NY NY - Hudson River, 6 Males found dismembered in garbage bags “Bag Murders”, 1970s

[JovanSrna]

It's so sad how the bag murders are forgotten. Without the Wikipedia page they would have been buried under the relentless march of time but it's not like it's a famous case even with the Wikipedia page.

 

[madamx]

Wait, were they literally never identified, or were their identities simply never made public?

I cannot be certain but from what I have read…really seems as though only one of the guys was identified.

 

[madamx]

The article @apearn found I posted below


Mentions one guy had a studded belt and handkerchief with a monogrammed A.

the one with tattoo had 3 one on left arm . One on chest that was cut and one on right arm that was cut


There is a lot more info .

I am refreshing the thread with this again. Maybe someone can find a guy missing
with any of these…
From the article above says.

One guy had
A studded belt and
monogrammed handkerchief with letter A

Another guy had 3 tattoos
One on Left Arm
One on Chest ( that was cut out)
One on right arm ( that was cut out)

Unfortunately that is all I have found on any of the men found.

 

[RuinRoad]

Did a post get deleted or am I missing where one of them was identified via tattoo?

From that article (amazing search skills apearn!) this is the list:

1. September 18 1976 – A torso with similar dismemberment style was found in Weehawken Township. One arm matching the body would be found later, but fingerprints taken would not provide any identification.


2. December 12 1976 – Torso with stab wounds to chest found near a landfill site in NJ


3. March 14 1976 – A torso wrapped in a plastic bag was found washed ashore at the beach at Sandy Hook Coast Guard Station. Young African American Male. A badly torn pair of Lee Blue Jeans were still on the torso attached via black belt, while a shredded pair of thermal BVD underwear were inside the bag.


4. Late April 1976 – Brooklyn police found a white male torso, sexually mutilated.


5. Sometime between April and May 5 1976 - Moonachie, NJ – White male Torso found with both arms. Tattoos had been cut off of the chest and right arm, but the left arm had an intact torso.

6. ???

 

[naomiwise]

Hi, I found this thread while looking for any information about the victims of the canonical 6 bag murders. Wanted to reactivate the thread if people still have interest. I have emailed Matt Miller as well as the staff at True Crime Magazine, (who posted a graphic photo of one of the victims to their instagram) hoping that they will share any information they have.

Here is coverage from the sentencing in the NY Daily News, one of the papers where that director William Friedkin stated he read about the murders before contacting Bateson for an interview. This names 5 white and one Black victims, all in the Hudson, beginning in December 1975. Friedkin also stated reading coverage in the NY Post but I cannot locate online archives of the Post from the 70s. The director's memory seems a little shaky but if he remembers longer coverage of these murders it may be in the Post from between 1977 and 1979.

 

[DS2021]

Hi, I found this thread while looking for any information about the victims of the canonical 6 bag murders. Wanted to reactivate the thread if people still have interest. I have emailed Matt Miller as well as the staff at True Crime Magazine, (who posted a graphic photo of one of the victims to their instagram) hoping that they will share any information they have.

Here is coverage from the sentencing in the NY Daily News, one of the papers where that director William Friedkin stated he read about the murders before contacting Bateson for an interview. This names 5 white and one Black victims, all in the Hudson, beginning in December 1975. Friedkin also stated reading coverage in the NY Post but I cannot locate online archives of the Post from the 70s. The director's memory seems a little shaky but if he remembers longer coverage of these murders it may be in the Post from between 1977 and 1979.

Welcome to websleuths!

Youve done Great work, id love to help out more if you would like that!

 

[iamshadow21]

There's a big gap between Richard Rogers' first murder while he was in college and the assaults and murders he committed in the late eighties and early nineties. I'd be wondering what he was doing all that time.

Richard Rogers (serial killer) - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

He dismembered and then disposed of his victims in bags.

 

[madamx]

There's a big gap between Richard Rogers' first murder while he was in college and the assaults and murders he committed in the late eighties and early nineties. I'd be wondering what he was doing all that time.

Richard Rogers (serial killer) - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

He dismembered and then disposed of his victims in bags.

