S&D: Serial Killers

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jesus. serial killers are the worst. when son of sam was active in the 70s in nyc my mom couldn't sleep because her brother was a hippie who lived in a brooklyn and didn't lock his door or window

spiritualized echelon (Treeship), Friday, 7 June 2013 18:00 (eleven years ago) link

this is from the L.A. Times in 1985:

Here is a chronology of the 16 murders and some of the two dozen assaults police believe were committed by Night Stalker suspect Richard Ramirez, along with other key developments in the case:

Early 1985: Two people are slain in undisclosed parts of Los Angeles. Later, police will link these slayings to the Night Stalker. The locations and dates have still not been revealed.

Feb. 25: A 6-year-old Montebello girl is taken from a bus bench near school while waiting for an older sister. She tells police that she was carried away in a zippered garment bag, sexually assaulted and dropped off in the Silver Lake area.

March 11: A 9-year-old Monterey Park boy is kidnaped from his home at night, sexually assaulted, then left in Elysian Park, near Silver Lake.

March 17: Dayle Okazaki, 34, is killed, and her roommate, Maria Hernandez, is wounded in an attack in their Rosemead condominium.

March 17: Two miles from Okazaki's home, Tsal-lian Yu, 30, of Monterey Park, is pulled from her car near her home and shot several times. She dies the next day.

March 20: An Eagle Rock girl is kidnaped and sexually molested by a man who breaks into her family's home at night.

March 27: Vincent Zazzara, 64, a retired investment counselor, is beaten to death and his wife, Maxine, 44, is stabbed to death by an attacker who enters their ranch-style Whittier home through an open door. Their bodies are found by a business acquaintance two days later.

May 14: William Doi, 65, is shot to death in his Monterey Park home by an assailant who crawls through an open window. Doi, whose wife is assaulted, manages to telephone the emergency 911 number before losing consciousness--a call that police later said saved his wife's life.

May 29: Mabel Bell, 84, and her invalid sister, Florence Lang, 81, are beaten in their Monrovia home, high above the San Gabriel Valley on a narrow, winding road. The women are found four days later by a gardener. Bell dies July 15.

June 27: Patty Elaine Higgins, 32, is slain in her Arcadia home. Her throat is slashed.

July 2: Less than two miles from Higgins' home, Mary Louise Cannon, 77, of Arcadia, who had fought off two bouts of cancer, is murdered. Her throat is slashed.

July 7: Joyce Nelson, 61, is beaten to death in the Monterey Park home where she lives alone.

July 11: More than 600 residents jam a Monterey Park Neighborhood Watch meeting, anxious over the murders in their hometown and other nearby San Gabriel Valley communities. Police say they cannot yet connect the murders to a single suspect.

July 20: Chainarong Khovananth, 32, is slain in his Sun Valley home. His wife is beaten and raped, and their 8-year-old son is beaten. An estimated $30,000 in jewels and cash are stolen. Police are given a clue: A witness tells them the suspect fled in a maroon-colored Pontiac Grand Prix with a damaged right front fender.

July 20: Max Kneiding, 68, and his wife, Lela Ellen, 66, are shot to death in their Glendale home.

Aug. 6: Christopher Petersen, 38, and his wife, Virginia, 27, are both shot in the head in their Northridge home and survive.

Aug. 8: Elyas Abowath, 35, is shot to death in his Diamond Bar home. His wife is beaten. Their two children, ages 3 and 3 months, are not harmed. Later in the day, Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block tells reporters that the attack on the Abowaths is the latest in a series of six killings that authorities have linked to the same suspect. It is the first public revelation that a serial killer is loose in Southern California.

Aug. 10-11: Reports of crimes made by citizens to LAPD's Communications Division, which processes emergency crime calls, jump more than 15% during the weekend, apparently because of anxiety over news of the Night Stalker's attacks. Gun shops report increased sales.

Aug. 13: The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors offers a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the Night Stalker.

Aug. 14: Sheriff's investigators say they now believe that the Night Stalker is responsible for a seventh slaying, the March 17 shooting of Tsal-lian Yu in Monterey Park.

Aug. 17: In the first killing outside Southern California, Peter Pan, 66, is shot and killed in bed in his San Francisco home. His wife, Barbara, 64, is shot and beaten but survives. The house is ransacked.

Aug 20: A four-hour search in San Marino for a man resembling the Night Stalker is called off after homicide detectives find that the man, who fled in his car when he was stopped by a police officer, was not the Stalker.

