Are serial killers still a thing?

shacklesmcgee · Jan 21, 2021

The Internet definitely changed things as a "Have You Seen This Person?" poster would be usually ignored or only looked at by those in that town, while nowadays anyone in the world can be a part of the process.
Could also argue that message boards or the dark web have allowed people to satiate their "urges" more by talking with others before escalating to actual violence

Everybody Lies · Jan 21, 2021

HStallion said:
I believe it's also suspected that several are transient types like long haul truck drivers as it's far harder to connect murders in entirely different parts of the country together. As someone who did touring music gigs this wouldn't surprise me.

Absolutely as it makes interstate investigations that much more difficult. They pick their victims up in one state and dump their bodies in another.

HStallion · Jan 21, 2021

SeanM said:
They'd be easily caught these days. Tons of houses have security cameras, video doorbells, alarm systems, etc. Everyone has cell phones etc.

There are other styles of serial killer like angels of mercy who don't have these issues and often get away with it for years because of hospital bureaucracy trying to not tarnish their image or just gross negligence.

Jarrod38 · Jan 21, 2021

Working at a public library one of the popular books that gets requested a lot is The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers.

EddyLovesTunaRolls · Jan 21, 2021

I'm a horrible person. I saw serial killing and dying trend in the same paragraph and couldn't stop laughing.

LFMartins86 · Jan 21, 2021

The Long Island Serial Killer was never caught. That's one of the most recent ones that was never caught and wasn't too long ago.

Serial killers have been dropping through out the decades, there's a lot of theories of why is that. Difference in people's behavior, people don't hitchhike as much, people are more connected now because of phones so people notice when they are gone much easier, improvements on forensic techniques help police catch killers earlier in their spree.

Edit: Just remembered of another recent one, Todd Kohlhepp.

CostcoCousteau · Jan 21, 2021

Someone just watched Netflix documentary

BigDes · Jan 21, 2021

pvin626 said:
why are people getting worked up over this question?

I'm not sure either to be honest.

Really a lot of unnecessary hostility in some of these responses to what is just really a kind of naive question.

Wrapped in Black · Jan 21, 2021

Is google still a thing?

grand · Jan 21, 2021

Cell phones & the internet have helped a lot

psynergyadept · Jan 21, 2021

Xx 720 said:
They're all on netflix now...

lol for real; just finished watching Night Stalker

they haven't caught me yet! I slash the serial numbers of my boxes!!!! Come get me copers!!!

to be serious it's hard to for the average person to get away with murder; the technology has advanced from thedays of the most prolific serial killers, forensics are fucking serious; they collect fibers and skin cells, sweat residue off the smallest surfaces. Even when they might get away with it for years, one slip up and they might might get caught like 10-20 years down the road.

Rainy · Jan 21, 2021

I've watched the 4 part Ted Bundy documentary on Netflix. What are some other good ones on there?

SuperBanana · Jan 21, 2021

Nikus said:
I don't think this thread is that weird? We sure hear less about serial killers than before. I don't understand some reactions here

It's not that weird but Era loves to over react and dog pile.

Memento Mori · Jan 21, 2021

This isn't a weird question to ask at all OP. There are definitely less known serial killers now than in the 60s, it's been theorised that lead poisoning was a factor. Banning lead in petrol correlates with a lower crime rate in general.

Aselith · Jan 21, 2021

pvin626 said:
why are people getting worked up over this question?

My girlfriend and I are into true crime and we just spoke about this recently. OP, I think the main reason would have to be the advancements in technology, surveillance and forensics science that have happened over the past decades that have made it easier to prevent and catch these predators.

If I were a serial murderer, I'd be wary of people asking too many questions. They walk amongst us.

Birdie · Jan 21, 2021

Being a serial killer is so cringe now tbh

Tagyhag · Jan 21, 2021

Heh, it's funny seeing the divide in this thread between those who follow true crime and those who don't.

It's thankfully much harder for a serial killer to operate nowadays due to a wide variety of factors, but a study by Radford University estimates that we may still have around 30 serial killers in the US.

My guess is that someone like the Night Stalker would never work nowadays, they'd be caught by the second victim if not the first. I assume that the serial killers that are still operating are either in an extremely rural environment who hurt extremely rural victims, or doctors/nurses who kill their patients while making it look natural.

Glenn · Jan 21, 2021

Netflix is full of serial killer docs. I've also wondered if there's been any 'modern' serial killers.

If that's a weird thing to think about then call me weird lol

Lothars · Jan 21, 2021

Sibersk Esto said:
Why are people itt acting like the OP is asking some weird horrible question. Serial killers became a part of American mythology throughout the 70s and 80s and we're living in a true crime boom. Seems reasonable to ask about the decline in prominence.

