http://www.realclearlife.com/news/amount-murderers-murder-suspects-middle-name-wayne-insane/
The Number of Murderers and Murder Suspects With the Middle Name Wayne Is Insane
On the topic of infamous murders, few are wider known than serial killer John Wayne Gacy, the killer clown, who murdered almost three dozen boys and young men during the 1970s. Then, of course, theres Elmer Wayne Henleyquite a bit lesser known than Gacywho was sent to prison in 1974 for the spree of murders he committed alongside Dean Allen Corll. Then theres Monty Wayne Lamb, serving a life sentence for a triple homicide in Dallas. And Alexander Wayne Watson, Jr., convicted of killing multiple victims.
We think you see the pattern: They all have the middle name Wayne. It seems coincidental, but Wayne turns out to be a really common middle name for both convicted (and alleged) murderers. So much so, in fact, that News of the Weirds Chuck Shepherd kept a running tally of them through 2008; and as of now, his list of killer Waynes has 223 people on it.
Shepherd does have a number of disclaimers attached to his list. For one, he notes that the list includes those convicted of and charged with murder, admitting that some of the men might, in fact, be innocent. Like Anthony Wayne Grimm, who was acquitted of a 1994 murder back in 2004. (These days, we gather, hes just going by Anthony Grimm.)
Also, Shepherds list only focuses on murderers whose crimes and convictions made the news. That there are still over 200-plus murderers whose middle name is Wayne is an alarming statistic.
More recently, an article for Freakonomics discussed what has become known as the Wayne theory, and the Sword and Scale podcast did some investigating of their own, calculating that 0.41 percent of convicted murderers have the middle name Wayne.
Having no other basis for comparison, [we] cannot arrive at the conclusion that murderers are more likely to have the middle name Wayne, said podcaster Heather Sutfin of the findings. But when our calculationsbased on what data we have availablereflect that roughly half of the population having Wayne as a middle name has been convicted of murder, it certainly makes you wonder.
#25. A lot of families named a son for John Wayne because they wanted their son to be a “man” like Wayne.
Sometimes, I suspect, the kid couldn’t handle their expectations, which made them turn inward, get mad about themselves, then their family and anyone caught in the way of his revenge for being inadequate or a disappointment.