Last Call: When a Serial Killer Stalked Queer New York (2023): Season 1, Episode 1 - Peter then Thomas - full transcript

(footsteps crunching)

(car door opens)

(keys jingling)

(car door closes)

(engine starts)

("Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte"
by Patti Page plays on radio)

♪ The red rose tells you ♪

♪ Of his passion ♪

♪ The white rose
his love's so true ♪

♪ Hush, hush,
sweet Charlotte ♪

♪ Charlotte ♪



♪ Don't you cry ♪

♪ Hush, hush, sweet
Charlotte... ♪

Reporter: The
murder of a married,

middle-aged businessman

from Massachusetts...

(tense music playing)

Man 1: The night the gentleman

from Massachusetts disappeared,

it was relatively quiet.

Man 2: I think he saw this guy

across the room
in the piano bar.

Man 1: And then
they were gone.

Next thing I know, there
he is in the papers.

He couldn't have seen it coming.



And so many people
were so terrified.

Reporter: His body parts
were found in plastic bags

along roadways
here in New Jersey,

and his briefcase
was left nearby.

(wind whooshing)

(dramatic theme music playing)

Chief Thomas Macauley: I
was working a regular shift

when I was notified.

A few of the Department of
Transportation employees

found a, uh, a human head
in the back of their truck.

Nick Theodos: Evidently,
as maintenance workers

were throwing the
bags off the truck.

One of the bags caught
the edge of the wood

and split open,

and that's when they
noticed the head.

Around mile marker 70.

They found the bags
containing the legs.

I worked numerous murders,

but this wasn't like
a normal crime scene.

It looked like somebody
had washed the body

and then used newspaper
to wrap the body.

Chief Macauley: Our victim
was cut into seven pieces

and packaged

in several different trash bags.

We went through each bag
and collected what we could.

Part of the body was wrapped
in a, uh, shower curtain.

There was a bag from
a shopping center.

Chief Macauley:
A Liz Claiborne

king size fitted sheet.

Theodos: We found
a keyhole saw.

We found some gloves.

One of the bags
contained his briefcase

that had his, uh, wallet,

which contained his
driver's license.

So at that point, we knew our
victim was Thomas Mulcahy.

Tracey O'Shea: I would
say half of these photos

are from trips of some sort.

My dad really enjoyed
taking us and traveling

and, and showing us things and
having us experience things.

And being together as a family

was definitely important to him.

This is at my senior
prom, I believe.

He was just, you know,
being sort of, Dad.

(laughs)

O'Shea: It was about six
weeks before my 19th birthday

when my father was killed.

It's been, gosh, 31 years.

So the hesitancy
to put it out there

and have, have it
sort of resurface

is just a lot.

It's good to kind of, go back,

and remember that
point in my life

where he was there, (chuckles)

and able to do these
things with him.

My father was very kind,

kind of gentle...

funny in a quirky kind of way.

(laughs) Um...

This was more of his
"chilling attire,"

even though he looks
pretty buttoned up

for gardening and being outside.

I always felt like
my dad was different

than maybe a lot of the other
dads that I grew up with.

Not hugely.

He loved our town

and what it provided from
a family perspective,

but he was more, sort
of, cosmopolitan,

traveling to different
parts of the world.

His life seemed
bigger than Sudbury.

He was into Hollywood glamour,

and he loved Broadway
and "Chorus Line"

and "La Cage aux Folles."

I'd say the big thing was, he
kind of, let us be ourselves,

or let me be myself,

and kind of, um, was
encouraging in that way.

In my teenage years,

I sensed that there
was more to him

and the life that I experienced,

there was more to it.

Then he went down to New York

on a business trip and...

never came home.

(solemn music playing)

Chief Macauley: When we
started trying to figure out

how Mr. Mulcahy became
a victim of a homicide,

we started tracing
his footsteps.

And we found out that
he was in New York

for a presentation.

My mom was in regular contact

with the police

and, and getting updates,

especially in those early days.

I know he had done
his presentation

at the World Trade Center,

that he had with a colleague,

that they had gone out
to lunch afterwards

and drank a lot of beers.

The detectives shared with us

that there was some ATM
transaction somewhere.

Through looking at
his credit cards,

we were able to
track his movements.

And he ultimately ended
up at the Townhouse...

