pair carried witness Ay into a nearby bedroom,
where they restrained his ankles and removed his pants. They began torturing him
with a metal rod, an act known as sounding. He screamed and eventually
began hyperventilating. Witness Ay reported that throughout the attack, the two men called
each other by the names Scott and Anthony, and that at one point he
was able to briefly remove the blindfold from his face he could see the room
and his attackers. He described Lorenzo as naked from the waist down and Scott
as completely clothed. They re blindfolded him, and when he asked for water,
they dripped liquid onto his face and lips. He said that throughout the
attack, one of the two men was trying to comfort and cuddle him while
the other continued the torture. When he briefly got the blindfold off, he
realized it was Lorenzo who was doing the cuddling. The two men eventually released
witness Ey, who believes he had been drugged during the attack, likely when
they dripped an unknown liquid onto his face. He left the house dizzy and
disoriented. Because of both the trauma and his fear of being outed, Witnessy
never reported the attack. It's a strategy that Lorenzo and Schweikert discussed in their
many online chats. Ten days after the assault on witness A, Stephen and
Scott were back on AOL planning their next attack. They first discussed several unnamed
men they were trying to lure to Tampa from out of town. Lorenzo,
less time and energy can delay that one. This probably now or never,
Scott. Very true, and as you say, even if they don't show
up, there is always the avenue boys. Lorenzo yep I prefer to follow
least path of resistance and can always have a fallback plan. So it's good
if all put into one basket and it falls apart, too harder to make
up lost time. This was two days prior to a second planned trip that
Scott would take to stay with Lorenzo and hunt for boys. Two days later
Jason, when Galehouse would be missing and Michael Wacholtz would be dead. As
Tampa Peede began looking into Scott Schweikert as possibly being the Scott involved in the
kidnapping, rape, and torture of Witness A. They also started going through
Lorenzo's various phone and AOL contacts. On August ninth of two thousand and four,
they met with a man named Daniel Waters. Daniel told Tampa Peede that
he first met Stephen Lorenzo approximately thirteen years prior at Howard Avenue Station, a
gay bar in Tampa. He said that prior to that, Lorenzo had dated
one of Daniel's former boyfriends while living in Albany, New York, and that
at some point in ninety six, Daniel developed an intimate relationship of his own
with Lorenzo. That relationship lasted two years. He told Tampa Pede that Lorenzo
owned a second residence in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, about two hundred fifty miles
from Tampa, just north of Miami. He said that he last saw Lorenzo
in May of two thousand four, when he and his new partner Damien,
invited Lorenzo over to teach them about bondage. They did not care for what
Lorenzo showed them. Daniel talked about Lorenzo's history with drugs and about rumors around
town he'd heard that linked Lorenzo to several murders. He also reported that while
at a mutual friend's house, he heard that Lorenzo had assaulted and raped a
man named Kevin. Following their interview with Daniel, Tampa Pede met with a
couple named Anthony an Hell. Anthony had been linked to Lorenzo via AOL messages,
but on Hell advised that he had actually chatted with Lorenzo on AOL,
but that those chats never led to anything physical, at which point Anthony interjected
that he would never allow Stephen Lorenzo into their home, that he knew who
he was and had seen him at several gay bars in town, and that's
when he told investigators about Stephen Lorenzo allegedly assaulting their friend Brian with a mallet
six years prior. On September twenty eighth, investigators tracked down and met with
Johnny Torture, the man that Lorenzo and Schweikert discussed kidnapping during their initial online
conversations. Johnny Torture told the investigators that he had met Stephen Lorenzo in the
late nineteen eighties, when Lorenzo did some home improvement work for him, but
he said that he'd engaged in any sexual activity with Lorenzo, but that he
had met Lorenzo's friend Master Scott at twenty six oh six. He said that
Master Scott had recently moved to Florida from the Chicago area. He vehemently denied
ever being kidnapped or assaulted by Lorenzo or Master Scott. Meanwhile, Tampa Peedee
also set up an undercover operation to contact Master Scott on AOL and for three
months, an undercover officer engaged in more than forty online communications with Master Scott.
The content of those conversations was largely Master Scott assisting the undercover agent in
the drug facilitated abduction of a third party. Master Scott discussed taking gay men
by force with the use of rufees ecstasy in g h B, and in
those chats, Master Scott admitted to abducting and assaulting a man while in Tampa.
He also gave specific instructions on how to roofy an unsuspecting victim, along
with the estimated dosage based on a victim's approximate weight, and then he told
the undercover officer how to kidnap someone without being seen, and specified that using
a house with an attached garage would be the best way to get away with
it. In a September twenty third, two thousand four, chat, Master
Scott told the undercover cop how to disrobe and bind a victim. Scott,
once assured is off and the hands are bound, there is little he can
do after that, then getting the pants off quickly and getting his feet bound.
After that, he can try all he likes, but he won't be
going anywhere. On November second of two thousand four, almost a year after
Jason Galehouse and Michael Walcolts went missing, Tampa PDE arrested Stephen Lorenzo on six
counts of drug facilitated sexual assault. When shown a photo of Scott Schweikert's Master
Scott profile, Lorenzo immediately identified him as Scott and then said he would not
discuss anything related to the charges filed against him, but he would co operate
with Answering questions about Scott, Lorenzo said that he doesn't, nor had he
ever participated in any violent acts kidnappings, assaults, or murders as those depicted
in his online activity. He said that the AOL chats were simply for fantasy,
but he did confirm that he had chatted with Scott numerous times online and
that he met Scott in person several times, including during their encounter with Witness
Ay, which Lorenzo described as mostly consensual. Lorenzo told investigators that after driving
Witness Ay from the Cash and Carry to his house on Powaton Avenue, he
and Scott assumed their rules as dominance in this pre planned dominant submissive encounter.
