Former gay porn star Trace Michaels arrested and charged for a murder he allegedly committed over 12 years ago in Florida. Based on matching DNA evidence, police were able to track down Michaels—whose legal name is Aaron Dobbins—in Tampa last week and charge him with the first-degree murder of a man named Alfred “Chad” McMurray, who was killed on August 30th, 2010.
Dobbins allegedly killed McMurray execution style, as the victim was found in his Oakland Park home with a gunshot wound to the head and his hands tied behind his back. Jealousy over McMurray’s sexual relationship with Dobbins’ roommate and boyfriend John Navarro (a.k.a. former escort and gay porn star Adam Rogue) sounds like a possible motive, as detailed in the 30-page affidavit and arrest report below.
Per the report, Dobbins, Navarro, McMurray, and a fourth unidentified man had group sex a couple of months before the murder, and McMurray placed multiple telephone calls to Navarro on the night he was killed. Also of note, at the time of his death, McMurray (seen below) was the boyfriend of Shannon Prewitt, the former owner of gay porn review message board JustUsBoys, who later when on to produce content at BrokeStraightBoys. Prewitt issued a statement in 2010 asking for help in finding McMurray’s murderer, but he’s not spoken publicly about the case in recent years. Alfred “Chad” McMurray:
As gay porn star Trace Michaels, Aaron Dobbins performed in dozens of gay porn scenes at Florida-based studios like BaitBus, MenOver30, and RubHim (Michaels was the main “masseur” appearing in most of the RubHim scenes throughout 2010 and 2011), as well as the now defunct C1R, where he used the name “Trace Hunter” for a Chi Chi LaRue movie. Michaels and his roommate/boyfriend Adam Rogue:
After over 12 years, the murder case had essentially gone cold, but investigators got lucky back in May when a national database matched DNA under McMurray’s fingernails to Dobbins. Detectives then interviewed Dobbins, who admitted to knowing McMurray and explained that his DNA was under McMurray’s fingernails because McMurray had beaten him up. Dobbins said he never owned a gun and didn’t recall being at McMurray’s house, but he also told detectives, “If my DNA was there, then I was there, but I don’t remember being there.”
Dobbins is being held without bond in Broward County jail while awaiting trial. If convicted, he faces the death penalty.