Townhouse Pub in New York City.

It was learned that,
uh, that sometimes

he went for male companionship.

I was the last person to be seen

with Thomas Mulcahy.

It was a busy night, but
it wasn't overly crowded.

And I took my usual
spot at the bar.

My friend Jack came in with
a friend of his from Boston

named Thomas Mulcahy.

I liked older, professional,

well-dressed gentlemen.

Uh, so he introduced me.

Oh, he was a very handsome man.

Tall, classic New England,

Brooks Brothers, businessmen,

executive look.

I knew nothing
about his home life,

just that he was
here on business.

I would like to have
spent more time with him,

but I noticed

that he was interested
in someone else

standing at the piano.

So I politely excused myself.

As I was leaving, I was curious

as to who it might have
caught his attention.

So I did look back, and
I did see one gentleman

standing at the piano.

I had not seen him before.

Brown hair.

Wearing a polo shirt.

Kind of nondescript.

Two or three days later,

I get a knock on
my apartment door

at about six o'clock
in the morning.

And it's detectives
from the 17th Precinct

informing me that Tom...

Body parts had been found
scattered throughout New Jersey.

♪ ♪

O'Shea: In the months after
my father was murdered,

the details were
kind of unraveling.

We had, kind of, a session

as a family, um,

with a therapist.

Um,

and I think the way it was said,

was that my dad
had another life,

and that that life was gay.

And then... I learned

that a few years prior,

after he returned
from a business trip,

my mom found some brochures

around gay bars in London

or something like that.

Um, from my understanding,
my mom and dad

wanted to...

They made a choice
to work on things

and, um...

be in therapy.

In my world, homosexuality
wasn't really talked about.

Not that I was afraid of it

or opposed to it or
anything like that,

but I just didn't really
have much exposure

to what being gay was.

Just having gone through
my dad being murdered,

being dismembered,

being alongside the
Garden State Parkway,

like, and now I'm
being told he's gay.

Like, (voice breaking)
what else is gonna...

happen?

(somber music playing)

(ambient street sounds)

With the gay community?

Probably with the
gay community, yeah.

When we started investigating
and going to the bars

that were known to be frequented

by the gay community,

we had contacted,
uh, in New York City,

the Gay Lesbian
Anti-Violence Project,

and, uh, mentioned to
them that we had this case

and that, um, you know,

if there was any way
that they could help.

Bea Hanson: The Anti-Violence
Project was founded in 1980,

and it was founded in
order to respond to a rash

of anti-gay bias attacks
that were happening.

We called ourselves
the New York City Gay

and Lesbian
Anti-Violence Project.

And at AVP, we functioned
kind of as a connector

between the police department
and the community in some ways.

Matt Foreman: We're doing precinct
sensitivity training programs.

We're training state police in
New Jersey. Uh, we're try...

The New Jersey State
Police knew about us

because I was doing
sensitivity training class

with them for a whole year

because they had a
horrible reputation

of harassing gay men.

Hanson: The New
Jersey State Police

called me wanting help,

wanting any
information we could,

we could help them with.

And they had no clue
about the gay community.

I mean, uh, you know, it's
just a different world.

Hang on to those wigs and
pumps, 'cause here we go.

(funky electronic music playing)

Hanson: When I first
moved to New York,

you know, I came in '86,

New York was really a place,

and I think for a lot
of Queer people then,

it was a place
where you felt like,

you could be who you are.

Person 1: I love New York.

Thank you, New York,
for being so fabulous.

Foreman: Our movement
was just growing.

Person 2: So gay today.

Foreman: Everything
was just burgeoning

in terms of gay life.

I think it's hard for
straight people to understand

what it felt like to walk
into a gay bar back then.

("Show Me Love" by
Robin S. playing)

♪ You've got to show me love ♪

♪ ♪

♪ Heartbreaks and promises ♪

♪ I've had more than my share ♪

Foreman: I remember the
first gay bar I walked into,

I thought, "Oh, my God,
I've been missing this

my entire life."

It just felt like home.

♪ Show me, show me baby ♪

It was, uh, sexual.
Very sexual.

Narrator: Come to Man's
Country and develop your body

or a friendship with
somebody else's.

Hanson: We had the Clit Club.

It was really like,
the "dyke coming out,

sex-positive place."

