#1
Then like 20 years later all those DNA companies start up.
So does he get one done?
No.
But the police have his DNA in evidence but no matches on their forensic databases. So they get access to the databases of these companies and look for anyone with a close match and they find one. How close the match is says that this person is a 5th cousin of the serial k****r. So they go through birth records and find everyone who is a 5th cousin to this person. They then eliminate all of those who are too young, wrong s*x, etc. This narrows it down to one.
So some guy gets arrested, charged and convicted of crimes he thought he got away with decades earlier because a 5th cousin he didn't even known existed wanted to know if he was part Viking or something.
Dennis Rader, John Wayne Gacy, Jeffrey Dahmer, Albert DeSalvo and Ted Bundy. All notorious for their gruesome crimes, and all American. The United States is top of the leaderboard when it comes to the number of documented serial killers. According to the University of Michigan, there have been more than 3,600 in the country.
Serial k*****g is defined as the unlawful homicide of at least two people carried out by one or more people. The crimes occur at different times and in separate events. That's what sets it apart from mass m****r, which is when several victims are k****d at the same time and place.
#2
After m*rdering at least 10 people between the 1970s and 1990s, BTK resurfaced in the early 2000s because he was angry that the public had stopped paying attention to him. He started sending taunting letters to police and local media again, basically demanding recognition.
At one point, he wanted to send the police a floppy disk containing messages. But before doing it, he actually asked them a question through one of his letters:
“Can I communicate with a floppy and not be traced to a computer? Be honest.”
The police publicly replied that it would be safe and that they couldn’t trace it.
So BTK trusted them.
He mailed the floppy disk.
The FBI checked the metadata and quickly discovered it had been used by someone connected to “Christ Lutheran Church.” The disk also contained traces pointing to a user named “Dennis.” Investigators linked it to Dennis Rader, president of the church council, and arrested him in 2005.
The funniest part is that after he was caught, Rader was reportedly genuinely offended that the police had lied to him. He apparently thought they would answer honestly because he specifically asked them to “be honest.” A serial k****r basically got upset that the FBI didn’t play fair with him.
#3
"The way that you know that there’s a serial k****r is because they leave consistent markings, consistent evidence that you’re dealing with the same individual," says Dr. Scott Bonn, a criminologist, author and public speaker.
Interestingly, Bonn says that not all serial killers are psychopaths.
"In the case (of a serial k****r who) is a psychopath, their brain functions differently than a normal human brain. They process stimuli differently," explains the expert. "In particular, the frontal lobe of the brain is where impulses are controlled. The thing that keeps you from just acting out on your initial knee jerk reaction and from just acting impulsively. Psychopaths have virtually no impulse control."
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Then his victims would handcuff themselves, wanting to do the magic trick themselves. The part that I find interesting about this is how many people fell for it. A lot of his victims were complete strangers that he lured into his house. Why would someone willingly handcuff themselves in the home of a man they just met?
He adds that many psychopaths are known to be h**h-functioning members of society, mainly because they’re very driven, motivated, and goal-oriented. They're often described as very organized, very persuasive, and very patient. These are characteristics that make a great architect or a great salesman, says Bonn, but they’re also perfect attributes if you want to be a psychopathic k****r.
The expert notes that serial killers often blend easily into society, making it difficult to spot them. According to Bonn, the signs are going to be very subtle, because these disturbed people are like chameleons.
"They have this ability to flip a switch and go from family man to sadistic k****r with literally the flip of a switch," says Bonn. "Because what they do is called psychological compartmentalization."
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Compartmentalization is when someone can completely separate different aspects of their life that seem contradicting.
For example, Dennis Rader who was better known by his pseudonym BTK (for "bind, t*****e, k**l") m******d at least 10 people in Kansas between 1974 and 1991.
However, he was a member of the Lutheran Church, president of the church council, Boy Scout leader, successful father and a respected man in his community.
#10
They went on to m****r several young girls. It could all have been prevented.
#11
Dahmer took the kid back to his apartment to finish the job and both cops were eventually promoted. One of them became head of the Milwaukee police union.
#12
Dr. Louis Schlesinger, professor of forensic psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice says that while serial killers know what they’re doing is wrong, they generally don't feel remorse or guilt.
"When you cover up the crime scene, when you use burner phones to cover your tracks, that shows you have consciousness of guilt and an awareness of the wrongfulness of your behavior," explains the expert. "So, when you go to court, there is no basis for a jury to find you legally insane. You can have all kinds of psychological disturbance. Now, these people are not normal, obviously. But they’re not legally insane."
#13
More info:
The "Toy-Box K****r" was David Parker Ray, a kidnapper, torturer, and serial r*pist who operated out of a soundproof trailer near Elephant Butte from the 1970s through the 1990s. He kidnapped women, drugged them, held them captive for weeks or months, and subjected them to prolonged ab*se inside what he called his "Toy Box." He was finally caught in 1999 when one victim, Cynthia Vigil, escaped while wearing only a dog collar and chain and ran for help.
One of the strangest aspects of the case is that despite investigators suspecting dozens of m*rders, no body was ever conclusively linked to Ray. He was convicted only for kidnapping and t*****e-related crimes and received a sentence of over 220 years. He died of a heart attack in prison in 2002 before investigators could question him further.
Lesser-Known Facts
1. His own daughter tried to report him years before his arrest.
His daughter, Glenda Jean Ray (often called Jesse), reportedly contacted the FBI in the 1980s and claimed her father was abducting and torturing women. The allegations were considered too vague to pursue at the time.
2. He recorded a "welcome tape" for victims.
Instead of personally explaining what would happen, Ray played an audio recording to newly awakened victims. The tape calmly described their captivity and what he planned to do to them. Many investigators and true-crime followers consider it one of the most disturbing pieces of evidence ever recovered in a criminal case.
3. He may have deliberately erased victims' memories.
Investigators believed Ray used powerful sedatives and barbiturates before releasing some victims, hoping they would forget much of what happened and never report him. Several survivors only recovered memories years later.
4. The FBI recovered hundreds of personal items.
Authorities found hundreds of pieces of women's jewelry, clothing, and personal belongings. Years later, the FBI publicly released photographs of these items hoping they could be connected to unidentified victims.
5. One suspected m*rder was never charged against him.
An accomplice named Dennis Roy Yancy confessed to helping t*****e and k**l a woman named Marie Parker and claimed Ray forced him to commit the m*rder. However, there was insufficient physical evidence to charge Ray with that k*****g.
6. He died at the worst possible moment for investigators.
Police planned another major interrogation session in 2002. Many hoped he might reveal victim identities or burial locations. He suffered a fatal heart attack before questioning began.
7. Nobody actually knows how many victims there were.
Depending on the source, estimates range from a handful of known survivors to 40–60 possible victims. The lack of bodies means nobody can say with certainty how many women disappeared because of him.
#14
Jeffrey Dahmer has a younger brother named David who graduated from a medical school with a doctorate and changed his name before leaving the state to avoid all ties or connections to the shame of his older brother.
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In fact, the Zodiac was actually stopped by the police merely minutes after the m****r and asked if he'd seen anything suspicious. They didn't question him any further because they thought they were looking for a black man.
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As a teenager Edmund also k****d his grandparents. Sh**ting and k*****g his grandfather so that he would not have to see what he did to his grandmother.
Edmund also was evaluated as having an IQ of 145.
Edmund has been a model prisoner throughout his imprisonment.