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Here's an interesting article concerning the apparent vocational preferences of serial killers ...

What Are the Preferred Jobs of Serial Killers?
The recent and startling arrest of the elusive Golden State Killer ... has raised more questions than answers.

One question is how a serial burglar, rapist and murderer could operate in so many jurisdictions simultaneously and ... have law enforcement officials so myopically overlook the connections among his crimes in several different cities. ...

Similar questions have been raised in the past about other serial offenders, killers whose innocuous and even virtuous jobs seemed to belie the horrors they committed while hiding behind a veneer of respectability. ...

But in fact, occupations and serial murders are often linked, and some specific full-time and part-time jobs are strangely over-represented among serial killers. So much so, in fact, that over the last 50 years, some dominant patterns have emerged. ...

Serial killer job breakdown
Top 3 Skilled Serial-Killer Occupations: 1. Aircraft machinist/assembler; 2. Shoemaker/repair person; 3. Automobile upholsterer

Top 3 Semi-Skilled Serial Killer Occupations: 1. Forestry worker/arborist; 2. Truck driver; 3. Warehouse manager

Top 3 Unskilled Serial Killer Occupations: 1. General labourer (mover, landscaper, et. al.); 2. Hotel porter; 3. Gas station attendant

Top 3 Professional/Government Serial Killer Occupations: 1. Police/security official; 2. Military personnel; 3. Religious official

Obviously, not everyone occupying these jobs is a serial killer, nor are they likely to become one.

But there's something about these jobs that is inherently appealing to offenders, or that otherwise cultivates the impulses of serial killers-in-waiting and causes them to be curiously over-represented among this rare breed of murderer. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.livescience.com/62520-preferred-jobs-of-serial-killers.html
 
Looks like a serial killer is uncovered.

SPRINGFIELD — Four days after police pulled over a man for a broken taillight, investigators have discovered three bodies at his home in a busy neighborhood here, authorities said Thursday, a grisly find that horrified neighbors.

In a Thursday night press briefing down the street from the Page Boulevard home, Hampden District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni said investigators had found the bodies at the home of Stewart Weldon, a 40-year-old who was arrested Sunday on kidnapping charges after a passenger in his car told police Weldon had been holding her captive for about a month.

The woman was badly injured and said Weldon beat her with a hammer when he got angry, according to police. Authorities described her as an acquaintance of Weldon.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/20...story.html?s_campaign=breakingnews:newsletter
 
Looks like a serial killer is uncovered.

SPRINGFIELD — Four days after police pulled over a man for a broken taillight, investigators have discovered three bodies at his home in a busy neighborhood here, authorities said Thursday, a grisly find that horrified neighbors.

In a Thursday night press briefing down the street from the Page Boulevard home, Hampden District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni said investigators had found the bodies at the home of Stewart Weldon, a 40-year-old who was arrested Sunday on kidnapping charges after a passenger in his car told police Weldon had been holding her captive for about a month.

The woman was badly injured and said Weldon beat her with a hammer when he got angry, according to police. Authorities described her as an acquaintance of Weldon.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/20...story.html?s_campaign=breakingnews:newsletter

Update.

Authorities on Monday identified the three women whose bodies were found last week at the Springfield home of a man currently being held on kidnapping charges.

Hampden District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni’s office identified the women as Ernestine Ryans, 47, and America Lyden, 34, both of Springfield, and Kayla Escalante, 27, of Ludlow.

The women’s remains were found at 1333 Page Boulevard in Springfield, where Stewart R. Weldon, 40, had been living until his arrest on May 27. Weldon’s mother owns the home.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2...story.html?s_campaign=breakingnews:newsletter
 
We seriously need an alternative to 'like'. Thank f**k the bastard has been caught is not the same as a 'like'.
 
I'm interested in historical serial killers, and especially how they relate to legends. For example, were Gilles De Rais and Erzebet Bathory serial killers in the modern sense, or were their confessions fantasies brought on by too much torture? Were werewolves serial killers, explained in supernatural terms that would make sense to society at the time?