Oh wow very interesting find! I never heard of this guy!

 

[madamx]

Hi, I found this thread while looking for any information about the victims of the canonical 6 bag murders. Wanted to reactivate the thread if people still have interest. I have emailed Matt Miller as well as the staff at True Crime Magazine, (who posted a graphic photo of one of the victims to their instagram) hoping that they will share any information they have.

Here is coverage from the sentencing in the NY Daily News, one of the papers where that director William Friedkin stated he read about the murders before contacting Bateson for an interview. This names 5 white and one Black victims, all in the Hudson, beginning in December 1975. Friedkin also stated reading coverage in the NY Post but I cannot locate online archives of the Post from the 70s. The director's memory seems a little shaky but if he remembers longer coverage of these murders it may be in the Post from between 1977 and 1979.

Welcome! Thank you for posting the article!! Great find!

 

[madamx]

Did a post get deleted or am I missing where one of them was identified via tattoo?

From that article (amazing search skills apearn!) this is the list:

1. September 18 1976 – A torso with similar dismemberment style was found in Weehawken Township. One arm matching the body would be found later, but fingerprints taken would not provide any identification.


2. December 12 1976 – Torso with stab wounds to chest found near a landfill site in NJ


3. March 14 1976 – A torso wrapped in a plastic bag was found washed ashore at the beach at Sandy Hook Coast Guard Station. Young African American Male. A badly torn pair of Lee Blue Jeans were still on the torso attached via black belt, while a shredded pair of thermal BVD underwear were inside the bag.


4. Late April 1976 – Brooklyn police found a white male torso, sexually mutilated.


5. Sometime between April and May 5 1976 - Moonachie, NJ – White male Torso found with both arms. Tattoos had been cut off of the chest and right arm, but the left arm had an intact torso.

6. ???

Yes I why do I also remember one guy was identified?!

 

[iamshadow21]

Oh wow very interesting find! I never heard of this guy!

Both the book and the documentary series Last Call are about the series of killings in the early nineties. Both are excellent. I read the book first. The series was made for HBO, the book won an Edgar. I think it's worth consuming both, they have a slightly different focus to each other, and there's at least one wonderful interview subject who didn't participate in the book who was found for and participated in the documentary series.

I think Richard Rogers is a serious contender for these crimes. Who knows, they may have something forensic that rules him out, but the victim pool and the method of dismemberment and disposal in bags is consistent with Rogers' MO. And I don't think he waited over a decade to kill again after his first. I think he had a lot of other victims that were never tied to him.

MOO

 

[naomiwise]

Both the book and the documentary series Last Call are about the series of killings in the early nineties. Both are excellent. I read the book first. The series was made for HBO, the book won an Edgar. I think it's worth consuming both, they have a slightly different focus to each other, and there's at least one wonderful interview subject who didn't participate in the book who was found for and participated in the documentary series.

I think Richard Rogers is a serious contender for these crimes. Who knows, they may have something forensic that rules him out, but the victim pool and the method of dismemberment and disposal in bags is consistent with Rogers' MO. And I don't think he waited over a decade to kill again after his first. I think he had a lot of other victims that were never tied to him.

MOO

I disagree about Richard Rogers fitting in in the much grimier 70s leather scene compared to another college student and his older victim pool at swankier bars, but it’s certainly not impossible.

(It occurred to me also that early punks would buy their studded and leather accessories at sex shops)

I have a friend requesting Post coverage from university ILL for me - and found a police source admitting the existence of possible matching missing persons reports in Newsday

 

[bettyboop]

For over a century New York has buried their indigent, unclaimed and unidentified in mass graves in Potter’s Fields on Hart Island.
Now believed to contain the interred remains of over 1 million individuals, Hart Island recently made national news when drone photography showed massive trenches being dug for the coffins of Covid-19 victims.
Not surprisingly Hart Island has a long history of being an epidemic burial ground, including those dying from AIDS.
NY artist Melinda Hunt created the non-profit The Hart Island Project. with the intent of making information and access available to family members and the public.
The website invites the public to visit the cemetery virtually and search the data for those interred in the mass graves since 1980.
These murders occurred in the 1970’s, and unfortunately I have no idea if it is possible to search data for any remains prior 1980.

