In a new book, journalist Elon Green explores the under-reported stories of gay men brutally murdered by a killer who evaded justice for a decade
On 5 May 1991, a grisly stash of body parts was found in trash bags by a rest stop on the New Jersey Turnpike. The parts had been cut so cleanly that barely any blood could be found amid the sinew and bone. Over the next two years, similar scenes of horror would emerge in the region, leaving scores of clues about the character of the victims as well as the origin and method of their deaths.
If this story had traced the common arc of serial killings, a wave of fear would have rippled through the communities most likely to suffer the next victim. But it didn’t happen that way. In fact, the people who were most at risk – in this case, gay men who met for hook-ups at New York City bars that served the community – were given no sustained or amplified warnings by either the authorities or the media, creating a safe space for the murderer to continue to wreak havoc. In fact, the case got so little attention relative to its horror that today few remember it, even within the gay community.
Continue reading...from The Guardian https://ift.tt/30mWaqq
