Based on Eric Hickey’s Serial Murderers & Their Victims

And
Kenna Quinet’s Prostitutes as victims of serial homicide
(2011)
Number of Serial Killers???
 Estimates 35-100 active serial killers per year

 Most are active for a period of at least one year

 Female serial killers operated for more years than their

male counterparts
2004 study on serial killers
 Extensive data base of identified serial killers and their
victims

 N=431

 From 1800 to 2004

 1950 to 1975 surge in the number of serial killers

 1980s saw a dramatic increase in serial killers

 Since then the number has tapered off

 This decline mirrors that of the long term decline in

homicides in general

 However, homicides are cyclical…so we could be seeing

a resurgence
Rossomo’s 1995 study
 Dissertation

 1835 to 1993

 N=225 killers with three or more victims

 N=1,983 victims (conservative #)

The subset
 N=15

 Killed five or more humans

 N=178 victims

 Majority of victims were female

Everyone should read:
 Best book on the subject is Hunting Humans

 Author: Elliot Leyton (1986)

 In-depth investigation into the lives and minds of a

few contemporary serial killers and their relationships
with their victims
Demographics of Victimization
 Odds of becoming a victim of a serial murderer are
slim

 More likely to be killed in a domestic violence

homicide

 Murders in general represent less than 1% of all violent

crimes in U.S.
Kraemer, Lord, & Heilbrun (2004)
 Compared serial killers to single-homicide offenders

 SK: Target more women than men & kill more strangers

 SK: More likely sexually motivated

 SH: kill men and women with equal frequency but more
likely to kill family and friends.

 SH: More likely motivated by anger

Characteristics of SK
 Usually have distinctive victim-selection criteria

 Motivations

 Sexual interests

 That set them apart from other types of killers

States with the most SK
 California

 New York

 Texas

 Florida

 Illinois
 Generally states with larger populations

 Large metropolitan areas

 Population density is more important than regional

variations
3 distinct killer types
 Place Specific Offenders

 Murder within own homes, places of employment or

specific spots

 Example: John Wayne Gacy

Local Serial Killers
 Remain within a certain state or urbanized area to seek
out victims

 Example: Michael D. Terry – hunting grounds were a

14-square mile area of downtown Atlanta, Georgia
Traveling Serial Killers
 Travel through or relocate to other areas within the
U.S.

 Example: Randall B. Woodfield, the I-5 Killer.

Believed to have killed at least 13 humans all along an
800 mile stretch of Interstate 5

 From Washington State to California

Percentage breakdown
 Place specific SK: 20% to 24%

 Local SK: 38% to 44%

 Traveling SK: 34% to 39%

 Therefore – majority SK kill in a specific place or

general urbanized area
This breakdown has changed since
1975
 Prior to that more Traveling SKs

 Now we have more Local SK

 Probably has to do with increased urbanization

 Large pool of victims

 Still able to maintain anonymity

Place Specific SK
 Decreased

 Due in part to methods of killings

 Usually poisoned

 Now more easily detected

New area of concern…..
 Nursing homes

 Hospitals

 Private residents

 The “Graying of America” will probably see an increase

in homicides in upcoming years
Gender variation in SK
Gender differences in:
 Method & means
 Includes damage and torture to victim
 Stalking vs. luring behaviors
 Crime scene organization
 Motive
 History of substance abuse
 Psychiatric diagnosis
Gender similarities in:
 Educational level
 Familial dysfunction
 Race
 History of child abuse
 Occupation
Favorite targets - Strangers
 Young women alone – college students & prostitutes
 Children (both genders)
 Travelers (includes hitchhikers)
 People at home (sometimes entire families)
 Hospital patients (including handicapped)
 Business people (shop owners & landlords)
 People walking on streets/in stores
 Old women alone
 Police officers
Continued - Strangers
 Employees
 Transients
 People responding to Craigslist & newspaper ads
 Racial killings
Acquaintances
 Friends and neighbors
 Children (both genders)
 Women alone (prostitutes and waitresses)
 Adult males
 People in authority (landlords, employers, guards)
 Members of one’s own family
 Members of one’s own group (gangs & inmates)
 Patients
Family
 Own children
 Husbands
 Wives
 In-laws
 Other relatives (niece, nephew, etc…)
 Mother of the offender
 Siblings
 Grandparents
Most likely age group targeted
 Young & middle aged adults (78%)

 However, only 36% killed only adults

 5% killed only elderly

 6% killed only children

By 2004….
 SK increasingly targeting the elderly

 Overall trend is significant increase in SK with at least

one elderly victim

 Fulfills Angel of Death fantasy

 Some may nurture hatred for the elderly

Victim facilitation????
 The degree to which victims make themselves
accessible or vulnerable to attack

