To think that serial killers can’t exist these days?

[Snooks1971]

Or actually get away with murder enough to become a serial killer maybe I should say. Just finished Night Stalker on Netflix, which made me think about this, although I’ve thought along these lines before. Have always been fascinated with Jack The Ripper after visiting Madame Tussaud’s as a young teen (late 40s now).

I haven’t googled any facts and I’m just an armchair observer, but surely with mobile phones, cctv, forensic developments, tech interfaces actually talking to each other this wouldn’t be possible now.

Then I wonder how many serial killers from the past that we have never of who must have got away with it. Makes my mind boggle a bit.

Wasn't there a fair few baby deaths at a hospital that they never figured out who was responsible? Not sure if it was that recent nurse, I think there was another one sadly. But can't find it on Google.

There will definitely be other serial killers in the future, or even now. It's harder to get away with it, but that doesn't mean it's impossible. It's definitely still possible. There's always corruption in the police, just like any industry really. To paraphrase Holmes, they twist facts to suit theories instead of theories to suit facts.

Randomly, whilst awake in the middle of the night I came across this fact

I'm surprised it's so high! I sometimes (not very often and maybe I'm weird !) ponder how many times I've come close to being killed by a stranger - I know it's more common to be killed by someone you know, but sometimes I wonder what the statistic is for how often you come close to being randomly killed. If that makes any sense!

They can and they do.

Oh how naive you are OP .....

We were talking about this the other night. Have you watched the Yorkshire Ripper documentary on Netflix? It’s astounding from a modern point of view to see how catastrophically badly the investigation went wrong but you only have to look at the cataloguing of paper copies of evidence to see why they missed the glaringly obvious. Nowadays, you’re never that far from a CCTV camera and obviously it’s amazing what they can do with tiny pieces of DNA evidence.

Nowadays, you’re never that far from a CCTV camera and obviously it’s amazing what they can do with tiny pieces of DNA evidence. ... very true - but by the time it takes to sift through these and get leads to follow up, more people could already be killed.

@Whattodo1610

Oh how naive you are OP .....

I know, I’m realising that now thanks to you lot. Gullible is my middle name!

Sadly there is an endless supply of vulnerable people who no one can be much arsed to look for when they go missing, most of them are women, sex workers, care leavers etc

Or does the OP mean the stereotypical creeping around in the dark murderer?

Yes I did in my OP, but the subsequent posters have made me realise that serial killers are still here but with a different modus operandi. (Well, some of them).

@LadyCatStark

We were talking about this the other night. Have you watched the Yorkshire Ripper documentary on Netflix? It’s astounding from a modern point of view to see how catastrophically badly the investigation went wrong but you only have to look at the cataloguing of paper copies of evidence to see why they missed the glaringly obvious. Nowadays, you’re never that far from a CCTV camera and obviously it’s amazing what they can do with tiny pieces of DNA evidence.

@LadyCatStark yes exactly, these were my thoughts. My hopeful thoughts!

There are a series of unsolved fairly recent serial murders of women in Long Island who were doing sex work via Craigslist and Backpage.

It may have become harder for them to slip through the net, but it still happens.

They can - especially in the US, where there are acres of inhabited desert and forest hide bodies, and lots and lots of homeless people - particularly women and children.

They often aren't missed - not-one reports their absence and no-one comes looking for them.

I think they can. But spree killers are probably more likely.

CCTV isn’t a fail safe - it’s not uncommon to get tech errors (ie it wasn’t on or the recording is corrupted) or blurry images to the extent the culprit isn’t identifiable. With the pandemic, face coverings are a hinderance.

In the Murders of Abigail Williams and Liberty German in recent years, the girls took photos and recorded the man in the midst of criminal activity. The police probably have the suspects image inc face & general build, voice, DNA etc but can’t identify him. Fair enough it was an isolated area, but he could easily go on to do it again.

Killers just get smarter. They don’t use their own phone, they get a burner. They know when to turn it off as to not connect to cell towers. The use hostile reconnaissance to sus out cctv cameras. Sharon Birchwood’s killers purposely tried to disguise her time of death/forensics to give them an alibi, and made use of public cctv to create said alibi

It makes me wonder whether a portion of missing people in the U.K. are down to a serial killer (s) , there's just so many that just seemingly vanish without a trace which is always so sad.

I always think there seems to be a large number of people who drown in places like York in the river & Manchester canal, makes you wonder if that might be down to someone pushing in vulnerable drunk people. But of course water and drunkenness is not a great mix so it could also just be tragic accidents.

A horrible thought struck me when the video of George Floyd being murdered first came to light. I thought, looking at the police officer, that he was committing murder as a form of stress relief. He was pissed off with Mr Floyd, didn't care about him as a person and clearly felt that he could get away with what he was doing despite it being filmed. I had the strongest feeling that he was practised in his technique, that he had done it before and that he was enjoying it.

If I was a white male serial killer who didn't much care who I killed so long as could do it regularly, then an American police officer in a racially diverse urban area would be ideal.

Aren't babies and old people most likely to become victims of serial killers? Or have I made that up?

In the Murders of Abigail Williams and Liberty German in recent years, the girls took photos and recorded the man in the midst of criminal activity. The police probably have the suspects image inc face & general build, voice, DNA etc but can’t identify him. Fair enough it was an isolated area, but he could easily go on to do it again

I was always saddened by this case that they have video evidence which is widely distributed on the Internet now but never found him.

Although still waiting to go to trail there is that neo natal nurse/midwife that has been charged with killing 8 babies, so yes it can still happen.

And I'm sure there are theories about a serial killer using the canals in Manchester.

Do have to make the point that the nurse mentioned has been charged and is not yet convicted.

I find the idea that children (and adults) can be kept away from anyone for length of times, decades even, even more disturbing. Especially when they live in populated area.

UK data for 2018/2019 shows that 75,918 children were recorded missing by UK police forces.

I wonder how many runaways end up with a serial killer.