Cause Revealed for Mysterious Death in Hollywood Powerbroker’s Home

A Los Angeles County coroner has established that 55-year-old Timothy Dean died of a methamphetamine overdose in the home of prominent Democratic Party donor Ed Buck.

Dean’s death marked the second time an African American male was found deceased inside Buck’s residence from a meth overdose. (Law&Crime)
 

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department announced that Dean’s Jan. 7 was “accidental” methamphetamine overdose. In 2017, Gemmel Moore, 26, was found dead in Buck’s West Hollywood home. Both deaths have been ruled accidental. Dean’s death was initially suspected as an overdose.

Both Dean and Moore were black, gay men, as protesters were quick to note. Jasmyne Cannick, a communications and public affairs strategist who worked with Moore’s family, previously called on the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department to arrest Buck and for District Attorney Jackie Lacey to “prosecute him for murder after another young Black gay man was found dead in his West Hollywood apartment of an apparent overdose.”

Buck is a gay white man in his sixties, who is a familiar face on the political scene. According to OpenSecrets, Buck has donated tens of thousands of dollars to multiple Democratic Party candidates over the past few election cycles–including presidential contender Hillary Clinton. Buck has also been pictured alongside Clinton.

Buck once ran for elected office and has supported various progressive causes throughout the years.

Dean’s death briefly garnered national attention, after becoming the second person in two years found dead under similar circumstances in Buck’s home.

An entry in Moore’s journal blamed Buck for getting him “addicted to drugs and the worst one at that.”

Buck continues to deny all allegations of wrongdoing.