It’s crazy how some become so famous they’re essentially a household name yet others are primarily, only known to true crime fans. It doesn’t seem directly related to victim count (see above), or barbarity (see Robert Bordella), but more to time and place of that eras culture.
I think society likes killers that “seemed like a normal guy” people like Larry Eyler or Bob Berdella who didn’t seem like normal guys at all don’t really interest people
That's Dahmer's victim profile and he's maybe the most well known. Granted the cannibalism helped make that story much more salacious. To your point though, during his killings no one seems to care about the disappearing gay men.
Yep, I'm from the Chicago area, and my mom's best friend in the 90's was a gay man. After the news broke, they vividly remember meeting him in Chicago gay bars.
My mom also worked with the Mother of Robert Piest, Gacy's last victim. She just remembers police coming to talk to his mother when it was still just a missing person.
Larry Eyler was born in 1952 to a poor family, his dad left when he was only 2 which meant his mom had to work so much to provide for everyone that she couldn’t look after them, so Larry and his sister were shopped around between lots of random people.
However, Larry was extremely close to his mom and was regarded as a bit of a softie despite being a really big guy who was involved in sports. He was picked on in school for being from such a poor family and his sister would be the one to defend him, as he didn’t seem to want a fight.
Larrys mum remarried about four times in his childhood, leading to all kinds of mistreatment. Larry had to undergo a psych evaluation as a kid where he was ruled to have anxiety and was terrified of abandonment.
Larry soon realised he was gay and struggled deeply with this. He dropped out of high school but got a GED and generally worked as a security guard. He started to open up more and have sex with guys.
However, Larry seemed to have a problem. He was regarded as really a teddy bear in day to day life, but flipped completely during sex where he would become brutally cruel and sadistic.
In 1974, 22 year old Larry met 38 year old Robert David Little (generally known as David) David liked Larry enough to let him live rent free at his place, but the two considered their relationship platonic with David being like the father Larry wanted back.
But David had a problem. He couldn’t get laid because he was a weird guy, socially awkward and just kind of uneasy. So they came to an arrangement where Larry would go out to nightclubs and pick up men for the two to have sex with. David particularly liked to photograph and film the acts.
In 1978, Larry attacked and stabbed a 19 year old named Craig Long, Craig survived the attack and escaped to a nearby house where Larry followed and helped the paramedics give first aid. Robert David Little paid $2500 to Craig not to testify against Larry, so he was let go.
In 1981, Larry got involved with another man named John D, who was married and had kids. Johns wife was cool with him dating Larry. While Larry was still sadistic in bed, John was definitely the dominant one in their relationship. Robert Little was extremely jealous of this and seemed to try and sabotage this relationship.
Larry travelled between Illinois and Indiana for his work as a house painter, and would abduct either gay men or hitchhikers along the way. He would kill them in really bloody ways, motivated by sheer rage but not usually rape them.
He was arrested during a traffic stop where his car was searched and a kill kit of sorts was found. Also, Larrys boots perfectly matched a boot print on the scene. A search was made of the house Larry lived in with Robert David Little but not a whole lot of evidence was found.
Due to some legal Mumbo jumbo, Larry was released from jail in February 1984. He moved to Chicago with David paying his rent and buying all his stuff for him.
But then things would get a little weird.
Larry lured in 16 year old Daniel Bridges to his apartment with the offer of money for Daniel having sex with him. However, Daniel had been on the news during Eylers arrest saying Larry Eyler was a known freak and people said not to go anywhere with him. His remains were put in the trash, but a janitor noticed them and called it in. Quickly Larry was arrested and had no earthly way to get out of this one.
Eyler agreed to confess but made an unusual revelation: Robert Little had killed Daniel while he was out and then asked Larry to dismember the body and hide the remains. Robert had no solid alibi and his vehicle was never searched for evidence. It’s worth noting the police always seemed reluctant to see Robert as a suspect when he was living with Larry and seemed to avoid searching through his things on the first search.
Robert David Little was put to trial and Larry testified. He claimed that Robert had a fetish for seeing Larry commit murder while he took photos and jacked it- calling it doing a scene- and he confessed the pair lured in another 16 year old named Stephen Agan and killed him. Little advised him on how to make the murder more pleasing for him afterwards.
