There are many myths about serial killers: that they are all
dysfunctional loners; all white males; only motivated by sex; that they
all travel and operate across a wide area; cannot stop killing; are all
insane, or evil geniuses; and that they all want to get caught.
Of course, there are some serial killers who fit into these categories,
but the married Green River Killer was not a dysfunctional loner; there
are plenty of female and non-Caucasian serial killers; Dr Harold Shipman
was certainly not motivated by sex; many serial killings (such as the
Ipswich prostitute murders carried out by Steve Wright) happen within a
confined area; the 'BTK Killer', Dennis Rader, stopped killing in 1991,
but wasn't caught until fourteen years later. Many serial killers may
have a low animal cunning, or be 'street smart', but few of them are
Mensa-level geniuses.
Each of the thirty cases covered here is unusual in some respect,
perhaps in the way in which the killer carried out their crimes, the
choice of victims, the way in which they were apprehended, or the method
of their execution.
The cases are presented alphabetically by country - from Australia via
Colombia, Great Britain, Indonesia, Iran, South Africa and elsewhere to
the United States - and then chronologically. They come from across
history and from all over the world. The author has gone back as far as
possible to contemporary source material - newspaper accounts, trial
evidence, interviews with perpetrators or survivors - rather than rely
on the increasingly blurred truth to be found online and in far too many
collections.