I loved going there.

David Wertheimer:
Queer bars were

one of the few places
in the community

where we could
come and feel safe.

Hi. What are we doing here
today at Marie's Crisis?

Piano bars, poppers,
Barbra Streisand,

the whole deal, you know?

Yes!

(singing) ♪ And all
because of the man... ♪

Wertheimer: And
there were people

who, because they...
hated gay people,

or were afraid of gay people,
or were afraid of feelings

they may have had themselves,

would come to places like this

specifically with the
intention of doing harm.

Hanson: There was
always this kind of...

"You got to watch your back at the
same time too," sort of feeling.

Reporter 1: It all started
just after midnight

when a pipe bomb exploded
in a West Village bar

called Uncle Charlie's.

A six-inch pipe bomb

had been placed in a trash can.

It exploded inside the club,

injuring a bar worker
and two patrons.

Reporter 2: Bouquets of
flowers and the candles

at the door of the Ramrod bar.

They're really symbols
of the mourning,

the feeling of mourning
for the two dead

and the others who
have been shot.

Mike DeLa Hoz:
This is ridiculous!

I want to live my life out.

I don't want to be
killed on these streets.

It's ridiculous!

(sniffles)

I mean, you know
what it is to be,

to be assaulted for
just being alive?

I mean, for being
what you want to be.

If there's one thing
that is universal,

in my experience
to LGBTQ people,

that we all know
intuitively, it's violence.

So you used to
do... You, you admit

that you used to do gay bashing?

Guest: Yeah. Fag bashing.

Oprah: And why
would you do this?

Uh, we were young and
full of goofiness,

and we just...

It was the thing to do on
a Friday or Saturday night.

Yeah. And so did that give
you pleasure doing that?

At the time? It was fun, yes.

We had cases where guys
would come in with,

to the West Village and
Chelsea with golf clubs.

There's no golf course in
the West Village and Chelsea.

Simply to use those to,
to beat up gay people.

- (protestors shouting)
- (whistling)

Hanson: And, you know, the
AIDS crisis was raging.

One of the things we saw
is people were targeted

because they looked sick,

because gay people
and gay men, you know,

were, were blamed
for HIV and AIDS.

So the AIDS crisis,
the epidemic of AIDS

and violence definitely
connected and increased.

Foreman: It's in all of us.

That fear of being hurt

because we're queer.

Probably not a program
goes by on "Gay USA"

where we don't talk about
the rising tide of anti-gay

and anti-lesbian violence.

"Gay USA" is a weekly
one hour news show...

(lively show theme playing)

Andy Humm: about
everything that happens

in the LGBTQIA community.

The brutal beating of...

Whenever anybody was beat up

or something bad happened,
we'd talk about it.

Hate crimes against
gays and lesbians

are up all over the country.

You know, I've had people try

to run me over in their
car because of it.

My best friend was beaten
severely in Brooklyn.

He had to live with me
because his jaw was broken.

Guest: Two guys
walked towards me,

and call... one of them
called me a faggot.

The one who was closest had his,

- his arm up...
- Oprah: Mm-hmm.

And, um, stabbed
me in the shoulder.

I had so much repressed anger

at how we were being treated.

(indistinct shouting)

Foreman: I was just furious,

and I wanted to do
something about it.

Reporter: Can you spell
your last name for me?

F-O-R-E-M-A-N.

Executive director
of New York City

Gay and Lesbian
Anti-Violence Project.

Reporter: You told me yesterday
that the Anti-Violence Project

has been around for ten
years, um, here in New York.

What's new that's happening?

What's the phenomenon
that you see happening?

What's new is this
alarming escalation

in anti-gay and
anti-lesbian crime.

It's been on the
increase for years...

Every day, more and more,

especially on Monday mornings,
we'd have 10, 20 new reports,

which meant 10, 20 people

that needed to be reached out to

to talk to, to help.

Our job was to be there
for the survivors,

try to help them
navigate the system,

whether it was crime victim, uh,
compensation for their injuries,

or to help them deal with the
psychological trauma of it.

If you're a member
of this community,

if you're a lesbian or a
gay man in this community

and you've been
victimized, come to AVP.

I mean, that's, that's the root.

That's the bottom line there.

It was very much trying
to push law enforcement

to give a shit.

