Jerry

Jerry is a character in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. He is the boyfriend of Sally Hardesty and the presumed owner of the Van used in the film.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
Sally Hardesty and her invalid, wheelchair-bound brother, Franklin, are concerned that their grandfather's grave may have been vandalized, so they travel to the site with three of their friends, Sally's boyfriend Jerry, her best friend Pam, and Pam's boyfriend Kirk. When they discover that the grave is intact, they decide to visit the old family homestead which is now abandoned.

Along the way, they pass a slaughterhouse and Franklin describes how cattle used to be killed with a sledgehammer, and now they use an air gun. Shortly afterwards, they pick up a skinny, strange-looking hitchhiker who exhibits bizarre behavior. After inviting the group back to his house for dinner, an invitation they all decline, the hitchhiker takes a photo of Franklin with an instant Polaroid camera, and demands a two-dollar payment for it. When Franklin refuses, the man angrily crumples the photo, sets it on fire, and cuts his own hand with Franklin's pocket knife. The guys manage to throw him out of the van, but not before he cuts Franklin with the knife, too. Before they can drive away, he smears blood on their van.

Running low on fuel, they stop at a rural Gulf filling station, only to have the strange-looking old man who runs it tell them that the tanks are empty and that he's waiting for the gas tanker to show up. When the old man learns that their destination is the old Hardesty home, he advises the young people against going there by saying that the people who live around that area are not receptive to strangers. They buy some barbeque sandwiches from the old man and depart for the family home which they finally arrive a short while later.

Later, Sally and the others start to wonder why Pam and Kirk have not returned. As the sun begins to set, Jerry sets out in the general direction and comes upon the house after he is lured to the area by the sound of the house's gas generator. He is alerted by the blanket that Kirk left hanging on the front porch, and he goes into the house. After Jerry walks into the kitchen, he discovers Pam locked inside a large freezer, still alive but convulsing and near death. She lunges out of the freezer just as Leatherface appears and kills Jerry with the sledgehammer. He forces Pam's body back into the freezer and locks it again. Leatherface is clearly distraught, apparently upset because strangers keep coming to his house.