Handsome gay aspiring model/actor Ryan Singleton’s 24-year-old body was found decomposing in a desert last month after the young man had gone missing for two months.
According to his mother in an interview with Fox 5 News in Atlanta, the Georgia native had moved to Los Angeles to pursue his dreams of being an actor and model back in early July of this year. Shortly after, he booked a rental car and drove to New Mexico, Arizona and Las Vegas for a weekend trip.
On his way back a surveillance camera picked him up at a AM/PM gas station in Baker, California. He then mysteriously went missing until September (two months later) when joggers stumbled upon his “severely decomposed” remains in the desert just over a mile behind the AM/PM gas station. His rental car was found a few miles away in Death Valley, California.
If that wasn’t tragic enough, Ryan Singleton’s “mostly intact” body was missing all of his internal organs.
“There were no organs,” Singleton’s mother, Iris Flowers, told FOX 5 Atlanta. “[The police] said, ‘Ma’am, there were no eyes, there was no heart, there were no lungs, there was no liver, there were no kidneys.”
The Baker coroner’s office still has not determined a cause of death yet they believe the organ loss may be wild animal related.
“I don’t know of an animal that comes to a body and just picks out certain parts of the body,” said Ryan’s mother. “I don’t think it was animal activity at all.”
To make this horrific story even more depressing, Ryan Singleton had just gotten married to his friend & husband Kithe Brewster (a fashion stylist) in July in a classy, private ceremony in New York City.
My initial reaction to this news was that the young man was a victim of being lured out to a remote location in the hopes of landing a prime acting or modeling job. A young, attractive man with big dreams alone in a new city…He was likely full of enthusiasm to attack any career opportunity, even if it was sketchy. However, Ryan’s mother says he was on his way back from the weekend trip which presumes that everything went fine, if it was even work related in the first place.
So that brings us to the missing organs. This instantly makes me wonder if Ryan was the victim of an organ harvester, someone who drugs and/or kills innocent people to steal their organs for the black market. True, this seems far-fetched and out of a bad horror movie, but Singleton’s rental car marked him as an out-of-towner and he was in the prime age and physical shape for targeting.
Okay, even if this was not the case and wild animals/birds had devoured his organs in the two months he was missing, this doesn’t explain how the man died in the first place…in the middle of the desert of all places…with his car found miles away.
Understandably, his mother and husband deserve answers. What possibly makes this frustrating for them is they have no clear motive for why Ryan was killed.
It appears that he wasn’t a victim of a hate crime, targeted for being gay. The Atlanta Fox 5 news report never mentions his sexuality, I only discovered it from visiting Singleton’s Facebook page. While hearing that a gay man wasn’t killed for being gay would normally be good news, in this case it almost makes it worse. At least then the family, friends and sympathetic supporters would know who and what to blame, even if it were a large vague concept like “homophobia.”
So far, what we’re left with is a murder mystery seemingly straight out of a typical episode of C.S.I. or Law & Order: SVU…However, unlike “ripped from the headlines” television shows where cases are solved in less than an hour, we’re no closer to finding out what happened to 24-year-old Ryan Singleton than when his body was discovered a month ago.
While tragic, Ryan’s story is filled with inspiration and positivity. Not only was he fearlessly and happily living his life as a gay man, he took the initiative to follow his dreams against all odds…at only 24-years-old. This should be a reminder to all gay men out there that we are not promised tomorrow. Live for today and enjoy every minute of it.
If you knew Ryan Singleton personally or just want to pay your respects/send flowers, the funeral services will be held Saturday, October 26, 2013 at 11:00am at the Stocks Funeral Home & Kirkwood Chapel in Atlanta, Georgia.
RYAN SINGLETON’S MODELING PHOTOS
RIP and best wishes to his husband and family.
One aspiring gay model less.
It really hurts my heart to read this story. Sounds like some sort of sick black market organ trafficking ring.
Yea, I’m with u @nick, something doesn’t sound right about this whole thing…
Definitely sending prayers and well wishes to his family and husband…
Y’all be safe out here fellas, nowadays , people will find ANY reason to end someone else’s life — black, gay, successful, man, woman, fem, fit, fat, whatever… U can get bodied just cuz it’s 10:30… be safe family
Wow! That was a really difficult story to digest. My prayers are with his loved ones.
I wonder what you “pray” for in case like this…
May he rest in perfect peace. This is just so sad. He looks amazing in the photos and to know that he was fearless…. #kudos.
@nick thanks for writing this here: “This should be a reminder to all gay men out there that we are not promised tomorrow. Live for today and enjoy every minute of it.”
Damn man this is so sad, so many questions and not enough answers. I can only imagine what his family and friends are going through. My thoughts and prayers go out to them. I really hope that they find some leads to solve the crime. It’s like how can someone be so cruel to do something like this, what the heck man.
Damn man that was really sad….and I agree with @blackpegasus that defiantly sounds like a black market organ harvest. My prayers are with this guys family.
The victim was married to a man. He had a HUSBAND. Why wasn’t the victim’s husband being interviewed on TV? Not saying interviewing the grieving mother was wrong but it would have been affirming to some of us to see the victim’s husband out there demanding answers as well? It seems that black gay men are always marginalized even when we are central to the story as with this case here.
RIP. This story is very sad and strange at the same time.
I actually remember seeing his husband, Kithe, on a few episodes of The Real Housewives of Atlanta a couple of years ago.
so many lives wasted, so many talent, aspirations, dreams gone. Happy he was here to touch those that love him. Life is good but so cruel.
Thanks for this article!!! Today is my first time seeing/reading it.Often I Google my son’s name three years after he passed,and hope someone will come forward with Info to help bring answers,justice,closure to my baby boy’s last moments on earth.
IRIS – Is your son REALLY dead OR could he be playing you & the rest of us. Hmmm! You said you were very close. Why did he “disappear” from you in the past. How long had it been since he disappeared AND then contacted you in the past. Doesn’t your son RESEMBLE – CHOSEN KING on YOUTUBE?
Chosen King is INVOLVED in several OTHER missing persons reports and/or deaths of other people. Including a few that he claims organs were missing. Look him up!
holy father of god
I’m, so sorry for your lost. I just seen the show, and, it’s, a true mystery. Now, im not a true beliver, of physicist. But, maybe try one, whose, supposenly, real. What can it hurt. But, your right about the animals. They just don’t, eat part of a body. They would have eatened it all. God bless you. I pray your find the answers. I’m, betting, his so-called husbands behind it. And, i don’t, think he was gay. I think he was brain washed, turned out. Prababy, said no, to his husbands demands. And this happened. I’m, praying. Mp Alsip, Ill
Iris I can’t fathom the pain this loss has taken on you, I pray that you can find hope and peace in this tragic situation. May the Lord bless you with strength to carry on.
Didn’t someone mentioned that the area he was found in is were different racial groups hide out? Also, those cops activity seems strange to me.why would they just drop him off at the store? As we know cops normally they take a strange black to the station for no reason at all.And if you believe that old queen had something to do with his killing, check to see if he had taken an insurance policy out on Ryan.
I don’t believe the husband had anything to do with Ryan’s disappearance . From the video of Ryan leaving the gas station it appeared he was frustrated and tired after all that driving .I think when he left the store he caught a ride from the wrong people ,and I say people because I don’t think one person could have taken him down…And why did the police say they couldn’t find his car when they picked him up from the highway, and then the car turned up some where else… it’s possible those cops waited for him to come out the store, and they called some of those KKK that camp out in the desert.