01x04 - Fred

[bunniefuu]

What draws you to another person anyway?

Some of it is mystery.

What people call chemistry.

There are just some people
you feel connected to.

It feels like it was yesterday
that I loved Fred.

That he loved me back.

The Fred I knew was soft and gentle.

Soft and gentle doesn't mean weak.

Sometimes it takes great strength
to be soft and gentle.

At the end of the summer of 1972,

he left Norwich
for the University of Maine

to start his graduate studies.

Sometime in April of 1973,

Fred sent me a gift.

A photograph of a tree in Maine
that was similar to a photograph

he'd given me
of my favorite tree in Norwich.

When it arrived

I knew he still loved me.

About a month later,

May of 1973,

my mother called to tell me
that Fred had been k*lled.

A bicyclist had noticed tarp in a field

and found Fred's body.

When death is unexpected,

you have no chance to do
any grieving ahead of time.

And when it's violent...

you just can't wrap your head around it.

Fred's m*rder is
the darkest moment of my life.

And it's more than deeply distressing

to think that

had his k*ller been convicted in 1973,

so many other men might not
have suffered the same fate.

Back in those days, it was faxes.

We got a hit on the fingerprint results.

His name was Richard Rogers.

We were exuberant at that point.

We finally had our suspect
after eight years.

We did extensive background investigation.

We just wanted to get your basic pedigree.
He was born in Plymouth, Massachusetts,

that he later moved
to Florida with his family,

where he went to high school
and graduated from Florida Southern.

And then he went
to the University of Maine.

That's where he was arrested

for murdering his college roommate.

So this is the ten-print card

that I received from the state
Bureau of Identification

from his arrest in 1973.
And the crime was homicide.

And then it was also stamped here,
the "Expunged. Do not release."

So that made you curious, too,
if this was expunged, what happened?

How is someone arrested for m*rder

out committing additional murders
years later?

So we were a little concerned
that this guy was

a serial k*ller for 30 years,
and we didn't have him yet.

When we found out that he was
a pediatric surgical nurse

at Mount Sinai,

we were not happy about that,

and we wanted to make sure
that nobody got hurt

until we got him in our custody.

So we ended up having
a meeting at Newark Airport

state police barracks with NYPD.

You know, surveil where he goes to,
who he was meeting up with.

Maybe he'll take us to that k*ll factory

that he has somewhere
or that storage locker.

Is he gonna do something

that's gonna give us better evidence
to convict him?

The night before
the surveillance was to begin,

I got a call from NYPD Major Case squad.

They had picked up Richard Rogers.

None of the surveillance happened.

We were all saying,
"Why would you do that?

"We had it all planned.
We had him watched.

We had him under surveillance
everywhere he went. So what's the issue?"

They were sent there
because Mayor Giuliani's mother

was in the hospital
at the time at Mount Sinai.

And a decision was made
up top from the brass

to get him out of that facility.

To me, there was no logic.
I don't think Mayor Giuliani's mother

would have been a target of Richard Rogers
based on what we knew about him.

I was quite perturbed,

and a lot of expletives
were emanating from my mouth.

We all know it's political.

This is "g*y USA."

- I'm Ann Northrup.
- I'm Andy Humm.

And we have lots of news this week.

Secretary Powell
finally talks about the fact

that there's an A*DS epidemic in Africa.
In Africa.

- Amazing, isn't it?
- Yeah.

Rosie O'Donnell coming out
at the Daytime Emmy Awards.

And finally,
the New York and New Jersey police

arrested a suspect in the killings
of several g*y men in 1992 and '93.

I heard about the arrest,
and I was just ecstatic.

It's like, "Oh my god,
they found somebody."

It was like a bolt of lightning,

'cause I thought they never would.

I heard it from the news.

I think somebody from AVP
might have called me.

I wasn't as connected to AVP at the time.

Yeah, I think so. Richard somebody.

Guy who was arrested
is a guy named Richard Rogers.

- Nurse.
- Fifty years old.

One of his colleagues said, "He struck me
as being a woman in a man's body.

He doesn't seem like he could do that."

You know, it wasn't about him.

You want to remember the names
of the people who were lost.

Not the person who did the act.

We were not surprised
when we heard he was a nurse

'cause that's what, you know,
a profession that would know

how to do that.

And would have access to drugs.

