The Last Victim

Jason Moss and John Wayne Gacy, 1994

The Last Victim: A True-Life Journey into the Mind of the Serial Killer is a non-fiction work by author Jason Moss in which he details his fascination and subsequent correspondence with several notorious American serial killers. It was published in 1999.

Plot

In 1994, Moss was an 18-year-old college student at UNLV. While studying for his honors thesis, he established relationships with John Wayne Gacy, Richard Ramirez, Henry Lee Lucas, Jeffrey Dahmer, and Charles Manson. He obtained samples of correspondence from and interviews with these men. Moss researched what would interest his subject the most and then cast himself in the role of disciple, admirer, surrogate, or potential victim.

In his book he mentioned that he was interested in a career with the FBI; he reasoned that gaining the trust of a serial killer, possibly learning more about their stated crimes or unsolved murders, was a way to distinguish himself as a job candidate.^[1]

Moss forged the strongest relationship with Gacy; letters led to regular Sunday morning phone calls, during which Gacy trumpeted his innocence even as he gave Moss a guided tour of his world. In the book, Moss tells the story of his correspondence and eventual meeting with Gacy shortly before Gacy was executed. According to the viewpoint informing the title of this book, Moss became Gacy's "last victim" after a face to face meeting in prison, in essence being overpowered by a manipulative, depraved sociopath. Moss felt that this misadventure allowed him to understand how a killer's mind works in not only controlling the vulnerable but also in terms of how to break them.

Jason Moss committed suicide in June 2006.^[2]

Film adaptation

A film adaptation of the book, titled Dear Mr. Gacy, was released in 2010, starring Jesse Moss (no relation) as Jason Moss, and William Forsythe as John Wayne Gacy.

References

External links

• Book Review on Google
• Dear Mr. Gacy film (biopic/true-crime thriller) based on Moss' book