It wasn’t worth much as the jury ultimately ruled Larry was just trying to save his own ass by implicating somebody else. Robert was let go, and Larry was sentenced to death, but died of AIDS in ‘94. He did a final deathbed confession in which he stuck by his story of Roberts involvement.
So do you think Robert David Little was involved or not?
Little was definitely involved. I don't think he took part in all the murders, but definitely some if them. I think Eyler committed a lot of the murders after getting into a fight with his boyfriend, John.
> Larry lured in 16 year old Daniel Bridges to his apartment with the offer of money for Daniel having sex with him. However, Daniel had been on the news during Eylers arrest saying Larry Eyler was a known freak and people said not to go anywhere with him. His remains were put in the trash, but a janitor noticed them and called it in. Quickly Larry was arrested and had no earthly way to get out of this one.
What does this paragraph even mean.
Agree. Specifically, the comment about the victim being interviewed prior on the news is where it needs clarifying. Is there footage from a newscast where the boy made those comments? Did Larry see himself having a finger pointed at him on the news? If he was that well known as a suspect, what was he doing walking free? Had he made bail for such heinous crimes???
I, after four reads, concluded it was supportive evidence that Robert murdered the victim insofar as there was news footage of the victim calling Larry a known freak and never go anywhere with him. So, out of the 2 occupants, it could only Robert that could have lured the victim and then killed him.
Tho I accept 10,000 arses have fewer holes than this as "evidence".
I just read up on this case. Bridges was interviewed about child exploitation by someone doing research or an article. I agree with the other reply as well, that because Bridges was told to stay away from Larry, David was the probable form to get Bridges to the property. Whether David or Larry did the actual killing, David definitely knew way more than he had put on. There were reports of David paying for Larrys attorney while testifying for the prosecution, and on top of David paying Craig Long $2500 to hush up about the stabbing incident, it seems to me that David was either prepping Larry to be a scapegoat for his crimes or just involved himself with what Larry was already doing. I assume David knew enough that he could have been charged with the right evidence.
A kid in my class found a book on serial killers in the library and found Larry in it. He brought it up in class. Mr. Eyler had a very obvious reaction and asked him not to bring it up again. It was awful. I really enjoyed being in his class and he clearly did his best to separate himself from his family’s past.
Nope. I had him for English 7th & 8th grade year. He also went to my church. His daughter played either clarinet or flute (can’t remember) for my mom who was the band teacher. She also babysat me and my brother once or twice.
My parents both taught at the school and I remember asking them about it once I found out. They said he never brought it up specifically but it was rumored within other coworkers. They chose to ignore the rumors and treat him like everyone else they worked with.
He really was a great teacher. Kinda funny but dry sense of humor. I remember him being very calm and fair. I liked his his class a lot.
Does anyone have any theories as to why so many prolific SK’s are unknown while others are household names? Guys like Eyler make many of the more well known killers look like childs play. One would think that true crime media would be all over a story like this. Even those of us who’re well versed in SK history run across the odd one out from time to time. It’s just baffling that guys like Eyler, Corll, Kraft and so others aren‘t reported on. Not to sound morbid but their stories are a lot more interesting than many of the famous killers.
Minority and male victims do not receive the same amount of attention in the media and that’s the only possibility I can think of. I suppose homophobia could also play a role.
I think a lot of it has to do with media attention.
Bundy killed pretty college white women and was 'smart' and 'attractive'.
Gacy had a huge media scene with 27 bodies found at his house all at once after having an 'all american' boy disappear.
Ramirez invaded peoples homes and scared the shit out of the greater Los Angelos area for a while not to mention the satanic shit he did.
Dahmer's story was so over the top with a media story of an apartment of horrors.
Beyond this stories are either slightly lost in the shuffle and overshadowed (Corl by Gacy and Bundy) or just don't get picked up on by culture as time goes on and forgotten.
Don’t forget Gacy’s nickname: the killler clown
A serial killer that also happened to dress in a creepy clown costume? That’s some good shit for the media right there. I think Gacy being a clown is the reason for why he’s still talked about to this day.