It's a strange question because of course there are serial killers active constantly just because they are not as talked about or known about doesn't mean they are not serial killers around.

InspectorJones · Jan 21, 2021

Yeah, I feel like the reason why they're on the decline has been stated here already multiple times. It was just too darn easy in the past to just decide to target some random innocent and get away with it through a mix of pure stupid luck and inadequate tools available to law enforcement.

That said I'm sure some sick genius fuck(s) could still be out there chopping up people under the radar and we'll all blissfully (?) unaware, but it's never going to be as bad or as prolific as it once seemed.

Fjordson · Jan 21, 2021

Not sure why people are decrying your thread Twinsun. I've absolutely wondered the same thing. Especially after rewatching Manhunter recently and then the new Night Stalker documentary on Netflix this week. Obviously stuff like mass shootings still happen, but it's not really the same as killers with unique methods that go undetected for years.

I wonder if cell phones have made it more difficult. Even if a killer isolates someone, they now have a phone / digital camera / computer / tracking device in their pocket.

Of course a more unsettling thought is that some are still active and just haven't been uncovered yet, which I assume is the case.

Edge · Jan 21, 2021

Depends on what other news we get about Armie Hammer in the next few months.

CDX · Jan 21, 2021

Drakeon said:
Yes, they're still a thing. One of the most terrifying, Israel Keyes, was only caught (and subsequently killed himself) in 2012.

Keyes planned murders long ahead of time and took extraordinary action to avoid detection. Unlike most serial killers, he did not have a victim profile. He usually killed far from home, and never in the same area twice. On his murder trips, he kept his mobile phone turned off and paid for items with cash. He had no connection to any of his victims. For the Currier murders, he flew to Chicago where he rented a car to drive 1,000 miles to Vermont. He then used the 'kill kit' he had hidden two years earlier to perform the murders.

Terrifying. I wouldn't be shocked to learn that other modern serial killers are also trying to make an effort to avoid detection.

BigDes · Jan 21, 2021

Serial killers are likely more common in places with less developed communications infrastructures these days I would assume.

Kind of hard to be a creepy killer when the police can tell where you were because you took your phone with you to photo your crimes spree

EDIT: Look up the Ibadan Forest of Horror as an example. Police in Nigeria randomly stumbled on a derelict village with 10 corpses tied to slaughter benches.

Precious Tritium · Jan 21, 2021

Luckily, It's so much harder to get away with today than it was in the 60's, 70's, 80's.

There's so much CCTV, phone gps and cell tower tracking, finger print and dna databases that can be searched automatically, easier to get ahold of potential witnesses / suspects.

It still happens but seems like usually the cases quickly turn into manhunts because they figure out who it is and it's more of a matter of finding them.

WhySoDevious · Jan 21, 2021

Probably not as many because they get caught before going serial.

Rhaknar · Jan 21, 2021

Rainy said:
I've watched the 4 part Ted Bundy documentary on Netflix. What are some other good ones on there?

The Keepers is by far the best true crime documentary I have ever seen, but it's super fucked up. But I guess they all are.

Birdie said:
Being a serial killer is so cringe now tbh

goddamn it no... no damn it.

why did you make me laugh >_<

Mariachi507 · Jan 21, 2021

They are, but the numbers have trended down since the 60's-80's.

degauss · Jan 21, 2021

I think this is an interesting thought/thread. I've been googling why. My money is on good old lead-crime hypothesis.

HStallion · Jan 21, 2021

One of the most prolific serial killers in American history, Samuel Little, was active as recently as 2005 so they are certainly still out there even in modern times. Arguably the ones still going now are far worse as they've been able to adapt to all the changes that make it so difficult.

nilbog · Jan 21, 2021

Going off of how many people are missing or found murdered, I'm going to say yes, serial killers are a thing.

Shake Appeal · Jan 21, 2021

It cannot be overstated that serial killing has always been vanishingly rare, and we all have a morbid, outsize fascination with the phenomenon.

The idea that serial killers have somehow collectively evolved to become "too smart to catch!" is also hyperbolic fearmongering. Most serial killers have some combination of low education, poor impulse control, a history of violence, and obvious abuse or trauma in their past; the overwhelming bulk of them are kinda stupid and actively flaunt their killings. There is little evidence to suggest that there are sophisticated superpredators among us evading capture. In so far as some killers may routinely be getting away with murder, it usually involves lots of interstate travel and a lack of coordination among law enforcement agencies.

Aske · Jan 21, 2021

Shake Appeal said:
They have.

To be fair, the lead-crime connection is kind of contested (I think there's a study out of New Zealand that debunks it), but it's wild to think about.

