1. CHAPTER EIGHT: Team Killers
SERIAL MURDERERS & THEIR VICTIMS 7TH EDITION Prepared by Eric W. Hickey, Ph.D.
CHAPTER EIGHT: Team Killers
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2. Learning Objectives
To explore through case review the profiles and characteristics of serial murderers who operate in teams of two or more offenders
To understand the synergistic dynamics of team serial killers in pursuit of their victims
To examine the role of females as frequent participants in team serial murder
To review the latest research on team serial killers
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3. Team Serial Killers Update, 2004–2014
Team killers (N = 56) account for 21% of all serial killers 2004–2014 (N = 270)
Gender of killers: males 80% and females 20%
Average number of accomplices: 1
Race/Ethnicity of offender:
Caucasian: 59%
African American: 32%
Hispanic: 7%
American Indian: 2%
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4. Team Serial Killers Update, 2004–2014
Offender year of birth range: 1931–1995
Average age of offender at first killing: 28
Average age at apprehension: 31
Average span of offender killing: 2.6 years
Total number of victims: 167–207
Average number of victims per offender: 3–3.7
Span of offender killing: 1994–2013
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5. Team Serial Killers Update, 2004–2014
Method of killing:
Shoot only: 48%
Strangle only: 10%
Beat/blunt force only: 10%
Combination of strangling, beating, stabbing, and/or shooting: 32%
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6. Team Serial Killers Update, 2004–2014
Victims of team killers:
Adults only: 86%
Offenders who targeted specific type of victim: 96%
Average number of victims per offender: 4–5
Strangers only: 82%
Prostitutes: 7%
Males only: 39%
Females only: 10%
Male and female victims: 51%
Involving more than one state: 14%
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7. Team Killers See the Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono profile
The majority of cases involve only two offenders, whereas the remaining few cases have three or more offenders in each group. The largest group in this study was identified as having five offenders.
See the Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono profile
Team offenders form dyads, triads, and even larger groupings; sometimes they are both legally and blood related; sometimes they are strangers and acquaintances.
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8. Team Killers
The lust for power is the chameleon of vices and as such can be perceived and experienced in many different ways.
For some multiple killers, murder must be simultaneously a participation and a spectator endeavor; power can be experienced by observing a fellow conspirator destroy human life, possibly as much as by performing the killing.
The pathology of the relationship operates symbiotically.
In other words, the offenders contribute to each other’s personal inventory of power. What they could never become alone, they can aspire to collectively.
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9. Relationships
In the nonrelative category, males almost exclusively assumed leadership. Cases were extremely rare in which nonrelated females masterminded multiple homicides, but they do occur.
See the Olga Rutterschmidt and Helen Golay profile
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10. Without exception, every group of offenders had one person who psychologically maintained control of the other members of the team.
Some of these leaders were Charles Manson types who exerted an almost mystical control over their followers; others used forms of coercion, intimidation, and persuasive techniques.
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11. Male and Female Teams
In other rare cases women have dominated the male in the killing relationship.
See the Martha Beck and Ray Fernandez profile
Some of those who led groups of team offenders experienced a sense of power and gratification not only through the deaths of victims but also through getting others to do their bidding.
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12. Male and Female Teams
The females described in this chapter who are part of the subgroup of male-female team killers, tend to be, with a few exceptions, followers, not leaders.
However, some of these followers quickly learned how to kill, became “equal partners in the killing,” and participated directly in some of the bloodiest murder cases ever chronicled.
See the Alton Coleman and Debra D. Brown profile
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13. Male and Female Teams
Leaders of some groups tend to go through a process of self-abdication and place culpability for the murders on the followers.
In one case the group leader, denying absolutely any involvement in a series of horrific mutilation murders, contended that his ex-girlfriend had conceived and executed the murder plans.
See the Douglas D. Clark and Carol A. Bundy profiles
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14. Male and Female Teams
For some followers, killing first became acceptable and then desirable. Others continued to kill solely as a result of their relationship with whoever held the reins of leadership.
See the Gerald A. Gallego Jr. and Charlene Gallego profiles
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15. See the Tene Bimbo Gypsy Clan profile
Unusual Groups
There are other types of male-female team serial killers that do not fit traditional concepts of serial murder, yet they are serial killers by definition.
See the Tene Bimbo Gypsy Clan profile
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16. Unusual Groups
With only a few exceptions, most of these team offenders did not receive college education, and only a few received postsecondary education, such as vocational training.
In brief, they were generally ill prepared to achieve occupationally successful careers.
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17. Victimization
Team killers do not appear to be gender-specific, and equally select both males and females as targets, especially those who are adults.
About half of all team cases and offenders killed both males and females.
Strangers were the most common type of victim, and there was a preference for adults over children.
See the Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis Elwood Toole profiles
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18. Victimization
Offender mobility data indicates that team killers are most likely to remain in local proximity to their killing sites and least likely to be classified as place-specific offenders.
The majority of cases involve stranger-to-stranger violence.
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19. Victimization
By 2014, of course, the average number of victims per case had fallen from 9-12 victims to 4-5 victims per case. Having more than one offender involved in serial killing did not increase the number of victims per case. Solo offenders were a little more likely, on the average, to kill more victims.
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20. Methods
Guns were commonly used by team offenders during the commission of their crimes (see Table 8.8).
However, guns only were used in approximately one out of four cases as the sole method of killing.
As in other serial murders, the purpose was usually not to dispose of victims quickly, but to keep them alive so they could be subjected to tortures and mutilations.
See the Dean A. Corll, David O. Brooks,
and Elmer Wayne Henley profiles
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21. Murder Ventures
Some team killers group themselves together in almost businesslike ventures that culminate in murder.
See the Leonard Lake and Charles Ng profiles
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22. Related Movies Henry, Portrait of a Serial Killer
Based on the true story of Henry Lucas and Otis Toole.
The Hillside Stranglers
Based on the true story of Ken Bianchi and Angelo Buono.
Helter Skelter
Based on the true story of Charles Manson and his “family”.
©2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.

23. Related Websites
1. TruTV: William Bonin: The Freeway Killer,
Deseret News: Serial Killer Myron Lance Dies after Years in Prison,
The Guardian: In Cold Blood, Half a Century On,
©2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.