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Hunting Humans: Members of the 1% Who Became Murderers
The Most Dangerous Game, a short story by Richard Connell, was published in 1924. The story features a big game hunter who finds himself stranded on an island where he is hunted by a Russian aristocrat. The story may date back to the 1920s, but the premise of the rich hunting for humans as prey is nothing new. The idea has been the inspiration for stories such as Surviving the Game and the Hostel horror movie franchise.
Casting the rich as heartless, cold, calculating murderers isn’t simply a Hollywood invention. Turns out, it’s a case of art imitating life. Here are three stories of people with enough money to buy their way out of almost anything — except murder.
Elliot Rodger
Elliot Rodger was born in 1991 to parents Peter and Li-Chin Rodger. The family was affluent, privileged, and supportive of the creative arts. Elliot was raised in London until his family moved to Los Angeles when Elliot entered school. Rodger struggled as a young man and was a patient with several therapists by the time he was eight years old. Diagnoses were vague. Terms such as “pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified” and “on the autism spectrum” were used in reports. But they didn’t offer much insight.
