Attorney seeks answers to mystery at Mayor Murray’s home

An incident at Ed Murray’s home in 2016 is raising more questions about the Seattle mayor amid a high-profile lawsuit. Lawyers are now seeking answers from Mayor Murray’s campaign manager.

“We received anonymous information about some sort of call to the mayor’s house,” Attorney Lincoln Beauregard told KIRO Radio’s Ron and Don, noting that it appears the mayor called the chief of police about the incident instead of 911.

Beauregard represents Delvonn Heckard, the man suing Mayor Murray for alleged sexual abuse that occurred in the ’80s while Heckard was a minor. He is working on information provided by an anonymous source about an incident that had eight police officers responding to the mayor’s home on June 24, 2016.

RELATED: Seattle Mayor Ed Murray accused of sexual abuse

“Eight officers responding, the chief of police taking the call, calling into the dispatch on an unrecorded line, the campaign manager, her name is Maggie … dispatch had her out at the scene,” Beauregard explained.

Mayor Murray’s home on June 24, 2016

Mayor Murray reportedly called Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole about a disturbance at his home on the evening of June 24, 2016 — allegedly a shirtless man creating a scene on his front lawn. The chief then called dispatch to order police to the mayor’s home. The call was on an un-monitored line and therefore not recorded for public record, Beauregard alleges.

“We have had a number of other media sources who have told us they tried and that there (are no records) out there (of the call),” Beauregard said. “… our police experts say the calls made by the chief were made deliberately to the dispatch line, apparently, so they would not be recorded.”

The record that does exist is on the in-car system used by police officers. That system retains a separate log for calls cops go out on. Beauregard was provided screen shots of this information by his anonymous source. The name “Maggie” is reported as being at the scene on that system. Beauregard said this refers to Maggie Thompson, Murray’s campaign manager, and has filed a motion with the King County court to depose Thompson on May 11. The motion states:

According to sources close to the call, officers arrived on scene to find a shirtless man in the front yard of the mayor’s home. Officers asked the man to leave and were informed that he would, but needed to receive his items from within the mayor’s home. Officers knocked on the door and recovered a wallet and clothing items from inside the house and returned them to the man, who went on his way.

The court motion requests that Thompson bring any documents/information of any kind related to the incident, and also any information related to accusations waged by Delvonn Heckard, Jeff Simpson and Lloyd Anderson — three men who have accused Murray of sexual abuse while they were minors in the 1980s.

“We believe the way that campaigns are structured, she is going to have a whole lot of information about Jeff Simpson, Lloyd Anderson,” Beauregard said. “And typically what a political candidate does is share their whole truth (with their campaign manager) so there are no surprises.”

SPD and Murray responds

After multiple requests from the media, the Seattle Police Department has acknowledged that there was activity at the mayor’s house that night — an unknown person at Murray’s front door — and has stated, via its blog, that information about the call is available on the in-car system used by police officers.

Mayor Murray’s personal public relations representative Jeff Reading responded to the news hours after Beauregard released the motion to various media outlets. Reading notes that the motion was released to the press before it was served to Thompson.

Reading’s account of the evening is much different than the implications stated in the motion:

The odd allegation hinted at in the latest subpoena is completely unrelated to the lawsuit against Mayor Murray, and is also verifiably false. The gossipy account provided is an example of unfounded rumor being peddled as fact. It is easily disproved by numerous eye-witnesses, and by the official police record.

Opposing counsel asserts a cover-up going all the way up to the chief of police, but this outlandish claim is just part of a pattern: attack the integrity of the respected professionals who vouch for the facts when the facts do not support the case. First a medical professional at the Polyclinic, then the honorable judge assigned to the lawsuit, and now Seattle’s highly esteemed police chief. Grasping at straws, opposing counsel seems prepared to impugn just about anyone.

Reading also provided media with witness accounts of those at Murray’s home on the evening in question — Murray’s husband Michael Shiosaki, Lyle Canceko, Joe Loeffler, Adrian Matanza, Roger Nyhus and Maggie Thompson. They state that their group was celebrating Pride Month at Mayor Murray’s home when two people — with their shirts on — knocked on the front door and asked to use the bathroom and a phone. They were referred to nearby restaurants for a bathroom and phone. Reading reports that Murray’s party did not hear from the unknown couple again.

The witness statements further state:

“Mayor Murray, out of an abundance of caution, reported the incident to the Seattle Police Department, as is standard practice … We were at the Mayor’s home for a period of time both before and after the incident … During the course of the evening, no one outside our small group of friends came into the Mayor’s home … The night ended peacefully.”

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