Richard Rogers (serial killer)

Richard Westall Rogers Jr. (born June 16, 1950), known as The Last Call Killer, is an American serial killer who murdered and dismembered at least two gay and bisexual men between 1992 and 1993.

His modus operandi consisted of luring men from piano bars in Manhattan, murdering and dismembering them at an unknown location, and dumping their bodies in garbage bags along highways in New Jersey.

Rogers was born on June 16, 1950, in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

He was the eldest of five children, raised by his father, a lobsterman, and his mother, a telephone worker.

In the late 1950s, Rogers and his family relocated to Florida so his father could work a higher-paying job in sheet metal manufacturing.

His father taught him how to hunt deer and ducks, and catch fish.

As an adolescent, Rogers was skinny and timid.

This, along with his effeminate personality and high-pitched voice, made him a target of bullying at Palmetto High School.

Much to the dismay of his father, Rogers didn't show an interest in sports, instead preferring to go to girl scout meetings with his mother.

Rogers was also a straight-A student, and a member of the French club at his school.

In the late 1960s, Rogers allegedly grabbed a knife from his home and used it to stab his neighbor, an older woman.

Because of the attack, Rogers was briefly institutionalized, but was soon released, and graduated from Palmetto High School in 1968.

Richard Rogers attended Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida.

While in college, Rogers was described as a quiet loner, who largely kept to himself.

However, he did have a few friends—most notably his second roommate.

He and his roommate were described as being "joined at the hip" during the majority of their time at university.

Although Rogers was not a part of any clubs, he and some of his friends joined Circle K, a Kiwanis service organization.

He is suspected of murdering several other men in Maine, Florida, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and New York from the 1970s to the 1990s.

Rogers graduated from Florida Southern College in 1972, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in French.

In 1973, when Rogers was 23, he attended the University of Maine as a graduate student.

Rogers lived in a two-story house with three housemates in Orono, Maine.

One of Rogers's housemates was Frederic Alan Spencer, a 22-year-old man.

Rogers and Spencer were not fond of each other, but there were no instances of violence between the two prior to Spencer's death.

On the afternoon of April 28, 1973, Rogers hit Spencer eight times in the back of the head with a roofing hammer.

Spencer was still alive after the bludgeoning, so Rogers asphyxiated him by placing a plastic bag over his head until he died.

Rogers then waited until the evening to dispose of Spencer's body.

He wrapped Spencer in his nylon boy scout tent, dragged the body out of his home, past the parking lot, and into his car.

He then drove down route 116 in Old Town for about a minute until he reached the Bird Stream forest, where he dumped Spencer's body.

Spencer's body was found by two cyclists on the afternoon of May 1, 1973.

Police were able to identify Spencer's body after tracing a key found in his pants to a post office box he rented.

Three officers then investigated the home Spencer shared with his three housemates.

In Rogers's room, they discovered bloody fingerprints on the door, a bloody footprint on the floor, blood droplets across the walls, and the hammer used to kill Spencer.

Rogers was subsequently taken to the Orono police barracks and interrogated.

During the interrogation, he admitted to killing Spencer, but claimed it was in self-defense.

After his confession, Rogers was charged in the murder of Spencer, and pleaded not guilty.

Rogers's fingerprints, height, and weight were taken.

He was held in the Bangor County jail without bail for the next six months, until his trial started.

Rogers wasn't arrested until 2001, when a new forensic technique was used to uncover his fingerprints from the bags he wrapped his victims' body parts in.

Rogers was later convicted of two counts of first degree murder and two counts of hindering apprehension.

He is now serving two consecutive life sentences in New Jersey State Prison and has never spoken about the murders.