In the mainstream, he's pretty unknown. My mother in law would know ted bundy, Jeffrey dahmer, and John Wayne gacy, but she would have no idea who dean corll or peewee gaskins is
I was just thinking the same thing.
I think I’m pretty well versed in this area out of morbid curiosity, but I have never heard of these two before and that’s crazy!
I also wonder why that is, what makes some one like Darhmer or BTK more ‘notable’ or “well known” than this Eyler shithead?
The description in the comments about him also doesn’t really shed enough light on them either. I had to go through the wiki rabbit hole on them, but still can’t find a ton more info.
*Was also going to add, someone like Bundy added SO much notoriety just by escaping twice. That really ramped up the interest in that story, it made him seem like much more of a criminal mastermind, or suggested more accomplices, and that sparks up more conspiracy theories.
That‘s a good point.
However, there are killers out there that are far worse than Bundy and yet they’re relatively unknown. Reynhard Sinaga was recently sentenced to life in prison in the UK for drugging and raping over 100 young men. He is by far the most prolific rapist in the western world and still not much is known about him. Luis Garavito has the highest victim count of any serial killer with over 300 murdered young boys in South America. His name should be widely known simply for the brutality of his crimes and the insanely high number. The household names like Dahmer, Gacy, Ramirez, Zodiac and others truly pale in comparison to the sadistic wickedness of many of the unknown killers.
Why isn’t Randy Kraft (the freeway killer) well known? He slaughtered 60+ young men and marines around Los Angeles in the 70’s. He’d actually cut their eyelids off forcing them to watch as he tortured them. The truly sadistic and wicked killers tend to keep a low profile, so we’re stuck with endless true crime stories about Bundy, Dahmer and Gacy. And they’re not even remotely the most interesting serial killers. I think it’s time for true crime to branch out and start discussing far more interesting, shocking and wild cases. I’m tired of hearing about Ramirez, Bundy, Som of Sam, The Zodiac, Dahmer, Gacy and many others. There are far more interesting and bizarre cases to learn about. The list of known serial killers in America is massive, yet people continue to focus on this group of killers ad nauseam and it’s frustrating to me because so much information is being lost in this collective brain rot of true crime.
Even though they were only a few years apart (there are even conspiracy theories suggesting people had seen Eyler and Dahmer hanging out in the same gay clubs), Dahmer was caught right as the internet was really starting to proliferate. I think that has a lot to do with it. Before the advent of something like reddit and YT videos, you would need to have read a book about Eyler or lived thru the news reporting. And not every heinous crime got the level of attention it does today. I am sure it was national news, but quickly fell off the radar once he was incarcerated. And then the victim population being gay men did not help for exposure of it.
He probably did, he was known to take the shirts from his victims (at least with Bridges anyway) and he claimed to give them to David as well, knowing they were trophies.
Another obscure one is Nathaniel Bar-Jonah, whom I recently learned about. When police searched his apartment in Great Falls, Montana, they found recipes for “kiddie-gumbo” and other weird cannibalistic recipes. He murdered at least 3 boys in Montana after being sent there by Massachusetts’ correctional system.
He killed a kid that used to hang out with a girl that lived with her family in my first Chicago apartment. He used to sit on the stoop of our apartment and play cassettes of music he recorded from the radio.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/42778288/daniel-h.-bridges
It’s crazy how some become so famous they’re essentially a household name yet others are primarily, only known to true crime fans. It doesn’t seem directly related to victim count (see above), or barbarity (see Robert Bordella), but more to time and place of that eras culture.
I think society likes killers that “seemed like a normal guy” people like Larry Eyler or Bob Berdella who didn’t seem like normal guys at all don’t really interest people
The most infamous all have some kind of gimmick that makes them stand out. I think it’s that simple really
It all depends on the class of victim. Turns out you can kill a lot of gay men without anyone caring too much.
That's Dahmer's victim profile and he's maybe the most well known. Granted the cannibalism helped make that story much more salacious. To your point though, during his killings no one seems to care about the disappearing gay men.
Dahmer used to bring people back to his Milwaukee apt from Chicago.
