It's been almost two years since the tragic,untimely death of Lorissa McComas and in the past few months I've received several emails concerning her demise. So, let me take a few moments to tell you about this beautiful, charming woman who like the rest of us mortals had her flaws.
In 2006, I was assigned to interview Lorissa for a fledgling publication called Baltimore Flavor Magazine. I say fledgling because although three issues were published,none of them ever saw the inside of a book store or the shelves of a magazine stand . Instead, boxes of Bill George's pet project remain in the basement of his house to this very day;a towering monument to his arrogance and ignorance.
Anyhoo, I interviewed Lorissa a few days before she was due to be in court. Lorissa's son Tristan was going to be taken away from her because The Child Protection Services Department of Melbourne, Florida considered Lorissa an unfit parent due to her activities in the adult entertainment industry. My job(and an unpaid one at that) was to get her side of the story.
Naturally,as a writer I was interested in such a topical and controversial story. I felt the readers of Baltimore Flavor Magazine would find the piece both compelling and riveting. At the last minute, Bill George(a man without a back bone), jettisoned the article because he felt it was too controversial and preferred to feed his readers pap and pablum they could easily swallow as opposed to giving them something they could sink their teeth into. When he uttered the words," Trust me.", I rolled my eyes in frustration and threw my hands in the air. The man is a timid shit heel.
Knowing this was a story too powerful not to publish, I put it in my blog and to be honest, I expected quite a bit of response. I was rather disappointed that I received no comments what so ever about my article. However, after Lorissa died on Nov 3, 2009, I began getting emails from people concerning her death. It is my understanding that she died after suffering a long illness. When I talked to her in 2006 she claimed to be afflicted with RS Dystrophy. Lorissa told me that her legs were a bumpy mess and that she needed a wheelchair to get around.
There is, however, another story circulating that Lorissa committed suicide with a gun after finding her brother Rene dead in her apartment. It seems Rene had stopped taking his Aids medication. This story appears to be more likely since Lorissa's husband Doug owned a handgun. Trying to pin down the facts is rather difficult because both versions of the story are circulating around in cyberspace. Which one you choose to believe is totally up to you.
About six months later, a girl contacted me by phone and wanted to me to interview her about the incident where Lorissa was accosted by a group of people demanding money or they would "beat her ass". She not only was there during the confrontation,but lived in Lorissa and Doug's house for a period of time. This person also claimed to be there when the Swat Team came to take their son Tristan into protective custody.
This girl rambled on for an hour about what is was like living at Lorissa and Doug's house.Unfortunately, she didn't paint a very pretty picture. Lorissa did not shine resplendently by her accounts. She even described Doug as "a pimp who lived off of Lorissa's money". When I mentioned that Doug reportedly found Lorissa's body when he came home from work, she gasped with surprise and said, "He has a job?"
I originally intended to use this information in my blog because I felt this was a story that needed to be told. But the more I thought about it and the more I listened to the taped interview, I came to the conclusion not to print it. For one thing, Lorissa is dead and can't tell me her side of the story. And why tarnish her image in the eyes of her fans? I'm not about to hurl dirt on a woman now deceased; to me that is yellow sheet journalism of the lowest common denominator. I refuse to descend to that level.
Just let me say that when I interviewed Lorissa in 2006, I found her to be a charming and forthright individual. Yes, Lorissa may have had prescription drug dependency problems and she probably wouldn't have been a candidate for Mother of The Year (if what this women told me is true), but none of that matters anymore. Lorissa had more than her share of trials and tribulations in her brief lifetime. Let her rest in peace.