And would have access to

things.

Power. That's what they call it, power.

You have the power to take care of them,
and at the same time you k*ll somebody.

It's all about power.

These were the murders of Michael Sakara,

Peter Anderson of Philadelphia,
who was picked up at the Townhouse Bar.

Thomas Mulcahy and Anthony Marrero

are the actual murders
they think they've gotten him from.

Maybe he'll answer. Why?

What did Uncle Tony do to him?
Why did he pick Uncle Tony?

When they were able to

find him and arrest him,

a little window of hope
had come alive again.

Our families finally
might get justice for this.

But at the same time, being relieved
that this person had been found

and then also being curious
about who this person is.

We were told that this was a man
who had been arrested in 1973

for k*lling his roommate
at the University of Maine.

I just remember feeling like,

"How does someone get away
with something like that?"

I went into the interrogation room,
and I looked him straight in the face,

and I didn't say anything.
I just looked at him.

Richard Rogers was the type of individual

who blends into his surroundings

and forgettable, if you saw him.

He didn't have the physicality
to lift a body up.

So I wasn't surprised that
he had to cut up the bodies,

carry them to his car,
and then carry them to the dump sites.

We told him who we were,
where we were from,

and we said we're investigating

the murders of four g*y men
between 1991 and 1993.

And at that point,
he was shown photographs of the victims.

He said that he did not
recognize most of them

but he immediately pointed
to Michael Sakara

and said that he knew him
and that they were both patrons

of the Five Oaks Bar in New York City.

He was getting a little
frustrated or annoyed and said,

"Look, other than knowing Michael Sakara,
I can't help you with these homicides.

I don't think I can help you."

And that's when I said,

"We're not here looking
for your help tonight.

"We're here because we have
indisputable evidence

that links you to all four
of these murders."

And at that point, he had gone
from sitting with his hands

on his lap and his feet out
to becoming very guarded.

He crossed his arms, he crossed his legs,
and he moved back in his chair.

We started with the Peter Anderson m*rder.

Found in May of 1991 in Lancaster
in a large garbage bag.

"Your fingerprints were found
on that garbage bag."

Richard listened and he nodded
his head up and down.

He said that he was very nervous.

So I said, "Now we're gonna move on
to the Mulcahy m*rder."

"Those bags also contain fingerprints
positively belonging to you."

Along with the latex gloves
we found, the compass saw,

and garbage bags that were all
traced back to Staten Island.

He also started nodding his head.

Never this. Always this.

Then we went into the Marrero m*rder.

"Anthony Marrero was found
in Manchester Township in 1993.

"The bags containing his body
had numerous fingerprints

"and your fingerprints and a palm print
also came back matching yours.

"The bag that contained Marrero's head

came back to an ACME in Staten Island."

At that point, he started to swallow air.

He was gulping.
He started to pass gas uncontrollably.

And then we went into the Sakara m*rder.

"No fingerprints.
But the bartender at the Five Oaks

"said she saw him leave with an individual

"that matches your description
the last night she saw him.

"And two panhandlers sitting outside,

"who knew Michael Sakara,
saw him get in a car,

"a light-colored car with an individual

that matched your description."

At that point, Richard said,
"I think I want a lawyer."

After we showed him our hand,
he wasn't gonna talk anymore.

Accused serial k*ller
Richard Rogers so far

is refusing to answer any questions

or give investigators
any clue to a possible motive.

Because of the nature of his charges,
Rogers is being kept away

from the general population
on Rikers Island,

reportedly tonight on suicide watch.

I was shocked when
I heard Richard was arrested.

I felt strange.

That I knew Richard,
or thought I knew Richard,

and here he was, a serial k*ller.

Richard and I went to college
together in Florida

from 1968 to 1972.

He was a quiet person.

And when I see somebody that's a loner,

I try to befriend them.

After college,
I usually saw Richard every year

at homecoming, down in Florida.

At that point,

I knew right away he was g*y,

but he would never admit it.

At least he would never tell

anybody at school that he was g*y.

I think it would be very difficult
for anybody on campus

to come out as g*y.

People would make fun of you or

possibly worse.

I still think of him when it's about time
for homecoming.

And that's when I'll often
write him a letter.

This is probably the earliest letter.

He wrote: "Managing quite well

"thanks to the support
of family and friends

"and thanks to a lot of help
from the Lord above.

