Robert Chambers, the “preppy killer,” is in the news again, this time for selling cocaine.
The Times remembers his claim to fame thus “Robert E. Chambers Jr., who became a symbol of teenage socialite arrogance 22 years ago…” That’s a little too romanticized, thank you. An 18-year-old’s murder ought not be confused with the movie Cruel Intentions.
A former prosecutor with the DA’s office tells the times: “his problem has always been addiction.” And an emptiness? The same kind of emptiness we feed when we romanticize murder and look for stop-gap non-solutions to problems of character formation?