Murder of Allen R. Schindler Jr.

Allen R. Schindler Jr. (December 13, 1969 – October 27, 1992) was an American Radioman Petty Officer Third Class in the United States Navy who was murdered for being gay. He was killed in a public toilet in Sasebo, Nagasaki, Japan, by Terry M. Helvey, who acted with the aid of an accomplice, Charles E. Vins, in what Esquire called a "brutal murder". The case became synonymous with the debate concerning LGBT members of the military that had been brewing in the United States, culminating in the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy.

Schindler's family was only able to identify him by the tattoos on his arms. His killing remained front-page news throughout the spring of 1993. The case was later featured in The New York Times and Esquire. The events surrounding Schindler's murder were the subject of ABC's 20/20 episode and were portrayed in the 1997 TV film Any Mother's Son. In 1998, Any Mother's Son won a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Made for TV Movie.

Background
Allen R. Schindler Jr. was born on December 13, 1969, in Chicago Heights, Cook County, Illinois to Dorothy Hajdys, now known as Clausen or Hajdys-Clausen, and Allen Schindler Sr. His parents divorced when he was four years old. Schindler was the third of four children and brought up in the Christian faith. He had two older sisters, Barbara and Kathy Eickhoff, and one younger half-sibling, William "Billy" Hajdys. Schindler came from a naval family; his grandfather served in World War II, and his stepfather survived the sinking of the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor. Following in their footsteps, Schindler enlisted while in his junior year at Bloom High School. He graduated from Camp Pendleton in November 1988.

Schindler served in the Navy for four years (1988–1992) as a radioman on the USS San Jose, the USS Midway, and on the amphibious assault ship USS Belleau Wood (LHA-3) in Sasebo, Nagasaki, where he was serving at the time of his death.

According to several of his friends, Schindler had complained repeatedly of anti-gay harassment to his chain of command in March and April 1992, citing incidents such as the gluing-shut of his locker and frequent comments from shipmates such as "There's a faggot on this ship and he should die". Schindler's complaints continued to go unanswered. By September, he had reached his breaking point and requested to see the captain, but his request was denied. While on transport from San Diego, California, to Sasebo, the USS Belleau Wood made a brief stop in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Afterward, en route to Japan, Schindler broadcast an unauthorized statement "2-Q-T-2-B-S-T-R-8" (too cute to be straight) on secure lines reaching much of the Pacific Fleet.

On September 24, Schindler met with the ship's executive officer. At the meeting and with the ship's chaplain present, Schindler formally declared he was gay and requested a transfer and discharge. Schindler also informed his commanding officer, Captain Douglas J. Bradt, and the ship's legal officer, Captain Bernard Meyer. He was told the processing of his discharge would take two weeks, but his superiors insisted he remain on his ship until the process was finished. Though he knew his safety was at risk, Schindler obeyed orders. The following day, he was called to appear at captain's mast for the unauthorized radio message. He had requested that the hearing be closed for confidentiality, but Captain Bradt disregarded his request, and it was open, with two hundred to three hundred people in attendance. Schindler made no open admission of his homosexuality at the mast. Some shipmates took it as an invitation to harass him with impunity. Schindler's rank was reduced from RM1 to RM3, and he was placed on a thirty-day restriction aboard the ship. He was unable to leave the ship until a few weeks after arriving at Sasebo and four days before his death.

Murder
Airman Apprentice Terry M. Helvey, who was a member of the ship's weather department (OA Division, Operations Department), stomped Schindler to death in a bathroom in a park in Sasebo, Nagasaki. A key witness, Jonathan Witte, saw Helvey repeatedly stomp on Schindler's body while singing. Witte then ran to retrieve Shore Patrolmen nearby, which startled Helvey and his accomplice, Charles E. Vins, into running from the bathroom. Witte returned with Shore Patrolmen in less than 30 seconds and saw Schindler lying on the floor, struggling to breathe through a mouthful of blood. Witte and Shore Patrolmen carried Schindler to the nearby Albuquerque Bridge where he died from his injuries. Witte had met Schindler previously two days before his murder, but given the gravity of his injuries, he was unable to recognize Schindler. A second witness to the attack, Schindler's shipmate and friend Keith Sims, was also unable to recognize him.

Schindler had "at least four fatal injuries to the head, chest, and abdomen." He had eight broken ribs, his face and head were crushed, and the globes of his eyes were burst and ruptured. His nose was broken; his upper jaw was broken; the whole middle portion of his face was detached and floating loosely. There were bruises and cuts on the surface of his neck, head, and chest; there were bruises on his brain, on his lungs, his heart. The pericardial sac around his heart was filled with 250 milliliters of blood, "enough to top off a juice glass." His liver had been turned to pulp "like a tomato smushed up inside its cover." The impact of blows to the chest had torn his aorta, with "a blunt force exceeding a 20 G force." His bladder had been ripped open, his penis had been bruised and lacerated, and he had "sneaker-tread marks stamped on his forehead and chest", destroying "every organ in his body", leaving behind a "nearly unrecognizable corpse." Jonathan Witte was asked to explain in detail to the military court what the crime scene looked like, but he refused, as Schindler's mother and sister were present in the courtroom. Navy Commander Edward Kilbane, the medical examiner who conducted the autopsy on Schindler's body, compared Schindler's injuries to those sustained by a victim of a fatal horse trampling, saying they were worse "than the damage to a person who'd been stomped by a horse; they were similar to what might be sustained in a high-speed car crash or a low-speed aircraft accident." After reading Schindler's medical report, Hajdys-Clausen said that "just about everything was damaged except his heart."