"I had been thinking about our reunion

"starting from around mid-March.

"Hope all went well
and that everyone had a good time.

"These charges are absolutely false,

"and the evidence on which
they're based comes

"from technology
that is not tried and true.

"So hopefully this ordeal
will have a happy ending.

"The wheels of justice
are turning very slowly.

"Take care and I'll be keeping in touch.

As always, Richard."

He was arrested in May.

It had only been a couple of months
since we had spent the night with him.

My daughter was looking for colleges,

when he invited me to come stay with him
when we came to New York,

which was very nice.

He couldn't have been a better host.

Neighbors never suspected
what police tonight are trying to prove,

that the man who lived
in this Staten Island house

was the Last Call k*ller.

We did a search warrant at his

two homes in Staten Island.

One he previously stayed at,

and another current condominium
that he was at.

Neighbors in this Shore Acres section

of Staten Island who know
Richard Rogers reacted.

Very quiet.

Would just see him going back and forth,
get his mail.

To himself.
And that's about all I can say.

I'm very shocked.

For the past three hours, detectives from

the New Jersey State Police
have been scouring

every inch of that house behind me.

Versed is a sedative
that most people will get that

right before you go into surgery.

It just puts you in "la la land,"
where you probably would be defenseless

if somebody was to attack you,
or, you know, if something was to happen.

It can also act like a date-r*pe drug

because it causes some amnesia.

And also it can't be detected in the blood
after a certain period of time.

We never found any
in any of the toxicology.

If they were injected with the drug,

it would have been out of their system
at the time we found them.

We also found a Bible
that contained all kinds of scripture.

And underlined or highlighted
of dismemberment.

And we found photographs of workmen.

In the photographs, in red pen,

were drawings of stab wounds
on their bodies

in the exact way
that our victims were k*lled.

When the search was done,
I was a hundred percent sure it was him.

But there was no direct evidence
in the house linking him to the murders.

This is the last home of Richard Rogers.

He was a pack rat in that
he had thousands of VHSes.

He had "Dynasty" and a bunch of musicals.

Another VHS tape that he had was

"Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte" the movie.

It's involving a beheading.

No!

Why wouldn't I tell him
that his pure darling little girl

was having a dirty little affair
with a married man?

You're a vile, sorry little b*tch!

I didn't want to say that
'cause I didn't want...

'Cause I-- 'cause that's something
people will get--

You know, they'd call me
a bigot or something, you know?

We found hundreds
of "Golden Girl" episodes.

Each a separate episode.

And when I saw it, I go, what the...

Who would want the "Golden Girls"?
I didn't even know what it was. I--

It's like something his mother
would watch, I would think.

I don't know anybody young
that watched "Golden Girls." Do you?

You're probably too young
to even remember.

I'd never thought of the connection
between Richard and the movies.

Maybe in his mind, he was playing a movie.

I don't know.

There was one time

we went into Manhattan
to meet another friend,

and I knew they were both g*y,

so, I arranged that they would
meet at dinner with us.

It was a pleasant evening.

But I could tell John

wasn't that comfortable with Richard,

so I knew it wasn't gonna
work out for them.

After Richard's arrest, I asked my friend

if he had any idea

why Richard would have done that.

And his comment was,

"He was probably uncomfortable
with himself being g*y.

So he had to do away
with any evidence of being g*y."

That made no sense to me.

I would imagine
that there are folks who have

anti-g*y feelings
who would say to themselves,

"Oh, yes, of course he's g*y,

and that explains why
he was behaving this way."

But that's just another way of ignoring
the people he m*rder*d.

This idea of the...

the person who's committing
the crimes as being g*y...

You know, I thought a lot about, like,

what does that, you know,
what does that mean.

And I think that is a distraction,
in that it doesn't,

it doesn't hold systems accountable
for what they need to be accountable for.

We are never gonna know, I don't think,
the real motivation for these murders.

But I'm not sure it matters to the story

that Richard Rogers was g*y
other than being g*y

helped explain how he was able
to get his victims

to go with him and meet their end.

In 1995, I started going
to a bar called Regents,

and I met a nurse named Richard.

He came up to me and introduced himself.

And we became acquaintances.

I would buy him a drink.
He would buy me a drink.

