AKA William

Ralph Newsome, an out gay surgeon who was assistant dean at Tulane and served as the chief of plastic surgery in New Orleans, was stabbed to death in his home in the French Quarter. That home was then set on fire:

Dr. Ralph Edward Newsome Jr., 45, died after being stabbed multiple times inside his three-story town house in the 900 block of Toulouse Street about 3 a.m. His body had no burns, and he had not inhaled any smoke, meaning someone set fire to the home after he was stabbed, New Orleans coroner’s chief investigator John Gagliano said.

. . . Newsome’s neighbors told rescuers that they never saw him exit his house. Firefighters barged into the home and found an unconscious Newsome on the second floor, stabbed several times.

Firefighters brought him outside to waiting New Orleans EMS paramedics. They took him to LSU Interim Public Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Newsome specialized in healing the disfigured limbs and facial features of trauma victims and skin cancer patients. Dr. Benjamin Sachs, the dean of Tulane’s School of Medicine, said, “It is a tragedy for this city to lose such a brilliant surgeon. We have lost a major leader and gifted educator.”

No information was provided regarding motive or suspects.