Foreman: In the Mulcahy case,

Bea was the front
person with the police.

I was pretty involved
with keeping on top

of the New Jersey
Police Department,

helping them connect
them to the Townhouse.

The Townhouse wasn't
really connected in

with, you know,

the Queer organized community

like, in the, in the West
Village and in Chelsea.

There was out gay
people everywhere.

But this is uptown.

This was kind of a bar
where a lot of, like,

guys in suits went.

A lot of closeted guys went.

I would characterize
it back then

as a place for older gentlemen

and, and younger men who
like older gentlemen.

Michael Ferreri:
For these men,

The Townhouse
provided anonymity.

So they felt safe that
anyone coming here

was obviously gay.

And, uh, if they're here, well,
you know, you're here, too.

Chief Macauley: We went in
the Townhouse several times

to, uh, interview people,

but they had no additional
information to offer.

Foreman: I think a
lot of potential tips

were missed because

the way in which they approached
people at the Townhouse,

with very little finesse,
as I understand it.

It's very difficult, especially
in a bar like The Townhouse

where people were
pretty closeted,

that they didn't really want
to get involved with police.

(tense music playing)

Theodos: So we tracked
down all of the items

that were recovered
from the scene.

We checked on the Pergament bag

where the keyhole
saw was purchased.

We called Pergament.

"We have a, a keyhole saw.

Could you tell us where
somebody might buy this saw?"

And they say, "Well,
what's the SKU number?"

And when we give
them the SKU number,

they say, "Okay, that was
shipped to Staten Island."

Chief Macauley: We couldn't identify
which Pergament it came from.

We took a SKU number
from the latex gloves,

and it, it identified
the location

where those latex
gloves were purchased,

which was a CVS on,
on Staten Island.

And there was only one
CVS on Staten Island.

And talking to the
management at the CVS,

these gloves were
probably purchased

within, like, a two-month
period prior to this homicide.

And in that aisle,

directly across from
the, from the gloves

was a box of, um, of trash bags

that were similar
to the trash bags

that, that the
victim was found in.

Theodos: They were
all in Staten Island.

When we go back 30 years ago,

there wasn't the camera presence
that you have today, right?

If you probably
bought that today,

you'd probably have
somebody on video,

but, uh, not lucky enough.

Chief Macauley: We also tried
lifting several fingerprints

from the Mulcahy bags.

You put it in a sealed container

with superglue

and you apply heat to it,

and your prints are, are
raised off that item.

But with our bags,

uh, it wasn't quite sealed.

So we didn't get the prints
at that time from those bags.

We were trying to find any leads

or anything we could discover.

Chief Macauley: Lucky for us,

every homicide that we had,

we were required to submit
it into ViCAP no matter what.

ViCAP stands for Violent
Criminal Apprehension Program,

and is the analysis
of similar cases

throughout the country.

Theodos: So we submitted
the ViCAP form.

And once it went
into the database,

the algorithms would push out
if there was anything similar

based on the crime
scene description.

It came back that there
was a very similar case

in 1991.

(intense music playing)

Reporter: Police say he
was stabbed to death.

So far, no motive, no suspects.

Chief Macauley: We realized

this person has done
this previously.

Carl Harnish: Okay, here.

And then we're going west.

Jay Musser: Here's,
here's the bridge.

- Harnish: Yeah.
- Musser: So this is Mannheim.

So it has to be right around
somewhere in around in here.

Harnish: Redding.
Oh, we're going...

Musser: We're going... That's
where the body was found.

Harnish: Where's
72? Yeah. Okay.

This is the location where
the barrel was located.

At a, uh, rest stop.

It's just a wide area.

He was about 40 to
45 feet off the road.

Yeah, okay.

Harnish: We were in charge
of Lancaster County.

This, of course, is where
the Pennsylvania Dutch live.

Musser: It's different
from the city.

We didn't have a
lot of homicides.

Harnish: The person who
found the body in the barrel

was a maintenance employee.

I think he tore at
least three bags open

before he realized,
"Oh, it's a body."

He immediately
radios his office.

I'm notified, Jay's notified,

and immediately we
went to the scene.

Musser: When I
got to the scene,

the body was on the ground,

removed from the,
the 55-gallon barrel.

The only thing that
really caught my attention

was how clean the body was.