He said that no force was ever used, but that while in the bedroom,
Scott had gone overboard, which he described as Scott punching Witness Ay in
both the stomach and testicles. He went on to tell police that Scott and
only Scott, had sounded Witness Ay, and that while this was happening,
he did his best to comfort Witness Ay and told him that Scott was just
losing control. He could not confirm whether any illegal narcotics were used during the
encounter, but said that he did receive an email from Witness Ay at some
point thereafter, saying that he wanted to meet up again, just this time
without Scott. As you'll recall, witness A told police that he never wanted
to see Lorenzo again after this assault. Lorenzo was clearly positioning Scott as the
sole aggressor in the incident with witness A, and then police asked him about
the night of December nineteenth, the night that he and Scott went to twenty
six oh six together, the night that Jason Galehouse disappeared from twenty six oh
six. Lorenzo told police that Scott drove out from Orlando that weekend to stay
with him. That Scott had made plans to bring two male escorts out with
him, but those plans fell through, and so the pair went to twenty
six oh six to look for a submissive to take home with them. He
said that Scott was essentially wearing dom cosplay. He was dressed in head to
toe leather, which made him a bit of a spectacle at twenty six oh
six. He said that while they were there, he and Scott didn't spend
much time together, but that at around one a m. Scott approached him
to say that he'd found a submissive to take home. Lorenzo claimed that he
never met this person, but that Scott had pointed him out from across the
bar. He then alleged that the pair went back to Lorenzo's house so Scott
could get his car, because this submissive didn't want to be taken by two
dominants just Scott, so from Lorenzo's house they parted ways. Scott went back
to twenty six oh six to pick up the submissive and Lorenzo went to bed.
Police then put a photo of Jason Galehouse in front of Stephen. Lorenzo
and Stephen began to sob. Lorenzo told police that he recognized the man in
the photo as one of the missing gay men in Tampa, and then said
that he did look a lot like the guy that Scott planned on hooking up
with that night at twenty six oh six. Police then showed him a photo
of Michael Walcolt's, this time more composed. Lorenzo said that he recognized him
from the news, but denied ever seeing him in person. When they returned
the photo of Jason Galehouse to the table in front of Lorenzo, Lorenzo immediately
began sobbing again. On November third, the very next day, Tampa,
Peade traveled to Peru, Illinois to assist in the execution of a federal search
warrant of Scott Schweikert's family home. You will learn that mister Walkole's, as
I mentioned, it, was killed on December twenty first, that is,
the Sunday morning before Christmas in two thousand and three. Christmas was a very
important time and was specifically chosen by mister Schweiker and mister Lorenzo because losing a
loved one at Christmas time would cause the families even more pain. Now there's
no question that both Scott Schweiker and Stephen Lorenzo were in some capacity involved in
the disappearance of Jason Galehouse and the death of Michael Wachold's. But upon police
intervention, the two friends immediately turned on one another, each painting the other
as the out of control aggressor, each with a contradictory story of what happened
that weekend, And so the question became either of them telling the truth or
were neither of them telling the truth? And could one or both of them
be responsible for other cases of missing gay men and unsolved gay homicides in Tampa
and the other cities each of them lived in and that is where our investigation
begins. Read like one of the farm bell but to the truck and the
the stop coming, for they brought things dead, says a Hasto his pace
feel about its side and sent to him was Almo on a beet, someone
into a fly and then a live leading fast to have false confish and the
scolia string on the song. This episode was written, researched, edited,
and produced by Me Your Host Josh Hallmark, with additional research by Kaz and
audio editing by Darren Wood of The Defense Diaries. Resources included The Charlie Project,
NamUs Newspapers dot Com, The Tampa Bay Times, CNN dot Com,
and Equality Florida Action, Inc. This episode was made possible by the following
Patreon producers Adrian I Yello, Amelia Hancock, Amy Basel and Nette El,
Benjamin Choppathong, Casey Jensen, Richardson, Dana Keith, Doctor Jill Cooper,
Drew Vipond, Hollie Reed, Jessica Ali Hodsig, Gillian Atale, John O'Leary,
Kendall, C. Kimberly, k Lauren f Linley, Tuscoff Manolas Bullcus,
Megan cap Sewell, Mike h Sherman, Nicole and Dennis Henry, Sarah
King, sc Shannon Foster, Shelley Brewer, Tuesday Woodworth, Zach Ignattowitz,
Warren, Beth McNally, John Comrie, Jordan Taylor, Carly McNutt, Lona,
Sarah c and Lydia Fiedler. Thank you to Studio Both. Anne's newest
Patreon supporters, Faith T. Kineva, Lisa, Mary Mallory S, Pamela
B Shawn M. Shelby g Bleep, Brandy C. Kendall, s,
Natalie L. Farren, Kathleen A, Jamie P and Devin CFC. To
support the investigation, go to Patreon dot com slash Studio both And. This
episode included music by Circles, The Bows, Spiraturn, color Book and Yeheskel
Red with featured music by Owen Palletta. Mistake from the Capital, the Suns
and Smalls, Some Tips, a siss a snob thing sid Hi to the
Fast Pains to a Full Spans, Time to Spain