S&D: Serial Killers

i think im in love

>>>I'm reading his bio. It's hellascary.

Ah, memories. The summer & autumn that Ramirez was at large in SoCal it was a big, big deal if you lived down there. Come autumn in southern California there's little nicer than to just leave your window open and let the breezes come through the room. My friend Rozz liked to sleep with his windows open; he was also the singer from Christian Death, and normally very very into the whole serial-killer-as-poetic-icon thing (as were we all). But he was pretty terrified of the Night Stalker, who at one point got into a house just a few blocks away from the Rozz household - though the cops were on his trail by that point, so nobody died in that particular break-in. We had a mutual friend named Gene who bore a resemblence to the police sketch of Ramirez that'd been airing on the local news; I remember Rozz noting the resemblence once at a party and grabbing my wrist and whispering "I think the Night Stalker looks like Gene!" It was just really adorable & endearing how much Rozz was thinking about this whole current-events killer-at-large thing in such a normal, ghoulishly-fascinated-but-holy-fuck-I-ain't-wanna-die way.

it would be great if there was some serial killer who decided to be the greatest serial killer of them all by hunting down and killing all the others.

-- DV (dirtyvica...), November 5th, 2003.

RIP http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hZhDoDqouJ3AOSJHeB7TBN-fYTnQD94CU9NO2

i used to live in the same apartment building as this guy, just 20 years later. there were probably other serial killers living there, though.

Oh, Shawcross. How much will we not miss him...

Wikepedia details on various serial killers:

"He began to stalk local women as a teenager, knocking down or choking them unconscious, and fleeing with their shoes."

"Bonin carried out the crime with his primary accomplice, Vernon Butts, a 22-year-old factory worker who boasted of being a wizard, and who slept in a coffin."

"Herbert Richard "Herb" Baumeister (April 7, 1947 – July 3, 1996) was an alleged American serial killer from suburban Westfield, Indiana outside of Indianapolis. He was the founder of the successful thrift store chain Sav-a-Lot in Indiana."

"He was connected to the bodies due to his habit of drinking vodka out of the little bottles similar to alcohol bottles found on airplanes, and pouring them into an orange juice bottle to make a screwdriver."

"There has never been any firm evidence that the alligators actually ate any of his victims."

"Strange events followed his death that lead some people to believe he was, as he had claimed, possessed by the devil. Detective Geyer was taken seriously ill. The warden of the prison where Holmes was held committed suicide. The foreman of the jury that convicted him was accidentally electrocuted. The father of Emeline Cigrand (one of Holmes' victims) was horribly burned in a boiler explosion. The priest who delivered the last rites on Holmes' body was mysteriously found dead on his church's grounds. Finally, a fire completely destroyed the interior of the Chicago district attorney's office, leaving only a photograph of Holmes untouched."

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

four more bodies today, plus a skull in a bucket

Urgh. As a teenager I found it intriguing. Now? I don't find it that fascinating anymore.

I find the fact if Kemper's self-reflexive comedy timing the most ugly and most scary fact abt him, actually — certainly the hardest for me to process and be comfortable with. I can't be comfortable with it, bcz it means a state of mind i put a lot of moral trust in and enjoy — a playful sense of fun — is not firewalled territory after all.

mark s HUGELY otm here even if I'm not quite sure what "self-reflexive" means

i was just about to copy and post that from mark s. really insightful.

(think he meant 'inflective'?)

duh reflective

If I can explain it correctly; the act of examing oneself but in doing so actually influencing one's own behavior. Kind of a loop of cause and effect. How that is tied to the comedy timing, that I don't understand completely. Maybe it's the quote that explains it: sort of funny but, in saying it also causing it, making it real. Does that make any sense at all?

No, he definitely meant reflexive. Not reflective. Reflective lacks the causal effect. I think. Mark S, I admire, but he's so way out of my league. :-)

you're more than likely right- i'm the dude that just typed inflective, after all.

obv destroy all of these motherfuckers. i think the creepiest one ever might the btk killer, since iirc he was a family man and a pretty normal churchgoing suburban dad type who was also a totally disassociated berserk killer.

Why do so many serial killers work as truckers?

Why do so many serial killers work as truckers? Does the transient, rootless nature of the job stir in some people a latent potential for violence? Or do the already violent seek out a job that provides the mobility, and soundproof vehicle, to hunt undetected?

The FBI was so alarmed by what they saw as a pattern of long-haul truckers preying on vulnerable victims like prostitutes, hitchhikers, and stranded motorists that they launched the Highway Serial Killings Initiative, a special unit that collects forensics data to track cases and suspects.

Investigators acknowledge that a specialized unit is needed because truck driver/highway murders are especially difficult to solve. They often involve multiple jurisdictions, isolated crime scenes with few witnesses, and little or no forensic evidence. Crisscrossing the country, truck drivers have a built-in ability to evade authorities.

One of the obvious, but nevertheless frightening, things about trucker killers is that while they're often caught for just one crime the far-reaching, wide-ranging nature of their routes suggests they're possibly, even likely, responsible for many more.

(more at link)

Viz beat them to it as did Clarkson

don't really see how one can be beaten to the punch on this subject...?