I saw him at least two
or three nights a week,

each week, over the course of five years.

And it was only once I saw the photo

in the newspaper of his arrest,

that I realized
that this was Richard Rogers

who I had been socializing with

for the past five years.

After Thomas Mulcahy was m*rder*d,

we talked about it for months,
if not years going on as to what happened,

but we didn't assume
that he was still among us.

Everyone knew that I was the last person

to be seen with Thomas Mulcahy.

Everyone knew my association with

that m*rder.

And I've always wondered
if Richard didn't seek me out

as some vicarious thrill, like a trophy,
that spending time with the person

who was an acquaintance
of one of his victims

allowed him to relive

the moment and the time
that he spent with Thomas.

Richard Rogers remains
in a lower Manhattan jail

held in lieu of a million dollars bail.

New Jersey prosecutors
are already making moves

to extradite Rogers to stand trial
in Ocean County, New Jersey.

My boss at the time,
who was the chief trial attorney,

walked by my office one day and he said,

"Hillary, how do you feel
about serial K*llers?"

And I said, "I'm against them."
And he basically said,

"Well, would you like to work
with me on the case?"

And I was like, "Absolutely."

This was the only serial k*ller

that I can recall
coming out of Ocean County.

So we were kind of
in unchartered territory.

There was a big task force
meeting up in New York

and Staten Island
just said, no, thank you.

I think jurisdiction questions
were forefront in their mind,

because we couldn't show
a crime scene at all.

Did he k*ll these people in Staten Island?
Did he k*ll them in Manhattan?

Did he k*ll them in northern New Jersey
in a hotel somewhere?

We didn't know.

So because we had two bodies,
two actual physical bodies

that were found
in Ocean County, New Jersey,

that gave us the best chance
to get a conviction out of it.

And we knew we needed to understand
what happened in Maine in 1973,

because he had been caught before

and he got away with that one.

This is the original report
in regards to Richard Rogers'

k*lling of Frederick Spencer.

"On 4-30-73,

"the body of Frederick Spencer
was found wrapped

"in rubber-like tent and dumped by Rogers.

"He, the victim, had been beaten
with a blunt instrument on 4-28-73,

"by Richard Rogers, Jr.,
who confessed to the m*rder

and said it was self-defense."

A lot of people didn't believe
it was self-defense.

I didn't believe it either because

he hit him eight times
in the head with a hammer,

in the back of his head.

Mr. Spencer didn't quite die
at that point,

and Mr. Rogers put a bag over his head,
and finished the job.

I knew that the family had decided

not to go to Maine for the trial.

I'm sure they couldn't have listened to

the claim that it was self-defense,

something none of us could believe.

As we looked into it more,

we realized that Richard Rogers put forth
the "g*y panic" defense.

It was, "My male roommate hit on me,
I did what I had to do,"

and that he was justified in doing it.

The "g*y panic" defense is used

in cases where g*y men are k*lled,

and also when trans people are k*lled.

"This person came on to me
and freaked me out so much

that I had to k*ll them."

Jurors are willing
to believe this garbage.

Right? I've seen juries
believe this garbage.

That's a way defense attorneys
would get somebody off

for k*lling somebody who was g*y or trans
or perceived to be.

There was another rally Tuesday

outside Dallas City Hall
to protest the actions

of district judge Jack Hampton.

Hampton admitted sentencing a k*ller
to a shorter prison term

because his two victims were h*m*.

The g*y and trans panic defense
is all too common.

But I think one of the most
troubling aspects

of this whole case, is that

none of these men
would have been m*rder*d and dismembered

if the justice system
had worked back in the '70s.

Could have put him in prison
years and years and years ago,

but didn't because of h*m*.

Richard Rogers, we told you last week
that he had k*lled his roommate,

- college roommate in 1973.
- Yeah.

Acquitted of that self-defense.

But now we're learning
that he also drugged,

kidnapped, and beat a g*y man
on Staten Island in 1988.

It wasn't until after
we had arrested Rogers,

that we discovered a victim
known as Fred Lerro.

Lerro meets Rogers
at a place called the G.H. Club.

And then they went back to Rogers' home
in Staten Island.

This is testimony
from the Staten Island trial

where the victim, who survived,

is talking about what happened
in the apartment with Richard Rogers.

"I remember entering the apartment,
it was absolutely stifling hot.

