True Crime Literature

The FBI crime statistics for 2003 (latest year I could find) there were 43 murders with a murder rate 1.28 times the national average. The total of all violent crimes was 3,420 compared to non-violent or property crimes at 28,266.

Another way to say it would be 83 per 1000 are a victim of crime. Of course as in any city or area, there will be neighborhoods or areas that will be more crime-infested than others.

Most people have a certain image of Ma Barker as a machine-gun toting, bank robbing, kidnapping leader of the notorious Carpus-Barker gang. We have Hollywood to thank for this. In fact the worst crime Arizona 'Ma' Barker committed was to aid her sons in a life of crime. She took care of them after their crimes when they needed a place to lay low. Then she would fix them up and they were off again.

I have not heard any specific plans for a movie based on the book but the book was just released and chances are very good that a movie deal is already being discussed.

Kleason's conviction was overturned because of an illegal search. This resulted in key evidence being ommited so he must be tried again. Now new DNA evidence has been found and the state of Texas wants him back for a new trial. Kleason is fighting the extradition on the grounds that if he were returned to the state of Texas it would be a death warrent for him. Since the UK has no death penalty they will not extradict a prisoner to a country that employees capital punishment.

Note of Interest:Serial killer Charles Ng, whom with his partner in crime Leonard Lake, killed scores of people and buried them at a cabin in Northern California, fought extradition for years while in a Canadian prison. Canada has the same policy as the UK about extridicting a prisoner to a country that has the death penalty. Finally our neighbors to the north relented and Ng received the death penalty and now sits on California's death row. Lake checked out early. When arrested Lake swallowed a cyanide capsule and died days later in the hospital.

Midnight In The Garden Of Good and Evil spent 216 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. A first book for writer John Berendt, it was published in 1994.

Without a doubt, the best known serial killer is London's Jack The Ripper. More than a century after the Ripper began killing prostitutes in Whitechapel in early 1888, he has the most recognizable name and has become a ledgend. A close runner-up would have to be Ted Bundy. Notable mentions would be John Wayne Gacy (the killer clown), Jeffrey Dahmer (the cannibal), and Aileen Wuornos, from Daytona Beach, Florida.

Although Routier claims she is innocent, and she has some very loyal and loud supporters (her family), the evidence says otherwise. The blood spatter patterns don't lie, its a matter of physics. Then there is the knife. Not the one that did the killing, the one that was used to cut the screen on a garage window. There were fibers from the window screen down inside the butcher block knife holder that sat on the kitchen counter. Then there is the matter of her story. It changed and evolved until it did not resemble the original. And lastly, there was the infamous 'Birthday' video at the graves of the little boys. Darlie Routier is exactly where she should be. To me, the only mystery is what part did her husband Darren play in the murders. I sometimes find it hard to believe that he could have slept through the whole ordeal. Although suspecting and proving are 2 different things.

There is some truth to this statement. For reasons that are not clearly understood, some sociopaths, or what it is now called, anti-social personality disorder, do not blink like a normal person. They do blink but not nearly as much as someone without APD. A good example of this, and one that most people have seen, is Anthony Hopkins' portrayal of the serial killer Hannibal Lector in the movie Silence of the Lambs. Hopkins must have done his homework, his creepy Dr. Lector was dead on. No pun intended.

There is still so much unknown about people with this personality disorder. And it may never be understood completly, but it is always a facinating subject.

As strange as it sounds eye gouging was a common crime in pre-20th century America. It also included biting off ears and noses. It was finally made illegal with punishment that included jail time.

Crime doesn't pay. Just ask Mike Tyson.

He was about 6-7 years old.

Delaware will probably never be the prolific serial killer producer such as Texas or California or Washington state but it has had it's share of killers. Steven Brian Pennell aka the US 40 killer, was 1992 for the murder of 3 women.

I asked a friend, who is a police officer, this very question once. He explained that it is just a way to say that someone was caught--like grabbing someone by the collar.

Cousins Angelo Bono and Kenneth Bianci, most commonly known as the Hillside Stranglers, kidnapped, tortured and killed young women in Los Angeles in the 1970s. Bono was older than Bianci and he seemed to be the driving force between the two of them. But he was also the one with at least some self-control.

