I do beleive that one’s chances of even passing a serial killer on the street, much less meeting one, muuuuuch less being killed by one are less than those of being struck by lightning. How many have there actually been in the past 100 years… 10, 20? Odds are none of us will ever have the privilege of having any contact whatsoever with a serial killer.
If one has a bad track record of judging people, chances are it will manifest it’s self in the form of brushing a little too close to or giving not quite the right look to a drunk in a bar who’s looking for a fight, or dating someone who’s not right for ya… being hacked up in the woods is an honour reserved for very few, and as has been posted already - you aren’t gonna recognize a good serial killer anyways… that’s how they get to be serial killers. (there are some very good websites with info on body language, personal space, character assessing, and just plain how not to push your luck out there on the net. These can help out with the types of situations a guy is likely to actually run into)
All that said, I don’t think there is any definitive screening program to be able to pick out such people… otherwise there’d have been a whole slew of them arrested at some point. It appears to be mostly a matter of “accidently” catching one and then retrospectively looking back and picking out potential warning signs that may have helped. Character profiling isn’t an actual science, it’s more of an ad-lib system in the making that works sometimes, and not just as often.
Holey crap - I just realized that you’re in the same town as me… I’m really hoping you meant that first sentence in your above post about not being a killer… :eek:
Actually, didn’t they catch a serial killer on the run a few years back living here … some asian dude?
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Ok, checked and yep, Charles Ng …pretty nasty little dude.
Right - I take back everything I said about your odds :D.
Not always. That was a mistake in looking for the serial killers in the DC area last October.
Serial killers tend to hide what they are doing very well. Ann Rule, former policewoman and true mystery writer, was researching the disapperance and murder of several young women in the Washington area for a book contract she had signed, and also working with Ted Bundy. And she didn’t have a clue till he was arrested.
Robert K. Ressler, who started and was head of the FBI serial killer unit, has written two excellent books about his work: ** Whoever Fights Monsters ** and ** I Have Lived With the Monster **. He grew up in the same area as John Wayne Gacy, and Gacy remembers delivering groceries to his house!
Okay, I actually know several serial killers. And none of them would pass as “normal”. They may not be drooling but anyone having an hour of conversation with these guys would come away with the knowledge that there were several fries missing from their happy meal.
The idea that somebody can hack apart fifteen co-eds while living a normal life comes from the media. After the bodies are dug up, they ask around and find someone with a peripheral aquaintance to the killer and the desire to appear on TV. Said person will happily testify how he never suspected his neighbor was the Ruralburg Ripper because “he was always so quiet”. What this guy isn’t saying is he only saw the guy four times when they happened to be picking up their mail at the same time and their entire conversation together consisted of “Nice day out” and “Yup but it looks like it might rain later”.
And at any given time there are an estimated 6 billion people in the world. So any random person you meet has about a .0000005% chance of being a serial killer. How uncommon would they have to be before you’d say that they’re ‘rare’?
Well, ANY is too many. But if we round up a bit and say there are 300 milion people in the US, that’s still only one out of every 6 million people at most. Still leaves you very, very unlikely to run into one.
I’ve always wondered about this. It seems to me that an equally good triad would be
Likes ice cream
Doesn’t like doing homework
Tortures animals
I mean, isn’t torturing animals, all by itself, a major warning sign of problems? And the other two elements of the “triad” are common enough that I can’t imagine them being any help at all.
I’d certainly disagree with the assertion they’re always charming and likable people. Henry Lee Lucas, McDuff and Recindez Ramirez just to name a few don’t fit that mold. In fact you could make the case that they were so unappealing that they were likely rejected by most of society and their murderous sprees were a way of lashing back.
Also, granted a lot of serial killers have been white males but don’t forget (as mentioned) the DC snipers, Atlanta’s Wayne Williams, Louisiana’s Lee this week, and countless others. In fact I even remember a few women being on the list.
Oh, yeah, well I can prove that all serial killers were at some time in their lives children. Thus, to find a serial killer, find somebody who is or has been a child!
Originally posted by Marley23
A vast majority of serial killers are white males, so there’s a good point to look for.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Annie-Xmas *
**Not always. That was a mistake in looking for the serial killers in the DC area last October.
–Hang on. Those are spree killers.
If you think your neighbor is a serial killer look to see if he has a pet.
That’s alive.
I would have to say torturing animals is a pretty big warning sign. If the kid is buring ants with a magnifying glass, I might not worry all that much. If they are locking dogs and cats in an abandoned refridgerator, I might be concerned.
In my professional opinion, some other warning signs are:
-Frequent trips to the dump
-That strange smell coming from their basement
-Dances around naked in front of the mirror playing the “hide the penis” game
-He is Kevin Spacy
-Lives in an isolated shack full of animal heads or other wierd shit (or the other extreme - a penthouse or expensive beach house)
-Is a super good-looking and charming white guy
-Parents disappeared mysteriously
-Has a lot of thick-headed friends and neighbors who are hard of hearing (why sure I’ll come over to help you sharpen your chainsaw)
We once had a very interesting lecture about this from a forensic scientist. They had one guy who’s sole ambition in life was to be a serial killer, he actually killed one women. Fortunately he wasn’t too bright, he hid her body (bits of it anyway) in the alley behind his house and told all his friends that he had done it (he thought they wouldn’t believe him). I think she said that was the only case she had come across (and he didn’t actually kill more than once), this was in a fairly quiet area of the country (UK) though, maybe serial killers are more common in the US of A.
J/K