I find the fact if Kemper's self-reflexive comedy timing the most ugly and most scary fact abt him, actually — certainly the hardest for me to process and be comfortable with. I can't be comfortable with it, bcz it means a state of mind i put a lot of moral trust in and enjoy — a playful sense of fun — is not firewalled territory after all.

one of the best things ever said on ilx imo

it would be great if there was some serial killer who decided to be the greatest serial killer of them all by hunting down and killing all the others.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Wednesday, November 5, 2003 2:51 PM (6 years ago) Bookmark

ok, weird

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

when I was doing study on the biological bases of violence I spent a lot of time looking at serial killers obv.

the US produces more serial killers than any other nation. we have 6% of the world's population and 75% of its serial killers. europe combined is a distant 16%. it could be argued that the US has spent more time on analysis and detection of serial killers, but the percentages are so far off it's difficult to explain. it might sound like uber-romantic social criticism, but I started seeing serial killers as a nightmare byproduct of the american dream. all the highways, personal freedom, pursuing your dreams, ultimately leading to these aberrant extremes of nomadic personal freedom and individualism. so that truckers link above really resonated.

I also had the notion that myths of vampires and werewolves were based on early serial killers. imagine you're living in a small village hundreds of years ago where everyone knows everyone else. if strings of motiveless, savage murders began to occur, imagining that someone you knew was transforming into a monster nightly was likely more comforting than the ugly reality.

Doesn't Russia have a lot too?

I think they've had a handful of prodigious ones

It's that Kemper made what he did into a joke he was the subject of, isn't it? Which is why it's so awful, he knew exactly what he was doing. That was kinda the point. Like y'know the Joker, man

Yes v brilliant orig post

And I don't think that can be processed tbh, limits of humanity type stuff

it's similar to thinking about fetishes. I'm not really sure how/why people are attracted to animals, but they are.

I'd never heard of Kemper before.

Holy fuck, what a terrifying individual.

S: Jack the Ripper. Was genuinely scared of him opening my bedroom door at age 9 or so in I dunno, 1986? Despite the fact he would've been like 130 or so (and I wasn't a prostitute), was still terrified, the whole thing was so debased and awful. Wasn't fascinated, scared. Gave a speech abt him tht year which prob made me look a potential SK myself, really

factoid: the FBI originally called them "stranger killers" before they figured out serial killers do victimize people they know

A lot of them must've been pretty popular then

had not heard of kemper, *googles*

From Wikipedia:

At the time of Kemper's murder spree in Santa Cruz, another serial killer named Herbert Mullin was also active, earning the small California town the title of "Murder Capital Of The World." Also adding to the college town's infamy was the fact that Kemper's and Mullin's crimes were preceded three years earlier by multiple murders committed by John Linley Frazier, who murdered Santa Cruz eye surgeon Victor Ohta and his family. Kemper and Mullin were briefly held in adjoining cells, with the former angrily accusing the latter of stealing his body-dumping sites.

I'd never heard of Kemper before.

Holy fuck, what a terrifying individual.
--Huckabee Jesus lifeline (HI DERE)

kemper, the seinfeld of serial killers

The Night Stalker scared the crap out of me when i was a kid. I just remember that hot summer and that scary ass artist rendition of him, with those buggy eyes and creepy look. then there was something about him targeting yellow houses by freeways and we had a yellow house by the freeway!! i just knew this devil looking dude was gonna come climbing through my window.

kemper's wiki reads like

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51FHAAH32TL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA240_SH20_OU01_.jpg

was kinda hard being in school in Santa Cruz and NOT hearing about Kemper

I find the fact if Kemper's self-reflexive comedy timing the most ugly and most scary fact abt him, actually — certainly the hardest for me to process and be comfortable with. I can't be comfortable with it, bcz it means a state of mind i put a lot of moral trust in and enjoy — a playful sense of fun — is not firewalled territory after all.

one of the best things ever said on ilx imo

― a full circle lol (J0hn D.), Thursday, December 3, 2009 5:54 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark

it's not the same thing i realize but maybe it comes from the same place: this reminds me of all the jailhouse interviews/correspondence that the hipster grifter is doing, this self-awareness, self-clowning, matched with total sociopath behavior.

or you know the pages of vice magazine

didn't know where else to post this but O_O

http://io9.com/5448369/suspected-tylenol-poisoner-writes-science-fiction-novel-about-poisonings

James Lewis was accused of putting cyanide into Tylenol capsules back in 1982, causing several deaths. His involvement has never been proved, but now he's self-published a new science-fiction novel called Poison!, which is making people wonder anew.

Lewis' novel follows a psychologist named Dr. Charles Rivers, who can both read and control other people's minds (similar to Heroes' Matt Parkman). Rivers also has a slew of high-tech gadgets. He uses all of the resources at his disposal to investigate a rash of poisonings in his Missouri hometown, including his own father, who appear to have been poisoned with a bizarre mixture of toxic chemicals. But while Rivers is investigating the poisonings, he comes across evidence of a criminal mastermind named Agua Naranja (Orange Water), who has discovered a way to cause earthquakes, using techniques pioneered by Nikola Tesla.

okay WAHT

And wow, man that story they link to from the Boston Herald adds a whole new level of crepey to this guy: http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=349846

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Uf95INZmWI

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

worst. date. ever.

He won a date with "bachelorette" Cheryl Bradshaw, who subsequently refused to go out with him, according to published reports, because she found him "creepy."

a peeled banana

Jed Mills, an actor who sat next to Alcala onstage as "Bachelor #2", later described him as a "a peeled banana" with "bizarre opinions."

LIFE slideshow of Ed Gein's house:

http://www.life.com/gallery/39992/inside-a-serial-killers-house#index/0