Serial killer
A serial killer is someone who murders several people at different times (similar killers of more than one person are mass murderers and spree killers). The victims are usually people the serial killer does not know, and the killer commits his crimes to get a certain kind of excitement or other feeling. As such, serial killing is rarely done for practical reasons such as robbery or revenge.
Serial killer first became a commonly used phrase for this kind of murderer in the 1970s. This was thanks to the crimes of murderers like Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacy. Jack the Ripper is thought by many to be one of the first serial killers that many people knew about, even though he was active almost 100 years before the phrase was invented.
Motives & Methods
[change | change source]A serial killer's crimes are nearly always alike in some way or another. The killer may only attack a certain type of person, such as women of a certain age or appearance (young or old, blonde or dark-haired), or ethnicity. They may also use the same kind of weapon to kill people, or may treat them in a certain manner, such as tying them up with the same kind of rope or adhesive tape. Some serial killers have very strange habits which leave evidence of their work at each crime; for instance Albert de Salvo, the Boston Strangler[1], would tie the cord with which he had strangled a woman around her neck in a special bow. To law enforcement officers, a serial killer's habits are known as his signature, and are valuable leads in detecting who the killers are and capturing them.
Patterns
[change | change source]Some of the worst serial killers have commonly been doctors. Harold Shipman, a British general practitioner, is thought to have killed up to 250 of his patients.[2] John Bodkin Adams, also British, is thought to have killed 163 patients.[2] Burke and Hare, the 'resurrectionists', killed to sell bodies to a doctor, Robert Knox. This pattern exists because doctors have very good knowledge of how the body works, meaning they know important places that when hurt, can kill a person.
Many serial killers were also homosexual men, and targeted other gay men and boys. Between 1978 and 1991, Jeffrey Dahmer dismembered and murdered 17 men and young boys in the Milwaukee area.[3] He met many of them at gay bars.[4] Bruce McArthur, using his landscaping business, employed and murdered eight men, many of which were refugees, and hid their remains in plant pots.[5]
Other serial killers believe their crimes are righteous, and kill certain kinds of people in delusions of justice. Between 1977 and 1980, Joseph Paul Franklin targeted and killed at least 16 men across multiple U.S states. He was a white supremacist, and believed his mission was to "cleanse" African Americans across the country. He was arrested in 1980 and executed via lethal injection in 2013.[6]
References
[change | change source]- ↑ News, A. B. C. "Boston Strangler Case Solved 50 Years Later". ABC News. Retrieved 2026-07-18.
{{cite web}}:|last=has generic name (help) - 1 2 Cullen, Pamela V., "A Stranger in Blood: The Case Files on Dr John Bodkin Adams", London, Elliott & Thompson, 2006, ISBN 1-904027-19-9
- ↑ "Jeffrey Dahmer | History | Research Starters | EBSCO Research". EBSCO. Retrieved 2026-07-18.
- ↑ Powers, Joy (2022-09-30). "How did Jeffrey Dahmer harm Milwaukee's gay community?". WUWM 89.7 FM - Milwaukee's NPR. Retrieved 2026-07-18.
- ↑ "Bruce McArthur: How a shopping mall Santa became a notorious serial killer". BBC Three. 2022-11-06. Retrieved 2026-07-18.
- ↑ "Joseph Franklin, white supremacist serial killer, executed". BBC News. 2013-11-20. Retrieved 2026-07-18.