With him being stabbed

and this big gaping
hole in his stomach,

there had to be a lot of blood,

and yet there was nothing,
and his whole torso was clean.

I saw that.

And for the moment, I
didn't see anything else.

Musser: Five days later,

approximately 38
miles east of that,

that's where his personal
belongings were found.

They found his clothes

driver's license...

Harnish: That's the first
time the name come up.

That was Peter Anderson.

Musser: That's when the
investigations really started.

You've got to find the trail.
"When was Peter last seen?"

(vehicles passing by)

Tony Hoyt: I met Peter...

let me think, I've got,

I've gotta just do a
little arithmetic here.

(softly) '63...

I'd say that I
probably met Peter

in 1964 or 1965.

In New York.

We were all hanging out
in the city together,

some party or
something like that.

I remember he was very dapper.

He was always
dressed to the nines.

In perfectly pressed
Brooks Brothers suit.

Always wore a bow tie.

And he had a little round face.

He was very enthusiastic about,

about life and about
meeting people.

He went to Trinity.
He was a smart guy.

He liked to entertain,

and he'd have little
dinner parties

and he always liked to keep
the cocktail hour going

for hour after hour.

The... I sensed that
there was some sort

of electricity
between the two of us.

But we didn't talk about
it, because you didn't talk

about those things.

And then I got married.

Once I got married, I
moved to Long Island.

I had the kids.

Peter and I...

we just went our separate ways

for a while.

(Director speaking)

Yeah. I, I, I think I can,

I think I can answer
that question.

First night when
there was hanky-panky.

I hadn't seen him
in... (trills lips)

six or seven years.

And one night,

I had a client
dinner in the city.

After dinner was over,
I'd missed the last train,

and I'd had too much to drink.

I called Peter on the
payphone. Cost a dime.

And I said,

"I, I need a place to sleep.
Can I spend the night?"

And he said,
"Sure, come on up."

Well, one thing led to another,

and that was the start
of, of our relationship.

Peter was the first
guy I was with.

No words were spoken.

It just happened.

We were both attracted
to each other,

and, uh, we had some
pretty good sex.

It was quite a romance
because we were so close

and we were so intimate.

We fit together.

And we were safe together.

It's trust. We
trusted each other.

Obviously, this relationship
could not see the light of day,

or we would both be
in serious trouble.

Me with my wife and my family
and Peter at the Bank of...

Bank, Bank of New York.

Where I grew up, uh,
everybody was straight.

One wasn't gay,

one was not a homosexual.

One grew up, went to
school, went to college,

got out of college, got
married, had babies, and died.

And that's what nice,
nice people did.

(cheerful vintage music playing)

Lieutenant Williams:
I'm Lieutenant Williams,

a police officer attached
to the juvenile division.

I'm on my way to talk to
a group of young people.

Humm: Before Stonewall,
no one was out

except, you know,
ten people. Alright?

Coming out was considered
insanity before that.

"Are you out of your mind?

Why would you tell
anybody this?"

In the old days, psychiatrists,

they were making so much money

off making gay people
think we were sick.

Lieutenant Williams: What Jimmy
didn't know was that Ralph was sick.

A sickness that was not
visible like smallpox

but no less dangerous
and contagious.

A sickness of the mind.

You see, Ralph was a homosexual.

Even when the
psychiatrists removed us

from the index of mental
disorders in 1973,

the psychiatrist who testified
for it wore a big, ugly mask.

If he was identified, he
was gonna lose his job.

Foreman: Back in the
'50s and '60s and '70s,

if you came out,

you would, in fact,
lose your job.

You would, in fact, be
thrown out of your church,

you would lose your children.

Narrator: The CBS News Public
Opinion survey indicates

that sentiment is
against permitting

homosexual relationships

between consenting adults
without legal punishment.

Man: I was terribly frightened
by the homosexual feelings

and the guilt associated

with having feelings
of attraction

towards other males.

(pensive music playing)

Hoyt: One night,
Peter said to me,

"Well, I've got
something to tell you."

And I said, "Well,
what's that?"

And he said, "I'm
going to get married."

And I said, "You what?"

It was his cover.

He needed a cover.

And, um, I said,

"Well, this is...
good for you."

(inaudible dialogue)

Hoyt: It wasn't an issue.

