The confusion of terms here is revealing. Antisocial personality disorder and “sociopath” are misleading terms that only confuse the issue of psychopathy and criminal deviance. This happened in Polish psychiatry as well, during the Soviet regime. By blocking scientific understanding of psychopathy, the “snakes in suits” who ran the government evaded detection. I wrote a short analysis on the subject here:
Link to Staff Report: What’s the difference between sociopaths, psychopaths, serial killers, etc.? - The Straight Dope
“Serial killer,” a term backhandedly glamorized by TV and the movies, was coined by profiler/author Robert Ressler to describe someone who gets something akin to sexual gratification from one murder and tries to recapture the feeling with subsequent murders with similar or graduating technique. If you strangle a man, then shoot a woman a few weeks later, then shove some dude down an elevator shaft, you’re probably not a true serial killer. You are a multiple murderer and one act away from being a mass murderer, though.
So, would it be fair to say a ‘serial killer’ was as much defined by their actions prior to, and after the act, as they are by their method of killing?
A couple of comments on this thread:
The essay linked to in the original post was written by someone who appears to be the editor of a small press devoted to promoting wild conspiracy theories. If we’re here to fight ignorance, we should make sure nobody takes that site seriously.
And then there’s this:
Mass murderers kill their victims all at the same time, so your example wouldn’t qualify.
And, frankly, a serial killer certainly can choose to strangle, shoot and shove. If you think they have to kill their victims the same way each time you are sadly mistaken.
“Mass murder”, as Dan Norder points out, carries connotations of many victims at once.
“Serial Killer” is an ideal term for someone who commits a series of homicides. While I had not heard that it specifies a pathology (Re: sexual gratification, trying to recreate the experience of the first kill), have you considered that these are the characteristics of serial killers who get identified and caught?
Professional killers excluded, are there examples of someone finally getting caught and confessing to multiple prior homicides that would be otherwise unconnected?
My understanding is the difference between a serial killer and a mass murderer or a spree killers whether there’s a “cooling off” period between the killings. But I think what distinguishes a serial killer from a multiple murderer is motivation. In your example, if you killed those people mostly because you enjoy it you’re a serial killer, but if you did it for money or because they were somehow a threat to you you’re just a murderer.
Serial killers also seem to have a sexual element to it. This is why you don’t see many women serial killers, though they exist. For instance Nannie Doss killed at least 10 people over decades but she she’d put arsenic in their drinks or food. Certainly she qualifies by definition but she isn’t considered by most.
Serial killers also don’t include, hit men or black widows, people who kill for money. Nannie Doss for instance, seemed to kill people, because it was easier to be shed of her husbands and her nagging mother etc etc.
On the other hand you get people like Jesse Pomeroy, who by 14 had killed two children and molested 7 other boys, cutting them up brutally without killing them. If you read about him he CLASSICLY fits the mold of a serial killer, down to his psychological make up. But he only killed two people so he don’t count.
Serial killers tend to use knives or other physical things to kill. Son of Sam was an exception as he used a gun. Most serial killers like to hurt or maim their victims.
Serial killers choose their victims carefully. Although they choose victims randomly (for the most part) they are careful to pick people out who won’t be missed till they have a chance to get away. (Usually they screw this up and that’s how they get caught, as in John Wayne Gacy)
Look at Charles Manson who didn’t actually kill anyone but ordered it done.