Markoff with a friend. Photo: NY Daily News
It's always unnerving and repulsive when we hear about stories like this one, about men who prey on vulnerable women and do repugnant, batsh*t-crazy things like collecting trophies from their victims. But perhaps it's even more disturbing when the suspect looks like Philip Markoff, like someone you could know, a guy who, if he bought you a drink at a bar, you might accept because he seems "normal" and attractive and clean-cut. I'm not saying this is right, but we want our killers to appear terrifying and hideous, with some kind of inherent shadiness about them, a look of evil that feels menacing and like a "tell" and makes you know to quicken your step and get the heck out of wherever you are right that second. I hate all abusers of women, but I especially would like to castrate and beat bloody the good-looking ones, the American Psycho-esque predators who, simply by way of the genetic lottery, probably have an easier time luring innocent, trusting victims into their path of destruction. Ugh.
