1. SERIAL MURDERERS & THEIR VICTIMS 7TH EDITION Prepared by Eric W
SERIAL MURDERERS & THEIR VICTIMS 7TH EDITION Prepared by Eric W. Hickey, Ph.D.
CHAPTER TEN: Victims
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2. Learning Objectives
To understand the scope of serial-murder victimization in the United States
To explore victim facilitation in serial murder
To examine the demographics of vulnerable populations in the United States including children, gays, prostitutes, women, and the elderly
To review case studies of men who prey upon other males
To understand the role of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
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3. The face of serial victimization is changing gradually
The face of serial victimization is changing gradually. Today there are:
fewer number of victims per offender
fewer cases of only female victims
an increase in males being targeted
fewer strangers and more family members being targeted
fewer cases of prostitutes being singled out for killing
fewer cases involving more than one state
more cases involving shooting as the sole method of killing
fewer cases of strangulation/suffocation
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4. Victim Data Update, 2004–2014 Offenders murdered: (N=270)
Average # of victims per offender: 3.7 – 4.6
Male victims only: 26%
Female victims only: 36%
Male and female victims: 38%
At least one male victim: 64%
At least one female victim: 74%
Adult victims only: 89%
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5. Victim Data Update, 2004–2014 At least one adult victim: 97%
Child victims only: 7%
Adult and child victims: 8%
At least one elderly victim: 6%
One or more family members: 12%
Strangers as victims: 81%
Prostitutes as victims: 14%
Case involved victims from more than one state: 18%
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6. Victim Data Update, 2004–2014 Method of killing: (N=270 offenders)
Shoot only: 38%
Strangle only: 19%
Stab only: 7%
Beat/blunt force only: 5%
Poison only: 2%
Other: 1%
Combination of strangling, beating, stabbing, poisoning, and/or shooting: 26%
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7. Victim Data Update, 2004–2014
Offender killed victims within: (N = 270 offenders)
Same year: 35%
1–4 years: 29%
5–9 years: 14%
10–19 years: 11%
20–29 years: 7%
30+ years: 4%
Average span of killing per offender: approximately 7 years
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8. The impact of redefining serial murder has triggered a seismic shift in how we need to view serial murder in the 21st century.
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9. Serial Killer Mobility Typologies
Traveling ~ Those who kill while traveling through or relocating to other areas in the United States.
Local ~ Killers who remain within a certain state or urbanized area to seek out victims.
Place-Specific ~ Those who murder within their own homes, places of employment, or institutions.
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10. See the David Richard Berkowitz profile
Victimization
We run a greater risk of being a victim of domestic homicide and an even greater risk of being a victim of other violent crimes than we do of dying at the hands of a serial killer.
Serial murderers usually have distinctive victim-selection criteria, motivations, and often sexual interests that set them apart from other types of killers.
Thus, many people, because of their routine activities, employment, socioeconomic status, education, where they live, and other social indices, will have varying probabilities of being targeted by serial murderers.
See the David Richard Berkowitz profile
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11. Victimization
While we do see a number of outliers who kill many victims, serial offenders currently kill, on average, victims per offender (N=701 offenders).
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12. Victimization
A need exists to focus research efforts on examining victim–offender relationships.
One factor that influences victim selection is the degree of power and control the offender is able to exert.
Serial killers rarely seek out those who are as physically or intellectually capable as themselves.
Young women, especially when they are alone, and children, tend to be the primary targets of serial killers.
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13. Victimization
In recent years the number of hospital patients and those in residential care who become prey to sexual predators and serial killers has been increasing.
Involvement of the victims of serial murder in their own victimization may be best determined by the degree of facilitation created by the victim, often unwittingly.
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14. Missing & Murdered Children
According to the U.S. Dept. of Justice, by 2011:
797,500 children (younger than 18) were reported missing in a one-year period of time studied, resulting in an average of 2,185 children being reported missing each day.
203,900 children were the victims of family abductions.
58,200 children were the victims of nonfamily abductions.
115 children were the victims of “stereotypical” kidnapping, where someone the child does not know or of slight acquaintance holds the child overnight or transports the child 50 miles or more, kills the child, demands ransom, or intends to keep the child permanently.
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15. Missing and Murdered Children Typologies
Runaways — Children who voluntarily leave home without parental/guardian permission.
Parental abductions — Children abducted by the noncustodial parent or the parent who does not have legal guardianship.
Relative abductions — Children abducted by a relative, such as an uncle, aunt, or in-law who takes a child from the parent or legal guardian.
Discarded children — Children who are forced to leave their homes by parents or guardians who reject them.
