By Sue Anne Pressley
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 5, 1999; Page A01

MIAMI, March 4—Two young men in the central Alabama town of Sylacauga who told police they were upset over a sexual advance by a gay man have admitted they planned his murder for two weeks, then bludgeoned him to death with an ax handle and threw his body onto burning tires.

Coosa County sheriff's deputies identified the men today as Charles Monroe Butler Jr., 21, and Steven Eric Mullins, 25. The two were arrested earlier this week and charged with murder in the Feb. 19 slaying of Billy Jack Gaither, 39, who friends said made no secret of his homosexuality.

The slaying, whose details emerged only today, carried horrific echoes of the murder of Matthew Shepard by two young men in Wyoming last October in similar circumstances. That killing aroused a national outcry against hate crimes and generated calls for federal legislation to impose stiffer punishments on such conduct.

Marion Hammond, owner of a straight bar called the Tavern in Sylacauga, said she saw Gaither the Friday night of the killing with one of the accused men. "The last time I saw Billy Jack," she said, "I was standing outside the bar talking to my husband and he said, 'Don't worry about that man sitting in my car -- he's just not ready to come in yet.' Well, I respected his privacy, and I said fine."

Later, she said, she learned the man was Mullins; Gaither and Mullins drove to another Sylacauga bar, the Frame, and picked up Butler, she said, citing local news reports. The next morning, when Gaither had not returned to the home he shared with his parents, Lois and Marion, his friends began a search. But Hammond said she had a bad feeling.

Gaither's charred remains were found the next day on a concrete platform near the trash-strewn banks of Peckerwood Creek. His burned-out car was found on a country road. Deputies said the suspects allegedly set two old tires on fire with kerosene and tossed the battered body on top.

Residents of Sylacauga, a town of 13,000 about 50 miles southeast of Birmingham, said they were shocked by Gaither's murder, and gay rights activists expressed similar outrage.

"Flags go up any time one of us is murdered and there is no other motivation," said Tracey Conaty of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. "We're tuned into a tragedy channel."

Alabama is "pretty hostile" to gay issues, said Conaty. It is one of 19 states where the hate crimes law does not cover crimes related to sexual orientation. Recently, a local court removed a child from a mother's home because she was openly lesbian, Conaty said.

Gay activists said they had received anonymous tips about the nature of the crime. They told police what they heard but remained silent in public, officials said, after a request by authorities that any statements could jeopardize the investigation.

"We got an anonymous tip from someone in Alabama about a week ago, who knew Billy Jack and was terrified," said Dan Hawes, of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in Washington, D.C. "It was pretty evident to him it was a hate crime."

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance of Alabama also learned of the killing through a contact in the area, members reported.

Hammond described Gaither, who worked at Russell Industries in nearby Alexander City, as a likable man who, while never denying he was homosexual, "made a point of never doing the gay thing when he was at our place." She said he would often spend part of the evening at the Tavern and the rest at a gay bar in Birmingham.

"He was not obvious about anything," she said. "My husband, Larry, didn't even know he was gay until about a year ago, and I had to tell him."

Gaither was "a good-looking man," she said, "dark-complected, about 6-foot-2. He was one of those people who looked better with his glasses on. Those pictures they've been showing on TV don't do him justice."

Hammond said she knew Steven Eric Mullins by sight. "He'd wear the dungaree pants inside the boots and provocative T-shirts, with 'White Power' on them and stuff like that," Hammond recalled.

Mullins and Butler were being held tonight on $500,000 bond. According to a sheriff's deputy who spoke to the Associated Press, Mullins said "God told him he needed to confess."

Staff writer Hanna Rosin in Washington contributed to this report.