He was believed to have killed at least 12 women, all with a small handgun.
Serial killer definition serial#
In February, 1989, the Associated Press released a story about a serial killer who preyed on prostitutes in the same area of Los Angeles that harbored the Southside Slayer.
Serial killer definition how to#
Perhaps the single most critical stumbling block that today stands in the way of understanding serial murder is the disagreement among researchers and law enforcement about how to define the phenomenon.
The mass murderer and the serial killer are quantitatively and qualitatively different, and disagreement continues about their characteristics just as it does about the types of mass and serial offenders that appear to have emerged in recent years. Similarly, we rarely if ever hear of a serial killer who also enacts a mass murder. We rarely if ever hear of a mass murderer who has the opportunity to enact a second mass murder or to become a serial killer. The serial killer continues to hurt and murder victims, whereas the mass murderer makes his or her "final statement" in or about life through the medium of abrupt and final violence. Third, the mass murderer kills groups of people at once, whereas the serial killer individualizes his or her murders. When we discover that people exist who are not considered to be insane or crazy but who enjoy killing others for "recreation," this indeed gives new meaning to the word "stranger." Although the mass murderer is viewed as a deranged soul, a product of a stressful environment who is just going to "explode" now and then (but of course somewhere else), the serial murder is seen as much more sinister and is more capable of producing fear. Hyde life: a student by day, a killer of coeds by night a caring, attentive nurse who secretly murders sick children, the handicapped, or the elderly a building contractor and politician who enjoys sexually torturing and killing young men and burying them under his home. However, it is more disconcerting to learn that some of the "nicest" people one meets lead a Dr. We can somehow accept the fact that a few people go "crazy" sometimes and start shooting others. This immediately creates a "they"/"us" dichotomy in which "they" are different from "us" because of mental problems. People generally perceive the mass killer as one suffering from mental illnesses. Second, although both types of killers evoke fear and anxiety in the community, the reaction to a mass murder will be much more focused and locally limited than that to serial killing. The Zodiac case is only one example of unsolved serial murders, many of which will never be solved. Speculation currently exists that the Zodiac killer is stalking victims in the New York City area. The killer may even have become immobilized because of an accident or an illness or have died without his or her story ever being told. Or the Zodiac killer may have just decided to stop killing or to move to a new location and kill under a new modus operandi, or method of committing the crime. Perhaps the offender was incarcerated for only one murder and never linked to the others, or perhaps he or she was imprisoned for other crimes. In the case of the California Zodiac killer, the homicides appeared to have stopped, but an offender was never apprehended for those crimes. Indeed, they may continue to kill for weeks, months, and often years before they are found and stopped-if they are found at all. Serial killers, by contrast, usually make special efforts to elude detection. First, mass murderers are generally apprehended or killed by police, commit suicide, or turn themselves in to authorities. But the differences between these two types of offenders far outweigh the similarities. In both mass and serial murder cases, victims die as the offender momentarily gains control of his or her life by controlling others. Gary Ronald York and James Douglas Latham, spree killers who travelled from Florida to Utah Hickey's "Serial Murderers and Their Victims"ĭifferences Between Mass Murderers and Serial Killers The entire textbook, three other complete books, 80 minutes of video, an interactive and searchable serial killer mapping system, and much much more is included in the Mind of a Killer CD-ROM!ĭon't forget to look here every weekday for a new Case of the Day, and on Tuesdays and Fridays for a Case of the Day with a picture!įrom Eric W.
Hickey's "Serial Murderers and Their Victims"