I'm going to read more about this, because something I think about constantly is the nutritional studies done on prison inmates, during which they were fed vegetables/nutritional supplements, and the number of violent incidents immediately dropped.

Curler · Jan 21, 2021

I recently watched I'll Be Gone in the Dark on HBO (yeah, not the Netflix one), and there were some other issues beyond forensics/technology that should also be mentioned (at least, specific to this case):

This guy didn't have to try hard to break into homes, because back in the 70s/80s, there were still a lot of people that didn't lock their doors. The "it's a nice neighborhood" and "it'll never happen to me" mentality. Apparently people finally went out and were buying good door locks after the news talked about it.

Guy was a serial rapist before he killed anyone. Back then, lots of victims did NOT come forward to police, because it wasn't considered a serious enough crime to really investigate (and jail time was much more lenient), and the stigma was much more different. Even on the news, there was a lot of victim blaming too on "if only you did this, then you wouldn't get raped". So yeah, lots of societal differences with this too. Police didn't really treat these cases too seriously until someone died, either.

Rangerx · Jan 21, 2021

The first page is weird. This is a perfectly reasonable question. There is still plenty of serial killers unfortunately but your right OP they don't seem to get the same media attention as they used to.

I think the media learned not to give them too much attention or nicknames as that gave them the spotlight they wanted.

LProtagonist · Jan 21, 2021

They're either:
1. Getting caught after their first kill due to increases in forensics
2. Getting better at not getting caught
take your pick

Also mass shooters are the current 'violent' issue we're facing nowadays, compared to serial killers in the 60's-80's.

Zyae · Jan 21, 2021

People in this thread are guilty of compressing history when looking back at serial killers. If you were living at the time there wasnt a thought of dozens of serial killers running around the country getting national spot light every night. There were periods of panic in specific cities but by and large the killings were months apart from each other - if not years, and went largely unnoticed and were not pieced together as the act of a single person for months if not years.

There are still serial killers, you just dont hear about them or they are currently unknown to authorities.

Drakeon · Jan 21, 2021

LProtagonist said:
They're either:
1. Getting caught after their first kill due to increases in forensics
2. Getting better at not getting caught
take your pick

Also mass shooters are the current 'violent' issue we're facing nowadays, compared to serial killers in the 60's-80's.

Mass shooters get more coverage but have literally nothing to do with a decline in serial killers. A mass shooter would not have been a serial killer in the 60's to 80's. They are completely different types of people. Correlation does not equal causation.

IamError · Jan 21, 2021

This may have already been mentioned, but it's my personal theory that leaded gasoline fumes may have damaged a lot of minds from when it was first used in cars from the 1920s until it was banned in the 1970s. One symptom of lead poisoning is increased aggressiveness, and I think that may have been a factor in the explosion of serial killers we saw in the 60s and 70s in America. No way to really be sure, but it makes sense to me.

Cyanity · Jan 21, 2021

Imagine all the serial killers who got away with it

Deleted member 4346 · Jan 21, 2021

This is an interesting thread! I guess I hadn't thought about it but there's definitely far less publicity on serial killers now than in the past.

Tagyhag said:
Heh, it's funny seeing the divide in this thread between those who follow true crime and those who don't.

It's thankfully much harder for a serial killer to operate nowadays due to a wide variety of factors, but a study by Radford University estimates that we may still have around 30 serial killers in the US.

My guess is that someone like the Night Stalker would never work nowadays, they'd be caught by the second victim if not the first. I assume that the serial killers that are still operating are either in an extremely rural environment who hurt extremely rural victims, or doctors/nurses who kill their patients while making it look natural.

I wouldn't be shocked if serial killers were also operating in urban areas. For instance, Baltimore had 335 homicides in 2020... but how many disappearances? A serial killer choosing targets like sex workers or the homeless, people who may not be missed or who police would choose not to spend limited investigative resources on, could probably operate for some time if they were careful. Forensics has gotten better but it's still not foolproof, and forensic labs are often underfunded and overworked, unfortunately.

Betty · Jan 21, 2021

It's much harder to be a serial killer these days, too many ways to get seen by phones or cameras and forensics is so advanced now too.

I think there are some who quit like the Night Stalker who was caught or some that have so far gotten lucky though.

astro · Jan 21, 2021

9 Currently Active Serial Killers: Unsolved Cases in 2021

11 Currently Active Serial Killers: Unsolved Cases in 2024

At any one time there are 25 - 50 active serial killers in the US. Check out our unsettling current list of recent and historical unsolved serial killer cases.

serialkillershop.com

At any one time, it's believed that there are around 25-50 active serial killers lurking in the dark corners of the USA, stalking the streets and highways for their next potential victim.

