True Crime Literature

Larry Gene Bell was a serial killer from South Carolina. He murdered two girls, one 17 and the other 9. He was also suspected in another murder that involved a co-worker's girlfriend.

One victim, 17 year old Shari Faye Smith, was most likely kidnapped and murdered by Bell because Bell was obsessed with her older sister, whom was a beauty contestant. In fact whe won the Miss South Carolina title the year after Shari was murdered.

Bell was finally executed by the electric chair. In South Carolina he had a choice of lethal injection or "old sparky". He chose sparky.

Point of interest:After Bell had taken Shari Smith, he called the family home and wanted to speak with Dawn. As much as she didn't want to talk to him she did in an effort to get her sister back. It didn't work. He also had Shari write out her last will and testement and he then sent it to the family.

Literally hundreds of books have been written about JTR. Probably the best known serial killer, he is more popular as a subject now than he was at the time of his crimes. Countless movies have been made, not all of the dealing with the truth.

I believe he prosecuted Kallinger and his son.

In my opinion, the motive was simple greed and hubris. The boys father was very rigid in his ideas and felt that his sons were not "measuring up" which made them despise their father and his control. They wanted to inherit sooner, not later and thought they could get away with the crime and "show" their father that he was wrong, that they could accomplish something. Their mother was at the wrong place at the wrong time and, well, they wouldn't have to share their inheritance.

Among other things, defrauding church members. By the time Congressman Ryan and his group were ready to leave fraud was the least of the offences. Jim Jones was either directly or indirectly responsible for 909 deaths. A handful of survivors were able to flee into the jungle, saving their own lives.

His name is Idham Henyansyah aka Ryan. Hi's known as The Smiling Serial Killer from Indonesia. He is charged of bludgeoning 10 victims and burying them in his parents backyard. He was caught spreading the reamins of his 11th victim through south Jakarta.

First used in 1934 as a punishment for prisoners, it was exactly what it sounds like. The prisoner was forbidden to talk, anywhere. The goal was to silence the man so long that he would forget what his own voice sounded like. Of course it didn't work and was eventually done away with.

The John List home was rumored to have a Tiffany stained glass skylight for the 'ballroom' worth in the neighborhood of $100,000. But before it could be confirmed as fact of fiction the house burned down 10 months after the murders. Any trace of a Tiffany skylight went up in smoke.

It is entirely possible that there was a valuable stained glass skylight but one of the reasons List gave as justifaction for killing his entire family was money problems. Most people would sell valuables as a remedy for money problems before shooting their whole family.

We will probably never know. List died in March 2008 while incarcerated for his crimes.

The exact number of victims is not certain but the estimated total is somewhere between 3 and 11.

He covered his tracks so well that many had disappeared and died before their family and/or friends even had an idea that something was wrong. He told massive lies to everybody and certainly had no problem in killing if he felt threatened by discovery.

George Russell was arrested in September 1990 for a misdemeanor, he was then linked to 3 murders in the Bellevue, WA area. He was convicted of all 3 murders, young women he was familiar with (they all frequented the same night clubs in the area), and sentenced to 3 life-with-no-parole terms. Saved from the death penalty only because the state of Washington had no death penalty at the time of his sentencing. He now resides at Clallam Bay Corrections Center in Clallam Bay, WA.

She did. It is no secret that Wuornos had a difficult childhood, which is a common story for serial killers. Wournos did exhibit some of the behaviors typically seen in male serial killers. Chronic lying, shoplifting, starting fires, hypersexual and sexually active at an early age. Wuornos was about eleven when she had her first sexual encounter. Poor impulse control, Wuornos was very unpredictable and had an explosive temper. She had a blantant disrespect for rules and laws.

The serial killer John Christie's address in London was 10 Rillington Place. This was also the title of a movie that was written about him and his criminal career.

Swango spends all his time at ADX Florence, a maximum security federal prison in Colorada.

Serial murder is usually the most difficult crime to solve. In most cases the killer and the victim are strangers to each other. With no personal connection, it is like looking for a needle in a haystack. In the last 20 years though, with advances in forensics and DNA is it getting harder to get away with murder, even serial murder. Some of the problem with cases like BTK is the location. BTK (actual name Dennis Radar) lived in a small town in Kansas. There are not usually many murders so when they do get a case the police and even the detectives on the case have not had a whole lot of experience. The more you do of anything the better you will be at it. It is hard to get good when you don't get much practice. When BTK started his killing in the late 1970s and into the 1980s forensics where not nearly what they are today. If they had todays technology then they would probably have arrested him much sooner. This is how he got caught. Technology finally caught up with him. Radar was hiding right under the law's nose, so to speak. He was a quiet man with a wife and children. He was an elder in his church and he held down a permanent job. Serial killers need this 'ordinary' looking life. It makes a great cover.

The Roaring Twenties became the 'lawless decade' helped along by prohibition and the great depression. The ban on the making and possessing of alcohol made organized criminals very rich. Combined with the bad economy that made people do desparate and questionable deeds, crime was rampant.

It is always possible that a deal will be struck with the prosecutors, information in the Holloway disappearance for a lighter sentence on his pending murders charges. But if that is not the case we may never know exactly what happened to Natalee. Van Der Sloot confessed to a friend that her death was accidental but the young Van Der Sloot is not exactly the picture of honesty. It would be a comfort to the family of Natalee Holloway if the truth would finally come out, but unfortunatly, sometimes in real life things don't always turn out perfectly.

**During his reign of terror at the University of Florida in Gainsville, FL, he was most commonly refered to as the 'Gainsville Ripper'.

The FBI has been debating changing the number of kills for serial murder from three to two. When considering serial murder or as it is sometimes called, 'stranger murder', not every killer fits the description perfectly. An example would be the Yosemite Killer, Cary Stayner. He first killed a mother, daughter and their family friend, and weeks later killed another woman. The first three victims were, for the most part, killed at the same time. Then Stayner had what is called the cooling-off period before killing his next victim. Not all crimes are black-and-white, there are shades of gray. So, although Stayner actually had four victims, it was in only two separate incidents. But Stayner is considered a serial killer. Had he not been caught he would have killed again.

As explained in the books Mindhunter and Whoever Hunts Monsters by ex FBI agent and criminal profiler, John Douglas with co-writer Mark Olshaker, the use of one's own hands such as strangulation or stabbing is a much more personal crime than that of a gun.

The attacker has to get up close and personal to strangle a victim, especially if it is manual strangulation. (hands alone as opposed to ligature strangulation)

With a gun you don't have to be close to the victim to kill them. Its more impersonal.

Killing up close, the killer is getting something he needs physcologically more commonly called a 'signature'. This is different from an MO (modus operandi)

The killer may feel some king of connection to the victim, not that they have to know each other. These kind of crimes are all about 'what does the killer need'. Everything is about him and his needs.

Kemper, whose killing included his own grandparents, was known as the Co-Ed Murderer or the Co-Ed Killer.

Since the introduction of lethal injection as a means of carrying out capital punishment the gallows has fallen out of favor. But until very recently Montana and Washington states still used this method of execution. Both states executed inmates in the 1990's. The state of Delaware hung an inmate in 1996. This was most likely the last hanging in the U.S.