Tom Dombrowski, in a Chicago state of mind
As police from four counties surrounded his home in San Bruno, California, convicted serial killer Thomas Wayne Dombrowski had only one thing on his mind: a double-bacon cheeseburger from Chicago’s Billy Goat Tavern.
“With bacon that tastes like charred human flesh,” Dombrowski said from his cell on San Quentin’s death row. “No one beats the Goat.”
Dombrowski should know. The man now recognized around the world as “The Route 66 Strangler” found a fertile breeding ground for his murderous impulses right here in Chicagoland. Before beginning a killing spree that claimed the lives of twenty-seven victims from St. Louis to Los Angeles, the bald 38 year old enjoyed rooting for the Chicago Cubs, closely following city politics and holiday shopping on the Magnificent Mile. Criminal experts are still unclear what caused the man to snap.
“From ‘Devil in the White City’ Dr. H.H. Holmes to John Wayne Gacy, there is something mysterious about Chicago that seems to breed the very best in insane killers,” noted Charles Mahoney, a criminologist at the University of Illinois. “New York may have the ‘Son of Sam,’ but with Dombrowski, we are taken to an entirely new level. Not only will this guy kill you, but he’ll then arrange the murder scene in ornate ways reminiscent of Louis Sullivan.”
In talking with the killer, it’s clear that Dombrowski considers himself a native son of Chicago, albeit a psychopathic one. From the shores of Lake Michigan where he used to target unwary tourists for random attacks to Lower Wacker Drive, where he would pay homeless people to beat each other senseless, Dombrowski knows the city as well as any ambassador. Now, as he looks upon San Quentin’s gravel courtyard, he recalls a gentler time, one free of dead hitchhikers and shallow, roadside graves.
“As a small child, I used to love going to the Field Museum with my parents on a warm, sunny afternoon. I’d imagine locking them in the mummy’s tomb and hearing their cries for help,” Dombrowski recalled with a smile. “Later that night, we’d go to Buckingham Fountain where I would wait to see the lights of the fountain turn red, and think about all of the blood I was going to spill when I grew older.”
Through a combination of Midwestern perseverance, ingenuity and good luck, Dombrowski achieved that dream, reaching the top of the FBI’s Most Wanted List by the age of 35. In response, the Chicago City Council unanimously voted to designate the street in Canaryville where the killer grew up as “Honorary Tom Dombrowski Avenue.”
“Like Michael Jordan, Oprah Winfrey and Roger Ebert, Tom Dombrowsk represents the very best of his profession,” Ald. Ed Burke said at a recent City Council meeting. “Time and again, he’s proven himself to being cunning, ruthless, and having a complete disregard for the welfare of others. Were it not for his twelve consecutive life sentences, I’d recommend a run for City Hall. I’m sure he’d fit right in.”
Mitchell Snyder is a fully-licensed and bonded International Man of Parody. He's also the alter-ego for a business professional who can't stop listening to the funny voices in his head. He became a card-carrying member of Chicago's comedy-industrial complex when he started performing stand-up early in 2009, and has since branched out into writing satire articles.
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