Serial Killers (sociopaths, criminal, American, children)

[MaggieZ]

It must be scary to know one's out there and still killing..
They've arrested one a while back and trial started yesterday here in Belgium. We had Dutroux, now Fourniret, he's killed and raped or attempted to rape at least 7 young girls, kids...He "worked" with his wife...but she says she was forced to help him, she'd lure the girls for him... He did it for the killing not for the sex, they've said...really a monster, who knows how many more he murdered that they'll never know about.

[moonshadow]

Originally Posted by MaggieZ

Never read any of his books,moonshadow, I'll remember that name and check it out after I get moved and settled.
I too have my moments and periods when I read about serial killers and then take a break; I'm taking a break now.

Oops! Sorry Maggie, must have missed this. I have trouble keeping up with where I've been around here.

I have two John Douglas books, Obsession and Broken Wings. Obsession is a like a memoir of his experiences as an FBI profiler and the cases he worked on during his career and Broken Wings is a novel that he wrote with Mark Olshaker. Incidently the character Jack Crawford in Thomas Harris's The Silence of The Lambs is modelled on John Douglas. I've also read his book Mindhunter. All really interesting insights into the mind of a serial killer.
I confess it's been a while since I've read any crime novels. I'm not in the right frame of mind at the moment myself I guess.

Hunting through the bookshelf I see 3 that stuck in my mind as fascinating books:

The Red Ripper by Peter Conradi about Andrei Chikatilo a Russian grandfather and former literature teacher who admited to killing 53 women and children over a 12 year period.

Prescription For Murder by Brian Whittle and Jean Ritchie The story of British GP Dr Harold Frederick Shipman who was the most prolific serial killer in the world with estimates of between 200 & 300 victims.

Snowtown by Jeremy Pudney which is about The Bodies in Barrels Murders in South Australia about many who were murdered by a group of serial killers working together.

And one that I don't own but thoroughly recommend:

Sins of The Brother by Mark Whittaker and Les Kennedy which is about Australian, Ivan Milat the serial killer convicted of murdering 7 young backpackers many of them from overseas.

Anyway, there's a few that I would recommend. I hope your move is successful and you are settled again soon.

[VTP]

Interesting topic. To add to the "messed up childhood" theory as well as the "mother issues," did you know that Ted Bundy was raised to believe his mother was his older sister? The family was shamed by the mother's teen pregnancy, and the parents/grandparents decided the two would be raised as brother and sister instead, forcing to mother to go along with it. Of course he figured it out by the time he hit age 10 or so, and the rest is history.

Also, do you know where there are currently active serial killers? FBI estimates there are 20-25 active in US at any given time. I am aware of the one prowling the college area in Nevada, but no others. It's fascinating but very, very, very scary.

[TKramar]

Originally Posted by crystalblue

One of my friends was fascinated with them, and I never really understood why.

seems like some of them are, hmmm, interesting.

Ed Gein - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

he is the inspiration for the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Anyone else find these people disturbingly interesting?

He was the inspiration for three or four movies actually. Psycho is another one...

[NYLIER]

Originally Posted by VTP

Interesting topic. To add to the "messed up childhood" theory as well as the "mother issues," did you know that Ted Bundy was raised to believe his mother was his older sister? The family was shamed by the mother's teen pregnancy, and the parents/grandparents decided the two would be raised as brother and sister instead, forcing to mother to go along with it. Of course he figured it out by the time he hit age 10 or so, and the rest is history.

Also, do you know where there are currently active serial killers? FBI estimates there are 20-25 active in US at any given time. I am aware of the one prowling the college area in Nevada, but no others. It's fascinating but very, very, very scary.

I think there is one here in Vermont. A college student is missing from Middlebury. Around the same time a girl is missing in Killington. Then they found a young man that was missing and stated on the news that someone is painting smiley faces on trees near where the dead are recovered. They have been looking for the guy from Middlebury for months. He just vanished. I feel so bad for his family.

[MotleyCrew]

I hope we see fewer and fewer of these monsters. My interest in Ted Bundy came from my college tour in the early 70's. I was sitting on the grass reading and a very sharp looking young man wearing a turtle neck, with brown wavy hair asked me to help him retrieve an application from his car. He had on a cast. I said no. I fit the long brown hair, parted in the middle profile, but this was not Ted Bundy, just seemed so similar years later reading Ann Rules book, The Stranger Beside Me. He had her fooled up until the trial. I do not believe he was abused as a child, only that he found out his sister was his mother. Nothing outrageous to create such a monster.

[phoenix_talons]

Originally Posted by crystalblue

Why is it that they mostly seem to be white?

I think it has more to do with demography of the readers. People prefer to care about stories featuring people that look like them. That's why news media profile girls that are almost always young, pretty, white and middle-class. There are a handful of serial killers that are not white. We just don't hear about them, maybe because they won't sell as much papers or bring as much viewership. Check out Crime Library. Very good read. More detailed than Wikipedia.

[qt_batutie24]

Originally Posted by mdtoaz

Does anyone watch the show Dexter on Showtime? I rented the first season, and it was awesome! It's main character is a serial killer who works forensics for the Miami police dept.

i totally agree, i LOVE dexter you guys should all def watch it! you can watch it online or rent it. its such a great series and has you on the edge of your seat the whole time!

[tamiznluv]

I was 8 years old when the Boston Stangler, Albert Desalvo, was running around killing nurses on Beacon Hill. We lived on Beacon Hill, my mother was a nurse. We kids never had one fearful thought in our heads about this serial killer killing us. We knew he was after grown women. Funny how the mind of a child works. Turned out that apparently Albert Desalvo was in an apartment on the very street our "gang" was walking down one day, according to the timeline of that lady's death. Inside my parent's apartment was a different story. If someone was not expected that door never got opened. That was a very nervous time in my mother's life.

[arod0331]

Originally Posted by crystalblue

Anyone else find these people disturbingly interesting?

Oh yes!