Life honored as TPSO hunts for killer

Our spiritual companions are a great source of strength, happiness
January 6, 2010
Leona Brown
January 8, 2010
Our spiritual companions are a great source of strength, happiness
January 6, 2010
Leona Brown
January 8, 2010

Robert Lecompte was the kind of bartender who would start mixing a regular’s drink as soon as he saw them walk through the door. He was the kind of friend who could always make you laugh. He was a neighbor you could count on in a flood, and he was the kind of person who would have loved his memorial benefit show at the Drama Club in Houma on Saturday.


Replete with brash drag queens and a dance party, the Drama Club was packed full of friends and loved ones who celebrated the life of club’s slain general manager.


Lecompte was found stabbed to death early on Christmas morning at the bar, known as a haven for both gays and straights alike. A celebration scheduled for that night to hail Lecompte’s 39th birthday, also on Christmas, turned into an impromptu candlelight vigil.

All proceeds from Saturday’s event went to pay for Lecompte’s funeral expenses. According to Drama Club owner Randal Chesnut, more than $3,500 in donations have been received so far. Although that figure is still more than $2,200 short of covering burial costs, a similar event is planned for Jan. 8 at Splash Nightclub in Baton Rouge and The Bourbon Pub in New Orleans has started a sister fund among its staff.


If donations total more than the funeral expenses, Chesnut plans to start a memorial fund benefiting AIDS research and testing in Lecompte’s honor.


“I want to keep his name alive as long as I can. He deserves that,” said Chesnut, who was also Lecompte’s roommate. “It would be a nice tribute to his life.”

Although about $4,700 was allegedly stolen from the bar during the murder, the particularly brutal nature of the crime has led police to investigate the murder as a possible crime of passion, or even a hate crime.


Lecompte normally closed the bar around 2 a.m. and called Chesnut before heading home. Chesnut said he called the police because Lecompte never called and never came home. Sheriff’s deputies reported to the bar at about 3:30 a.m., where they found Lecompte’s body – with multiple stab wounds – near the bar’s entrance.


As of Monday, Maj. Malcolm Wolfe, a spokesman for the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office, said detectives were still looking for leads in the case and hadn’t developed a suspect. He also said that the possibility of a hate crime hasn’t been ruled out.

Regulars of the bar, however, believe the crime was most likely committed by somebody who knew Lecompte well.


“I think it was a personal thing,” said Tiffany Shows, a close friend of Lecompte’s and a regular at the bar. “I believe in my heart that when Robbie locked that door, someone was in this bar with him. Whoever was in here and did that to my baby knew him.”


Shows said she had closed the bar with Lecompte many times. Although he had a strict closing policy for strangers, he would often let friends stay in the bar with him while he closed. According to Wolfe, there were no signs of forced entry at the crime scene.

“Robbie would lock this bar, and if he didn’t know you, you was out that door,” said Shows. “But somebody was always here with him. So why should that Thursday night have been any different?”

The unusually violent nature of the murder has been particularly hard to deal with for some in Houma’s close-knit gay community.

“It’s so surreal. It’s like I’m waiting to wake up and find out that all of this is lies, and he’s still behind the bar, his gay self,” said Lecompte’s neighbor and friend of 17 years, Paula Gregoire.

“Everybody’s still in shock. We’re a big gay community over here and for something like this to happen is unreal,” said Hope Bartholomew, Gregoire’s fiancée.

“When I got that phone call Christmas Day, it was like it wasn’t even Christmas anymore.”

“That’s my baby. I can’t bring myself to delete his number out of my phone. I still have the last text message he sent me on my phone,” said Shows.

Despite the sadness that surrounded the event, those at the Drama Club on Saturday were in good spirits. The evening’s festivities included lip-syncing performances by seven drag queens, including Miss Gay Louisiana 2009, Bambi Bextor, and performers from as far away as Houston, Lafayette, and Baton Rouge.

Towering above most of the crowd in heels and dresses, the entertainers mock serenaded the audience with songs dedicated to Lecompte. Audience members handed the performers tips, which all went towards Lecompte’s funeral expenses.

“It’s a bittersweet celebration of life because you want to mourn so bad, but you know this is what he would have wanted,” said a partygoer named T.J., who declined to give a last name. “He loved nothing more than a full bar.”

More traditional services were held at Samart Funeral homes earlier in the week, but friends weren’t done showing their love and support for Lecompte.

“I’ve seen mixed feelings in this community about it,” Shows said. “It’s hard for a lot of us, but we will stand up, and we will be strong. And nobody can take that from us.”

Robert LeCompte – Found stabbed to death at Drama Club Christmas Day