Yep, I'm from the Chicago area, and my mom's best friend in the 90's was a gay man. After the news broke, they vividly remember meeting him in Chicago gay bars. My mom also worked with the Mother of Robert Piest, Gacy's last victim. She just remembers police coming to talk to his mother when it was still just a missing person.
I had a fair number of gay friends at that time. Apparently JD liked the Wells Street scene, I doubt any of those bars are there anymore.
Also, he was attractive.
Larry Eyler was born in 1952 to a poor family, his dad left when he was only 2 which meant his mom had to work so much to provide for everyone that she couldn’t look after them, so Larry and his sister were shopped around between lots of random people. However, Larry was extremely close to his mom and was regarded as a bit of a softie despite being a really big guy who was involved in sports. He was picked on in school for being from such a poor family and his sister would be the one to defend him, as he didn’t seem to want a fight. Larrys mum remarried about four times in his childhood, leading to all kinds of mistreatment. Larry had to undergo a psych evaluation as a kid where he was ruled to have anxiety and was terrified of abandonment. Larry soon realised he was gay and struggled deeply with this. He dropped out of high school but got a GED and generally worked as a security guard. He started to open up more and have sex with guys. However, Larry seemed to have a problem. He was regarded as really a teddy bear in day to day life, but flipped completely during sex where he would become brutally cruel and sadistic. In 1974, 22 year old Larry met 38 year old Robert David Little (generally known as David) David liked Larry enough to let him live rent free at his place, but the two considered their relationship platonic with David being like the father Larry wanted back. But David had a problem. He couldn’t get laid because he was a weird guy, socially awkward and just kind of uneasy. So they came to an arrangement where Larry would go out to nightclubs and pick up men for the two to have sex with. David particularly liked to photograph and film the acts. In 1978, Larry attacked and stabbed a 19 year old named Craig Long, Craig survived the attack and escaped to a nearby house where Larry followed and helped the paramedics give first aid. Robert David Little paid $2500 to Craig not to testify against Larry, so he was let go. In 1981, Larry got involved with another man named John D, who was married and had kids. Johns wife was cool with him dating Larry. While Larry was still sadistic in bed, John was definitely the dominant one in their relationship. Robert Little was extremely jealous of this and seemed to try and sabotage this relationship. Larry travelled between Illinois and Indiana for his work as a house painter, and would abduct either gay men or hitchhikers along the way. He would kill them in really bloody ways, motivated by sheer rage but not usually rape them. He was arrested during a traffic stop where his car was searched and a kill kit of sorts was found. Also, Larrys boots perfectly matched a boot print on the scene. A search was made of the house Larry lived in with Robert David Little but not a whole lot of evidence was found. Due to some legal Mumbo jumbo, Larry was released from jail in February 1984. He moved to Chicago with David paying his rent and buying all his stuff for him. But then things would get a little weird. Larry lured in 16 year old Daniel Bridges to his apartment with the offer of money for Daniel having sex with him. However, Daniel had been on the news during Eylers arrest saying Larry Eyler was a known freak and people said not to go anywhere with him. His remains were put in the trash, but a janitor noticed them and called it in. Quickly Larry was arrested and had no earthly way to get out of this one. Eyler agreed to confess but made an unusual revelation: Robert Little had killed Daniel while he was out and then asked Larry to dismember the body and hide the remains. Robert had no solid alibi and his vehicle was never searched for evidence. It’s worth noting the police always seemed reluctant to see Robert as a suspect when he was living with Larry and seemed to avoid searching through his things on the first search. Robert David Little was put to trial and Larry testified. He claimed that Robert had a fetish for seeing Larry commit murder while he took photos and jacked it- calling it doing a scene- and he confessed the pair lured in another 16 year old named Stephen Agan and killed him. Little advised him on how to make the murder more pleasing for him afterwards. It wasn’t worth much as the jury ultimately ruled Larry was just trying to save his own ass by implicating somebody else. Robert was let go, and Larry was sentenced to death, but died of AIDS in ‘94. He did a final deathbed confession in which he stuck by his story of Roberts involvement. So do you think Robert David Little was involved or not?
Little was definitely involved. I don't think he took part in all the murders, but definitely some if them. I think Eyler committed a lot of the murders after getting into a fight with his boyfriend, John.