"And he disappeared and he came back
and offered me a drink.

"I said something soft like diet soda,

"and he came back with orange juice
or what seemed to be orange juice.

"I didn't taste anything strange,

"but I remember passing out
and as I fell forward,

"a very dark blue rug on the floor.

"I awoke later.

"I had been unconscious for hours.

"I was stripped naked.

"My hands and ankles were bound
with hospital ID bracelets.

"A lot of them.

"I started to scream
and move my hands and feet,

and I couldn't move."

Lerro was very brave to come forward,

especially knowing
that those kinds of cases

where the tables are turned,

and the person who was attacked,
is now on the stand.

I've talked to a number of prosecutors,

and every single one
I've ever talked to says

that it's harder to win a case

when the victim is known
to be g*y or l*sbian

than when the victim is heterosexual.

When you add on
the fact that in this case

it involved a g*y bar,

it involved alcohol,
it involved picking someone up

and going home presumably to have sex,

then it was like, okay,
let's ratchet up the blaming.

Clearly, you did all this.
You deserved it.

Richard Rogers
was found not guilty again.

And the judge reasoned
that no physical proof

that Richard Rogers did
what Fred Lerro said he did.

This person was there to testify,
and was there to cooperate,

and they still didn't believe him.

And it might have emboldened him.

It might have made him feel,

"Hey, got away with one in Maine,

"got away with one in Staten Island.

Now I'm gonna keep going."

The fact that Richard
got away with it twice,

made us nervous.

Because it's not only that Richard had
the two not guilties,

it's that Richard Rogers was only on trial

for the Anthony Marrero case
and the Thomas Mulcahy case.

He hadn't even been charged
with Peter Anderson,

which was a Pennsylvania m*rder case.

Or Michael Sakara,
which was a New York m*rder.

Their bodies being in different states,
you couldn't charge them in New Jersey.

However, we were able to get them admitted
as other crimes evidence in our case.

But we had the only two that were charged.

So it was all riding on us at that point.
And it did feel like a heavy burden.

I was confident with the evidence
about Richard Rogers' lack of alibi.

He had to punch in, I guess,
or punch out when he was at work.

And when we went into those records,

every time a m*rder took place,
he was off from work.

From the time Richard Rogers
was involved in the court system

with the original m*rder in Maine,
to Staten Island,

to then the murders in Ocean County, Pennsylvania,

and New York,
we started to see he had a learning curve

of what would help him
get away with his crimes.

What were the best ways
to not get caught?

We realized through his travel logs
that he was everywhere.

We felt he did
every time he went away, we--

I was under the impression
he was doing murders.

It's always possible that there are bodies

tied to Richard Rogers
that we'll never know about

just based on his travels.

He traveled to California,

Florida,

Massachusetts,

Atlantic City, West Virginia.

We knew he was a hunter.
He was hunting for his victims.

It took a few years between
when Richard was arrested,

and the trial.

And it was difficult, you know,
to wait that long and anticipate, like,

is this even gonna be able to happen?

It's also still at a time in 2005

when, you know, we still didn't
have a lot of civil rights.

Congressional votes and the passage
of similar defense of marriage laws

in 38 states express
an overwhelming consensus

in our country for protecting
the institution of marriage.

You've got the people

that you're gonna rely on
for a conviction,

and their own preconceived notions.

We wanted to make sure
that we really looked

into all the potential pitfalls
for this case.

We did our best during jury selection
to make sure they were accepting people.

The system that we used
for our jury selection

wasn't a system that was in place.

We ended up deciding
that a written questionnaire

would be the best way to try to get out
some of the potential biases

or sensitivities that jurors might have.

The judge asked a lot of questions
about how they felt about h*m*.

There were some people who came
in to the jury room with us,

and said they didn't think
they could be fair.

And we were able to then eliminate them
from the jury pool.

This questionnaire is just a really good
illustration of what we deal with.

If the best we can get is,
"live and let live,"

that is such a low bar.

There's just still this concern that

h*m* was gonna
just rise its head again,

and he was gonna get off.

Leading up to it, we were made aware

we're navigating this dynamic

of where the crime took place.

The jurisdiction question was
an elephant in the room the entire trial.

