Tag Archives: Police

HOW TO AVOID BEING MURDERED BY A SERIAL KILLER

Ever met a serial killer?

Can’t say I have – at least not that I know of.

Highway 16 in Northern BC, Canada

But I’ve worked with other police officers who’ve dealt with them and I’ve investigated unsolved homicides that could be the work of a serial killer. (Google Highway Of Tears). I’ve also helped send killers to jail who were possibly caught just before their serial career could start.

So how would you recognize a serial killer if you met one?

Ted Bundy

First of all, let’s define a serial killer. According to the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit, it’s an individual who’s committed three or more homicides segregated by a block of time. A cooling-off period, so to speak. This separates true serial offenders like Ted Bundy, who committed a spaced-apart series of nation-wide killings, from localized spree or mass murderers like the Columbine shooters or bombers like Timothy McVeigh.

Now, let’s dispel a few myths.

Serial killers are not common. In fact, they’re exceptionally rare. Less than .01% of murders are classified as serial incidents. A 2012 study by the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) lists the North American homicide rate as 3.9 per 100,000 in population, so doing the math from a combined populus of 464 million, you’ve got a .00039% chance of being a serial killer victim. It’s also estimated that no more than 300 serial killers are currently active in North America which puts them at .00064% of the population. So, you’ve got better odds of scoring big on the lottery than bumping into a Bundy.

The Green River Killer

Serial killers are not dysfunctional, transient loners. Gary Ridgway, Seattle’s Green River Killer, was married, lived in the same house for years, and held a steady job as an automotive painter. BTK murderer Dennis Rader was also married with children, a church leader, and slayed within a small radius of his home in Wichita, Kansas.

Willie Pickton

Serial killers are not all insane, nor are they evil geniuses. Vancouver’s Willie Pickton, ran unchecked for years, right under the nose of overlapping police jurisdictions who saw him as a simpleton. Pickton, who butchered 49 women and fed them to his pigs, was no Google Geek but he instinctively stick-handled a skillful interrogation by my colleague Don Adam, one of the RCMP’s best polygraphists.

Son of Sam

Serial killers are not all about sex. It’s more a control thing. Satisfaction from the power of holding their victim’s life in their hands seems to be the primary motivator. It’s psychological, not material. David Berkowitz, the Son of Sam, and Harold Shipman, the British doctor, are prime examples of power freaks.

Paul Bernando

Serial killers are not natural deviants. They’re products of their development from birth to adulthood with a vast assortment of contributing factors. Socio-economic upbringing. Neglect. Sexual and physical abuse. Poor self-esteem and harsh peer influence. Clifford Olson, the Beast of BC who brutally hammer-murdered eleven children, became incorrigible early in his pathetic childhood and Paul Bernardo resulted from an affluent, but highly-dysfunctional, middle-class family. He came of age in his teens.

Karla Holmolka

Serial killers have no gender or racial template. John Wayne Gacy was white. Wayne Williams was black. Richard Ramirez was Hispanic. Charles Ng was Chinese. They’re not all male, either. There’s Karla Holmolka, who assisted Bernardo in raping and murdering other women including her own sister, and Aileen Wuoronos, a particularly nasty piece of work who did in her johns.

Serial killers are not a 21^st century, western phenomenon. They’ve been in all cultures and over all ages. Australia and the UK have an abnormally high rate of serial killers, while some of the really weird ones come from Belarus, South Africa, and Germany. Not classified as serial killers are genocide-orchestrating, evil-entities like Hitler, Stalin, or Pol Pot. Those guys got others to do their dirty work and are in a class of their own.

Zodiac’s Note

Serial killers do not have a death wish, nor a longing to get caught. Most go to extremes to avoid detection, learning from mistakes, improving their craft, and rarely do they taunt their investigators like the Zodiac Killer of California did. He’s yet to be identified. Same with Jack the Ripper.

Here’s a few things we do know about serial killers.

They are not capable of rehabilitation. By the time they progress to this extremely abhorrent behavior, it’s too late. And who in their right mind would take a chance on releasing one? Life without parole or the death penalty are the only options.