One of my favourite ghost stories is of a murderous mediaeval monk who climbs a well he died in in Dartmoor. Here's a link on the subject. Apparently he was a historical person, named Robert De Midlecote, and was brought to trial in 1328 for the murder of an unborn child (?).

The legend continues that he killed several passing travellers before being bested by one and thrown down the well which he still tries in vain to escape.

Do we have a candidate for another historical serial murderer?
 
I'm interested in historical serial killers, and especially how they relate to legends. For example, were Gilles De Rais and Erzebet Bathory serial killers in the modern sense, or were their confessions fantasies brought on by too much torture? Were werewolves serial killers, explained in supernatural terms that would make sense to society at the time? One of my favourite ghost stories is of a murderous mediaeval monk who climbs a well he died in in Dartmoor. Here's a link on the subject. Apparently he was a historical person, named Robert De Midlecote, and was brought to trial in 1328 for the murder of an unborn child (?). The legend continues that he killed several passing travellers before being bested by one and thrown down the well which he still tries in vain to escape.
Do we have a candidate for another historical serial murderer?

In terms of pre-1900s serial killers, Wiki has this list which makes for "interesting" reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_serial_killers_before_1900

We should probably pay extra attention to the Thugee cult of Kali, as it has been suggested that the numbers they killed exceeded millions.

We should also pay attention to the acts of the Muslims in India whose rapacity and destruction of human life constitutes the largest genocide in total human history, exceeding the next 10 largest genocides combined. If there were no serial killers involved I would be very surprised.

There is also the myth of Theseus and Procrustes, wherein Procrustes offered travelers hospitality in an iron bed, but if they didn't fit in the bed, he made them fit.

Christman Genipperteinga is a particularly nasty character in the list above; sickening:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christman_Genipperteinga

Female serial killers almost always use poison. In Rome we have the anecdote from Livy in 331BC of nearly 200 Roman Patrician Matrons who had employed poison on their families who were required to drink the stuff to prove their innocence:
http://www.strangehistory.net/2014/06/26/romans-matron-poisoners-190-killed/
 
In terms of pre-1900s serial killers, Wiki has this list which makes for "interesting" reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_serial_killers_before_1900

We should probably pay extra attention to the Thugee cult of Kali, as it has been suggested that the numbers they killed exceeded millions.

We should also pay attention to the acts of the Muslims in India whose rapacity and destruction of human life constitutes the largest genocide in total human history, exceeding the next 10 largest genocides combined. If there were no serial killers involved I would be very surprised.

There is also the myth of Theseus and Procrustes, wherein Procrustes offered travelers hospitality in an iron bed, but if they didn't fit in the bed, he made them fit.

Christman Genipperteinga is a particularly nasty character in the list above; sickening:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christman_Genipperteinga

Female serial killers almost always use poison. In Rome we have the anecdote from Livy in 331BC of nearly 200 Roman Patrician Matrons who had employed poison on their families who were required to drink the stuff to prove their innocence:
http://www.strangehistory.net/2014/06/26/romans-matron-poisoners-190-killed/

Some interesting stuff there!

Don't know if the Thugee & similar really fit in Serial Killers though. Maybe a Serial Killer Cults Thread?

The other mass killings might require a Genocides Thread.
 
In terms of pre-1900s serial killers, Wiki has this list which makes for "interesting" reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_serial_killers_before_1900

We should probably pay extra attention to the Thugee cult of Kali, as it has been suggested that the numbers they killed exceeded millions.

We should also pay attention to the acts of the Muslims in India whose rapacity and destruction of human life constitutes the largest genocide in total human history, exceeding the next 10 largest genocides combined. If there were no serial killers involved I would be very surprised.

There is also the myth of Theseus and Procrustes, wherein Procrustes offered travelers hospitality in an iron bed, but if they didn't fit in the bed, he made them fit.

