Richard Westall Rogers

Serial Killer

Richard Westall Rogers: The Last Call Killer

Richard Westall Rogers Jr., known as the "Last Call Killer," was a surgical nurse whose outwardly quiet and professional life concealed his connection to a series of exceptionally violent murders. During the early 1990s, gay and bisexual men disappeared after spending evenings in Manhattan bars. Their remains were later discovered beside highways and at roadside rest areas in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The victims had been killed, methodically dismembered or mutilated, carefully cleaned and placed inside layers of tightly knotted plastic bags. Rogers was ultimately convicted of murdering Thomas Mulcahy and Anthony Marrero. Investigators also connected him through fingerprints, eyewitness testimony and striking similarities to the murders of Peter Stickney Anderson and Michael Sakara. Decades earlier, Rogers had admitted killing his University of Maine housemate, Frederic Alan Spencer, although a jury acquitted him after he claimed self-defense.

The Killing of Frederic Alan Spencer

Rogers' first known deadly encounter occurred while he was a graduate student at the University of Maine in Orono. On April 28, 1973, he killed 22-year-old Frederic Alan Spencer inside the house they shared with other students. Rogers struck Spencer repeatedly in the back of the head with a roofing hammer. According to Rogers' own account, Spencer remained alive after the blows, so Rogers placed a plastic bag over his head and suffocated him. Rogers wrapped Spencer's body in a nylon tent, carried it to his car and abandoned it in a wooded area near Bird Stream outside Orono. Two cyclists discovered the body on May 1, 1973. A key found in Spencer's clothing helped investigators identify him and led police back to the house. Inside Rogers' room, officers found blood evidence, a bloody footprint and the hammer used in the killing. Rogers confessed but claimed that Spencer had attacked him first and that he had acted in self-defense. He also maintained that he panicked afterward and disposed of the body because he feared the circumstances would appear suspicious. The original murder charge was reduced to manslaughter, and on November 2, 1973, a jury found Rogers not guilty. Although he was acquitted, the killing later became an important part of the investigation because the arrest placed his fingerprints in Maine's records.

The Last Call Murders

After leaving Maine, Rogers moved to New York, trained as a nurse and eventually worked at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan. His medical background later attracted investigators' attention because several victims had been dismembered with unusual precision. Arms and legs had been separated or cut at carefully selected locations, and the remains had been washed before disposal. The murders became known as the "Last Call" killings because several victims had visited Manhattan bars catering to gay men shortly before disappearing. The killer appeared to approach men late in the evening, sometimes near closing time, and persuade them to leave with him. Authorities never established with certainty where the four early-1990s victims were killed. Their bodies were transported across state lines and left in locations where road workers, motorists or vendors would eventually find them. ...

Confirmed Victims: (4)

Peter Stickney Anderson Age: (54), Date of Death: 1991-05-05

Suspected Victims:

Matthew John Pierro Age: (21), Date of Death: 1982-04-10

Jack Franklin Andrews Age: (26), Date of Death: 1986-11-26

Richard Rogers (serial killer) - Wikipedia