Their psychology is complicated. Psychopathy is the common diagnosis, but their kinks in antisocial personality disorders seem to be as unique as their modus operandis. Commonly they’ve a lack of self-control, need immediate gratification, practice predatory behavior, and possess a complete lack of remorse. They can be charming, crafty, spectacularly manipulative, and are pathological liars – not the sort of folks you want inviting you over for dinner, especially a guy like Jeffrey Dahmer. And around puberty, most were cruel to animals, pyromaniacs, and chronic bed-wetters. This is known in forensic psychiatry as the triad.

There’s less and less of them all the time. That’s because of better technological and psychological detection methods resulting in their earlier removal from society. DNA and databanks have been a Godsend in solving multiple offences, especially clearing up cold-cases. There’re better analytical tools like the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Profiling System, ViCAP, the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program, AFIS, the Automated Fingerprint Identification System, and IBIS, the Integrated Ballistic Identification System. Police resources are better trained and have sophisticated case management software, as well as improved inter-jurisdictional communication. And there’s also legislative initiates like Canada’s Dangerous Offenders Act which allows for indefinite incarceration regardless of maximum statutory sentencing requirements.

We’re fascinated by serial killers.

Why?

Hannibal Lector

Because they tell us about ourselves.

I believe they’re extenuation of folklore monsters that we heard about in kid stories. The bogeyman. The big bad wolf. Trolls under bridges and witches in forests. Jekyll & Hyde. Frankenstein. Dracula. Psycho. And who hasn’t freaked over Hannibal Lector ?

We’re terrified of monsters and horrified by what they can do to us. But deep-down we have an intense curiosity about what makes these monsters tick. It may be a fear that we, ourselves, could become a monster. Or that the stranger two doors down may already be one. Nature has hard-wired our brains to manage our safety through recognizing danger and alerting each other before it happens. We do this through storytelling and we’re all fascinated by good stories. Especially stories about the most dangerous of creatures – serial killers.

So how do you avoid being murdered by a serial killer?

Simple. Don’t do what their victims do.

Serial killers are creatures of habit and opportunity. They go for the easiest, most vulnerable, most disposable prey. Generally, those are women and youths of both sexes in the high-risk lifestyle demographics – sex trade workers, substance abusers, socio-economic outcasts, and free-spirits who travel alone.

The odds of your being murdered – never mind by a serial killer – are astronomically against you.

But you can still decrease those odds by not associating with a charming stranger.

Royal Canadian Air Force Colonel and Serial Killer Russell Williams.

Knowing who to avoid takes sobriety, life-experience, common sense, and exercising caution when being alone.

DO YOU NEED A CORONER?

For over three decades I’ve been in the death business.

I was a Royal Canadian Mounted Police homicide detective, served as a sniper on Emergency Response Teams, and finished up my forensic career as a Coroner.

So, I’ve seen my fair share of bodies.

Everyone knows what a homicide cop does and most would rather not be in the sights of a sniper, but there’s a lot of misunderstanding about the role of a Coroner as opposed to a Medical Examiner (ME) and to a Pathologist. A bit of a history here.

All civilized jurisdictions have had a judge of the dead whose duty is to find fact. Not fault. The facts to be determined are the Who, When, Where, How, and By What Means that the deceased expired. Once these facts are determined, the death must be classified into one of five categories; Natural, Accidental, Suicide, Homicide, or Undetermined. This method of fact-finding and classification is universal, whereas the structure of appointing the judge is not.

The office of the coroner dates back to 10^th century England when the Crowner of the King (hence the word coroner) investigated any number of matters, including sudden and unexplained human deaths. This evolved into an inquisitional role where the coroner would conduct simple inquiries, or in cases of public interest, would hold inquests and compel witnesses to testify. Coroner appointments generally went to upstanding citizens of the community, not necessarily to those of a medical, legal, or investigative background.

As science progressed, it became prudent to retain the expertise of medical professionals, particularly in the clinical areas of autopsy and toxicology. This coincided with the massing of population in urban areas. Out of practicality and economics, the cities would employ full time medical doctors as examiners who’d delegate field investigations to lesser qualified persons. The rural areas, having a lower caseload, adopted the reverse where they’d contract out the specialties.

A pathologist, on the other hand, is a medical examiner who’s been specifically trained in the study of death and disease. The term pathologist dates back to ancient Greece; pathos meaning suffering, and logos meaning writing. Taking it a step further, a forensic pathologist signifies a specially-trained medical doctor who’s qualified to testify in court.