"Well, well, God, we're,

"we're in bed together,
maybe we should,

"maybe we should
talk about this.

Uh, maybe we should come out."

We didn't really know
anybody who was out.

And he said, "It doesn't
necessarily have to end."

I said, "No, it doesn't."

But it did.

The last time I saw him,
he was getting married

the next week.

And after that, I didn't see him

until that night in-in
New York City in 1991.

Reporter: Lancaster
police have identified him

as Peter Anderson
of Philadelphia.

He was a former Assistant
Vice President of Mellon Bank.

(ambient street noise)

Harnish: With his
identification,

we knew where he lived.

Trooper Musser obtained
a search warrant

for Peter's apartment
in Philadelphia.

Musser: Went through
the apartment

with Trooper Kevin Dykes.

Just going through
anything to see

if we can find any,
any more leads.

The gay thing wasn't
really relevant

to the investigation
other than finding out

who might've killed him
and where he hung out.

Harnish: We
conducted interviews

at various bars
in-in Philadelphia

that we knew or had heard
that Peter frequented.

Musser: One of the
interviews let us know that

Peter went to New
York on a Friday

for a fundraiser

in the apartment
of Robert Brown,

up by Central Park West.

I guess he ran into
an old relationship,

an old friend.

Hoyt: At the time, I
was living in New York.

I was working. I was publisher
of "House Beautiful" magazine.

A good friend of mine, Robby,

was giving a fundraiser.

For Tony Brooks,
who was running,

I think, for city council.

I walked into Robby's apartment,

and there was a table set up

and sitting at the
table collecting money

and checking off names was
Peter Stickney Anderson.

And we looked at each other
and said, "Holy Christ.

How long has it been?"

He had the same bow tie on

and the same Brooks
Brothers suit.

And there he was.

And we gave each other,
I'm sure, a big hug.

It was great to see him.

We'd gone on. He'd had a kid.

He'd gotten married.

He was married twice.
He was like me.

He was a slow learner.

As the party wound down,

Peter had a good buzz going,

and he said,

"Let's go have a
drink somewhere."

And I said, "Fine."

"Where should we go?"

He said, "Well, the Townhouse

58th Street between
2nd and 3rd."

We went to the back of the room

and ordered a
cocktail, maybe two.

And, uh, suddenly the
bartender said, uh, to Peter,

"I'm sorry, you've
had too much to drink

and I can't serve
you any more liquor."

So I said, "Look,

why don't I get you a room
at the Waldorf Astoria?"

Went to the payphone,
called the Waldorf Astoria,

made a reservation for him.

Took him down the
stairs at the Townhouse.

Put him in a taxi,
told the cab driver

to take him to the
Waldorf Astoria.

And I said, "Peter,
great to see you."

(pensive music playing)

(Robby Browne speaking)

Myself and Trooper Dykes went up
there to interview Robert Brown,

who ha... hosted the party.

(Robby Browne speaking)

Hoyt: I went up to Robby's,
and these two state troopers

from Pennsylvania were there.

They talked about,

"Mr. Brown, you had a
party on Friday night."

Da-dee-da-dee-da.

He whips out a picture of Peter
and shows it to Robby and said,

"Was this gentleman
at your party?"

And Robby said, yes.

And then he showed
me the picture.

He said, "Do you
know who this is?"

I said, "Yeah, it's
Peter Anderson."

Then we found out
that, we found out

that he'd been killed

and where he'd been found
and how he'd been found.

It was terrible.

Terrible.

The Pennsylvania guys asked
me a couple of questions,

and I told them what I knew

about the Waldorf
Astoria reservation.

We followed up on
the Waldorf Astoria,

and they recalled
him being there.

Peter arrived up at the
check-in desk, drunk,

and started to check in.

And there was a
bellman or somebody

who he started to, sort
of, pinch his butt.

And the guy said, "I
don't come with the room."

So they put him back
out on the boulevard,

and that was the
last anybody saw him.

We checked the cab
company, but they told us

nobody's tracking where they go,

what they do or
nothing like that.

So cabs was a zip.

The train station was a zip.

Where he went after
that, nobody knew.

Hoyt: I think Peter
probably forgot

that he'd been turned off
by the Townhouse bartender.