Details revealed
The Navy was less than forthcoming about the details of the killing, both to the news media and to the victim's family, especially his mother, Dorothy Hajdys-Clausen. Navy officials failed to include his belongings: the log book Schindler kept of his time on board, and his record of harassment he was receiving on the advice of friends.

In the wake of Schindler's murder, the Navy denied that it had received any complaints of harassment and refused to speak publicly about the case or to release the Japanese police report on the murder.

Several Belleau Wood shipmates reported receiving harassment before and after Schindler's death. Keith Sims stated that he had reported Helvey and Vins to the ship's legal officer, Captain Bernard Meyer, but nothing was done in response. In the 2018 TV documentary crime series, The 1990s: The Deadliest Decade, Jonathan Witte stated that he had been personally threatened by Captain Bradt and the Belleau Wood executive officer.

The Navy dismissed its failure to inform Hajdys-Clausen of Vin's court martial as "a bureaucratic screw-up." With the help of veteran LGBTQ rights activist Michael Petrelis, Hajdys-Clausen took Schindler's case to the public. In 2015, after 23 years of repeated Freedom of Information Act requests, the Navy released a conclusive 900-page report admitting Schindler was harassed. "Allen Schindler was destined to become yet another gay man killed and forgotten," Petrelis stated. "Now, 23 years after his death, we finally share the full details of his murder. In doing so, we honor his memory on Veterans Day 2015. People must know the role that governmental homophobia played in his murder and the subsequent cover-up."

On November 7, 1992, a wake was held for Schindler in his hometown of Chicago Heights, Illinois. Schindler was buried with full military honors. The day before, when Schindler's family was called down to the funeral home, his mother requested that his coffin be opened after the Navy advised against it. "There was a sailor in dress blues ... but it looked nothing like the boy I'd kissed goodbye two months earlier," Hajdys-Clausen said. At the wake, Schindler's sister Kathy asked that the coffin be opened again. They could only identify him by the tattoos on his arms, as his face was so disfigured.

Trial and outcomes
During the trial, Helvey denied that he killed Schindler because he was gay, stating, "I did not attack him because he was homosexual", but evidence presented by Navy investigator Kennon F. Privette, from the interrogation of Helvey the day after the murder, showed otherwise. "He said he hated homosexuals. He was disgusted by them," Privette said. On killing Schindler, Privette quoted Helvey as saying: "I don't regret it. I'd do it again. ... He deserved it."

To avoid a possible death sentence, Helvey pleaded guilty to unpremeditated murder, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

After the trial, Helvey was convicted of murder and Douglas J. Bradt, the captain who kept the incident quiet, was transferred to shore duty in Florida. Helvey is serving a life sentence. By statute, Helvey is granted a clemency hearing every year. Initially, he was imprisoned in the United States Disciplinary Barracks. , he is housed at FCI Greenville in Illinois under the inmate number 13867-045. Helvey's accomplice, Charles E. Vins, was allowed to plea bargain as guilty to three lesser offenses, including failure to report a serious crime and to testify truthfully against Helvey, and served a 78-day sentence before receiving a general discharge from the Navy.

Legacy
The events surrounding Schindler's murder were the subject of a 20/20 episode and were portrayed in the 1997 TV film Any Mother's Son. In 1998, Any Mother's Son won a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Made for TV Movie.

Schindler's mother Dorothy Hajdys-Clausen became a gay rights activist after his murder. In 1992 she received the National Leather Association International's Jan Lyon Award for Regional or Local Work. In April 1993 she marched in the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation, and on June 27, she led the Gay Pride Parade in Chicago. In 2011, Hajdys-Clausen went to Washington, D.C., to celebrate the repeal of DADT. "I'm so happy 'Don't Ask Don't Tell' got repealed." Dorothy said. "I just hope now there will be no more deaths like Allen Schindler's."

Schindler's case was presented in the 2018 TV documentary crime series, The 1990s: The Deadliest Decade, season 1, episode 8, "Don't Ask Don't Tell." The episode, which aired on Jan. 7, 2019, on Investigation Discovery, chronicled the events that led up to Schindler's murder and featured excerpts from Schindler's journal and autopsy report, as well as detailing Michael Petrelis' 900-page file on Schindler and Terry Helvey's written confession. Interviews were given by Schindler's mother, Dorothy Hajdys-Clausen, Petrelis, Jonathan Witte, and former reporter for the Stars and Stripes, Rick Rogers.

In 2020, U.S. Navy veteran Shon Washington honored Schindler on the 28th anniversary of his death in a viral social media post sharing his experiences as a gay Navy officer serving under DADT. Washington ended the post by thanking Schindler and his mother for impacting his life and helping repair his fraught relationship with his own mother.

Schindler is buried in Evergreen Hill Memory Gardens in Steger, Will County, Illinois. The date of death on Schindler's gravestone is marked October 28, 1992, in accordance to the doctor's pronouncement of death.