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By DAVID WEISS and LAUREN ROTH dweiss@leader.net
Saturday, March 15, 2003 Page: 1A
MOOSIC – One week before Michael Pierson was accused of stabbing his
boyfriend during a heated argument, the couple’s counselor urged them to
“back off” from their relationship.
“I asked them to take a 30-day break because it started to become
violent,” said the Rev. Thomas Schmidle, who was counseling the couple.
But Pierson and Kenneth Stephens, 21, of Wilkes-Barre, ignored the advice.
The two began arguing a few nights later, leading to Pierson stabbing Stephens
on Jan. 28, police said.
Pierson, 40, of Wilkes-Barre, was believed to have fled the scene. His body
was found three days ago in a lake at the Glenmaura National Golf Course –
near where Stephens was stabbed.
Investigators have not said whether Pierson’s stab wound stemmed from the
Jan. 28 dispute. The Lackawanna County coroner said the wound in the left
chest caused his death, which has been ruled a homicide.
Lackawanna County District Attorney Andrew Jarbola said he would not
comment on any investigative tactics used by police or say if they have a
suspect in the death. He did say no one had been arrested as of Friday
afternoon.
“It’s a very active investigation at this point,” said state Trooper Bill
Satkowski.
Stephens, reached at his grandmother’s home later Friday, said “I don’t
want to talk to any reporters. I don’t want to talk about it at all.”
Pierson was the vice president of Pride of Northeast PA, a gay social
group. He worked for the Red Cross as an HIV/AIDS educator as the Men who have
Sex with Men coordinator.
Pierson’s body was spotted by two elderly men looking for golf balls
Wednesday afternoon. The body was submerged in water near the shoreline of a
lake between the 16th and 17th tees.
Schmidle, who counsels gay and straight couples through his Universal Life
Church, has known Stephens for years and met Pierson through him.
“It was rocky right from the start,” said Richard Green, a friend of the
couple. A number of friends have said Pierson was badly bruised in a fight a
few days before the stabbing.
“They were supposed to separate,” Schmidle said. “It was a surprise to
me to find out Mike was with Kenny that night.”
Green said the couple did split, but only for three or four days before the
two went out to the Silhouette Lounge in Scranton. A bartender there said he
saw the couple come in just before 9 p.m. the night of Jan. 27. The night
ended with the dispute, when, police said, the two argued about whether to
return to the bar. After the stabbing, Moosic police originally believed
Pierson might have fled to Texas, where he had ties.
Dr. Sandra Timpson, a research project director at the Behavioral Research
Group in Houston said Pierson worked at the facility as a research assistant
for about a year, then moved to Pennsylvania sometime in 2000.
“He was very committed to doing HIV prevention. He was very concerned
about the community. He worked for Cocaine Anonymous and Narcotics
Anonymous,” Timpson said.
She said Pierson left Houston to get away from friends who had become
involved with drugs. Timpson said Pierson had been a cocaine user and wanted
to get clean.
She said Pierson went to a drug treatment facility in the Wilkes-Barre area
before eventually landing a job with the Red Cross. Schmidle and Green said
Pierson also had a prior legal problems. Another friend said she thought the
crimes were drug-related.
Timpson said she saw Pierson about a year ago at a conference in San
Francisco and that he appeared to be doing well.
“It was a real success story.”
Maya WindDancer, owner of Winds of Change in Wyoming, said she met Pierson
in February 2000, just after he got out of rehab. He was living upstairs at
939 W. Market St. in Kingston, where her store was then located.
She said Pierson saved her from a physical attack outside the store by a
crazed man a few weeks after she met him.
“This guy shoved me against the wall and started screaming at me,”
WindDancer recalled. Mike had told her he would help her anytime. So she
leaned on his buzzer. “He came flying downstairs. If he hadn’t helped I don’t
know what (the attacker) would have done.”
The initial police investigation has been criticized by several of
Pierson’s friends, including WindDancer. But Green and Schmidle defended
Moosic officer Thomas McGovern’s investigations, saying the officer was very
cooperative.
WindDancer said Pierson was an example to others with checkered pasts. He
was a kind-hearted “uncle” to her six children and was on the board of
directors for Kobi’s Korner, an incorporated group that hopes to provide free
counseling for abused children.
“He didn’t drink. He didn’t do drugs,” she said.
“When people get on with their lives, they get on with their lives. And
that’s what Michael did.”
Staff writer Brian Malina contributed to this report.
David Weiss, a Times Leader staff writer, can be reached at 831-7397.
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