Under the Knife: A Beautiful Woman, a Phony Doctor, and a Shocking Homicide by Diane Fanning

CPE—Certified Professional Electrologist—status from the American Electrology Association in 1993. At first, he worked two days a week at The Beach and continued with his carpentry work. Two days expanded to four, then, in no time, he was booked solid—six days a week—at $100 an hour. He had a large and loyal following who recognized and appreciated that Dean loved his work. He enjoyed taking care of his clients, nurturing them and making them happy.
    Nonetheless, working at The Beach caused a lot of stress in Dean’s life. Though his relationship with Michael continued to flourish, his interactions with his fellow employees were strained. Dean’s good looks stirred up jealousies and his status as more-than-just-another-employee generated resentment. His friends said The Beach was a “den of vicious queens.” Dean never felt he fit in there—but he stayed to work with Michael.
    Dean then discovered the new technology of laser hair removal. He took classes to learn how to use the strange wand-like instrument. He learned how to sear individual hairs down to their roots. He used his own body to practice his technique. In time, he removed every strand of hair from his torso and his limbs, with the exception ofhis lower left leg. He left that hair growing in anticipation of new technological advances that would require future personal experimentation.
    Dean’s world teetered when Michael developed fullblown AIDS. Both men had known they were HIV positive, but now the reality of that diagnosis hit hard. A feeling of fatalism grew in Dean—the sense that there were no limits, because he might not be around long enough to face the consequences of any of his actions. “There is no greater feeling of emptiness than the void that envelops you as you sit alone in a hospital room watching your lover become more emaciated by the hour, listening to the cavernous echo of silence punctuated by the labored breathing of a once-healthy and formerly-stunning example of male beauty.” Dean sat by Michael’s side as he suffered through toxoplasmosis, cytomegalovirus and pneumocystis. “There is nothing like watching a life slip away while sitting on a hospital chair to give you a feeling of helplessness and insignificance.”
    Dying of AIDS was a lonely path for a gay man. The sufferer was often discarded by family and friends and left to die alone. In other cases the family stepped in and pushed what they perceived as bad influences out of the sick loved one’s life. Those men lost contact with many who could have brightened their final days.
    The break-up of Michael and Dean’s relationship was an ugly chapter in Dean’s life. Many believed Dean turned his back on Michael when his lover became ill. He received a lot of criticism for abandoning Michael in his hour of need. Other people who knew the couple said that the truth was far more complicated: that Michael’s family swooped in from Jacksonville, Florida, and Dean was out of the picture. Michael’s parents came by the Newark house to claim their son’s belongings. Housekeeper Elizabeth took an instant dislike to them—they struck her asuppity, bossy and greedy. She eyeballed them the whole time they were in the house, with all the tethered suspicion of a leashed guard dog. She feared that without her constant vigilance, they’d walk out with everything of value in the home.
    Michael, vulnerable and dependent in his illness, could do nothing to change the sequence of events. He moved back to Florida with his family, leaving Dean in New York.
    Dean summed up the situation simply: “As with many patients with terminal illness, Michael got very angry at his disease. Eventually, he turned his anger toward me, as I was nearest to him. He was frightened and so was I.”
    At least Michael was not alone. His family gathered round and supported him in his final days. Michael died in the Sunshine State in November 1995.
    WITHOUT MICHAEL AT THE SPA TO PROTECT HIM, THE NASTI