It sounds like it, yes. In the ‘70s and ‘80s there were the interstate highway killers who preyed on young males hitchhiking. Now the highways are internet apps.
Caleb may have been targeted by someone experienced at getting away with this type of crime and concealing their identity.
I remember reading about Randy Kraft and another gay serial killer. It was chilling how they got away with it: Kraft may have had over 60 victims. He was educated and successful.
We shouldn’t be surprised if history repeats itself, but transferred to the digital age.
BBM just because I admire your succinct clarity in six simple words.
But I still don't think there had to have been a digital connection in this case. There is no prerequisite that there be prior contact between murderer and murderee.
Maybe the other serial killer you read about was Larry Eyler?
IMO, killers want/need to kill, and so they kill. And, like everybody else, they evolve just as ways and means evolve.
Some predator could have met Caleb on line and engineered an encounter, yes. I realize that many sleuthers believe it was something along these lines and I understand why. However, to date, virtually no factual evidence to support this scenario has been made public. That may be because there is none. We'll see.
Or... some predator in the wider vicinity of The Cottages apartment complex could have noticed Caleb and bookmarked him for future reference.
Or... some predator could have been out night-trawling and seized the perfect opportunity presented by a barefoot young man apparently loitering near a fog-shrouded bridge in the middle of the night.
Or... some cruiser could have presumed that loitering barefoot young man to have been a rent boy.
My point is, there are alternative scenarios here that require no digital access whatsoever.
Just because it's hard to believe that Caleb was randomly grabbed and killed by a stranger doesn't mean he wasn't. I happen to think he was. JMO, of course.