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16. Missing and Murdered Children Typologies
Disposable children — Children who are murdered by their parent(s) or legal guardians.
Stranger abductions — Children who are taken by persons who are strangers to the victim and the victim’s family.
Abbreviated abductions — Children who are abducted for a short period of time (minutes or hours) and then released. These children may never be recorded in police records.
Aborted abductions — Children who manage to escape the attempted Kidnapping.
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17. Missing and Murdered Children Typologies
The percentages of male children being
murdered in the U.S. in all age categories,
with the exception of the 15–19 group, are
similar to those of female children in
respective age groupings.
Nearly 75% of child abduction murder victims are killed within two to three hours of being abducted.
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18. Missing and Murdered Children Typologies
Approximately 20% of all girls and 10% of all boys in the United States will be sexually victimized before reaching adulthood.
For male serial killers the primary motive reported for the killing of children was sexual gratification.
Female serial offenders were much more likely to kill children for financial reasons.
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19. Missing and Murdered Children Typologies
Google the case of Etan Patz. Do you think the person arrested and charged for his murder is the actual killer?
Some offenders become extremely adept at luring children, skills they have acquired over time, maturity, and seized opportunities.
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20. Agencies for Missing, Murdered and Exploited Children
Since 1984, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) has assisted law-enforcement with the recovery of more than 200,000 missing-child cases. The NCMEC have a recovery rate of 97% as of 2014.
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21. Agencies for Missing, Murdered and Exploited Children
Since 1996, the AMBER Alert program (America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response) has been credited, as of June, 2014 with the safe recovery of over 700 children. Dozens of children each year are recovered because of AMBER Alerts. (AMBER Alert, U.S. Department of Justice)
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22. Agencies for Missing, Murdered and Exploited Children
By June 2014, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s hotline (1-800-THE-LOST®) handled an average of 558 service-related calls per day. Since its 1984 inception, the toll-free hotline has handled more than 4 million calls.
As of June 2014, NCMEC’s Child Victim Identification Program has reviewed and analyzed more than 110 million child pornography images since it was created in 2002.
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23. Agencies for Missing, Murdered and Exploited Children
As of June, 2014, the CyberTipline has received more than 2.4 million reports of suspected child sexual exploitation since it was launched in Reports to CyberTipline involve the possession, manufacture, and distribution of child pornography; online enticement of children for sex acts; child prostitution; child sex-tourism; child molestation (nonfamilial); unsolicited obscene material sent to a child; and misleading domain names. Reports can be made anytime at or by calling
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24. REGISTERED SEX OFFENDERS
In 1996, California opened its Registered Sex Offender Directory, which contains the names, addresses, and photographs of the state’s worst repeat sex offenders. As of June 2014 there are over 750,000 registered sex offenders in the United States with California reporting well over 100,000 registered sex offenders.
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25. Adult Victimization
Myers et al. (2006) refer to the primary motivation to commit serial murder as the traditional sexual motivation hypothesis that stems from theoretical explanations for rape. The primary focus is to obtain sexual gratification.
See the Prostitute Murders, California profile
Quinet (2011), examined prostitute victimization between 1970 and She noted that prostitutes represented 32% of all victims of serial homicide. Since 2004 that number has dropped to 21% of all victims of serial murder in the United States.
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26. Quinet
Quinet refers to “the missing missing,” or missing persons who were never reported as missing and some of whom could easily be victims of serial murder. This possibility suggests that many more prostitutes could be victims of serial killers without that information ever being known.
The Long Island murders of prostitutes were accidentally discovered, suggesting that other victims of serial killers, some reported missing as well as “the missing missing,” may yet await discovery.
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27. See Randy Kraft, John Wayne Gacy and Herb Baumeister profiles
Gay Men
There is fallacy in suggesting that homosexual serial murders are more bizarre than heterosexual serial killing. Serial murder is, by its very nature, obscene.
The homosexual serial murders by Dahmer, Gacy, Baumeister, and Kraft are equally rivaled by the heterosexual savagery of Bundy, Kemper, Robinson, and DeSalvo.
See Randy Kraft, John Wayne Gacy and Herb Baumeister profiles
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28. Related Movies Badlands Zodiac Son of Sam
Based on the true story of the Starkweather-Fugate killing spree during the 1950s.
Zodiac
A man in San Francisco is obsessed with tracking down the Zodiac killer.
Son of Sam
Based on true story of Richard Berkowitz, the .44 caliber killer.
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29. Related Websites
The Christian Science Monitor: Etan Patz: His disappearance started the era of parent anxiety,
MSNBC: Police: 1981 killing of Adam Walsh solved,
AMBER Alert,
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