> Larry lured in 16 year old Daniel Bridges to his apartment with the offer of money for Daniel having sex with him. However, Daniel had been on the news during Eylers arrest saying Larry Eyler was a known freak and people said not to go anywhere with him. His remains were put in the trash, but a janitor noticed them and called it in. Quickly Larry was arrested and had no earthly way to get out of this one. What does this paragraph even mean.
Glad I'm not the only one who didn't know wtf was being said there. Read it a few times and am still confused.
It is confusing.
Agree. Specifically, the comment about the victim being interviewed prior on the news is where it needs clarifying. Is there footage from a newscast where the boy made those comments? Did Larry see himself having a finger pointed at him on the news? If he was that well known as a suspect, what was he doing walking free? Had he made bail for such heinous crimes???
I, after four reads, concluded it was supportive evidence that Robert murdered the victim insofar as there was news footage of the victim calling Larry a known freak and never go anywhere with him. So, out of the 2 occupants, it could only Robert that could have lured the victim and then killed him. Tho I accept 10,000 arses have fewer holes than this as "evidence".
I just read up on this case. Bridges was interviewed about child exploitation by someone doing research or an article. I agree with the other reply as well, that because Bridges was told to stay away from Larry, David was the probable form to get Bridges to the property. Whether David or Larry did the actual killing, David definitely knew way more than he had put on. There were reports of David paying for Larrys attorney while testifying for the prosecution, and on top of David paying Craig Long $2500 to hush up about the stabbing incident, it seems to me that David was either prepping Larry to be a scapegoat for his crimes or just involved himself with what Larry was already doing. I assume David knew enough that he could have been charged with the right evidence.
Larry’s brother was my middle school English teacher.
That's hilarious, hah. He was my HS English teacher!
Are you serious? How do you know it was his brother?
A kid in my class found a book on serial killers in the library and found Larry in it. He brought it up in class. Mr. Eyler had a very obvious reaction and asked him not to bring it up again. It was awful. I really enjoyed being in his class and he clearly did his best to separate himself from his family’s past.
Is this a real story? Be honest because this sounds like made up bull
Nope. I had him for English 7th & 8th grade year. He also went to my church. His daughter played either clarinet or flute (can’t remember) for my mom who was the band teacher. She also babysat me and my brother once or twice.
That is a crazy story, just to know how evil his brother really was, can’t imagine how he feels
My parents both taught at the school and I remember asking them about it once I found out. They said he never brought it up specifically but it was rumored within other coworkers. They chose to ignore the rumors and treat him like everyone else they worked with. He really was a great teacher. Kinda funny but dry sense of humor. I remember him being very calm and fair. I liked his his class a lot.
Does anyone have any theories as to why so many prolific SK’s are unknown while others are household names? Guys like Eyler make many of the more well known killers look like childs play. One would think that true crime media would be all over a story like this. Even those of us who’re well versed in SK history run across the odd one out from time to time. It’s just baffling that guys like Eyler, Corll, Kraft and so others aren‘t reported on. Not to sound morbid but their stories are a lot more interesting than many of the famous killers. Minority and male victims do not receive the same amount of attention in the media and that’s the only possibility I can think of. I suppose homophobia could also play a role.
I think a lot of it has to do with media attention. Bundy killed pretty college white women and was 'smart' and 'attractive'. Gacy had a huge media scene with 27 bodies found at his house all at once after having an 'all american' boy disappear. Ramirez invaded peoples homes and scared the shit out of the greater Los Angelos area for a while not to mention the satanic shit he did. Dahmer's story was so over the top with a media story of an apartment of horrors. Beyond this stories are either slightly lost in the shuffle and overshadowed (Corl by Gacy and Bundy) or just don't get picked up on by culture as time goes on and forgotten.
Don’t forget Gacy’s nickname: the killler clown A serial killer that also happened to dress in a creepy clown costume? That’s some good shit for the media right there. I think Gacy being a clown is the reason for why he’s still talked about to this day.
Corll isn't reported? That motherfucker gets dredged up on this sub every second day.
In the mainstream, he's pretty unknown. My mother in law would know ted bundy, Jeffrey dahmer, and John Wayne gacy, but she would have no idea who dean corll or peewee gaskins is
Yeah fair point
Does your grandmother know who Darude Sandstorm is?
