What Are Serial Killers?

The term Serial Killer was first termed in 1974, but they've been around long before that. A Serial Killer is someone who commits a series of murders of at least two different people or two separate murders over a period of time. The time could range from hours to years. 

The definition has changed over the years. It used to be defined by the FBI as four different events separated by a cooling-off period but was lowered to 3 by the '90s. It did exclude people who were caught before continuing on their murdering. 

There is a fantasy they want to establish and enjoy at the risk of hurting others. Most time they d

It's been a popular topic among law enforcement, mental health experts, academia, and the general public. It's also been the topic for many t.v. shows, moves, plays, stories, and books. People know that serial killers are the things of nightmares. Many people don't even realize that serial murders take up only 1 percent of all homicides. Currently, there are 35 active serial killers at any given time in the U.S.

Serial killers aren't a new thing. There have always been terrible people since the beginning of time. The documentation of the serial killers wasn't adequately documented, meaning that there is very little information out on serial killers in history. There are many that are well known such as Jack The Ripper and H.H. Holmes. 

There are many myths that come with serial killers that people commonly believe.

Serial Killers are loners and a weird.

In reality, many serial killers were not loners and seemed completely normal. Most of them don't appear to be reclusive or to be misfits in their public lives. Many even hide in plain sight in their communities. Even Law Enforcement has overlooked some serial killers due to how put together they seem.

For example, serial killer Dennis Rader or BTK was married with two children. He was a boy scout leader, served in the U.S. Air Force and was employed by the local government and was the president of the church. No one suspected he was BTK who had killed 10 victims and sent 16 taunting letters to the news media in a 30-year span in Wichita Kansas until he was caught. It's believed most serial killers fit in well much like Rader.

An example of someone who does fit these criteria was Ed Gein. He was awkward and was a hermit and outsider. It's known that he had killed two women and had been robbing graves in order to make a mother suit for himself.


All Serial Killers are white males.

This is not true as serial killers are of all races and sexes. The diversity of serial killers correlates to the races of the population. Women are not immune from being serial killers either. 52. 21% of Serial killers are White, 40.3% are Black, 6.1% are Hispanic, 0.7% is Asian, and 0.8% is Native American. 90.8% are men and 9.2% are women.

Charles Ng is an Asian serial killer and was a native of Hong Kong, China before becoming a serial killer in Northern California with Robert Lake.

Derrik Todd Lee is an African American male who killed at least 6 women in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Rory Conde,a Colombian native was a Hispanic serial killer who killed 6 prostitutes in Miami, Florida.

Nannie Doss was a female serial killer who poisoned 11 people between the 1920s to 1954.

Serial Killers are only motivated by sex.

This is a big reason for 46. 11% (including thrill, lust, and power) of serial killers, but there are other motives. 31.68% did it for financial gain, 8.12% did it for multiple reasons, 7.84% did it out of anger, 3.28% did it for a criminal enterprise, 1.21% did it to avoid arrest, .62% did it for attention, .73% did it for convenience, .41% did it due to a hallucination, and .21% did it due to a Cult.

Amy Archer-Gilligan did it for financial gain as she killed many of her boarders after they named her in their life insurance. Between 1911 to 1916 she killed at least 48 people.

Anthony Garcia killed 4 people due to revenge.

Richard Kuklinski killed for the mob.

Zodiac killed for attention.

Son of Sam or David Berkowitz had paranoid schizophrenia. He believed a dog was telling him to kill.


Serial Killers travel and operate on interstate. 

Serial killers have defined comfort areas that they kill within or at. Once in while they will kill outside of their comfort zone after they built their confidence. Many of them do not include them traveling on the interstate to kill.

All Serial Killers are insane and or evil geniuses. 

This is a common misconception as many of them do have personality disorders, but are not considered insane. The intellectual levels of serial killers also vary from below-average to above-average levels.


Serial Killers want to get caught.

Serial killers committing their first crime/murder are inexperienced and then learn to develop their skills and get better at not being caught. It isn't until they get too confident that it is their downfall. As in they begin taking short cuts and or have the mindset that they won't get caught. This is what eventually gets them caught.

Albert Fish had sent traceable stationery to the mother of one of his victims. He easily overlooked the envelope he had used which had the emblem of the boarding house he was staying in.

Joel Rifkin had been driving around with no license plates and when the police tried to pull him over he started a high-speed chase. He eventually got into a crash and the police found the body of his last victim in the trunk.



SOURCES:
Britannica 
Statistic Brain
FBI
Psychology Today
Wikipedia
Ranker
Psychology Today