We needed to find a way
to explain to this jury

that they could presume from the fact

that the bodies were found
in Ocean County,

that the murders were committed
in New Jersey,

Otherwise, he could be found
not guilty on a technicality.

That was an aspect of it
that was definitely very scary,

the possibility
of going through all of this.

What if he's found not guilty?

The fear of the unknown is scary.

As a prosecutor, we like to know things.
We like to control outcomes.

And we can't do that with a jury.

We also did a lot of research
on the victims and their families.

I felt like I had to represent them
a little bit.

I try to do that with all victims,
but in this case, a little more so,

because they were in such a time
and a place

where it could have easily
just been ignored, or downplayed,

or, you know,
even looked at with animosity.

I developed a feeling that that
might have been one of my roles,

is to remember them and to focus on them.

Michael Sakara's friends all called him
like a big teddy bear.

He was never going to be
the quiet one in the corner,

and he was open about his sexuality.

And I think because of that,
maybe he was a little more likely

to be noticed, in a good way.

I think both Peter and Thomas
were a little more mysterious to us.

Just to try to,
try to get to know them as people,

because they had parts of them
that they weren't letting anyone know.

Or at least some people knew one part
and some people knew another.

There's a lot we don't know
about Anthony Marrero.

I always just imagined him
outside on the street,

you know, and then he's just gone.

And we don't know a lot about

how he was taken or when he was taken.

It's kind of something we had to build
ourselves a little bit for the trial.

It was intense seeing Richard
for the first time,

to be in the same room
as the person responsible

for murdering your dad.

And I just remember being kind of,

like, underwhelmed by him,
to be quite honest.

Like, he was this frumpy,

kind of emotionless person.

Mr. Rogers was quiet.

He didn't exhibit any physical,
emotional reaction

to anything that happened
in the courtroom.

And his defense is,
"I'm gonna try and put as many

"'but-ifs, what-ifs'
in the case as possible

to raise a reasonable doubt."

Try and convince the jury
out of the sheer lack of an eyewitness,

if you will, of a m*rder scene.

He basically threw
as much stuff in the air

as he could to raise
those reasonable doubts.

He also didn't talk about
any solid other leads.

He claimed that there was no jurisdiction
but didn't talk about what--

where the jurisdiction could have been.

The defense attorney, David Ruhnke, tried

to say that the fingerprint
evidence was stale,

and it wasn't scientifically accurate.

Either Richard Rogers
is guilty of these murders

because his fingerprints are on the bags
where the bodies are found,

or he's the unluckiest guy in the world.

Like, can you imagine
you have nothing to do with these murders.

And next thing you know,
not only one case,

two-- three cases.

There's your palm print,
your fingerprints.

It's overwhelming.

It's you, and it's overwhelming.

Every day that we went on,

we started to feel
a little more confidence,

like, "This is going in well."

But we were never a hundred percent sure,

because from the moment we started,

there was an air of hesitance

knowing that this could
all hinge on something

that had nothing to do
with the facts themselves.

When you hand a case to a jury,
you just hope at that point

that you picked the right people
that can do justice.

The jury deliberated
for about four hours,

which is relatively quick for
a m*rder case. Multiple murders.

They're walking out
with a paper in their hand,

and then that's when
your heart starts beating.

And I look to this juror,
that I had been kind of concentrating on,

and she looked very upset.

She looked like she had been crying,

and she wouldn't look at us,
meaning the prosecution.

She wouldn't look at either one of us.
And to me, that was a bad sign.

I was nervous. She won't look at us.
They're crying. This is really bad.

They feel like they have to acquit him
because they can't find jurisdiction,

and they're upset about doing it,
'cause they know he probably did it.

It felt like forever,
from the time they came out,

to the time they sat down.

And then the judge asks the foreperson
to stand and read the verdict.

I remember, like, a moment or two

where I was like,
"Did they just, she just said guilty."

And there were multiple counts.

And then I heard guilty,
you know, more than once.

They came back with
a guilty verdict on everything.

When they came out
and read the verdict, that was intense.

More so, just because the forewomen,
like, just broke down.

So the impact that this had
on everyone involved

was something that I think

I wasn't prepared for.

My family and I felt
incredibly just relieved, emotional.

It was kind of a release of just...

I don't know, being able to breathe.

I do feel sorry for him

but he chose it himself.

I think somebody that has done

what the evidence shows that he has done

should not be free

to live among the rest of us.

