BY LINCOLN ANDERSON | It’s speculated that an overdose or perhaps a bad batch of a drug, possibly heroin, may have killed two people who were found dead inside a Lower East Side building a few weeks ago.
Police responded to 155 Ridge St., Apartment 6D, on Mon., March 21, and found the victims at 12:30 p.m. The pair were declared dead at the scene at 12:55 p.m. by E.M.S. medics.
Police identified the two as Loren Kirby, 59, who was living in the apartment, and Julio Fabian, 47, of 930 E. Fourth Walk in the Lillian Wald Houses, in the East Village. One of them was found lying face up, the other face down. It was not a case of homicide, according to police.
It was unclear how long the two lifeless bodies had been there. Linda Griggs — a friend and neighbor of Kirby’s in the building who tipped The Villager off to the story — said her understanding was it might have been a day or more. She said Kirby’s roommate had grown worried and opened the door to check on them, only to find the grim scene.
Rumors immediately swirled, one saying heroin was involved.
Griggs said Kirby was a “hairdresser to the stars” with a national clientele.
When The Villager called the police press department to confirm the two individuals’ deaths and their identities, a spokesperson did so — yet gave Kirby’s gender as female.
Told of that, Griggs said she always knew him only as a man.
Subsequently asked if police had gotten Kirby’s gender wrong — and what led them to jot it down as female — the police spokesperson said he could not offer an explanation. He suggested calling the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
However, Julie Bolcer, a spokesperson for the medical examiner, in turn, responded, “O.C.M.E. can provide the cause and manner of death, which are currently pending further studies for both decedents. We cannot provide other information about decedents due to privacy reasons.”
Bolcer said the medical examiner had been in touch with Kirby’s next of kin.
Again, Griggs said, she always knew Kirby as a man, who was possibly gay.
“He seemed completely comfortable in his body,” she said. “He was so much a man that he would never be somebody else…and very handsome.
“He was an extraordinarily gracious neighbor and a kind person,” she said. “He showed up with a pile of books when I had surgery — thoughtful like that — and they were good books, too. And he was a very humble person.”
She said Kirby did go by some other names, including Max McKinley — she knew him as Max — and McKinley Kirby, the latter which was the name on his Facebook page (though spelled Mckinley Kirby). One entry on his social-media page shows a photo of him with country singer Tanya Tucker and the caption: “Get well soon we love you! McK/NYC.”
Kirby’s other recent Facebook activity included anti-Trump posts and photos of Kirby standing next to the artistic signpost at First Park, at E. Houston St. and Second Ave., that sports directional signs for “Love,” “Sadness,” “Sleep” and “Lust,” among other emotional and physical states.
Kirby’s final Facebook entry was Fri., March 18, at 9:39 p.m., when he shared a post by Lady Bunny — the famed New York drag queen and Wigstock founder — citing a 1981 quote by Nancy Reagan: “It is appalling to see parades in San Francisco and elsewhere proclaiming ‘gay pride.’ What in the world do they have to be proud of?”
Like Lady Bunny, Kirby was from Tennessee.
In another Facebook entry, from February, Kirby referred to a conversation he apparently had with Jackie Onassis: “I said to her ‘Mrs. Onassis, this is my friend Mary Steenburgen’ she turned to her longtime companion and said ‘Murice [sic], you know Mary from the movies’ then she turned back to me and said ‘and you are?’ I answered ‘Carly’s hairdresser.’ She said knowingly ‘Of course you are.’ I could never call her Jackie, to me she was Mrs. Onassis.”
Griggs said an informal memorial was held at an East Village restaurant and that there will be another one in Tennessee.
