The HBO doceri Last Call digs to the hunt for a serial killer who targeted gay men New York the early '90s—and why the victims were almost lost to history.
Contents:
- ‘LAST CALL’ TE STORY: HBO DOC IS ABOUT THE SERIAL KILLER RICHARD ROGERS, WHO TARGETED MANHATTAN’S GAY BARS
- HOW RICHARD ROGERS, A MILD-MANNERED STATEN ISLAND NURSE, TURNED OUT TO BE A SERIAL KILLER WHO DISMEMBERED GAY MEN
- WHY DID SERIAL KILLER RICHARD ROGERS DISMEMBER GAY MEN? A FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGIST WEIGHS IN
- WHY DID SERIAL KILLER RICHARD ROGERS DISMEMBER GAY MEN? A FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGIST WEIGHS IN
- FOUND MURRED AND DISMEMBERED, THE BODI OF 4 GAY MEN PUT POLICE ON THE TRAIL OF A SERIAL KILLER''
‘LAST CALL’ TE STORY: HBO DOC IS ABOUT THE SERIAL KILLER RICHARD ROGERS, WHO TARGETED MANHATTAN’S GAY BARS
Learn more about New York's "The Last Call Killer" Richard Rogers, who was found guilty of murrg four gay men. * gay nurse serial killer *
The four-part seri vtigat the stori surroundg a serial killer who targeted gay men a seri of btal murrs and dismemberments the 1990s. "Like his victims, who were bisexual and gay, Rogers is a gay man, per his trial ’s book go over some of his bgraphil tails: Rogers was the elst of five children born to a fay Plymouth, had had n-s wh the law before for siarly morbid allegatns. A total of four murrs were brought up at his trial, but he was only charged Thomas Mulhy and Anthony Marrero’s four victims were middle-aged, gay or bisexual men, last seen at gay bars Manhattan.
In July 1993, Michael Sakara, a gay man his 50s, left Five Oaks Piano Bar, where he was a regular, wh Rogers and was never seen aga. In the early 1990s, fear and mor swirled through New York’s LGBT muny about a serial killer who targeted ebriated men leavg the cy’s gay bars late at night. A year earlier he had separated om his wife, wh whom he had two children, after g out as a gay man.
On May 3, he went to the Townhoe Bar on East 58th Street, an upsle rtrant known for havg a gay male clientele.
HOW RICHARD ROGERS, A MILD-MANNERED STATEN ISLAND NURSE, TURNED OUT TO BE A SERIAL KILLER WHO DISMEMBERED GAY MEN
Michael Sakara was a 56-year-old gay man who worked as a typetter for the New York Law Journal and lived Manhattan. Though remas were found three different stat, the four s shared both murr and disposal methods and the victims f the same profile: middle-aged gay men.
" Police told him they were actually vtigatg the murrs of four gay or bisexual men the early ‘90s, and when shown photos of the victims, Rogers said he regnized Sakara om the Five Oaks.
Rogers was given that moniker bee his victims were gay men he picked up om bars. A dismembered body belongg to puter salman Thomas Mulhy, who was seen at the Townhoe Bar, an upsle tablishment equented by gay men, set off the vtigatn. Te Crime We Bged 2022For gay New Yorkers 1991, there were still plenty of reasons to not put much fah law enforcement.
WHY DID SERIAL KILLER RICHARD ROGERS DISMEMBER GAY MEN? A FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGIST WEIGHS IN
Jt 22 years after clash wh police outsi the Stonewall Inn Greenwich Village opened a promisg new ont the ongog fight for LGBTQ+ rights, AIDS was cimatg the queer muny and hate crim were on the rise, no small part due to the tragilly wispread misperceptn of the vis as a gay disease and lack of unrstandg about how was transmted.
WHY DID SERIAL KILLER RICHARD ROGERS DISMEMBER GAY MEN? A FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGIST WEIGHS IN
And another nightmarish turn of events, someone was g NYC's vibrant gay nightlife scene as a huntg ground. Last Call: When a Killer Stalked Queer New York, a four-part HBO seri premierg July 9, lv to the grisly murrs and a not-so-distant past when blatant homophobia was still the norm and queer bars, as one activist puts the show, "were one of the few plac the muny where we uld e and feel safe.
"And even then, adds Bea Hanson, who served as a liaison between the NYC Gay & Lbian Anti-Vlence Project and police, "There was always this sort of 'you've got to watch your back at the same time too' sort of feelg. Tony Brooks, a 26-year-old ndidate for cy uncil at the time, told police he and Anrson had gone to Manhattan together the night of May 3 to attend a fundraiser at the Central Park Wt home of Robert Browne, a proment gay rights activist. One wasn't gay.
FOUND MURRED AND DISMEMBERED, THE BODI OF 4 GAY MEN PUT POLICE ON THE TRAIL OF A SERIAL KILLER''
One was not a homosexual.
"In hdsight, " he says, "maybe would've been a good ia to follow up wh the that time, we didn't know was a gay bar. I don't know anythg about where all the gay bars New York are. "Sometim he went for male pannship, " rells former New Jersey State Police Detective Nick Theodos, who not the seri that Mulhy's murr was the first se that brought him to close ntact wh the gay muny.
"The homosexual muny wasn't very open about what they were dog their private liv, " he said. Sakara, an openly gay 56-year-old who equented the Five Oaks piano bar the Wt Village, where he was last seen alive on July 30, 1993, acrdg to vtigators.