When things began heating up in L.A., Bono decided they needed to lay low for a while. He insisted Bianci leave town and keep a low profile also. But the younger cousin couldn't seem to stop and after moving to Seattle he murdered 2 young women and was discovered almost immediately. It didn't take long for him to 'spill the beans' on Bono to save himself from an almost certain death sentence.

Bianci and Bono got life without parole. Bono died in prison but Bianci has since married (yes he gets cojugal visits) and seems to be having at least some sort of life behind bars.

Besides his hundreds of false confessions of murders, Lucas had a glass eye from the time he was a boy.

As the body count rose, and more young women went missing, it probably seemed to the family that the police were not doing enough to catch the Green River Killer. After 6 or 7 years when there was no progress being made, the task force was cut way back and this was discouraging for family members that were waiting for answers.

The police were doing everything that they could. Most people, especially grieving family members, don't realize that stranger killings are the hardest type of murder to solve. And it doesn't help that most serial killers have a higher than average IQ. All of this goes into the equation of how to apprehend this kind of killer.

With the Green River Killer (Gary Leon Ridgeway) technology finally caught up to him. The same goes for BTK in Kansas. This was another case that spanned 2 decades, and was finally solved because of advances in DNA and computer science. It can not bring back these families loved ones, but it answered some questions, and they may have a little peace because of it.

Research indicates it is usually a little of both. There are certain 'traits' or red flags in these killers that begin to manifest themselves at an early age. Bedwetting, setting fires, theft, lying, are a few. Many serial killers have some form of abuse from their childhood. It is also true that a person with a personality disorder is more likely to have a parent or close relative with a personality disorder. So there are many different factors that can result in a serial killer. And like most human conditions, it is a complicated and complex.

The actual reason for the late night visit was quite innocent. Nichole and family members had dined at the restaurant where Ron Goldman was a waiter. Nichole's mother left a pair of glasses at the table and Goldman volunteered to bring the glasses back to Nichole's Brentwood condo. Goldman and Nichole were in the first stages of a romance so he knew where she lived. I often wonder had Mrs. Brown not forgotten her glasses if Ron would not have been murdered.

No relation. Canadian born Jesse Moss played Jason Moss, the author of the true crime bestseller 'The Last Victim'. As a high school project Jason corresponded with several high profile serial killers. John Wayne Gacy being one of them.

Dr. John Story of Lovell, Wyoming was in prison for almost 16 years. He was convicted in 1985 and paroled in 2001.

The Shack was a work of fiction.

It's amazing but true that some serial killers enjoy a certain celebrity status and are never in short supply of fans. Chicago killer John Wayne Gacy was afforded many privelidges because he was so famous. Many of these killers are allowed to marry and enjoy conjugal visits with their spouses. Ted Bundy married and conceived a child while on Florida's death row. Hillside Strangler Kenneth Bianci has married as has Night Stalker Richard Ramirez.

According to the book Hollywood Babylon by Kenneth Angers, he was not officially suspected by police. But it seems he was supect in the death of Tom Ince, a producer/director in young Hollywood. Aboard the Hearst yacht Oneida on November 15, 1924 to celebrate Ince's 43rd birthday, Ince was shot with the small hand gun Hearst kept on the boat. The story offered up in Hearst papers was 'accute indigestion'. The bullet in his head was found at autopsy. Hearst had enough money to pay witnesses off and no investigation was ever done.

Gary Leon Ridgeway, The Green River Killer, was of the organized killer catagory. Organized killers usually have higher than average IQs but Ridgeway is the exception. Despite an IQ score of 80, Ridgeway was very organized in the commission of his crimes and evaded arrest for two decades. Technology and science finally caught up with Ridgeway, who confessed to over 60 murders of local prostitutes and/or runaways.

Ten year old Mary Bell of Great Britian, whom is probably the youngest serial killer in history, was convicted of two murders on May 11, 1968. Finally released on May 14, 1980, she changed her name to protect her daughter. She was granted protection by the 'Mary Bell' order on May 21, 2003. She has not killed since her release from prison.