In my reading of serial killers, some were people you’d never think twice about, some had a history of deviant behavior but some were really successful before they were exposed as killers.
Herb Baumeister was a successful small business owner who owned multiple stores, probably had a high net worth. John Wayne Gacy was a successful small business owner and community leader. When Ted Bundy was in politics when he was younger, among the political circles he ran in the idea that he (Bundy) may oneday run for and become governor of Washington was not considered unrealistic.
I don’t know if trying to overcompensate for their urges drove them, or if they just wanted the veneer of invulnerability that wealth and respect provides them when committing crimes, but it seems (as a guess) that some well known serial killers are far more successful than the average. Then again that could just be BS.
So what people (or person) had the most respect, fame, wealth, success, etc. who turned out to be a serial killer?
There was a cross-dressing millionaire (the cross-dressing is significant, because he disguised himself as a woman to elude detection at one point, but he seems to have been a genuine transvestite, in that he enjoyed cross-dressing, and did so frequently just for pleasure) who killed at least two people, although I guess it takes three to qualify as a serial killer. He definitely killed for the feeling of power over the victims, though. One was his wife, and he could have easily divorced her and barely noticed the dent in his money even if she’d gotten a large settlement. The other one was someone against whom he raised a transparently false claim of self-defense.
I can’t remember his name, but it made for one of the most bizarre “ripped from the headlines” episodes of Law & Order.
Under the heading of “respected” and “relatively well-off” (though not wealthy), there was a successful computer programmer in California who committed 16 murders (and maybe as many as 51) - Randy Kraft.
H.H. Holmes gets serious consideration in the success category. He had his very own commercial building in which to despatch victims, which is a rarity among serial killers.*
*if we can’t call Holmes successful because of legal troubles, than Kevin Trudeau (the con man They don’t want you to buy from) can’t be called successful either. Not that Trudeau is responsible for any deaths, at least not directly.
You’re talking about Robert Durst. He was never particularly respected–for most of his life he’s been living off family money. His occasional crossdressing was odd–he wasn’t a nice normal transvestite or transsexual.
When dismembered bits of a neighbor Durst had fought with washed ashore in Galveston, he was charged. He eventually claimed that the old guy died suddenly while visiting but he was afraid to call 911, because of previous run ins with the police. So he dismembered him & threw him in the bay. I don’t think enough was recovered to determine the cause of death, so he got off. When you can afford the very best lawyers…
The Law & Order episode had the killer finally convicted of the murder of his wife. Durst has long been suspected in the disappearance of *his *wife, but he’s still a free man. A free, rich man. Who probably killed only two or three people–does that count as “serial killer”?
Came here to post this. You don’t get much more respected than that.
Edit: though he only killed two before he was caught - though it is clear he would have killed again and again, had he not been. Nice bit of police work in tracking him down.