There is a thrill to perusing the internet for a range of opportunities, from career prospects, to temporary housing arrangements, to more intimate social networking. But my virtual obsession has been called into question by the recent atrocity of the “Craigslist Killer.” His story is reminiscent of the classic Bret Easton Ellis novel and the resultant Christian Bale film, American Psycho: a 1980s Manhattan investment banker whose problems with megalomania take the form of hiring and murdering prostitutes. Wanker of the Week seems like a gauche term to apportion to the likes of Patrick Bateman, but I can’t help but make the obvious allusion.

In the case of the “Craigslist Killer” the culprit would respond to veiled prostitution ads on Craigslist. Once in the hotel room with the woman, he would bind her with “zip ties” (used as plastic handcuffs) and then try to rob her. His first attack took place at the Westin Hotel in Boston with a woman in her late twenties who had advertised as an exotic dancer. His behavior rapidly devolved into a frenzied shooting of another woman who struggled back. The suspected killer is a 22-year-old med student who is engaged to be married. He’s on Facebook.

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