@BigKeyManatee, I don't know if you are still active on this website, but Thank You!! I just read your post and went to the website for The Hart Island Project, and , wow, what an incredible resource!! I think it could be invaluable for sleuths looking for people who seem to be missing or lost.. They could be someone who has passed and was buried on Hart Island. Amazing , and just wow!! JMO MOO

 

[madamx]

I disagree about Richard Rogers fitting in in the much grimier 70s leather scene compared to another college student and his older victim pool at swankier bars, but it’s certainly not impossible.

(It occurred to me also that early punks would buy their studded and leather accessories at sex shops)

I have a friend requesting Post coverage from university ILL for me - and found a police source admitting the existence of possible matching missing persons reports in Newsday

This article is good thank you for posting it! I love when old articles are posted. Helps gives a little more insight. I really wish this case got more coverage.

 

[madamx]

I was digging online to see if I found anything more and I came across this which I never heard of. Iam just posting because of the similarity

Coast Killings: Bizarre Case Widens (Published 1977)

1st lead in murder case involving Kearney and Hill was provided by parents of slain John Lemay, 17; Lemay's background noted; police officials say that defendants have already been linked to 12 murders and that toll may reach as high as 40; relationship between Kearney and Hill and their...

www.nytimes.com

 

[DS2021]

I was digging online to see if I found anything more and I came across this which I never heard of. Iam just posting because of the similarity

Coast Killings: Bizarre Case Widens (Published 1977)

1st lead in murder case involving Kearney and Hill was provided by parents of slain John Lemay, 17; Lemay's background noted; police officials say that defendants have already been linked to 12 murders and that toll may reach as high as 40; relationship between Kearney and Hill and their...

www.nytimes.com

Patrick Kearney - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[madamx]

Patrick Kearney - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

My brain is friedI did not remember there was a thread of this omg

 

[madamx]

There's a big gap between Richard Rogers' first murder while he was in college and the assaults and murders he committed in the late eighties and early nineties. I'd be wondering what he was doing all that time.

Richard Rogers (serial killer) - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

He dismembered and then disposed of his victims in bags.

I ke

@BigKeyManatee, I don't know if you are still active on this website, but Thank You!! I just read your post and went to the website for The Hart Island Project, and , wow, what an incredible resource!! I think it could be invaluable for sleuths looking for people who seem to be missing or lost.. They could be someone who has passed and was buried on Hart Island. Amazing , and just wow!! JMO MOO

I was reading over these articles again and one said that there Were men reported missing from Greenwich Village but they could not match them to the bodies because of no dentals.
Now my question is who were these men reported missing and are they still missing?

 

[madamx]

I came across this about NYC gay bars of yesteryear , I thought I would share. I liked some of the comments that people posted which gave you more of a feel of what was going on in the 1970s NYC gay bars. Also makes me wonder if any of these men could of been men on business from out of town. This case really bothers me. Ugh

https://thestarryeye.typepad.com/gay/2014/03/gay-bars-of-nyc-rip-.html

 

[JSolt1210]

I came across this about NYC gay bars of yesteryear , I thought I would share. I liked some of the comments that people posted which gave you more of a feel of what was going on in the 1970s NYC gay bars. Also makes me wonder if any of these men could of been men on business from out of town. This case really bothers me. Ugh

https://thestarryeye.typepad.com/gay/2014/03/gay-bars-of-nyc-rip-.html

Oh goodness, what a blast from the past! I definitely remember and even visited a handful of these! Fun times!

That first bar (Badlands) closing because two people were shot and killed inside in 1981 really does speak to the times. I don't remember the scene being like that in the 2010s.

Great point that any of the men could've been on business from out of town. Heck, same goes for the perpetrator(s)! Maybe that's why so many years have passed with no answers. If the perp was the one visiting, that might explain why the murders stopped so abruptly in 1977. He could've left the area and maybe continued elsewhere.