A sexual encounter involving three men in Hollywood that happened as Hurricane Irma was making landfall led to one of their deaths and one of them behind bars while the third is being sought by detectives, police said.
Hollywood Police say they found the body of 50-year-old Ariel Gonzalez on Sept. 13, three days after his encounter with the two other men as Irma brought heavy winds and rain to the area, according to a police report released Wednesday.
Detectives who responded to the Chatham Terrace apartments at 2617 Lincoln Street found the body of Gonzalez wrapped in a comforter and stuffed into a closet in his apartment, the report said. The officers found blood spatter in a bedroom and drag marks on the floor leading to the closet, according to the report.
The body was in "advanced stages of decomposition, to the point the identity was unable to be determined," the report said. The body, which had obvious signs of injury to the head, was later identified as Gonzalez.
A friend of Gonzalez said she hadn't heard from him for several days and when she went to the apartment, she noticed a foul odor and called 911. The apartment complex had been without electricity after Irma, the report said.
Neighbors told detectives they had seen two men, including one who was wearing a wig, coming in and out of the apartment on Sept. 10 during the hurricane, the report said. One of the men referred to the other as his husband, the report said.
Witnesses were able to identify one of the men as 30-year-old Travis Emanuel Watson, who is homeless and lives in Hollywood, the report said.
According to the report, Watson told detectives he and his companion came into contact with Gonzalez on Sept. 10. He said Gonzalez whistled at them, said "my house, my house" and gestured for them to follow him inside, the report said.
Local
Once in the apartment, the three men had sex but at one point the third man became upset and accused Watson of cheating on him, the report said.
At one point, Watson punched Gonzalez and asked where he kept his money, and when he didn't answer, the other man "tortured" Gonzalez, the report said.
The other man beat Gonzalez with a hanger and broomstick and hit him with an extension cord, the report said. Gonzalez had his hands tied behind him with a sheet but when he got free, they were held behind him with a belt, the report said.
The other man continued to beat Gonzalez with a hanger and poured hot grease over him. Watson said he intervened at one point, saying "Stop, stop, you are going to kill the man, you're trippin'," the report said.
"I know what I'm doing, I got this," the other man replied.
Watson told detectives that Gonzalez was tortured and beaten to death. Watson said he noticed Gonzalez had turned purple and his tongue was sticking out, and when he tried to find a pulse he didn't find one, the report said.
Watson and the other man put Gonzalez's body in a tub to wash off the blood and evidence, the report said. The body was then wrapped in a sheet and shrink wrap and put in bedroom closet.
Gonzalez "sustained multiple sharp force injuries" but none were fatal, the medical examiner said, according to the report. His cause of death is undetermined, pending the investigation and a toxicology report.
Both men fled the home, but Watson was taken into custody after he was spotted drinking a Hurricane Category 5 beer at a bus stop in Fort Lauderdale, the report said.
Watson was charged with robbery, kidnapping and failure to report a death to the medical examiner. He was being held without bond Wednesday, and attorney information wasn't available.
Police are still searching for the other man.