I can’t say the Coroner system is any better or worse than the Medical Examiner system. The professionals may have inverse roles, but all are exceptionally well trained. Both speak to the deceased’s interests and that’s what’s important. Death investigations have become more complex as science advances and, regardless of the administrative issues, having the right people doing the right jobs is key to determining the proper cause and classification of death.

Just a note on the personal qualities required to investigate deaths.

First you need an inquisitive mind. Often things aren’t what they seem on the surface, and it’s through attention to detail that the facts rise.

Second – empathy. You deal with those in the world which the deceased suddenly left; families, friends, co-workers, and to them it’s not just another case.

Lastly, you need a strong constitution. Some of the death scenes can be most unpleasant.

HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER

Are you planning on murdering someone, but your only stop is the fear of getting caught?

Or are you plotting a thriller where your serial-slayer stays steps ahead of that dogged detective who’s also top-tier in her trade?

Maybe both? Well, I’ll give you a cake and let you eat it, too… if you’ll follow me on how homicide cops investigate murders.

Think about it. There are only four ways you can get caught. Or get away with it. All seasoned sleuths intrinsically know this, and they build their case on these four simple pillars. Let’s take a look at them.

What not to do

# 1 Don’t leave evidence behind that can identify you to the scene. Such as fingerprints, footwear or tire impressions, DNA profiles, ballistic imprints, gunshot residue, toolmarks, bitemarks, handwritten or printed documents, hair, fiber, chemical signatures, organic compounds, cigarette butts, spit chewing gum, toothpicks, a bloody glove that doesn’t fit, or your wallet with ID (seriously, that’s happened).

# 2 Don’t take anything with you that can be linked. Including all of the above, as well as the victim’s DNA, her car, jewelry, money, bank cards, any cell phone and computer records, that repeated modus operandi of your serial kills, no cut-hair trophies, no underwear souvenirs, and especially don’t keep that dripping blade, the coiled rope, or some smoking gun.

# 3 Don’t let anyone see you. No accomplices, no witnesses, and no video surveillance. Camera-catching is a huge police tool these days. Your face is captured many times daily – on the street, at service stations, banks, government buildings, private driveways, and the liquor store.

# 4 Never confess. Never, ever, tell anyone. That includes your best drinking buddy, your future ex-lover, the police interrogator, or the undercover agent.

So, if you don’t do any of these four things, you can’t possibly get caught.

Now… What To Do

Humans are generally messy and hard creatures to kill – even harder to get rid of – so murder victims tend to leave a pool of evidence. Therefore it’s best not to let it look like a murder.

Writers have come up with some fascinating and creative ways to hide the cause of death. Problem is – most don’t work. Here’s two sure-fire ways to do the deed and leave little left.

# 1 Cause an Arterial Gas Embolism (AGE) This one’s pretty easy, terribly deadly, and really difficult to call foul. An AGE is a bubble in the blood stream, much like a vapor lock in an engine’s fuel system. People die when their central nervous system gets unplugged, and a quick, hard lapse in the carotid artery on the right side of the neck can send an AGE into their cerebral circulation. The brain stops, the heart quits, and they drop dead.

Strangulation is an inefficient way to create an AGE and it leaves huge tell-tale marks. You’re far better off giving a fast blast of compressed air to the carotid… maybe from something like that thing you clean your keyboard with… just sayin’.

# 2 Good Ol’ Poison Ah, the weapon of women. Man, have there been a lot of poisonings over the centuries and there’s been some pretty, bloody, diabolical stories on how they’re done. Problem again. Today there’s all that cool science. The usual suspects of potassium cyanide, arsenic, strychnine, and atropine still work well, but they’ll jump out like a snake-in-the-box during a routine tox screen.

You need something that’s lethal, yet a witch to detect. I know of two brews – one is a neurotoxin made from fermented plant alkaloid, and the other is a simple mix of fungi & citrus. This stuff will kill you dead and leave no trace, but I think it’s quite irresponsible to post these formulas on the net.

So there, I’ll leave it with you to get away with murder. But if you have some crafty novel plot that needs help, I’m dying to hear your words.

Oh, and watch out for what’s in that cake that you’re eating.

Dying Words

Provoking Thoughts on Life, Death, and Writing