Friends knew the 69-year-old architect through running, music and Orlando’s LGBTQ+ community before his death became a homicide investigation.
ORLANDO, Fla. — Reported arrests in the killing of Patrick Herman have brought a new development to a case that began with worried friends checking on a missing member of their running group and grew into weeks of grief and unanswered questions across parts of Orlando’s community.
Herman, 69, was found dead Sept. 7 inside his home near Lake Eola. The Orange-Osceola medical examiner determined that he died from blunt-force injury of the neck and ruled the death a homicide. Arrests have since been reported in the investigation, though publicly available material reviewed Tuesday did not establish the suspects’ identities, the charges against them or a motive.
For Herman’s friends, the case began not with a police announcement but with his absence. He belonged to Orlando Front Runners and Walkers, an LGBTQ+ running and walking organization whose members meet regularly. Friends said Herman normally sent a message if he could not attend. When he missed the group’s Sept. 5 gathering without an explanation, people close to him grew concerned.
Over the next two days, friends tried to reach him. On Sept. 7, they went to his East Jefferson Street home. Packages had accumulated outside, his vehicle was gone and the door was unlocked, according to accounts from friends. Herman was found dead inside, and police began an investigation that eventually was classified as a homicide.
His death reverberated beyond the running group. Herman worked as an architect and sang with the Orlando Gay Chorus. He also had been involved in Orlando’s LGBTQ+ community for years. An oral history preserved by the University of Central Florida documents his involvement with the chorus and his experiences in Orlando, including the community response following the 2016 Pulse nightclub attack.
Friends described a man whose relationships stretched across professional, artistic and social circles. Michael Hollmen remembered Herman as peaceful, intelligent and committed to the people around him. Frank Swanson, who knew Herman through Front Runners and Walkers, said Herman’s unexplained absence was especially striking because keeping in touch with the group was part of his routine.
Former coworker Ashley Scammell also described Herman as someone willing to invest time in other people’s lives. She recalled that after seeing her explore an ancestry website, Herman spent days researching her family history and helped her identify her biological father. For those who knew him, stories such as that became part of how they described the person lost while investigators worked to determine who was responsible.
The investigation initially offered them few answers. Police said detectives were working around the clock but declined to release information they believed could compromise the case. Friends publicly expressed frustration as weeks passed without an explanation of what happened or whether anyone would face charges.
There were indications investigators had recovered an important piece of the case. Swanson previously said two people had been caught with Herman’s missing vehicle, although authorities had not publicly established at the time whether those people were suspects in the homicide. The reported arrests now move the case forward, but available information does not yet establish the defendants’ alleged roles or what evidence authorities intend to present.
Herman’s friends and fellow community members also have plans to remember his life. Orlando Front Runners and Walkers and the Orlando Gay Chorus previously announced a celebration of life for Oct. 24. As the criminal investigation advances, that gathering is expected to focus on the architect, singer, traveler and friend they knew before his death became the subject of a homicide case.
Author note: Last updated October 6, 2026.