Are there still serial killers today?

[frogswimming]

I'm just watching the Yorkshire ripper documentary. All the famous serial killers seem to be 1960s-1980s, Dennis Nielsen, moors murderers, Ted bundy, zodiac. Are modern ones just not publicised the same?

It wasn't a serial case, but it was a stranger, violent murder in my home town, 1996. DNA evidence was preserved, but it took years before the offender was caught for a road rage incident and the DNA matched. He had a history of convictions for assault including against partners.
Would he have committed enough murders to become a serial killer? Don't know, but DNA databases made it far easier to join the dots which could not have happened a decade earlier. That case helped change the law about recording DNA from all cases so that it is easier to join the dots with less serious, superficially unconnected crimes.

I suspect that there is a generational influence in post-war trauma, neglect, stigma of mental health issues and sexuality/ family structure. Issues like attachment disorders are better understood. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome must have been more previlent in the past which can affect attachment and development as well as being poorly cared for by alcoholic parents.

The internet probably has changed the actions of this psychology. Access to materials that satiate without having to directly take action (you don't hear nearly so much about flashers these days either) and presenting in different ways. Finding camaradie in extremist groups. Modern domestic "terrorism" tends to involve people of similar disposition.

Some serial killers would take years between each murder. It isn't unfeasible to imagine that there are some active today that won't be caught for a short while yet.

Like previous posters said, it's likely easier to catch criminals now. But with a whole world of information right at your fingertips, it might also be easy to cover your traces....

UsedUpUsername Oh yes, women certainly participate in the culture of misogyny. There is that 'but I can be the one to rescue him with my love and understanding' type. You see them here on the relationships board all the time.

Hybristophilia is the word. Is it a fetish I wonder?

Bundy had a glamour to him. Does anyone remeber the judges summing up about how admirable he found him?
Jaw dropping.

Lola and because of some obscure law in Florida that made them legally married

There was one arrested in Russia a week or ten days ago as it happens.

Bundy had a glamour to him.

You've got to be careful with Bundy. There was how he made himself appear in court, and there was what he actually was.

He was a loser, who didn't do well in school, didn't have many friends, couldn't hold down a job or a relationship.

The only thing he was, like Dahmer, was moderately attractive and could be pretty charming for short periods of time.

Ted Bundy also used his real name when he introduced himself.
So when he was the last one seen with them, teh police thought it couldnt be him.As if you would use your real name.

His gf at the time reported him to the helpline many times and no action was taken.

The serial killers who facinate me are John Wayne Gacy.
He had loads of bodies buried under his house and he got away with it for years.

John Wayne Gacy was friendly and gregarious and a pillar of his community. Bundy was a creep who struggled to make friends or fit in, right from childhood. It's a myth that he was charismatic and charming, a lot of people who met him really disliked him. He was however, very intuitive and he knew what to say to make women feel sorry for him and not perceive him as a threat. Same as Dahmer whose victims thought he was just a harmless loner looking for company.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if there are serial killers working in the police force, especially in the US. It really hit me when George Floyd was murdered that the killer seemed practised in the way that he did it and that he didn't care that he was being witnessed. Also the other officers made no attempt to protect the victim. Both of those things would seem to imply that a situation like that is not infrequent.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if there are serial killers working in the police force

The Golden State Killer was in the police force. One of the ways he avoided detection.

@lolaflores the person you're thinking of is Henry Lee Lucas. He confessed to hundreds and the police lapped it up, hoping to solve lots of cold cases. Turned out he just enjoyed the attention and special treatment he got in jail. They do think killed some that he confessed to but yes, he had a hideous upbringing.

I always feel sad for Aileen Wuornos, her childhood was cruel beyond belief. It's hard to see how her life could have ended well.

The Twitter Killer, who got caught a few years ago.

I recently watched a very sad documentairy about the Highway of Tears in Canada.
They suspect that there's also a serial killer involved in the murders and disappearances of young women there. Some say even several serial killers are Involved. Very, very scary stuff.

Yes. Henry Lee Lucas. And Julia mate Floyd?
Pair of drifters.
The police thought they were a gift but he went down some ra bit holes of crazy made up stuff (MK ULTRA) looney tunes and because it suited and it was clearing up back logs.
Why not?

I meant to say his mate...I have no idea who Julia is.
I worked with a person whod been a psychiatric nurse on a ward for the criminally insane. Broadmoor but not with the same profile.
Although they had years of experience in other settings and was quite senior 6 months was enough. He had to have some help afterwards with some of the things he witnessed and heard.
On the ground level, way below the Bundys and Dhamers, nasty incidents occur that if you hear about them daily, fuck u up.
The very darkest and nastiest sides of human nature and its someones job to lick up the pieces.
Horrible

I knew someone as a child how murdered a man as an adult
I have no doubt that if he hadn’t been caught after the first he would have gone on to commit many more

It’s just he got caught before he could thanks to modern technology like dna and cctv etc

We had one in Cyprus recently (he was caught either last year or the year before) targeting vulnerable women - either from the Filipino community, or one or two Russian women I think. Again, sadly women who wouldn’t be missed / assumed by police to have run away. Very sad story and showed up a failing in the police force

@Thehogfatherstolemycurry

Also this thread has reminded me how much I miss Criminal Minds

Exactly what I was thinking reading through 🤣🤣

The “don’t fuck with cats” documentary on Netflix was fascinating. Not a serial killer as he only killed one person (and a load of cats)....but if it hadn’t been for the amateur YouTube sleuths who were determined to find the cat killer he would have been on the police radar at all. It would have been a lot, lot longer before he was caught and I’m sure he’d have killed more people by then. He was a total,psychpath.

Sorry if I'm repeating a comment but wanted to recommend Bad People, a bbc "comedy crime" podcast on Sounds. Fronted by two women, a criminal psychologist and a comedian, and more crime with a dark comedy tinge than out right comedy.

Agree the era of the serial killer is past - it's now more spree killings. Which seem to be scarily regular, in the states at least.

@makingmiracles

The amount of bodies pulled from both bath and bristol inner city waterways in the last 10 years is highly suspicious despite police saying they are not related and they are not looking for anyone in connection with them. Often there is a “spate” of them where numerous bodies will be found within a couple of months of each other, before it all goes quiet again for a while. I find it hard to believe they are all accidental drownings.

I'm in Bristol and have heard this before, not convinced personally yet though. It can't be hard to fall in the Avon pissed walking home from Motion etc. Plus isn't cctv everywhere in most cities?

There are probably a few knocking about who haven't been caught yet. They probably spend too much time watching true crime and brushing up on how not to make rookie mistakes with regards to forensics and internet searches. The majority of serial killers get caught out by sheer luck. The Yorkshire Ripper it was because he was seen driving in a red light district with false plates. With Fred and Rose West it was one of their younger children telling a social worker about the family *joke" about Heather being under the patio. With Denis Nielsen it was trying to flush boiled body parts down the toilet. They're usually caught when they get complacent/ sloppy/ tell a third party. For all those who get caught there are probably far more who fly under the radar, all you have to do is move around geographically, change your mode of killing and do your best to leave no forensic evidence of electronic trail. I should maybe stop listening to so many true crime podcasts (True Crime Garage and They Walk Among Us are my favourites)