The man who investigated Democratic Alliance donor Ed Buck has been found dead

Dane Brown, who survived a 2019 drug overdose that sparked an investigation into Democratic donor and activist Ed Buck, was found dead on the side of a road in South Los Angeles last week.

Brown's calls to the police and her testimony helped lead a jury to convict Buck of luring black men, who lived in her West Hollywood apartment for nearly a decade, for “party and play” sessions involving sex and drug abuse. Two men died in Buck's apartment in 2017 and 2019 from drug overdoses.

“I don't think so [Brown] he really knew the impact he had,” said Jasmyne Cannick, a political consultant, author and friend of Brown's.

Brown was found dead on the side of a road in South Los Angeles on Nov. 6, according to the LA County medical examiner's office. The cause of his death has not been determined.

These men were lured to Buck's apartment, who were homeless and slaves, were given drugs when they met and were often promised more money if they allowed Buck to inject them with drugs. If they refused, Buck sometimes refused to pay them.

For years, victims and advocates tried to draw attention to the fatal encounter at Buck's apartment. But Brown managed to escape from Buck's apartment, staggered to a gas station after being injected with three doses of methamphetamine and called 911, when Buck was arrested. Buck was eventually charged and convicted of supplying drugs to Gemmel Moore, 26, and Timothy Dean, 55, who died of drug overdoses at his home in 2017 and 2019, respectively. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

After Buck's conviction, Cannick said Brown was working and found a place he was proud to show off to his friends.

He insisted on taking her out to dinner at a steakhouse on La Brea Avenue to repay her for her help.

But Brown continued to struggle with his mental health and drug addiction, she said. He lost his house and sometimes got lost.

“He tried, he tried hard,” he said. “In the end, it was a bigger struggle than he could handle.”

Cannick said Brown was found dead near Vernon and McKinley avenues, across the street from the apartment where he lived for a while.

Buck's two-week trial highlighted the dangerous underworld of sex trafficking, where an influential, wealthy man exploits poor and addicted Black men.

“My heart is broken,” Cannick said in a video about his friend's death. “Dane, who I knew well, was struggling and trying to get his life back after Ed Buck.”

Brown, Cannick said, loved to cook and play sports and was a self-proclaimed genius.

“When the cameras were gone, he was just another black guy in LA trying to make it, and that's not easy, especially in a city like Los Angeles,” he said. “I am very sad for his family, his friends, for all of us who worked with him, knew him, fought for him and supported him.”

Brown's decision to contact authorities, and ultimately testify in Buck's case, was a pivotal moment that helped secure the conviction of the Democratic Alliance donor, as well as other victims coming forward, said one of his attorneys, Nana Gyamfi.

“Dane was critical in this case,” he said.

Brown's survival and his willingness to talk to law enforcement helped ensure the case went unnoticed, Gyamfi said. His involvement helped him persuade other victims to come forward and testify.

“It was his escape – he's basically a ribbon unwrapper,” she said. “It was his escape, and he reached out to the police so that he could ignore that.”

Brown also filed a lawsuit against Buck, alleging sex, assault, hate violence, emotional distress and human trafficking. The case was due to go to trial in February.

According to the lawsuit, since Buck's arrest, Brown has been homeless and suffering from debilitating medical conditions.

The lawsuit alleges that Buck caused Brown to take two methamphetamine drugs in one week in September 2019, including the one that ultimately led to Buck's arrest.

Brown stayed with Buck for three months and Buck “provided and administered intravenous methamphetamine to Mr. Brown every day,” the lawsuit said.

According to court records, Brown's attorneys intend to continue the case against Buck and are working to retain an attorney to continue it.

Gyamfi and Cannick said they lost contact with Brown in August. Although they used to communicate by phone and text messages, the messages did not come for long.

His death is very difficult, said Gyamfi, because Brown had shown him that he had been fighting to improve himself and, in the most difficult situation at times, to survive.

“He fought for his life, and that's how this case opened,” he said. “He escaped the jaws of death and died, almost, alone on the side of the road – one of the six people who die every day in the city of Los Angeles without a home. He had a will to live.”