Aug. 22: Homicide investigators announce that they believe the Night Stalker was responsible for the Aug. 17 slaying of Peter Pan. A day later, they link an additional seven murders to the Night Stalker, bringing the total to 14. They also indicate that at least three different forms of evidence link the Night Stalker to the Southern California and San Francisco killings: ballistic tests, messages scrawled on walls and a "distinctive" but undisclosed piece of evidence the killer has left behind in the homes of his victims. Meanwhile, San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein announces that her city is offering a $10,000 reward.

Aug. 25: Bill Carns, 29, is critically injured--shot in the head while sleeping in his Mission Viejo home. His 29-year-old fiancee is raped.

Aug. 28: In what police call a "significant break," a stolen 1976 orange Toyota station wagon that had been spotted near the scene of the Mission Viejo attack is found abandoned on a Los Angeles street. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles City Council offers a $25,000 reward for the Stalker's arrest and conviction, and Gov. Deukmejian announces the state will offer $10,000 more.

Aug. 29: Investigators say they have found "good" fingerprints on the stolen Toyota, thanks to a laser examining device. Meanwhile, they announce that they have linked the two murders that occurred early in the year to the Stalker, making a total of 16.

Aug. 30: Police issue an all-points bulletin for the arrest of a suspect--Richard Ramirez, whom they identify as being the thin, curly-haired man known as the Night Stalker. They make public a photograph of Ramirez.

Aug. 31: Police arrest Ramirez, taking him into custody after he is captured and beaten by angry citizens who grab him on an East Los Angeles street after he reportedly tries to steal a woman's car.

christmas candy bar (al leong), Friday, 7 June 2013 18:01 (eleven years ago) link

may be not 100% accurate anymore.

my wife was growing up in woodland hills at the time and basically everyone was terrified. also, there was this guy, who was even more terrifying since he was never caught:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_Night_Stalker

christmas candy bar (al leong), Friday, 7 June 2013 18:02 (eleven years ago) link

this guy was scum obv but there is something funny to me about like patton oswalt noting his death on twitter and calling him a "piece of shit." like no duh, he was a serial killer. there's basically nothing you can say that doesn't end up sounding like a weak understatement.

congratulations (n/a), Friday, 7 June 2013 18:05 (eleven years ago) link

also Treeship "serial killers are the worst" should be your catchphrase

congratulations (n/a), Friday, 7 June 2013 18:06 (eleven years ago) link

the sheer number of victims so close together ...when you see them listed like that it is really overwhelming, quite terrifying even now

set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 7 June 2013 18:08 (eleven years ago) link

Feel like these need to be added to the thread

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLiaFzbgJSA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihi7FtIRBE0

and whaterface (how's life), Friday, 7 June 2013 18:18 (eleven years ago) link

Oswalt's wife is a serial killer blogger with no discernable writing talent and a lot of fans.

Three Word Username, Friday, 7 June 2013 18:20 (eleven years ago) link

i also thought it was weird and hypocritical for oswalt to turn a blind eye to his wife's serial killing and yet condemn ramirez, but i wasn't going to say anything.

spiritualized echelon (Treeship), Friday, 7 June 2013 18:23 (eleven years ago) link

xpost i like her blog! 'no discernable writing talent' is p harsh imo.

set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 7 June 2013 18:45 (eleven years ago) link

Yeah, ok, fair enough. I have a bit of a bias against amateur detectives, and that's very much where she's coming from.

Three Word Username, Friday, 7 June 2013 18:50 (eleven years ago) link

this guy was scum obv but there is something funny to me about like patton oswalt noting his death on twitter and calling him a "piece of shit." like no duh, he was a serial killer. there's basically nothing you can say that doesn't end up sounding like a weak understatement.

― congratulations (n/a), Friday, June 7, 2013 6:05 PM (40 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

not a serial killer but in the aftermath of Thomas Hamilton shooting 16 kids + himself in Scotland in the 90s, there was a front page tabloid article which stuck with me, claiming with relish that he'd been thrown into an incinerator LIKE A BAG OF TRASH rather than afforded the dignity of a burial. as after-the-fact hardmanning goes it's fairly understandable but also peculiar and kinda funny

dimension nickröss (DJ Mencap), Friday, 7 June 2013 18:52 (eleven years ago) link

the dunblane massacre was well out of order to be fair

patton oswalt was just an example. and i understand/sympathize with the impulse. but it's also so ineffectual that i can't help but find it funny.

congratulations (n/a), Friday, 7 June 2013 19:57 (eleven years ago) link

Peter Pan, 66, is shot and killed in bed in his San Francisco home

:/

ghosts of lower belvedere high technology sludge incinerator (imago), Friday, 7 June 2013 20:09 (eleven years ago) link

He didn't look a day over 14, but.