He'd been 86'd and, uh,
went back to the Townhouse.

(suspenseful music playing)

Musser: We didn't
go to the Townhouse.

In hindsight, maybe it
would have been a good idea

to follow up with the Townhouse.

I mean, it would be nice
if we had a picture.

We could have went over there.

At that time, we didn't
know it was a, a gay bar.

I don't know anything about

where all the gay
bars in New York are.

I don't know about anything
about the community.

It really is irrelevant.

I mean, we don't... all we do...

All we know is we got a body,

and we gotta find
out who would do it,

but it's not really
relevant to anything.

Hoyt: So after
that initial rush,

you know, the initial times
with the state troopers,

it went quiet.

I think it went quiet.

Harnish: There wasn't any
information developing on it.

You take the investigation
until you have no more leads.

And then once you
have no more leads,

then you have to move on.

And so after five months,
I moved on to another job.

So...

(Director speaking)

Yeah. Why is the
emphasis on the gay part?

(pensive music playing)

Hanson: We have
so many examples

of law enforcement thinking

that they're doing
the right thing...

where they were more
kind of connecting to,

you know, the evidence
that they had collected

and, and looking at that.

But they weren't
really connecting

to the community.

What we saw that law
enforcement couldn't see was

that this was connected
to a larger problem.

And I think some of
that's deliberate,

and I think some of it
is just unconscious.

We saw working with the NYPD

that more often than not,

the police back then were
either indifferent or hostile.

(indistinct shouting)

Crowd (chanting):
Shame! Shame!

Wertheimer: The New York
City Police Department

is, is a huge entity.

There are some 30,000
police officers,

and those police officers
represent, very frequently,

the full spectrum

of attitudes and
opinions about lesbians

and gay men that you see
in the larger population,

which may include
hostile feelings.

When you're talking
about homosexuals,

you're talking about somebody
that commits a crime.

Uh... what they do.

Interviewer: What do you mean?

It's sodomy.

And sodomy is a crime.

Foreman: The NYPD is a,
a military operation.

It is a very macho operation.

And, uh...

I mean, to this day,
homophobia is rampant.

It was deadly dangerous.

It was prevalent
within the ranks.

I'm not saying every
cop was like this.

There were so many cops
I worked with back then

that were just amazing,
beautiful human beings.

But before I came out,

the fear I felt...

within the NYPD was significant.

Um...

I really felt that I
couldn't be visible.

I really felt like
I wouldn't survive

if I came out.

I can remember being
in my locker room

and one of the older
cops that were there,

um, really aggressive cop,
you know, one of the cops

that you don't want to run
into, uh, in the streets,

came into the
locker room furious,

slamming the locker
room door closed

and screaming out,
"Fucking faggots!

"If I ever find out one
of us is a fucking faggot,

"I'm gonna blow his fucking
head off by accident,

running up the
stairs on a job."

And I'm changing.

And when he said
that, I was like,

"Holy shit, I'm not coming out.

I'm not coming out. Not here."

(solemn music playing)

Foreman: We knew
that there had been

these horrific crimes

and yet no sign of the
NYPD taking it seriously.

I don't want to
minimize how challenging

a case like this would be

to try to find witnesses
and pursue them and...

But...

inexplicable that NYPD

wouldn't have just
mobilized for this.

And... and they didn't.

It was extremely
difficult to understand

what the NYPD was
responsible for.

And it was never clear to me

who was responsible for what.

Musser: When we went to New
York, we stopped at the precinct

and told them what
we were there for.

But I don't know how
much they were involved.

Harnish: The jurisdictions
that were involved.

You have Philadelphia and
you have New York City.

Aggravating part to me is
we're not in our home turf.

We don't know where we're at
when we go to those places.

So that puts us at a handicap.

Hanson: I think, for the NYPD,

it's like, "Eh, it
didn't happen here."

The reality is they
really didn't want

to get involved in
the gay community.

One thing I don't understand
about the assault problem

is when you're assaulted,

why can't you just press charges

regardless of whether
you're gay or not?

You would think
that would be so.

- Guest: There is why...
- Dee. Let me get Dee in here.

Dee: Okay. When
I was assaulted,

I was taken to
the emergency room

because the police failed
to respond to the call.

When the police officers,

uh, come into the
emergency room,

they, uh, suggested that
this was a lover's quarrel.

