One year ago today, 31-year-old Bryan Higgins, a member of the Radical Faeries known to friends as Feather Lynn, was taken off life support as his loved ones gathered for a Duboce Park vigil. He was left unconscious and critically injured after an August 10th, 2014 beating near the intersection of Church and Duboce.
Police say they still have no suspects in the case, though footage of a "person of interest" was released last August, 11 days after the beating. The delay came because "we do not release video/photos of suspects until our investigators have exhausted all possible leads," SFPD spokesman Albie Esparza told Hoodline at the time.
Image via SFPD.
According to the Bay Area Reporter, witness John Stone was in line for breakfast at St. Francis Lutheran Church (152 Church St.) on the morning of the attack, when he observed Higgins "confronting people" in the breakfast line, "making a lot of noise" and "acting really off the wall."
Stone says that a man in the line confronted Higgins, and the two ended up in front of the former Out of the Closet on Church. Stone saw the man, who he described as wearing a dark jacket and red hoodie, punch and kick Higgins, who collapsed to the ground. The injured Higgins was transported to the hospital, where he was was taken off life support three days later.
12 months later, Esparza says that the San Francisco Medical Examiner's Office still has not released an official ruling on whether Higgins' death was a homicide. The case remains open as a "suspicious death"; Esparza notes that there's no procedural difference between a suspicious death and a homicide investigation. It's unclear whether the "person of interest" captured in the surveillance video was ever located and questioned.
The window at Rosenberg Deli, where Higgins worked.
Hoodline reached out to Higgins' husband, Brian Hagerty, but he declined to comment further. District 8 Supervisor Scott Wiener also had no new news on the case. "I know the investigation is ongoing, but as far as I know, they haven't found the suspect," he said.
As always, if you have any information about the case, you can contact the SFPD at (415) 575-4444 or text TIP411 with "SFPD" at the start of the message.