2 huxtables and a sousaphone (Jon Lewis), Friday, 7 June 2013 20:21 (eleven years ago) link

i feel like i missed out (uh, not really) on the serial killer scares of the 80s (and i guess early 90s?). i can vaguely remember the Dahmer trial, but has there been any that the media have latched onto since then?

i actually read Hunting Humans a few years ago because it was mentioned on this thread. it's a great book and i still think about it--the gist of the argument has some greater applications than just random loner killers i think. not sure it really holds water but it's a necessary corrective to the psychological or theological approach (ie, just its just "evil") often taken.

ryan, Friday, 7 June 2013 20:24 (eleven years ago) link

Guilty lol at "Aug. 17th slaying of Peter Pan" xpost

Sir Lord Baltimora (Myonga Vön Bontee), Friday, 7 June 2013 20:33 (eleven years ago) link

poor Wendy

set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Friday, 7 June 2013 21:57 (eleven years ago) link

i wonder if Barbara knew about Wendy

Treeship, Friday, 7 June 2013 22:05 (eleven years ago) link

i feel like i missed out (uh, not really) on the serial killer scares of the 80s (and i guess early 90s?). i can vaguely remember the Dahmer trial, but has there been any that the media have latched onto since then?

There has, just not in the American media...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Pichushkin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surender_Koli
http://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/2011/03/16/accused-rapist-killer-jack-mogale-awaits-his-fate

Elvis Telecom, Friday, 7 June 2013 22:17 (eleven years ago) link

Isn't there a serial killer at large in Long Island right now?

emilys., Friday, 7 June 2013 23:22 (eleven years ago) link

The Long Island serial killer is really fascinating. LOTS of stuff on You Tube about it.

Iago Galdston, Friday, 7 June 2013 23:26 (eleven years ago) link

Idk if there is a racial element to the relative lack of media interest. Quite a few of the most recent ones to have been caught (Lonnie Franklin, Anthony Sowell, Samuel Little) have been black, as have most of their victims.

хуто-хуторянка (ShariVari), Friday, 7 June 2013 23:33 (eleven years ago) link

i feel like i missed out (uh, not really) on the serial killer scares of the 80s (and i guess early 90s?). i can vaguely remember the Dahmer trial, but has there been any that the media have latched onto since then?

The BTK killer (bind, torture, kill) was caught in 2005 (thanks to a floppy disk, iirc!), although the murders were many years earlier. This got a lot of play in the media.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Rader

nickn, Friday, 7 June 2013 23:58 (eleven years ago) link

iirc the Green River killer case went cold for a long time until police finally arrested and charged Gary Ridgway in 2001.

I remember being stationed overseas when Berkowitz was at large, although I wasn't quite 8 years old. That was my dad's home turf so he kept up on the news from home about it all the time.

hashtag sizzler (Phil D.), Saturday, 8 June 2013 01:53 (eleven years ago) link

Snowtown murders in Australia. Craaaazy shit.

set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 8 June 2013 01:56 (eleven years ago) link

Forgot the Pig Farmer Killer earlier: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Pickton

Also in Canada, the Highway Of Tears murders are still unsolved (quite possible there's more than one killer though)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highway_of_Tears_murders

Elvis Telecom, Saturday, 8 June 2013 02:38 (eleven years ago) link

Also unsolved: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Killing_Fields_(location)

Elvis Telecom, Saturday, 8 June 2013 02:39 (eleven years ago) link

Pickton case is crazypants

set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 8 June 2013 03:41 (eleven years ago) link

Texas Killing Fields is a particularly grim one for me.

ryan, Saturday, 8 June 2013 03:46 (eleven years ago) link

fuck, the Vice Issei Sagawa documentary is just...

emilys., Saturday, 8 June 2013 07:55 (eleven years ago) link

Dude's comic is pretty cool, I hate to say

emilys., Saturday, 8 June 2013 07:59 (eleven years ago) link

But yeah, fascinating and weirdly likeable as he is...it's pretty annoying that this guy is able to live in relative peace & that Vice just played into it like he's some sympathetic character, meanwhile giving zero recognition to the person he killed. It's fucked up to say, but I'm kind of proud to live in 'murica, where a dude like this would not survive for very long as a free man.

Also what the fucking fuck at whoever orchestrated that porno. I kind of hate them more than I hate Sagawa.

emilys., Saturday, 8 June 2013 08:06 (eleven years ago) link

This guy was a big deal 'round here in the mid '90s:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%81ngel_Maturino_Res%C3%A9ndiz

Mr. Mojo Readin' (C. Grisso/McCain), Saturday, 8 June 2013 08:40 (eleven years ago) link

does the beltway sniper count

cozen, Saturday, 8 June 2013 10:07 (eleven years ago) link

xp yeah, in general i like lenient/rehabilitative prison systems -- and don't think murderers should always serve life in prison, necessarily -- but it pisses me off that issei sagawa is free, and that vice treated him as just like this eccentric. also he doesn't seem extremely repentant so i'm not sure if japan is very safe with him at large...

