Serial Killer Stephen Port Was Dubbed the Grindr Killer — He Went From Chef to Murderer

One of the reasons why Jeffrey Dahmer ended up with 17 victims was due to the rampant homophobia within the Milwaukee Police Department. When two of their officers encountered one of Dahmer's victims running from his apartment building, they allowed the killer to escort the boy back to his place — where he then killed him. Despite the fact that the 14-year-old was clearly incapacitated and wearing handcuffs, the police decided this was an argument between two gay men and not worth further investigation.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the last time homophobia allowed a serial killer to roam the streets. In 2014 and 2015, a man who would later be called the Grindr Killer was able to murder four men using the popular gay dating app, as well as several like it. Some of the victims' families believe this could have been avoided had authorities not been so bigoted. So, where is Stephen Port now? Here's what we know.

In November 2016, Port was sentenced to life in prison which was met by cheers from family and friends in the courtroom, reported The Guardian. While sentencing Port, Judge Peter Openshaw referenced the fact that the now guilty murderer drugged his victims before killing them. "A significant degree of planning went into obtaining the drugs in advance and in luring the victims to his flat," he said.

He then went on to say the manner in which Port disposed of their bodies "robbed them of their dignity, and thereby greatly increased the distress of their loving families." Despite this, Openshaw said he did not believe it was Port's intention to take their lives. Still, he said, "he must have known and foreseen there was a high risk of death, the more so after the death of Anthony Walgate, the first victim."

Over the course of 15 months, Port drugged and sexually assaulted four men in and around London. According to the BBC, police didn't see the deaths as suspicious until after the fourth one. Between June 2014 and September 2015, Port used Grindr to meet, drug, rape, then kill Anthony Walgate, 23; Gabriel Kovari, 22; Daniel Whitworth, 21; and Jack Taylor, 25.

In June 2014, Anthony Walgate was working as a male escort when Port offered him $800 for the evening. The young man told a friend of his where he was going, then joked "in case I get killed." After Walgate was found dead outside of Port's apartment, he told police that Walgate overdosed on drugs which caused the killer to panic. Port spent two months in prison for "perverting the course of justice."

Two months later, Gabriel Kovari was crashing at Port's apartment when he was murdered. This time, Port moved his body to a nearby cemetery. Port also phoned his sister and told her what he had done. He took things a step further by creating a fake Facebook profile in order to tell Kovari's boyfriend that his partner had gone to a sex party with some man named "Dan." Three weeks later, Port killed Daniel Whitworth and left his body in the exact same place in the cemetery. A woman walking her dog stumbled upon both bodies.

In an effort to cover his tracks, Port penned a fake suicide note and planted it on Whitworth's body. In the note, Port blamed Kovari's murder on Whitworth then cited that as the reason why he took his own life. During this time, police chose not to look into any of this and accepted the suicide note as fact. Had they checked phone records for Kovari and Whitworth, they would have discovered the two hadn't communicated with each other but they had been in contact with Port.

A year passed before Port claimed his fourth and final victim. Jack Taylor was murdered in September 2015, just hours after meeting up with Port. His body was found by a garbage collector. Port took the time to hide a needle and syringe in one of Taylor's pockets, then wiped his phone clean of their messages as well as the dating app through which they met. Taylor's family members believe he would be alive today had police been "doing their jobs" properly.