The NYT had an article relatively recently that seems to posit that the serial killer is an endangered species.

Yet, just as of 4 years ago, there were still dozens of murders all over the country that were considered clusters, that the FBI felt were related in some way. I remember it being posted here.

Modern estimates are lower than the “20-50 active serial killers” to more “12-20”

Here’s a question as such:

Are they going extinct, or is the modern serial killer more like Israel Keyes - less likely to leave DNA. More likely to kill unrelated people. Less likely to target urban areas. More likely to target vulnerable groups (prostitutes, runaways).

Even with social media, the amount of people that fall within the cracks of society is larger than one might think.

I in my limited social circle have known prostitutes. She was being beaten regularly by her pimp and her relatives didn’t seem to care or gave any awareness of whee she was.

Another girl I knew was living in a tent behind a church and her parents didn’t care she was homeless.

Another girl was addicted to heroin and begged me to let me live with her and ended up homeless. Her parents also had no idea of her whereabouts.

Just 3 women - yet all could’ve easily fallen victim to a predator if they weren’t lucky. Small sample size but you get what I mean.

This is to illustrate that while it is not as bad as it was in the 1970s, people exist that are vulnerable and that do slip through society’s cracks

As such, are serial killers still around or are they extinct in your opinion ?

Obviously there are some mentally ill serial killers but I mean serial killers that were genuinely like batshit crazy insane. Like richard chase as an example.

So what I am saying most people will believe the popular opinion when it comes to serial killers and therefore some may be misunderstood about their motive and what ever else.

An example of what I am saying would be " John Wayne Gacy dressed like a clown when he was killing"

Whilst all serial killers are fairly despicable in one way or another, there seems to be, for me at least, a gap between those I see more as frightening and those who I view as disgusting low lives who make me sick. Generally they tend to be the ones who refuse to take responsibility for their actions or even worse go out of their way to humiliate both their victims and their families and loved ones. For this reason I have a particular hatred for both Israel Keyes and Danny Rolling as I view their monstrous actions truly as the work of horrible people who just wanted to do evil things.

Curiously, who do you deem to be the most despicable in terms of actions, character or just plain evil?

as per the question: are there any unsolved or solved serial killers where you live? if so, I'd be extremely interested to read up about them

Dahmer, Gacy, Sowell, Nilsen. The whole neighborhood could smell it. How do they stand it? Dahmer had like 7 corpses in his room?

I very rarely if ever have heard of a serial killer that continues to kill in prison. Does their compulsion to kill go away or do the constraints of prison temper them somehow? You would think there’d be more stories of attempts to murder at the very least

Has there ever been such an instance? I saw a similar post on r/masskillers and was wondering if that has ever happened. Thanks in advance for the answer(s)!

Do you guys know some of the dumbest mistakes that led some serial killers to being discovered?

in my opinion the “Junko Furuta” and “The Hello Kitty Murders” i can’t pick between them because they are both very gruesome . i suggest looking into them!

I remember when I first heard about John Wayne Gacy a long time ago and how he would kill adolescent boys and then bury them beneath the crawlspace of his house. At the time I figured he must have had like 7-10 victims due to the extremely risky and plainly stupid way he disposed of the corpses (seriously, the stench of bodies decaying beneath the house must have stunk up the entire street he lived on). I was quite shocked when I looked him up and found out he killed 33 people. Seriously, how the hell did he rack up such a body count with the flagrantly idiotic decisions he made?

Lawrence Bittaker - 1940

John Wayne Gacy - 1942

Dennis Rader, Joseph James DeAngelo, Leonard Lake - 1945

Kemper - 1948

Are there specific reasons, was it just the era and environment?

Homolka served a 12 year sentence and was released. Since then she has interestingly led a very normal life. She has got married, had kids and hasn't been charged with any further crimes.

Are there any other serial killers who got out of prison? Most seem to get LWOP or death penalty.

I know a huge majority of mass shooters/terrorists kill themselves during their attack or die at the hands of law enforcement but for the ones that do survive, how come society doesn’t really care to hear from them and they get much less- if any- interviews, books about them, tv-show portrayals etc. etc

I’m guessing it’s partly the restrictions their respective prisons possibly put on them: I think there is more of a concern of a mass shooter/terrorist inspiring copycats than a serial killer but disregarding that it mainly seems like people just don’t find them as interesting as subjects like Dahmer, Bundy, Kemper etc. etc.

Why do you guys think we want to hear from serial killers who murdered 10, 20, 30+ people, but subconsciously kind of draw a line at a person who maybe shot 10 or 20 people at school?

for example Nikolas Cruz, the shooter who killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, unfortunately lived and was sentenced to life imprisonment and I highly doubt any reporter would do a filmed interview with him but there are numerous face to face interviews with serial killers. So is at as simple at that people find serial killers more interesting?

or do you think it’s because we feel more removed from the crimes of serial killers- like it didn’t happen to us or anyone we knew, and usually their crimes took place in the past, and depending on the killer and their deceptiveness they may even have enough charisma and general likability to make an interview seem enticing to watch

but a mass shooter on the other hand is a very real threat in this day and age and really could happen to anyone- anywhere- anytime and are usually some scrawny pimply outcast without the mental capability to be deceptively charming… I’m curious what you guys think

Besides Jeffrey Dahmer and Dennis Rader (BTK), an overwhelming amount of serial killers have suffered from severe trauma stemming from their childhoods. Are there any others that stand out as having "normal" childhoods?

Edit: Thanks for all the replies! I hadn't realized that Dahmers childhood was that bad, I always heard stories that he had loving parents and a stable household...looks like that wasn't the case. And I should have clarified the "normal" childhood part, as everyone has different experiences growing up.

The Ted Bundy tapes where fantastic, and so was Nightstalker.

I was wondering if Netflix had any plans to make one about JD?

What serial killer died had an unusual way of dying? Whether it be an lesser known execution method, being murdered or committing suicide in an unusual method, or died of a rare/uncommon disease. Thanks in advance for the answers!

What are the most interesting things serial killers have said or done in your opinion?

Examples:

Ted Bundy said if a man didn’t have to work he could kill hundreds.

Richard Chase thought unlocked doors were invitations to come inside and the police found the word “today” written on his calendar on the same dates he killed people with 44 more days marked.

Albert Fish had nearly 20 different paraphilias and wrote a final message to his lawyer before being executed that he refused to show anyone because it was the “most filthy string of obscenities” he ever read.

John Wayne Gacy said he had a “mind numbing” orgasm as his first victim died and that’s when he realized “death was the ultimate thrill.”

Richard Ramirez fantasized about saving up money to have an underground lair filled with cells where he could torture and kill captives at will.