# Do police ever find walls full of victim photos and info? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 7, 2007, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-police-ever-find-walls-full-of-victim-photos-and-info/399110 "2007-04-07T16:34:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![donvarner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@donvarner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/donvarner)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2007, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-police-ever-find-walls-full-of-victim-photos-and-info/399110/1 "2007-04-07T16:34:12Z")
I was just watching an episode of Numb3rs where the investigators walk into a suspect’s home and conveniently find a wall full of photos and information on the victims. This happens all of the time in movies and TV shows. Has this ever happened in real life, or is this yet another dramatic idea with no basis in fact? ---
**Author:** ![xiix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/d6d6ee/32.png) [@xiix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xiix)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2007, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-police-ever-find-walls-full-of-victim-photos-and-info/399110/2 "2007-04-07T18:31:24Z")
I imagine these days they’re far more likely to find harddrives full of incriminating info rather than oldschool creepy walls-o-crime. Also, drug dealers and bookies are known to keep debt lists. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2007, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-police-ever-find-walls-full-of-victim-photos-and-info/399110/3 "2007-04-07T18:37:24Z")
Maybe not quite as dramatic, but some serial criminals do keep “trophies”–items from their victims to help them relive the experience. I guess the most gruesome example was Jeffrey Dahmer’s refrigerator full of human parts. Some criminals are known to take wallets, credit cards, shoes, jewerly, or whatever “turns them on.” ---
**Author:** ![donvarner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@donvarner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/donvarner)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2007, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-police-ever-find-walls-full-of-victim-photos-and-info/399110/4 "2007-04-07T18:47:27Z")
So where would the concept of the “walls-o-crime” have started? I can understand the trophy concept, as it is well documented, but I’ve never really heard of a serial killer with a wall full of press clippings, or a collage of victim photos. It seems so far-fetched, but I’ve seen the variation more than once in fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2007, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-police-ever-find-walls-full-of-victim-photos-and-info/399110/5 "2007-04-07T19:02:41Z")
Dennis Rader, Wichita’s “BTK” killer, had a large collection of photos and other mementos of his victims found in his home. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2007, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-police-ever-find-walls-full-of-victim-photos-and-info/399110/6 "2007-04-07T19:30:47Z")
[QUOTE=xiix] Also, drug dealers and bookies are known to keep debt lists. [/QUOTE] My grandfather was a numbers runner. He kept his list in an improvised code. When my grandmother was still alive, he would make numerous calls to her during the day and tell her what bets people placed with him on the street. That way, if the cops ever pinched him, he’d not be carrying anything. Until he called her, he kept the bets in his head. Colorful guy. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2007, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-police-ever-find-walls-full-of-victim-photos-and-info/399110/7 "2007-04-07T19:58:44Z")
I suppose a stalker might. But most stalkers, AFAIK, don’t ever hurt their victims physically. ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2007, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-police-ever-find-walls-full-of-victim-photos-and-info/399110/8 "2007-04-07T22:50:19Z")
[QUOTE=smiling bandit] I suppose a stalker might. But most stalkers, AFAIK, don’t ever hurt their victims physically. [/QUOTE] [hijack]This site: [FileAbuseLawsuit.com Acquires NCVC.org - File Abuse Lawsuit](http://www.ncvc.org/src/main.aspx?dbID=DB_NVAW587) states the following statistic 81% of women who were stalked by a current or former husband or cohabiting partner were also physically assaulted and 31% were also sexually assaulted by that partner. Granted, this says nothing about the **total** rates of physical assaults in stalking cases, but I am reluctant to accept your assertion without something to back it up. [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![1010011010](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/ea666f/32.png) [@1010011010](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1010011010)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-police-ever-find-walls-full-of-victim-photos-and-info/399110/9 "2007-04-08T00:45:24Z")
Harvey Glatman, a photographer by trade, decorated his house in large blown-up prints he’d taken of his victims. He was a serial rapist/killer. ---
**Author:** ![Chasing\_Dreams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/258eb7/32.png) [@Chasing\_Dreams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chasing_Dreams)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-police-ever-find-walls-full-of-victim-photos-and-info/399110/10 "2007-04-08T04:03:48Z")
These guys are disturbing. Any female criminals that are just as disturbing? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-police-ever-find-walls-full-of-victim-photos-and-info/399110/11 "2007-04-08T04:28:01Z")
[QUOTE=Chasing Dreams] These guys are disturbing. Any female criminals that are just as disturbing? [/QUOTE] I’ve heard of women who serial-kill multiple husbands, over many years. In fact, I recall reading that about the only time a wife will kill her husband is if the profit to be gained exceeds double his annual incomne; a good reason to avoid life insurance. Then there’s child abusers; you’ve got the ones who poison their children for sympathy or charity. And you have the torturers; men are more likely to molest kids, women to torture them, I’ve heard. Like the woman who skinned a pet rabbit alive in front of a kid and told the kid “You’re next.” And then there’s the woman in Texas who killed the mother of her daughter’s rival in order to traumatize the rival. Also, I recall a recent case of a woman who killed a pregnent woman, and cut her open to steal the baby. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-police-ever-find-walls-full-of-victim-photos-and-info/399110/12 "2007-04-08T04:55:15Z")
[QUOTE=Der Trihs] And then there’s the woman in Texas who killed the mother of her daughter’s rival in order to traumatize the rival. [/QUOTE] [Attempted](http://www.texnews.com/texas97/mom030197.html), failed. ---
**Author:** ![Chasing\_Dreams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/258eb7/32.png) [@Chasing\_Dreams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chasing_Dreams)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-police-ever-find-walls-full-of-victim-photos-and-info/399110/13 "2007-04-08T05:10:12Z")
After reading the articles at [www.crimelibrary.com](http://www.crimelibrary.com) about the guys mentioned on this thread, I don’t trust anyone here. :eek: I think you are all sadistic murderers who want to molest me. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2007, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-police-ever-find-walls-full-of-victim-photos-and-info/399110/14 "2007-04-08T17:17:07Z")
They have found list of victims of child molestors. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-police-ever-find-walls-full-of-victim-photos-and-info/399110/15 "2007-04-09T12:21:48Z")
Ted Bundy represented himself at his Florida trial in order to have access to the crime scene photos. Apparently he would take them into his cell and use them as masturbation aides. The following is very very very sick (TMI alert) and I am going to put it in a spoiler box Bundy use to keep the bodies of his victims, or sometimes just the heads, in a cave for a while. Days or even weeks after the crime, he would go back to them, wash their hair and put makeup on their faces and jerk off into their mouths I never understood the cult of Bundy. He was a sick, perverted serial rapist, murder, and necrophiliac who maintained a mask of sanity. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-police-ever-find-walls-full-of-victim-photos-and-info/399110/16 "2007-04-09T15:18:32Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] The following is very very very sick (TMI alert) and I am going to put it in a spoiler box [/QUOTE] Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer, also used tovisit his dump sites days or weeks later and have intercourse with the decomposing remains of his victims.Thankfully, no Ridgway cult. So far at least.