While the term serial killer usually conjures up images of people like Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy and Richard Ramirez, there are a whole host of other serial killers who are perhaps even more terrifying – for the sole reason they've never been caught.

Here are 9 current serial killers who are still at large. Updated January 1, 2021.

How many active serial killers are there right now?

How Many Active Serial Killers Are There Right Now?

The last year data was collected, only 30 serial killers were operating in the U.S. — equivalent to the active serial killers in the 1960s.

www.bustle.com

The stats indicate the sense that active serial killing is on the decline. According to the Radford University/FGCU Serial Killer Database, a collection of serial killer data assembled by forensic psychology professor Dr. Mike Aamodt, serial killers proliferated in the U.S. from the 1970s through the 1990s: there were 104 active serial killers operating in the U.S. in 1974, 147 in 1984, and 151 in 1994.

But after peaking in the '90s, those numbers went down. And in 2015, the last year data was collected by Radford, they estimated that only 30 serial killers were operating in the U.S. — numbers equivalent to the number of active serial killers in the 1960s.

While the fact that the amount of active serial killers in the U.S. has dropped substantially over the last few decades might sound like a relief, the grim reality is that it could be due to the fact mass murder (defined by a minimum of four victims, in a short period of time) has simply become more common, as a result of the widespread availability of guns.

Oyashiro-Sama · Jan 21, 2021

We just learned how to cover our tracks better...

Parch · Jan 21, 2021

Zeroneo said:
Also, part of the reason why we'd hear about serial killers all the time was due to how the media used to glamorize them. Thankfully this has changed a lot in recent years

That's good, but why? Why doesn't the media still glamorize them? The media has constantly been criticized for becoming more negative and sensationalist and jump on every chance to exaggerate and even create negative press to get clicks and attention. Mass shootings still get plenty of press. They'll even post manifestos. Seems to me that horrific stories about serial killers would be right up their alley and still be high priority reporting for the media.
I highly doubt the media has become more responsible.

808s & Villainy · Jan 21, 2021

Sibersk Esto said:
Why are people itt acting like the OP is asking some weird horrible question. Serial killers became a part of American mythology throughout the 70s and 80s and we're living in a true crime boom. Seems reasonable to ask about the decline in prominence.

As someone who grew up in MD and lived through the DC sniper which was early 2000s, the thread is a bit of ridiculous. They definitely didn't stop being a thing in the 80s. If anything, it's just become easier to link a bunch of murders to a single person

Indy in the Fridge · Jan 21, 2021

Jarrod38 said:
Working at a public library one of the popular books that gets requested a lot is The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers.

I wouldn't look too much into it, honestly. Those entries are brief summations of the killers and doesn't delve too deep into motivations, modus operandi, or signature.

I've been on a serial killer kick for a while. Got done with Zodiac and now going through Mindhunter. Things I've noticed are:

1. Forensics are far more advanced than even a decade ago, but are still not perfect and can return false positives
2. Personality profiling is still a pseudoscience of sorts and prior famous theories that were used to catch killers have been debunked over time (e.g., Macdonald triad, increased aggression in those with schizophrenia, etc.).
3. Violent crimes (particularly homicide) have decreased over time, especially compared to the 60s, 70s, and 80s when it seemed like there was a new serial killer every week.

I would certainly say there are serial killers still operating today, but I wager that there is now a greater length of time between killings and targets of these murders continue to be a corner of the population that no one particularly cares about, sadly.

julia crawford · Jan 21, 2021

I think media rules might have changed about reporting these things. Like with fires, they sometimes report differently because of the consequences of reporting fires.

Kasai · Jan 21, 2021

I've thought this a few times.

I'm going to say they're still out there, they're just preying on those who are on the fringes of "acceptable" society. Like sex workers, undocumented people and runaway children. We don't hear about them because we are already used to not hearing about them.

The Albatross · Jan 21, 2021

I think this is a pretty good question. The 60s-90s obsession with rogue killers, y'know, like murderers who murder for thrill or psychological satisfaction, is something that doesn't seem to exist as much in 2020 as it did even when I was a kid. I wonder if part of that is because the media obsession with serial killers was such a phenomenon (like, seriously from 1980 to 2000 how many serial killer movies did we have?).

But today with this resurgence in true crime entertainment... From podcasts to TV shows to everything else, I wonder if maybe the idea will start to make a comeback. There's a new serial killer podcast, TV show, movie, etc., like every week it seems.

News and non-fiction TV/current events sensationalized and glorified serial killers from the 70s to 90s. That died down, but it seems to be back now with sensantionalized TV sshows, podcasts, etc. I wonder what affect if any it'll have.

Are serial killers still a thing?

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