Brendan Keele is a double murderer and assailant of men he was attracted to and had affairs with who rejected him.
Background[]
Keele was gay, albeit closeted, as early as college. With severe rejection and abandonment problems, it was bad enough Keele was arrested for assaulting his college boyfriend with a letter opener. He was acquitted on grounds of self-defense, but his print evidence from the case was still retained. Keele eventually started working for the New York City health department, as well as having an affair with a businessman named John T. Hoffman, who had a wife at home.
Mrs. Hoffman revealed she knew John was cheating and informed him she was pregnant, insisting the affair end for their son, John, Jr. John left the house, presumably with the intention of figuring out how to handle his marriage and orientation. He reconvened with Keele, discussing what his wife revealed. Keele didn't take the news well and flew into a rage, violently stabbing John to death dozens of times. Mrs. Hoffman never got a semblance of closure when the case wasn't originally solved, until retired detective Steven Grubman looked for an easy closure and had an inmate falsely confess, shortly before the inmate died.
Keele moved on to have an affair with fireman Ian Duffy, who rallied for benefits of physically and emotionally traumatized fireman and veterans. Keele was his inside man, as well as attended rallies with Ian, even getting arrested with him on one occasion. They wore the same ties so they could spot each other, reconvening later for secret meetings outside of Ian's marriage to a woman named Claudia. However, Claudia was pregnant with their child, knowing about Ian's affair but not assuming he was gay. Insisting Ian end it, he agreed, meeting with Keele shortly after saving a drag queen who was beaten up by a group of bigots led by Darnell Thomson. In a moment of familiarity, Keele was enraged from being rejected again for the pregnant wife of the closeted man he was with, stabbing Ian twenty times before Ian got in his car and fled.
Maltese Cross[]
Ian drove to his fire house, covered in blood and gashes, before he collapsed on the floor and died from blood loss. Keele was tracked from one of Ian's protests at a public conference, where Keele was behind the politician speaking and gave Ian a thumbs up for his efforts. Keele explained his work in the health department and the trouble with the system reaching civil servants to work with them. The detectives pick up on the affair, only assuming Keele was covering for Ian, but he avoids questions by saying Ian was a good man.
Detectives figure out Keele is the other man from them wearing the same design of ties in public. Looking back into Keele's records reveals his assault record, his fingerprint a match to the one collected for Hoffman's murder. As that was "officially closed", to prevent internal affairs turmoil and not jeopardize the case for Ian's murder, they could only arrest Keele for murdering Ian. Ian's fellow fireman Charlie Hugo was recruited to pose as one of Ian's lovers and the prime suspect to make Keele jealous. Keele was brought in to see Charlie falsely allege a relationship, dialogue in all, while Keele saw into the interrogation room. Keele was bitterly furious, asking to use the bathroom and leaving, before trying to barge into interrogation and attack Charlie. As he was held back by the cops and dragged away, Keele said Ian loved him instead and confessed to the murder and motive. Keele was arrested and imprisoned for murder of a civil servant.
Known Victims[]
- Unnamed college roommate (attempted; stabbed with a letter opener)
- John T. Hoffman (stabbed to death)
- Ian Duffy (stabbed twenty times)
- Charlie Hugo (attempted to assault)