After police discovered three more bodies—for a total of eight so far—stashed in bushes near a remote Long Island beach on Monday, the search is on for more victims of what is already considered to be Long Island's second-most prolific serial killer. And as police search for remains, news outlets cast about for an appropriately scary nickname for the killer.
The New York Post is currently going with "Jack the Ripper," but that's just dumb. You might as well call Barry Bonds "Babe." CBS got a profiler to describe the perp as a "power control killer" or "hedonistic lust killer," which has a nice ring to it, but it's not a name, really, just a description. Cops have said the victims, all prostitutes, were lured out via advertisements on Craigslist, but there's already a Craigslist Killer. So what's a scandal rag to do?
This has Post written all over it. That paper owes its current success to its coverage of the Son of Sam in 1976-77, and it owes us a catchy monicker. Not a recycled one from 123 years ago.
