Nearly two years after San Francisco drag performer Heklina was found dead in a London flat while on tour, no autopsy report or death certificate has been released. Yet on Friday, seemingly out of nowhere, London police released images of three men who were reportedly at the apartment the night she died.
The Daily Mail was first to report the news, quoting Detective Chief Inspector Dean Purvis of the Metropolitan police as asking anyone with information on the three men to come forward.
The development raises questions about the initial report released shortly after Heklina’s death, in which foul play was ruled out. The cause of death has not been announced.
Heklina, whose given name was Stefan Grygelko, was 55 when fellow drag performer Peaches Christ found her body on the morning of April 3, 2023. A fixture in San Francisco’s underground drag scene from the 1990s through the 2020s, Heklina was noted for her raunchy and acerbic wit, punk style, and oversize wigs. She was among the founders of SoMa drag club Oasis and for years played the role of Dorothy Zbornak in live drag re-enactments of classic “Golden Girls” episodes during the holidays. Prior to her death, she had relocated to the Palm Springs area but remained a frequent visitor to the Bay Area.
To some, Friday’s news offered little consolation while reopening an old wound. Nancy French, a friend of Heklina and executor of the performer’s estate, dismissed the London police’s effort in a Facebook post. “This CCTV footage should have been released 21 months ago. Releasing it now just proves their ineptitude and mismanagement that we’ve been dealing with for almost 2 years,” French said.
Peaches Christ, whose given name is Joshua Grannell, told The Standard on Friday that she knew all along that Heklina was not alone. However, she said London police had asked her to remain silent on certain details while the investigation was underway. She added that the initial report ruling out foul play was also inaccurate. “It was only to allow me to go back into [the apartment] to get my stuff and leave,” she said.
As Heklina was still in drag when she found her body that morning, Peaches contends that bias and homophobia on the part of the police had slowed the pace of the investigation.
“Releasing the CCTV now is bullshit. Like, how did you not have that?” she said. “One of the things I had to endure was proving I didn’t kill my friend, and they determined using CCTV footage in about 24 to 48 hours that I wasn’t in the apartment [at the time]. … I refuse to believe they’re this inept by accident.”
A memorial service for Heklina was held in May 2023 at the Castro Theatre. Subtitled “She Would Have Hated This,” the event brought together hundreds of friends and fans. Attendance was so high that mourners spilled onto Castro Street to watch a telecast on two giant TV screens, closing the road to traffic.
This story has been updated with additional information from drag performer Peaches Christ.