Dean Jarrod Gatz (born February 28, 1968) is a noted serial killer, infamous for the murder of eleven young women, aged between 16 and 24 in New York City, from 2003 to 2008. As many of his victims were prostitutes, and all of his victims were tortured and knifed to death, he was given the nicknames "Whore Slaughterer" and "The New York Ripper" by the media.
Gatz was born in New York City, and lived there in his whole life. He held a number of jobs, but left most of them, or was fired because of his troublesome workplace mentality. His most permanent job was as an office clerk at Cantor Fitzgerald, in the World Trade Center, between 1999 and 2004.
Gatz's first victim was Pamela Melanie Browne, a 21-year-old prostitute, whose body was found in Queens, on November 12, 2003, brutally knifed, and having "Bitches deserve this!" written in blood on her chest.
His second victim was a 20-year-old prostitute (his first African-American victim), named Deborah Burks, found in The Bronx on March 2, 2004, with the inscription "Another bitch, who deserved it!". From then onward, the police treated the case as a serial killer. The press began to refer to the unknown killer as "The New York Ripper", and the public began to panic.
Gatz's third and youngest victim was 16-year-old student Natalie Harrington, found on 12 August, 2004. After his arrest, Gatz confessed the murder of Harrington, but previously it was not attributed to "The Ripper", as the victim was not a prostitute, and no message was inscripted on the corpse this time.
Gatz's fourth victim was 23-years-old Hannah Kirsch, a waitress in Queens, who was found dead on 22 February, 2005.
Gatz's tenth and most famous victim was 20-year-old model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, who was found dead on March 17, 2007.
After four and half years of pursuit, the FBI finally arrested Gatz on June 2, 2008. He confessed the murder of eleven young women, and was charged in court. He pleaded guilty, and was sentenced 400 years to life, without the option of parole. He is currently imprisoned in the Attica Correctional Facility, in Attica, New York. Many groups, including some of the victims' families has demanded the death sentence of Gatz (capital punishment is outlawed in the state of New York).
In 2009, Richard Campanello, the FBI special agent in charge of the investigations, wrote a best-selling book titled Chasing the Ripper about the case. In 2010, a film adaptation of the story, titled The Ripper was directed by Michael Mann, starring Edward Norton as Campanello and Adrien Brody as Gatz.