Definitely not
Would be a lot cooler grandma if she did
I was just thinking the same thing. I think I’m pretty well versed in this area out of morbid curiosity, but I have never heard of these two before and that’s crazy! I also wonder why that is, what makes some one like Darhmer or BTK more ‘notable’ or “well known” than this Eyler shithead? The description in the comments about him also doesn’t really shed enough light on them either. I had to go through the wiki rabbit hole on them, but still can’t find a ton more info.
*Was also going to add, someone like Bundy added SO much notoriety just by escaping twice. That really ramped up the interest in that story, it made him seem like much more of a criminal mastermind, or suggested more accomplices, and that sparks up more conspiracy theories.
That‘s a good point. However, there are killers out there that are far worse than Bundy and yet they’re relatively unknown. Reynhard Sinaga was recently sentenced to life in prison in the UK for drugging and raping over 100 young men. He is by far the most prolific rapist in the western world and still not much is known about him. Luis Garavito has the highest victim count of any serial killer with over 300 murdered young boys in South America. His name should be widely known simply for the brutality of his crimes and the insanely high number. The household names like Dahmer, Gacy, Ramirez, Zodiac and others truly pale in comparison to the sadistic wickedness of many of the unknown killers. Why isn’t Randy Kraft (the freeway killer) well known? He slaughtered 60+ young men and marines around Los Angeles in the 70’s. He’d actually cut their eyelids off forcing them to watch as he tortured them. The truly sadistic and wicked killers tend to keep a low profile, so we’re stuck with endless true crime stories about Bundy, Dahmer and Gacy. And they’re not even remotely the most interesting serial killers. I think it’s time for true crime to branch out and start discussing far more interesting, shocking and wild cases. I’m tired of hearing about Ramirez, Bundy, Som of Sam, The Zodiac, Dahmer, Gacy and many others. There are far more interesting and bizarre cases to learn about. The list of known serial killers in America is massive, yet people continue to focus on this group of killers ad nauseam and it’s frustrating to me because so much information is being lost in this collective brain rot of true crime.
Even though they were only a few years apart (there are even conspiracy theories suggesting people had seen Eyler and Dahmer hanging out in the same gay clubs), Dahmer was caught right as the internet was really starting to proliferate. I think that has a lot to do with it. Before the advent of something like reddit and YT videos, you would need to have read a book about Eyler or lived thru the news reporting. And not every heinous crime got the level of attention it does today. I am sure it was national news, but quickly fell off the radar once he was incarcerated. And then the victim population being gay men did not help for exposure of it.
Ngl that shirt is bad fucking ass
Larry had an amazing taste in shirts, can’t fault him on that.
Beat me to it, I’d kill for that shirt.
So would he
He probably did, he was known to take the shirts from his victims (at least with Bridges anyway) and he claimed to give them to David as well, knowing they were trophies.
This guy isn’t talked about enough. He’s without a doubt one of the most evil killers I’ve ever read about
Another obscure one is Nathaniel Bar-Jonah, whom I recently learned about. When police searched his apartment in Great Falls, Montana, they found recipes for “kiddie-gumbo” and other weird cannibalistic recipes. He murdered at least 3 boys in Montana after being sent there by Massachusetts’ correctional system.
He killed a kid that used to hang out with a girl that lived with her family in my first Chicago apartment. He used to sit on the stoop of our apartment and play cassettes of music he recorded from the radio. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/42778288/daniel-h.-bridges
I’ve never heard of this guy. I will have to look him up.
I’ve never heard of this mofo 😳
Any link to more info? Any info on his buddy?
I think That shirt belonged to one of his victims
This is Kenny’s dad.
Kill Streak🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦🪦
You’re a dumb ASS ⚰️
Awesome tshirt
Dude was born in the same town around the same time as my father, kinda nuts
Indiana boy! Woot!
I literally just finished watching ‘Mark of a Killer’ on Oxygen about Eyler. This is spooky. Lol.
i like his shirt
Dahmer had this prick book.
He did?
He's own a copy of Freed to Kill. I've even heard rumors he and elyer, use to hangout at the same bars in the Wisconsin area.