Christman Genipperteinga is a particularly nasty character in the list above; sickening:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christman_Genipperteinga

Female serial killers almost always use poison. In Rome we have the anecdote from Livy in 331BC of nearly 200 Roman Patrician Matrons who had employed poison on their families who were required to drink the stuff to prove their innocence:
http://www.strangehistory.net/2014/06/26/romans-matron-poisoners-190-killed/

There's this one:

http://forum.forteantimes.com/index.php?threads/satanic-serial-killer-cults.63035/

Maybe the title could be changed to Serial Killer Cults.
 
Some interesting stuff there!

Thanks. I am responding to historical serial killers as an idea.

Don't know if the Thugee & similar really fit in Serial Killers though. Maybe a Serial Killer Cults Thread?

I draw your attention to Thag Behram https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thug_Behram
Clearly a prolific covert killer in a community of prolific covert killers. https://www.thoughtco.com/myths-about-serial-killers-973132 Note in the section"Sex is what motivates a serial killer", from the link provided that financial gain is a legitimate motive for a serial killer too, and that was the primary motive of the Thuggee Cult.

The other mass killings might require a Genocides Thread.

Hmm... here we run into the definitional issue of who is a serial killer and who is a mass-murderer? https://www.crimemuseum.org/crime-library/serial-killers/serials-killers-vs-mass-murderers/

The interesting issue is when you find someone who is a serial mass murderer, a situation that you are unlikely to find outside a genocide.
 
More info on Stewart Weldon.

Cops let Springfield 'serial killer' slip through their fingers SIX MONTHS AGO by letting him out of jail with an ankle bracelet - which he cut off- after it took nine cops armed with batons and stun guns to take him down
  • On October 14, Stewart Weldon led police on a car chase after being seen hitting a woman in the street
  • It took nine cops to eventually subdue him and he bit one of them during the fight
  • Weldon was put in custody on assault charges but was released in December
  • He was granted $2,500 bond and was told to wear an ankle bracelet which he cut off in February
  • Last week, police found the bodies of three missing women at his home
  • Kayla Escalante, 27, and America Lyden, 33 - two of the victims - were reported missing in December
  • Ernestine Ryans, 47, was reported missing by her family in March
  • A 25-year-old woman was also being held 'captive' by Weldon in his car
  • A fifth adult female victim is also involved in an alleged February 1 kidnapping
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-serial-killer-slip-fingers-7-months-ago.html
 
My bad. Yes the name should be changed, can I do that?

You no bad, you started the thread,

Yes you can change the title by clicking on the Thread Tools drop down menu on the top right hand corner of any page
 
Some of them would be very old!
 
Serial killers that are possibly/probably still on the loose ..

https://www.ranker.com/list/ongoing-killing-sprees/mike-rothschild
Pedro Lopez is always the one that blows my mind the most. One of the most prolific serial killers in history... and they let him go, whereabouts unknown. Huh. Though it's rumoured that he was murdered by relatives of the victims on his release.

About the Highway of tears killer, there's an interesting, sometimes frustrating podcast called 'Who Killed Alberta Williams': http://www.cbc.ca/missingandmurdered/podcast . The journalists surmise that while she's often included as one of this hypothetical serial killer's victims, she was more probably murdered by her uncle. The lead journalist goes on to make a complete pig's ear of the investigation, doorstopping her suspect and yelling at him until he tells her to go away.

About the The South African Gay Man Killings: as with the Highway of Tears case arguably being arguably deprioritised by the police because the victims were native people, there can be a tendency for serial murder crimes in gay communities to be ignored. This appeared to be the case with the serial killer in Toronto's gay community, caught earlier this year I believe. The gay community was apparently aware that there was a serial killer out there, and the police displayed little interest in pursuing the case. In the end, an academic at the university found compelling evidence through data analysis and brought it to the attention of the police.
 
