Shocking HBO True Crime Documentary Uncovers A Serial Killer Stalking Queer New York
The docu-series Last Call: When a Serial Killer Stalked Queer New York debuted the program’s pilot episode on Max over the weekend. And if the inaugural installment is any indication of the series at large, the proceedings are poised to be a queer positive, victim-focused profile of those impacted by The Last Call Killer. I commend series creators Anthony Caronna and Howard Gertler on that distinction. So often, true crime reporting spends a disproportionate amount of time profiling the perpetrator. And that type of journalism doesn’t do much to advocate for the victims that lost their lives.
For anyone not familiar with the case: Last Call looks back on a time, not all that long ago, when a maniac prowled the gay bars of New York, targeting queer men. The killer would dismember victims and scatter their remains throughout the metropolitan area.
Last Call applies a compassionate approach to the proceedings that sees the queer victims portrayed, first and foremost, as human beings. They aren’t painted as seedy characters or damaged goods. And that’s something we might take for granted now. But if this were airing during the early ‘90s, when the crimes were being perpetrated, that wouldn’t have been a guarantee. On one hand, it’s nice to see how much progress we’ve made and to see the gay community being treated with respect by the media. But it’s also staggering to think that we aren’t far removed from a time where gay men were treated as freakish deviants.
I believe it’s those very attitudes toward gay people that paved the way for a serial killer targeting gay and bisexual men to emerge. Queer men were treated as subhuman by many when the murders were taking place. And that societal tendency to devalue gay lives may very well have given The Last Call Killer the push he needed to begin his reign of terror.
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The debut episode of Last Call serves as a poignant reminder of just how hard our community has fought for equality. It’s not a coincidence that hate crimes began to rise in the ‘90s. That timeframe corresponds with early efforts by our community to live more openly instead of existing in the shadows. That correlation suggests that people were willing to tolerate our existence if we kept our comings and goings private. But the moment we wanted to live openly, people responded with violence. The sad truth of that is that progress comes at a heartbreaking cost. Every step we take forward has the potential to embolden hateful people and fuel their radical ideas about our community. That’s a difficult pill to swallow. But it makes me grateful to those that have pushed for progress at all costs.
Like so many other cases involving marginalized victims, it seems as though catching the perpetrator in this case was not a top priority for law enforcement. Sentiments of that nature allowed the Grim Sleeper to stalk the streets of LA for a quarter century before he was taken into custody. Thanks to the relentless determination of activists that stayed on top of local law enforcement, however, The Last Call Killer was eventually apprehended in 2001.
I can’t speak to the collective whole of Last Call, because I’ve only seen the first episode. But so far, the show functions as a celebration of the lives of the victims, as opposed to a profile on the killer and what made him tick. In fact, I don’t think the first episode has mentioned the name of The Last Call Killer. And I’m not against that. The people that really matter are those that lost their lives. This type of reporting should serve as a voice for the voiceless. And so far, that is exactly how the series has played out.
One piece the series may not be able to shed light on is the killer’s motivation. More than 20 years after his apprehension, there is still not a great deal known about why he did what he did. His continued silence leaves me to wonder if he may have experienced a level of same sex attraction and turned to murder in response to those urges. Or perhaps he was sexually abused at some point and was making a misguided and reprehensible effort to reclaim his autonomy. There are many theories but not much in the way of hard evidence. Whatever the cause, I can’t help but think the societal demonization of gay culture fed into his hate-fueled murder spree in one form or fashion.
If you’re curious to scope Last Call for yourself, the first episode is available to stream on Max now. New episodes (the series contains a total of four) will be added to the platform on Sundays.