Treeship, Saturday, 8 June 2013 15:15 (eleven years ago) link

There was one arrested in Alaska a few months ago. Maybe they just aren't as big a news draw.

― хуто-хуторянка (ShariVari), Friday, June 7, 2013 5:37 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is exactly it, the media just doesn't care any more. There's a serial killer active in long island and it's just a local story.

Matt Armstrong, Saturday, 8 June 2013 20:42 (eleven years ago) link

I'm still amazed that Luka Magnotta wasn't a bigger deal.

Matt Armstrong, Saturday, 8 June 2013 20:43 (eleven years ago) link

Was Dahmer the last one to achieve real celebrity status? Gary Ridgway doesn't seem like the type I could assume most people would know right way.

ryan, Saturday, 8 June 2013 21:03 (eleven years ago) link

I just looked up Luka Magnotta. Jesus christ on a cracker that is horrifying.

set the controls for the heart of the sun (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 8 June 2013 21:09 (eleven years ago) link

Looked Magnotta up too. Fucking hell, it takes a LOT to squick me out...

Elvis Telecom, Saturday, 8 June 2013 23:53 (eleven years ago) link

magnotta's the gay porn star kitten killer one right? i remember all my gay friends going on about that one, apparently it's not hard to find the videos. i'd totally forgotten angel resendiz but yeah that was a big deal briefly. vivid memories of this also - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gainesville_Ripper. can also remember the summer of dahmer. he does seem to be the last one to achieve that icon status of a gacy or bundy. apparently serial killings have gone down and while i'm sure datamining and just better information technology in general has played the largest role apparently media not turning these guys into rock stars has helped also, whether that was any kind of deliberate move on the part of the industry or if they just followed the money to mass shootings and terrorism (where media exposure is also a motivation) i don't know.

balls, Sunday, 9 June 2013 00:12 (eleven years ago) link

yeah I think the "Hunting Humans" boom is (unintentionally) as much about the sociology of the cult of personally that sprung up around serial killers up until Dahmer.

Have the slightly creepy intuition that no real fame has accrued to any since then because none of them have been *artistic* enough. No originality.

ryan, Sunday, 9 June 2013 00:57 (eleven years ago) link

boom = book of course

ryan, Sunday, 9 June 2013 00:57 (eleven years ago) link

I'm not a student of this or anything, but I notice that Dahmer was arrested the same year as Silence of the Lambs. If he was the last one to gain widespread notoriety, would the movie have anything to do with that? Maybe it was an apotheosis of sorts, eclipsing all subsequent real-life versions.

clemenza, Sunday, 9 June 2013 01:35 (eleven years ago) link

yeah i could see these grand guignol tabelaux serial killers (which probably reaches its apotheosis w/ se7en) presented in media would set a standard that actual dull drifters and nerds serial killers could never live up to. the rest of the nineties 'serial killers are a kind of performance artist' cliche is just exhausting that interest and then columbine preceded by the smaller school shootings (and maybe in a weird way andrew cunanan) provide a more easy to work w/ for tv and definitely more legitimate alternative. it's odd cuz serial killers are sort of built for the internet (fincher's zodiac is almost a movie about the internet, or at least burying yrself in data and the difference between data and information) but maybe the timing element plays against it, something where there can be months or even years between incidents is handicapped in an age where a story that goes two or three days w/ no developments is dead in the water.

balls, Sunday, 9 June 2013 01:57 (eleven years ago) link

I think that issue of sustaining a media narrative is pretty insightful.

serial killer mythos also perhaps tied to old boogie man myths (as in "go to bed or Jeffrey Dahmer will get you") which while certainly timeless in certain respects almost seem of another era--one with more loneliness, darkness, and weird sounds in the night than we tend to experience any more.

ryan, Sunday, 9 June 2013 02:02 (eleven years ago) link

Most serial killers have no interest in being artistic. They are gratifying other urges. The majority try to keep their activities as low-profile as they can, so they can operate as freely as possible. Movies and tv require stories filled with terror and heroics. Serial killers are usually just sordid and disgusting.

Aimless, Sunday, 9 June 2013 02:11 (eleven years ago) link

Yeah it's important to draw a distinction between the culture around these guys and their pathetic realities. nevertheless there is often a certain consciousness in how they present themselves to the police and media. zodiac certainly good example of that.

nowadays I'm much more frightened that some random guy will open fire on me at the mall or something. but then again thinking of someone crawling through your window on a warm summer night has a special horror of its own.

ryan, Sunday, 9 June 2013 02:13 (eleven years ago) link


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