It wasn't a drastic means.

(audience groans)

Foreman: People are
like, why bother?

Why do I want to put
myself out for that?

Are they actually going
to do anything about this?

Probably not.

Dee: It was weeks before I
ever heard from them again,

and they told me that this
pro... this, uh, violence

would probably never
come to court or anything

because they would
never be found.

I think the most vital
service that AVP served

was that people knew
there was an organization

that wanted to hear what
had happened to them.

Narrator: If you've been
victimized, the New York City Gay

and Lesbian Anti-Violence
Project can help you.

Foreman: We had a crisis line.

The main thing is that
you survived the crime.

- Uh, we do encourage...
- Wertheimer: The group decided

to, uh, establish a hotline

where individuals who wanted
to report crimes against them

could, could call
for assistance,

uh, for help in reporting
crimes to the police

to document attacks
against them.

And, uh, very quickly, as
that hotline was established,

calls began to come in
from all over the city.

The whole time I was at AVP,
it increased every year.

Foreman: Our figures
continue to exceed

the figures of
the NYPD bias unit

by about seven to one.

That ratio has been constant in
three of the four last years.

We saw a lot of,

you know, what we were
calling "pickup crimes,"

or these, or these crimes
where somebody picks

somebody up at a bar

with the promise of, like,

"We're gonna go home together,

we're gonna have sex."

And then something
horrible happens.

We get a tremendous number
of calls about pickup crimes.

And, you know, since
it's a crime that happ...

Hanson: When we
look at these cases,

you know, clearly Peter Anderson

and Tom Mulcahy
were pickup crimes.

They were last
seen at a gay bar,

the Townhouse.

And that's what we've
seen over and over again.

I actually am at the point now,

where I feel like we're
getting hunted down.

Foreman: This is a
map of the village

in, in lower Chelsea
of anti-gay incidents

during the first
nine months of 1991.

Over six hundred.

Six hundred.

That's what it was
like working at AVP

on a daily basis was just...

All those little dots represent

someone being... brutalized.

This was probably (sniffs)
one of the last pictures

towards the end of his life.

In the last few years,

he and I started to have more
kind of, real conversations

about things beyond
just father-daughter,

about life,

just having more
adult mature talks,

connecting about
ideologies and all of that.

And I got the sense
that he was processing

and confronting things that...

had been buried.

That's the hard... The
hardest part for me

is, sort of, that
being cut short

and not having the opportunity

to build that relationship

with him further.

(sharp inhale)

Hoyt: When I
think about Peter,

it's just, it's, I-I
still can't believe it.

I think those years when
we had our relationship

were important to Peter

because he finally had
somebody who he could hug.

(sniffles)

And would... Could
get hugged back.

There's layers to relationships

and different things

that I just don't know
that I can speak to.

But my parents loved each other,

and I think they had
a real partnership in,

in raising our family.

So after he died, my mom
was a wife and a mother

who was trying to make sure

that this didn't get
swept under the rug.

(inaudible)

Chief Macauley: We
continued to work tips

and leads that came
in. We never gave up.

HANSON: I'm from the
Anti-Violence Project...

Foreman: At AVP,

we wanted to get the word
out to the community.

"Did you see anything? Do
you remember anything?"

And there was very
little to go on.

Hanson: We were
making the connections

between these homicides

because I absolutely believed

that something was
gonna happen again,

that somebody else
was gonna be killed.

We cannot count on anyone else

to help us in this fight.

When we see a brother
or a sister in trouble,

don't turn our backs.

Remember, it could
be you next time.

Theodos: We were concerned
about, did we make a mistake?

Was there something
there that we overlooked?

And now was somebody gonna
die because of that mistake?

Less than a year later,

I get a phone call
from the guys that,

"Hey, we got another one."

(tense music playing)

(radio static, distortion)

("Safe" by Debby Friday playing)

♪ I watch the night
turn into day ♪

♪ So many things
I dare not say ♪

♪ Pacing a square
into a sphere ♪

♪ So scared to check
if you're still there ♪

♪ Are you still here?
Are you still near? ♪

♪ Are you still safe? ♪

♪ Are you still here?
Are you still near? ♪

♪ Are you still safe? ♪

♪ Oh... ♪

♪ ♪