This letter was written
by Richard Spencer,

younger brother of Fred Spencer,

and written to the prosecutor
in the 2005 case.

"In 1973, Richard Rogers stood trial

"for the death of my older brother,

Frederick Spencer
in Penobscot County, Maine."

"His acquittal gave him the freedom
to pursue a secret life

"that resulted in
an untold number of murders

"over the next 28 years.

"For every one of those murders,

"family's lives were
severely damaged forever

and would never be the same again."

It was important to me,

as the judge who was going
to make the sentence,

to make sure that

every victim's surviving

family members and loved ones,

to the extent that I could provide it,
felt closure,

and that justice had been done.

I sentenced him to life in prison

minimum of 30 years,
served without parole on each homicide,

and I sentenced him to the maximum term
on the hindering apprehension count,

which was five years.

And I sentenced them,
most importantly, consecutively.

My intent was,
that Richard Rogers never feel or see

freedom ever until he died.

I was thrilled that the perpetrator
was convicted and sentenced.

But, it was so delayed,

that, you know,
it felt like justice denied as well.

It took so long that

it wasn't as gratifying
as it should have been.

We have to take the victories
that we have, you know,

and be happy for those things
but it doesn't solve the problem.

You know, this is happening again.

I mean, we have,
we've come full circle in many ways.

Police are now looking into
a larger pattern of Manhattan bar patrons

being robbed and k*lled.

They were last seen leaving
g*y bars in Hell's Kitchen.

And with the recent news around druggings

and other types of violence
against our community

we wanted to make sure that people knew
that AVP's available to help them.

We still have violence
against LGBT community happening,

especially when you look
at trans people of color,

where there's lots of people
that are committing violence

against the trans community
and not being held accountable.

The American Medical Association

has declared the killings
of trans women of color

an epidemic.

You look at so many cases
of our community being criminalized,

m*rder*d, victimized, chased,
and still no protections.

At what point does our government step up

and say there needs to be
a state of emergency?

The rallying cry here
is to really understand

the impact of political context

and rhetoric
and how that leads to violence.

h*m* cannot reproduce biologically,

but they have to reproduce
by recruiting our children.

We're not gonna be injecting
concepts like transgenderism

into kindergarten or first grade.

That is inappropriate.
We're not gonna do it.

This last year,



in the state legislatures.

The most in our community's history.

And the g*y and trans panic defense
is still legal in 34 states.

We've got to intervene
and hold people accountable

that are committing that kind of violence.

Considering that Richard Rogers got
two consecutive life sentences,

I think that we've

gotten justice.

However,
this is not just Uncle Tony's story,

this is the q*eer community's story.

We will not be quiet.

Pride is a protest. Pride is a right.

Pride is a protest...

I was robbed of the opportunity
to not even have to consider

what would it be like to march with Tony.

The Book of Tony,

it's slowly appearing and materializing,
and I'm starting to fill in the blanks.

Years ago, I did

a summer internship in New York

and the g*y Pride parade was going by,

and they were blasting the song
"I Am What I Am."

And that was,

like, a song that my dad would, like,
play a lot.

So it was like, "Oh."

I could see him fitting in here.

I've learned that we are all kind of more
than just the role that we play

as mother or father or husband.

That doesn't take away from,

from what we all experienced and had.

I'll always carry Michael with me.

He was not only a protector,

but a friend,
and kind of a sounding board.

I still think of him almost every day.

Just wondering what he'd be like.

Peter would love it today.

To be able to have a boyfriend.

And he'd breathe a sigh of relief.
That, isn't it about time?

My life now is so wonderful.
I'm happily married.

Just wish it had happened,
you know, earlier.

I think the legacy for
Peter and Tom and Anthony,

and Michael...

they did help galvanize a community.

d*kes and f*gs are family,
and one of our family values

is an attack on one of us
is an attack on all of us.

The strength of the community
is to celebrate who we are,

and that we're in all this together.

I believe in your power.

We have a responsibility to each other,
and that's a joyful thing.

I believe in our power.

I believe in our...

I want everyone who has a family member,

or friend that's been a victim,
to violence against the q*eer community,

to have that sense of, "My friend,

my lover, my family member."

They weren't just a statistic

or a victim in a news article.

They lived, they loved,

they had their own story too.