5 chilling details about Richard Rogers aka the Last Call Killer

Richard Rogers dubbed the Last Call Killer, tortured and killed four men in Manhattan between 1992 and 1993. After he had killed the men, he would then dismember the bodies and dump them alongside the New Jersey Highway. All the men that Rogers targeted were either g*y or bis*xual, and he had met them in piano bars in Manhattan.

Trigger warning: This article contains mentions of murder, dismemberment, and potential s*xual assault. Discretion is advised.

While Rogers was convicted of two of these murders, he was suspected of being behind several other killings. However, due to a lack of evidence in the other cases, a jury was unable to convict Rogers. Since he was convicted of two of the murders, Rogers was handed two consecutive life sentences, which he is serving in the New Jersey State Prison in Trenton, New Jersey.

HBO Max's upcoming four-part docuseries, Last Call: When a Serial Killer Stalked Queer New York, is set to premiere this Sunday, July 9, 2023. The series will entail the crimes committed by The Last Call Killer. HBO Max said that the series will delve into the crimes of Richard Rogers and will have several emotional and heart-wrenching interviews with friends and families of his victims.

5 shocking facts about Richard Rogers - the serial killer who terrorized queer New York

1) Richard Rogers was involved in a gory murder at just 23 years old

Despite having what is considered a "normal background" and no aggressive tendencies at an early age, Rogers began his horrific streak when he was at university. The then-graduate student had reportedly bludgeoned one of his two housemates, Frederic Spencer by hitting him in the back eight times with a roofing hammer. Seeing as how Spencer was still alive after being hit, Rogers cut off his oxygen supply by placing a plastic bag over his head, eventually suffocating him.

According to the New York Daily News, Rogers apparently wrapped Spencer's body in a nylon boy scout tent, dragged his body into his car, and dumped it near the Bird Forest Stream. Spencer's body was eventually found by two cyclists the next morning. Upon investigating the objects on Spencer's body, the police found a key to a post office box which they traced back to the University dorm.

At the dorm, the police found an enormous amount of evidence. This included bloody handprints on the door and walls, bloody footprints, and even the hammer that was used to bludgeon Spencer. Upon finding all this, Richard Rogers was immediately taken into custody and interrogated. However, to everyone's surprise, despite the evidence Rogers was not found guilty as he claimed that what he did was in "self-defense."

He revealed that it was Frederic Spencer who tried to attack him with the hammer first, forcing Rogers to grab the hammer in the struggle and hit him. While many facts about the case remain unexplained and a mystery to several, observers of the case have speculated that nothing of the sort happened. They believed that it was Rogers' calm and convincing demeanor that managed to fool the jury at the time.

2) Richard Rogers was arrested for assaulting a man in 1988

Needles and drugs found at Rogers' house during 1988 arrest (Image via YouTube)

In 1988, Richard Rogers reportedly met a man at a bar in Manhattan and invited him to his apartment for drinks and dinner. The man said that even though he had asked for diet soda, Rogers brought him orange juice. He said that after drinking the juice, he began feeling dizzy and lost consciousness.

The man revealed that when he woke up, he found himself n*ked and lying on his back. He was bound to Rogers' bed by his ankles and wrists with hospital bracelets. Worst of all, the man was stabbed in the back with a needle, which made him unconscious once again.

He said that when he woke up the next time, he found himself outside Rogers' apartment and proceeded to call a friend who took him to the nearest police station to report the assault. The victim had several tests performed on him, including a r*pe test kit.

The doctors testified on his behalf and revealed that he had sustained multiple injuries and bruises, which led to Rogers' arrest. However, Rogers was let out of jail after a brief sentence, once again escaping legal procedure.

3) The Last Call Killings started in 1991 and continued for 3 years

Thomas Richard Mulcahy was one of Rogers' victims (Image via HBO Max)

Richard Rogers' murderous streak began in the year 1991 when he killed his first victim Peter Stickney Anderson. The 54-year-old met Rogers at the Townhouse Bar in Midtown. Anderson's remains were found the next day in a trash barrel by a maintenance worker, who went to check why the barrel was so heavy and found Anderson's decapitated head. The dismemberment of the victims was quite possibly the most disturbing part of Rogers' killings.

The victim had been reportedly stabbed multiple times in the chest and was castrated. The autopsy highlighted the precision of the wounds, which wasn't shocking as Rogers was a surgical nurse.

The serial killer's next victim was 57-year-old Thomas Richard Mulcahy, a father, who Rogers met at the Townhouse Bar. Thomas' body was completely dismembered and his remains were found in five different trash barrels by maintenance workers.

The next two victims, Anthony Edward Marrero and Michael J. Sakara were also encountered by Rogers at different bars throughout the city. It is important to note that Richard Rogers' victims were either g*y or bis*xual. While the reason that Rogers targeted them is unknown, many blame it on the heightened homophobia in New York in the 90s.

4) The Last Call Killer was arrested in 2001, almost 8 years after the killings

People protest against Rogers' crimes in the 1990s (Image via IMDb)

It took police nearly eight years to capture Richard Rogers for the murders he committed. Despite having killed four people, Rogers managed to evade the law as his prints and DNA weren't found either in the FBI's Combined DNA System. This led to the murders becoming cold cases for years.

It wasn't until 1999 that the New Jersey State Police found a new way of fingerprint lifting. The technique, known as the vacuum metal disposition, allowed the force to discover new fingerprints on the years-old evidence. These fingerprints were then circulated throughout fifty states, and even Puerto Rico. They finally found a match to Richard Rogers' from his old case at the University of Maine.

Upon searching Rogers' house, the police found some incriminating evidence. This included a bottle of Versed, a medication used for anesthesia, also known as the date r*pe drug, and plastic bags resembling the ones used in the killings. They also found polaroids of shirtless men with stab wounds, and carpet fibers similar to the ones found on the victims' bodies.

5) Richard Rogers is also suspected of two other murders

A sketch found in Rogers' notebook (Image via YouTube)

Although never proven, Rogers had been suspected of two other horrific murders that had shocked the country in the 1990s. The first was the murder of Matthew John Pierro, a 21-year-old student who had last been seen leaving a gay bar.

Rogers was suspected in this particular case as Pierro had died of stab wounds to the chest, something that Rogers was known to have done multiple times. It was also revealed that Rogers had been in the same area as Pierro during the time of the murder for a college reunion.

Rogers had also been suspected of murdering Jack Franklin Andrews who was mutilated beyond recognition. Police and investigators have theorized that Rogers may have had something to do with the case as he went on numerous vacations to Connecticut, where Andrews was killed.

However, due to the lack of evidence, Rogers was never charged with either murder case.

Watch the upcoming HBO Max true crime docuseries Last Call: When a Serial Killer Stalked Queer New York on Sunday, July 9, 2023.

Edited by Madhur Dave