Eduardo Xol, a gay man, former San Francisco resident, actor, and reality TV star died September 20, 10 days after being stabbed in Palm Springs. A suspect has been arrested and charged, but the motive remains unclear.
Police told the Bay Area Reporter on Thursday, September 26, that Xol and the suspect, whom authorities identified as Richard Joseph Gonzales, 34, of nearby Cathedral City, were "associates."
Xol, 58, formerly Eduardo Torres, was stabbed in an apartment building in downtown Palm Springs, on the block just east of the 300 block of E. Arenas Road, where most of the gay bars and gay-focused businesses in the city are situated.
Xol had starred in the ABC series "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," starting with the series' second season. The Los Angeles native also was an actor who appeared in the 1998 movie "Bravo" and in several Spanish-language telenovelas.
"We are heartbroken at the tragic loss of our beloved Eduardo Xol," his family said in a statement obtained by the Hollywood Reporter. "We know that his kindness has touched the lives of so many. We ask for that kindness returned now allowing our privacy to be respected as we process our grief. In lieu of flowers, we ask that donations be made in Eduardo's name to the Lupus Foundation of America as he spent so much of his life in the service of others."
Xol's younger sister, Monica Cajayon, suffers from Lupus. The Lupus Foundation of America noted that Xol rallied support for his sister and built a Zen retreat in her backyard to help her cope with the disease.
Palm Springs police said that on September 10 at about 5:41 a.m., they received a call from a man on the 400 block of E. Arenas Road who said he needed help but was unable to provide specific details.
When officers arrived, they heard a man's voice inside a residence there in apparent distress. After they entered the home, police say they discovered a man suffering from significant injuries consistent with an assault. The victim, later identified as Xol, told officers that he had been stabbed, though he did not identify the assailant. He was rushed to a hospital and was listed initially in serious but stable condition.
Later that same morning, at about 9:13 a.m., Palm Springs police received a call from a man at the 100 block of N. Sunrise Way, just a mile east of the crime scene. The man said he was assaulted the previous night. Officers responded and identified the caller as Gonzales. Police said that through further investigation, they determined that Gonzales was the suspect in the earlier stabbing.
Gonzales was initially arrested for attempted murder and was booked at the John Benoit Detention Center in Indio. Police received word that Xol died on September 20. Police said they contacted the Riverside County District Attorney's office and filed homicide charges against Gonzalez. He is being held without bail. His next scheduled court date is December 18.
SF ties
Xol, then known as Torres, lived in San Francisco in the 1990s. He was a manager at the legendary Castro restaurant, Pozole, whose owner was known for hiring very handsome male employees. In 1997, through his work in the restaurant, Xol became embroiled in a notorious murder case. Josh Puckett, then a 17-year-old fledgling model, worked informally at the restaurant with Xol, who had lived at the home of the restaurant owner and he allowed Puckett to share his room.
Puckett was arrested for killing Vitaly Poliakov, 29, over Labor Day weekend in 1997 in the East Bay city of Orinda. He confessed the murder both to police and in a jailhouse interview with the Bay Area Reporter, but he said he acted in self-defense to fend off a sexual assault. Puckett's trial ended in a mistrial after prosecutors introduced inadmissible evidence of Puckett's involvement in a robbery. The B.A.R. talked to the dismissed jurors in the case, many of whom were sympathetic to Puckett. Prosecutors opted not to retry him for murder, and he was given a 10-year prison sentence as part of a plea-bargain. Puckett was released from prison in 2008 and served his parole in Ontario, about 35 miles east of Los Angeles.
Xol was a prosecution witness in the case. He said he thought of Puckett as a younger brother. When Puckett's attorney asked during cross-examination if Xol had ever had sex with Puckett, he answered "no." He also said that he often saw Puckett in the presence of heterosexual women. Puckett told the B.A.R. he is straight, and the B.A.R. interviewed two women who said that they had a sexual relationship with him.
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