TOMS RIVER, N.J. (AP) – A former nurse who was acquitted years ago of manslaughter in Maine was found guilty of the dismemberment murders of two men whose body parts were dumped along New Jersey highways.
Richard W. Rogers Jr., 55, of Staten Island, N.Y., was convicted Thursday in state Superior Court of murdering Thomas Mulcahy, 56, a married bisexual businessman from Sudbury, Mass., and Anthony Marrero, 44, a gay prostitute from Manhattan.
Rogers, who worked as a surgical nurse for 20 years at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, was also convicted of two counts of hindering his own apprehension by dismembering and disposing of the victims’ bodies.
He faces up to life in prison with a minimum of 30 years without parole on each of the murder counts when he is sentenced Jan. 26. Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty.
“We’re just pleased,” Mulcahy’s widow, Margaret, said after the verdict. “We feel justice has been done.”
Rogers’ attorney, David Ruhnke, plans to appeal. He had argued that prosecutors charged the wrong person. He had also tried to convince the jury that it could not convict Rogers of the crimes because the state had not proved they occurred in New Jersey.
But Judge James Citta ruled the law allowed the jury to infer that because the bodies were found in New Jersey, the murders occurred in New Jersey.
Investigators never established where the murders occurred.
Mulcahy was in New York on July 7, 1992 for a business meeting, and disappeared the following day. One of the last places he was seen was the Townhouse, a gay bar that Rogers was known to frequent.
The big break in the case came on May 28, 2001 when Maine authorities, who had recently gone online with an automated fingerprint identification system, matched Rogers’ prints to those on the bags that contained Mulcahy and Marrero’s dismembered remains.
His fingerprints were on file in Maine because he had been tried in November 1973 for manslaughter while in graduate school at the University of Maine. Claiming self defense, Rogers was acquitted in that hammer-beating death.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.