It is an undeniable fact that documentaries have become a popular genre. Centered around prolific criminals who prove humanity wrong and unearth the question of morality, documentary series continue to be a dominant genre. HBO’s latest documentary series, Last Call: When a Serial Killer Stalked Queer New York demonstrates yet another criminal who shook the world. Richard Westall Rogers Jr. is the core focus of this documentary. Back in the 90s, Rogers caused an uproar in New York’s queer community.
As a queer man himself, Richard’s animosity towards the LGBTQ+ community has been a subject of interest. How come, Richard, being gay himself, kills two gay men? What unearthed such contempt in Richard? If you want to know more about Richard Rogers dubbed as The Serial Killer, dive in right away!
Where Is Richard Rogers The Serial Killer Now?
Born on June 16, 1950, Richard is the eldest of five siblings and probably the smartest. In the late 1950s, his family migrated from Massachusetts to Florida. This migration became a turning point in Richard’s life. After leaving behind his friends and the surroundings behind, Richard had a hard time adapting to his new environment. Not only his physical but his mental health was deteriorating.
As adolescence hit him, his voice turned high-pitched but he was still as skinny as always. His timid nature (Oh, yes, he was once timid) made him a target at high school. To escape reality, Rogers started to hide away from everyone including his father who was disappointed that his son wasn’t into sports. It is also rumored that Rogers’ relationship with his siblings was strained. However, he was close to his mother and grew overtly fond of her during his teenage.
Slowly, as his teenage years withered away, Richard turned into a ball of rage and hatred. Eventually, his dark emotions led him into New Jersey State Prison where he was serving two consecutive life sentences.
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How Many Victims Did Richard Rogers Kill?
Richard has always been a unique person. A straight-A student, docile and impressive to a fault yet a sadist like no other. He was a member of the French club at his high school and had an effeminate personality. He realized he was a queer person early on and sought solitude due to the bullying and teasing.
The first complaint lodged against Richard was of first-degree murder. He allegedly stabbed his neighbour to death but wasn’t found guilty. In the early 1970s, Richard was convicted of murder again. At 23, when he was enrolled in an undergraduate programme and resided in a hostel in Maine, Rogers killed his flatmate, Frederic Alan Spencer. According to Richard, he stuck a hammer in Spencer’s head eight times but he didn’t attack first. Frederic Alan Spencer remains the first victim of Rogers out of the other four as per reports by the government.
Richard Rogers’ Killing Pattern
After slaughtering Spencer, Rogers moved to New York and began studying nursing before eventually taking up a job at Mount Sinai Hospital. For a decade Rogers laid low and worked as a surgical nurse until he struck again. In 1988, he invited a man to his place and drugged him to unconsciousness. Since no abuse occurred, Rogers was released a while later. 2 years later, in May 1991, Roger murdered 54-year-old Peter Stickney Anderson.
His next victim was Thomas Mulchay, whom Roger lured from another bar. He, too, was slaughtered and his corpse was cut down into several pieces. The police found Mulchay in multiple bags just like Peter and the other two victims, Anthony Marrero and Michael Sakara. Each of Rogers’ victims was chopped to pieces and stuffed in bags after they were thoroughly washed. The murder of these queer people created an uproar in New York and New Jersey and an air of dread occupied everyone, especially queer men.
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How Did Richard Got Arrested?
Several allegations were imposed on the investigation department and hundreds of people protested against the judicial system but to no avail. Richard, a seemingly middle-class man working as a nurse at a hospital, got out unsuspected and unscathed. Nobody suspected him, at least there are no records of such an incident. With each passing day, the terror intensified and the investigative officers got frustrated.
It wasn’t until 2001 that the investigative officers got a whiff of Rogers. After a new fingerprint-lifting technique was introduced, the officers and the scientists worked day and night to collect the fingerprints from the plastic bags Rogers used to stuff bodies into. Finally, Richard’s fingerprint matched with the sample print and he was convicted of two murders.
The Most Disturbing Moment
The most complex part of this whole Richard Rogers serial killer ordeal is his abnormal behaviour. Never for once did Rogers appear out of his element as if it was absolutely normal for him to murder people, chop them and stuff those pieces into plastic bags. He didn’t express contempt or any kind of aversion to any community or anyone having chosen to keep his lips tightly sealed. Ever since his childhood, Richard was a quiet kid but the dreadful silence that surrounded him as an adult had its own story to narrate.
Fortunately–or unfortunately?–nobody heard that story except Rogers himself. He hardly had any acquaintances, even fewer friends and nobody who could understand what was going on behind his sadistic brain. The most disturbing moment of Rogers’ feat remains his unnerving silence. Throughout his conviction, Richard kept staring at the door as if it didn’t matter whether he was charged with two life sentences or twenty.
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Why Did Richard Kill Queer People?
This question remains the highlight of this Richard Rogers mess. The LGBTQ+ community remains terror-stricken even after decades of witnessing such atrocity towards them. They were at the receiving end of incorrigible heinous activities that is still an experience no one wants to revisit. Throughout the 90s, Richard terrorized queer people and targeted them as if he held a personal grudge against them. Inviting men to his apartment, drugging them to unconsciousness and slaughtering them enticed him. His modus operandi didn’t make sense, not in the broad sense anyway.
He is gay himself, why target his own community?
Had Rogers aimed his devious intentions at non-queer people, things wouldn’t have been deemed so complicated. Rumours regarding his contempt stemmed at a young age due to the anti-queer mentality that has surfaced over the years. It is also speculated that Rogers’ struggled to find a place for himself in the cathartic world and resorted to violence due to it. Of course, the only logical reason is his mental instability and hatred towards rich and white men.
Richard’s Journey Is Enlisted In Elon Green’s Book
After his arrest, Richard’s life became the most engrossing story and his mind became a research project for many. While the LGBTQ+ community finally breathed a sigh of relief, crime journalists and writers had a field day. They dug their fingers into Rogers’ life, hoping to get insights and came out soaked in misery and blood. One such person who tried to jot down Rogers’ life history and his unusually wired brain is Elong Green.
HBO’s latest crime documentary series, Last Call: When a Serial Killer Stalked Queer New York is based on Elon Green’s eponymous book. Anthony Caronna directed this four-part documentary that sheds light on Richard’s terror reign during the late 1970s. In the decade wherein queer people were prime targets of mockery and insult, Richard shook the world and this documentary highlights the very same.
Richard Rogers Denies To Partake In The Last Call Documentary
With Caronna serving as the director and Howard Gertler as the executive producer, Last Call explores the terror-stricken families Rogers destroyed. Featuring the victims’ family members and close friends, the heart-wrenching documentary is narrated in four parts. It tries to convey the experience of these family members who lost their special someone to Richards’s bloodthirst. Of course, curating a documentary around a killer whose barbarian actions have left traumatic memories in his wake hasn’t been easy.
Caronna and Gertler manage to pull off the four-part documentary without Richard. Similar to the previous calls, Richard denied Caronna and Gertler’s invitation too. He chose not to comment or partake in any form of the documentary, separating himself from the public eye and questioning again.
Where Is Richard Rogers The Serial Killer Now?–FAQs
Richard is a serial killer who is known for inducing terror in New York and New Jersey by killing queer people.
He murdered two queer men and his roommate, the numbers could differ though.
He is serving two life sentences in the New Jersey State Prison.
It is a documentary series centred around Richard Rogers.
No, he didn’t agree to comment or star in the series.
You can stream the documentary on HBO!
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