R.J. Parker - The Serial Killer Compendium

IQ below average, 80-95 range

Socially inadequate

Lives alone, usually does not date

Absent or unstable father

Family emotional abuse, inconsistent

Lives and/or works near crime scene

Minimal interest in news media

Usually a high school dropout

Poor hygiene/housekeeping skills

Keeps a secret hiding place in the home

Nocturnal (nighttime) habits

Drives a clunky car or pickup truck

Needs to return to crime scene for reliving memories

May contact victim’s family to play games

No interest in police work

Experiments with self-help programs

Kills at one site, considers mission over

Usually leaves body intact

Attacks in a “blitz” pattern

Depersonalizes victim to a thing or it

Leaves a chaotic crime scene

Leaves physical evidence

Responds best to counseling interview

Noteworthy Facts

* H.H. Holmes, America's First Serial Killer, was convicted of nine murders; however, Holmes confessed to twenty-seven murders, and some investigators thought he might have actually murdered hundreds. When the World's Fair opened in Chicago in 1893, he began by killing guests at the enormous Castle Hotel. His crimes were discovered in an inspection after a janitor told police that he was not permitted to clean certain floors of the hotel. He was convicted and hanged three years later in 1896.

* Most of the victims of Jeffrey Dahmer and John Wayne Gacy, who were both white males, were men and boys of racial or ethnic minorities.

* Mary Bell was only ten years old when she was convicted of murdering two boys in England in 1968. After being confined first in an all-boys' reform school, she was later sent to a women's prison and was released at the age of twenty-three.

* The Son of Sam, David Berkowitz, was a thrill killer who enjoyed the excitement of the kill. He did not touch any of his fifteen victims, but instead followed and shot at them from a distance.

* Most serial killers are white males between the ages of twenty and thirty-five. In recent years, however, there has been an increase of serial killers from other races.

* The USA makes up 76% of the world’s serial killers. England has produced 28% of the European total.

* The western part of the United States such as California and Washington has produced more serial killers than any other part of the United States.

* Serial killers are often quite intelligent with an above average IQ.

* At any given time in the U.S., there are thirty to fifty unidentified active serial killers at work constantly changing their targets and methods; however, some authorities think that number is much higher.

* Runaways, prostitutes, and others who lead covert lives are usually not reported missing immediately and receive little police or media attention. This makes them extraordinary targets for killers.

* Experts hypothesize on what happens to unsolved cases of murderers. It is believed that some commit suicide, die, are imprisoned for other crimes, are put in mental institutions, move to another locations, or simply stop killing. Rarely do they turn themselves in.

* The term serial killer was coined in the 1970s by the FBI.

* Serial killers often suffer from Antisocial Personality Disorder, APD, and appear to be ordinary or even polite. Sometimes this is referred to as the mask of sanity. There’s often sexual characteristic to the murders, and killers may have a fondness for a particular gender, occupation, appearance, race, or other choices.

* As children, serial killers usually experience a significant amount of psychological, physical, and sexual abuse. Many times, it is a combination of all three. This vicious exploitation helps to motivate in them intense feelings of embarrassment and helplessness, which they usually impose upon their later victims.

* Many serial killers have a voracious appetite for unusual sexuality, and obsessions with fetishism, voyeurism, and aggressive pornography.

* Serial killers often have a comfort zone, committing their crimes to some extent close to their homes. They prefer to hunt for their victims at places they are familiar with, where they feel self-assured and in control. They know the best spots in the area to capture victims, and the quickest getaway routes.

How to catch a Serial Killer

How are serial killers caught? A killer continues to kill until he or she either is captured, dies, is put in jail for another crime, stops killing, or kills him or herself. After any homicide is committed, there is a thorough crime scene investigation and routine autopsies done on the victim, as well as many other steps in solving the crime.

Once all of this information has been collected, it is entered into a nationwide database run by the FBI as part of ViCAP (Violent Criminal Apprehension Program). This program can help determine different patterns, or signatures, that can link separate homicides done anywhere in the country.

A signature is a ritual, something the subject does intentionally for emotional satisfaction, something that is not necessary to perpetuate the crime. Some serial killers pose their victims in a certain way, or leave them in a certain place or position after killing them. This is an example of a signature. Another example might be a method of torture or dismembering. In short, it is what the killer does to accomplish his fantasies, and it can tell investigators a great deal about his personality and if he or she is organized or disorganized killer, which would also reflect on the intelligence of the killer.

Another method used in catching a serial killer is the establishment of an MO, or modus operandi, for the crime. The MO reflects the killer’s habits and what the killer had to do to commit the crime. This includes everything from luring and restraining his victim to the way that he actually murders; for example: their habitual choice of weapon. A serial killer's MO can change over time. Essentially, he or she learns from past blunders and improves with time. These are some of the components of criminal profiling.

Profiling Serial Killers

The Federal Bureau of Investigation developed the Behavioral Sciences Unit in 1972, using both signatures and MOs as aspects of profiling. Studies by psychologists and psychiatrists, and information gleaned from past serial murders, are compiled in the creation of a profile, along with crime scene information and witness statements. For example, if the victim is Caucasian, the killer is most likely Caucasian also, and if the crime scene demonstrates evidence of careful planning, the killer is most likely to be older, intelligent, and organized. A lot of it is theoretical, based on several studies and interviews of serial killers. Profiles are rarely 100% precise, but they are usually found to be very close.

After all the variables are compiled to make a profile, investigators can look at the existing list of suspects and ascertain which are most likely to have committed the crime and determine how best to apprehend him/her. Some organized serial killers, such as Dennis Rader, The BTK Killer, feel the need to mock the police, which sometimes leads to their arrest. In Rader’s case, he sent police a floppy disk containing data that was traced to his church. Many serial killers are unbelievably controlled and methodical, but also so arrogant that they slip up in some way that leads to their arrest. Jeffrey Dahmer, for instance, let a victim escape who then led police directly to Dahmer's apartment.

Not all serial killers are caught however, and in this book there are several unsolved serial killing cases. Yes, some are arrested or picked up for other crimes, and evidence leads investigators to their murders, but other times it’s just pure luck for the authorities or bad luck for the serial killer, that leads to their capture. For example, Ted Bundy was caught at a routine traffic stop, while David Berkowitz, The Son of Sam, was initially picked up for loitering and was thought to be a witness to the crimes instead of the killer.