Homicidal Inequality
I stumbled across something that I found odd – stick close behind me as we take a quick stroll through a rogues gallery.
The Original Night Stalker is the moniker for an unidentified serial killer and rapist who murdered at least ten people in Southern California from 1979 through 1986 and sexually assaulted at least fifty in Northern California from June 1976 to July 1979.
The “Original Night Stalker”: a dark, dangerous, sort of moniker.
“Freeway Phantom” was the name given to an unidentified serial killer known to have abducted, raped and strangled six female youths in Washington, D.C. from April 1971 through September 1972.
The “Freeway Phantom”: ethereal and mysterious – a name that conjures up the image of a ghost wandering dimly lit pavement.
The Honolulu Strangler […] was Hawaii’s first known serial killer and responsible for the death of five women in Honolulu.
The “Honolulu Strangler”: a practical label, perhaps, but still evoking a sort of classic villainy.
“The Doodler” (aka “The Black Doodler”) refers to an unidentified serial killer believed responsible for 14 slayings and three assaults of men in San Francisco’s gay community between January 1974 and September 1975. The nickname was given due to the perpetrator’s habit of sketching his victims prior to having sex with them and then stabbing them to death.
The Doodler? Seriously? I don’t mean to cast aspersions on whoever the SF journalists and police had coming up with nicknames, but it seems to me that this fellow wouldn’t have been known as something quite so lame if he hadn’t been targeting the gay community.
I don’t know what I would have gone with for an alternate – the San Francisco Slasher? The Artist? – but even “The Black Doodler” sounds like a poorly paid caricaturist who intentionally draws over-sized noses on all of his clients.
Police had developed a prime suspect in the case, identified by two of his survivors, but authorities could not proceed with an arrest as the surviving victims refused to “out” themselves by way of testifying (one was an entertainer, the other a diplomat). Meanwhile, the suspect spoke freely with police, although he did not admit the slayings.
[…]
To date, the suspect has never been publicly named or apprehended, and the slayings have faded into obscurity; very little information is currently available about these crimes.
It almost sounds to me like there was a bigot working for the paper who wanted to add an insult to the murderer while also being “technically” accurate due to the MO.
Quite possible, although I rather (unfortunately) suspect it’s more indicative of a general ’70s attitude.
Yeah, I’m with you, especially in 70’s San Francisco.
That’s a seriously terrible bad guy name. In fact, it’s a horrible nickname period. Especially for how horrible the killer was – he needs a horrific name. I’m thinking Death Artist or Artist of Death or something.
Exactly! I like Artist of Death, although it sounds a bit like a themed-album released by Lady Gaga.