 Victim-prone people

 Acquired particular attitudes &/or lifestyles that

increase their vulnerability
High facilitation
 Hitchhikers

 Prostitutes
Low facilitation
 Woman shopping alone

 Child playing in his/her yard

 2/3 of victims in the right place at the wrong time

Missing & Murdered Children
 Clifford Robert Olson

 From Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

 Extensive criminal history

 Suspect in murder of missing children

 Only had one murder victim

 But 10 others missing

 Offered to take investigators to their graves for $

 Government made deal to pay his wife $10,000 per

grave
 Olson’s wife was given $100,000

 She divorced him & relocated

 Huge public outcry

 She gave the money back

FBI Child Abduction Unit
 62% (n=3,200 to 4,600) nonfamilial child abductions
are done by strangers

 N=100 to 150 yearly abductions by predators who

sexually assault and/or kill their child victims
Runaways
 Children who voluntarily leave home without
parental/guardian permission
 Most missing kids are runaways
 Often leave home several times a year
 Each time they run away they can be counted again as
“missing”
 Most usually return home
Parental Abductions
 Children abducted by the noncustodial parent or the
parent who does not have legal guardianship
 Custody battle
 3 out of every 10 children kidnapped by a parent never
see the other parent again
 Physical & sexual abuse of abducted child is common
 Nearly ¼ of children abducted by parent &/or relative
are later found dead
Relative abductions
 Children abducted by a relative

 Such as uncle, aunt, or in-law

 Take the child away from parent or legal guardian

Discarded Children
 Children who are forced to leave their home by parents
or guardians who reject them

 Often gay or lesbian children from very conservative

families
Disposable Children
 Children who are murdered by their parent(s) or legal
guardians
Stranger Abductions
 Children who are taken by persons who are strangers
to the victim and the victim’s family
Abbreviated Abductions
 Children who are abducted for a short period of time
(minutes or hours)

 Then released

 These children may never be recorded in police

records
Aborted Abductions
 Children who manage to escape the attempted
kidnapping
Statistics…
 Most nonfamilial child abductions victims range in age
from 4 to 11

 They are often lured or snatched from a street

 75% of child abduction murder victims are killed

within two to three hours of being kidnapped
Stranger Abductions
 Girls are at a higher risk than boys

 Rates for Black victims is three times higher than for

White victims
Famous Case of Child Abduction
Women and children first….
 They are the prime targets of SK

 Male offenders are more than twice as likely to travel

and hunt for child victims

 Male offenders primary motive for killing children was

sexual gratification
 Women offenders who killed children were more likely
to be classified as Local than Place-Specific or
Traveling

 Women offenders were much more likely to kill

children for financial reasons
Crazy Killers or Sane??
 Very few SK are insane

 Most are psychopaths

 Child victims are targeted because they may represent

an act of revenge on an unjust society
Or
 Desire to prevent others from experiencing the joy &
happiness in life they felt they were denied
Children as victims
 More trusting

 Naïve

 Powerless

 Easier to abduct
Best way to lure a child?
When all else fails….
Lady Killers
 Most likely victims

 SKs who target this group display habits and traits that
tend to set them apart from other SKs

 Get more attention in the media

 These SKs enjoy killing and often

 Indulge in acts of sadism & perversion – The Lust

Murderers
Compared with other SKs “Lady
Killers”
 Tend to kill more victims

 More devious

 More obsessed

 Possibly more intelligent

 Majority are Local Offenders

Prostitutes as victims
 Based on Quinet’s research (2011)

 Difficult to study this population

 1990 estimates

 23 per 100,000 = 84,000 prostitutes in US in 1988

Prostitution in general
 Short term career

 Geographically mobile

 The Missing Missing

Potterat’s Mortality of Prostitutes
 1967 to 1999

 n-=1,633

 Higher risk of death

Homicide rate for prostitutes
 18 times higher than other females

 Workplace homicide rate is 204 per 100,000

 Male taxi drivers WHR is 29 per 100,000

High Risk Occupation
 Work alone

 Dangerous area

 At night

 Cash on hand
Salfati (2008) Factors in selection of
prostitutes for homicide victims
 Availability/Opportunity

 Expressive motivations

 Lack of public interest

 Secretive/Unprotected/Isolated
Salfati (continued)
 Location of work in high crime area

 Unwillingness to talk to police

 Complex forensic DNA sampling

Novice prostitutes
 New to area

 Days or weeks

 No criminal history
The Less Dead
 Marginal victim populations

 Transients
 Migrants
 Prostitutes
 Drug users
Prostitutes
 Seen as “less dead”

 Mainly because they were “less alive” before their

violent demise

 Now they are “never-were”

Gay males
 Most gay serial killers select young boys or gay men as
their victims

 They will sexually assault them before or after the

killing

 Rarely do heterosexual SKs target gay victims

 These offenders were single, lower-middle-class or

middle class and had histories of deeply troubled lives
Elderly victims
 Men who kill elderly women commit very disgusting,
vicious and perverted rapes and murders

 Most are sexually assaulted

 Torture and sexual assault is often worst than those

inflicted on younger victims

 Victims often live alone or were institutionalized

The Boston Strangler
 Albert DeSalvo

 Most of his victims were at least 55 years old

 Eight out of thirteen of his victims fit that mold

 Often raped and sodomized his victims (one was 86

years old)
Contact Tracing
 Public Health concept

 Trace back the last three weeks of your life

 Determine every single person you came in contact

with

 But what if that human is dead?

The End