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Democratic Seattle Mayor Resigns Following Fifth Child Sex Abuse Accusation

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray holds a press conference after signing a bill that raises the city's minimum wage to $15 an hour on June 3, 2014 in Seattle, Washington. / Getty Images
Seattle Mayor Ed Murray / Getty Images
September 12, 2017

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray (D.) resigned Tuesday after yet another man—the mayor's younger cousin—came forward saying he was abused by Murray as a child.

The mayor announced his resignation just hours after the latest allegations came to light, the Seattle Times reported.

"While the allegations against me are not true, it is important that my personal issues do not affect the ability of our City government to conduct the public’s business," Murray said in a statement announcing his resignation.

The Democratic politician was sued in April by a man claiming he was raped by Murray over the course of several years, beginning in 1986 when he was 15 years old. In the months following the lawsuit, additional men came forward claiming Murray molested them.

Murray had already dropped his reelection bid in May after a fourth man came forward. "It tears me to pieces to step away," he told reporters at the time.

The Seattle mayor, nevertheless, planned to serve out the remainder of his term. That is, until Tuesday, when Murray's own cousin Joseph Dyer came forward and said he was also molested when the adult Murray lived with his family in the 1970s.

Dyer, now 54-years-old, said the abuse began when he was thirteen and shared a bedroom with his cousin. "There would be times when I would fake sleeping because I didn’t want him touching me," Dyer told the Seattle Times. "And that’s when he would molest me."

The abuse finally stopped when a boy at the Catholic group home Murray worked at also accused him of abuse, according to Dyer. He further alleges that Murray's father negotiated an agreement in which the group home wouldn't press charges if Murray left town and never returned.

Murray's resignation will be effective 5 p.m. PST Wednesday.

Published under: Ed Murray , Washington