The Smiley Face Killer, that's a wild theory.

Yes. Water+alcohol = no serial killer necessary.

We did have a thread on this way back. As was pointed out by myself, and just about everybody else - given its ubiquity, you'd be hard put to not find a smiley face painted on a wall somewhere nearby. (I can see one out of my window now - I'll have to be careful in the shower tonight!!!)
 
Lavrentiy Beria, Stalin's chief of secret police was mentioned in another thread. He was, like Saddam Hussein's son Uday, a serial rapist who used his position of power to get away with his crimes unchallenged. But was he a serial killer too?

According to Wikipedia:

Evidence suggests that not only did Beria abduct and rape women, but that some were also murdered. His villa in Moscow is now the Tunisian Embassy [...] In the mid 1990s, routine work in the grounds turned up the bone remains of several young women buried in the gardens. According to Martin Sixsmith, in a BBC documentary, "Beria spent his nights having teenagers abducted from the streets and brought here for him to rape. Those who resisted were strangled and buried in his wife's rose garden."

While some sexually motivated serial killers enjoy murder as part of the sex, there are plenty whose main focus was on rape and who killed to avoid leaving evidence (David Parker Ray, the Golden State Killer).
 
I have read a figure of this woman being responsible for up to 833 deaths: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...responsible-hundreds-deaths-gosport-hospital/

The Gosport scandal is quite mind blowing. Industrial slaughter of old people because they’re old and, apparently, because they were seen as difficult or annoying. Industrial slaughter that was allowed to continue for decades with nothing done and the perpetrators still walking around on fat public sector pensions.

Because OUR NHS, the envy of the world.

One of the most disgusting episodes I can remember and one wonders how often it’s been repeated around the country.
 
It is truly tragic.

It’s rather more than tragic - it’s the deliberate killing of hundreds of people for the “crime” of being old. No accountability for those who decided to kill a human being because they were getting on the staff’s nerves. Everyone involved in this should be charged with murder or accessory to murder. And the mawkish NHS worship needs to stop.
 
It’s rather more than tragic - it’s the deliberate killing of hundreds of people for the “crime” of being old. No accountability for those who decided to kill a human being because they were getting on the staff’s nerves. Everyone involved in this should be charged with murder or accessory to murder. And the mawkish NHS worship needs to stop.

I'd heard rumours about this sort of thing in the past but just thought they were urban legends.
 
I'd heard rumours about this sort of thing in the past but just thought they were urban legends.

It’s shocking but the NHS cult means it took nearly 30 years for this to come to light. I’ve seen NHS cover up in action in my own family, and that dated back to the 70s and took decades to resolve. And even then no one was held accountable.

A private business which killed hundreds of customers because they were annoying would be closed down immediately and those responsible prosecuted and jailed. This weird worship of a healthcare system needs to stop. Most developed countries provide universal healthcare free or very cheaply at the point of demand. Time to be honest about the deficiencies, cover-ups and silencing of whistlebloers in the NHS and look for something fit for the 21st century. And in the meantime prosecute everyone involved in this episode.
 
It’s shocking but the NHS cult means it took nearly 30 years for this to come to light. I’ve seen NHS cover up in action in my own family, and that dated back to the 70s and took decades to resolve. And even then no one was held accountable.

A private business which killed hundreds of customers because they were annoying would be closed down immediately and those responsible prosecuted and jailed. This weird worship of a healthcare system needs to stop. Most developed countries provide universal healthcare free or very cheaply at the point of demand. Time to be honest about the deficiencies, cover-ups and silencing of whistlebloers in the NHS and look for something fit for the 21st century. And in the meantime prosecute everyone involved in this episode.
The NHS are looking after my Mum tonight, her heart surgery didn't go as smoothly as planned, her heart has swelled, they can't close her up tonight because of that. I'm praying at the moment, I'm not gunning for them. We're lucky to have them at all.
 
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