On this day, Jan. 1, in 1973, a New York City schoolteacher picked up a man at a singles bar and was stabbed to death overnight, inspiring the cautionary tale, “Looking For Mr. Goodbar.” On New Year’s Day, 27-year-old Roseann Quinn met John Wayne Wilson, 23, at Tweed’s Bar across from her apartment on the Upper West Side.
At Quinn’s home that night, Wilson became incapable of sex. He picked up a knife, stabbed Quinn 18 times and raped her.
Police arrested Wilson in Indiana on Jan. 11. Four months later, he committed suicide in his jail cell.
In 1975, Judith Rossner’s novel “Looking For Mr. Goodbar,” about the dangers of cruising bars and based on the incident, was published.
In 1977, Diane Keaton starred in the movie version. Tom Berenger played her killer.
— Scott McCabe
