[pollyannaish]

plunged society into a new era -- that of the mass murderer

Huh. And all this time I thought that title belonged to Jack the Ripper.

[nopardons]

And a few others, on both sides of the Atlantic; long before Speck was ever born. Newspaper hyperbole is nothing new and while Richard Speck was a monster, he didn't start anything.

[Lancey Howard]

And all this time I thought that title belonged to Jack the Ripper

Actually there is a significant difference between "mass murder" and "serial murder".