America’s Serial Killers – How Many Are There?

by Diane Dimond

It was a small but horrifying item in the Los Angeles Times. “Police are asking for the public’s help in identifying what they call a ‘serious, dangerous serial killer operating in Orange County. Police believe one person is responsible for stabbing three middle-aged homeless men. He is (considered) extremely dangerous to the public.”

Another serial killer, I thought. And then the question: How many serial killers are out there in America?

John Douglas, a former Chief of the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit and author of “Mind Hunter” says, “A very conservative estimate is that there are between 35-50 active serial killers in the United States” at any given time. Often, Douglas told me, they will, “kill 2-3 victims and then have a “cooling-off” period between kills.”

That period can be days and in some cases (such as the BTK Strangler, Dennis Rader, convicted of killing 10 people from 1974 to 1991) even years.”

But others who study serial killers (defined as someone who kills 3 or more people) think there are many more of these demented predators out there than the FBI admits to – maybe as many as a hundred of them actively operating right now.

Why don’t we know the exact figure? Because serial killers are a secretive and often nomadic bunch.

Right before his execution in January 1989 the widely traveled Ted Bundy, described as a charismatic killer, admitted to 30 murders across half a dozen states – from Washington to Florida.

Andrew Cunanan killed at least five people during his wanderings through Minnesota, Illinois, New Jersey and Florida, including fashion designer Gianni Versace in Miami.

The FBI knows death travels and five years ago it set up the Highway Serial Killings Initiative. The bureau reveals it has “a matrix of more than 600 victims and potential suspects in excess of 275.” Since the bodies were found off major highways top suspects are long-haul truckers who may pick up prey in one state and dump the body several states away.

I know this is disturbing to read and you may wonder, “Why should I care? I’m not going to hitchhike at a truck stop!”

Well, realize lots of serial killers stay close to home and their victims are random. The aforementioned Dennis Rader (left) found all his victims in Kansas not far from the Wichita home he shared with his wife and two kids. Rader, the president of his local church, knocked on his victim’s doors and they simply let him in.

John Wayne Gacy, met many of his 33 victims (all young men and boys) at charity events where he appeared dressed a clown. After luring them to his house and murdering them he stuffed them under his Cook County, Illinois home.

Gary Leon Ridgway, the so-called Green River Killer, was convicted of strangling 49 random women he met in Washington. He confessed to killing 71 but authorities believe the number of victims could be over 90.

Jeffrey Dahmer of Milwaukee admitted to killing and cannibalizing 17 young men and boys before he was arrested. Dahmer’s mother, Joyce, once told me her son wished doctors would come study him in prison to help figure out what drove him to do it.

We who write about crime are told that law enforcement nationwide is doing a better job of communicating with each other about suspected serial killers. Indeed, the item I read about the homeless murders was a milestone. In the past, detectives were loath to tell the public about a serial killer on the loose for fear of spooking people. Now, they’ve come to realize that knowledge is power and citizen’s information can be a huge help in solving crimes.

Hardly a state in the union hasn’t had a serial killer. California, Texas and Florida seem to have more than their fair share. And mass graves have been found all around the country. Two examples: The 11 bodies of young women and an infant found on the isolated West Mesa outside Albuquerque. And, an eerily similar case thousands of miles away in Long Island, New York where authorities unearthed 10 bodies – eight women and a toddler along with a man dressed in women’s clothes.

These are among the serial killer dumping grounds that have been found. Many others may go undetected forever.

The best thing we can do is be vigilant. Know that many victims of serial killers put themselves in harm’s way. Most are women who have some contact with the sex trade or illegal drug underworld and if they have children they are in grave danger too.

Dr. Maurice Godwin has studied serial killers for years and one in-depth analysis of 107 of them revealed important information. Godwin found 55% of serial killers began having trouble in childhood and had criminal juvenile records. 45% had been convicted for a previous sex crime. As with so many criminals it goes back to their early formative years and the best lesson we can learn is that when we find a troubled child we best help them. Failure to do so could result in another serial killer walking among us.

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The Adam Walsh Case: Closed, Not Solved

by Pat Brown

"Florida cops solve Adam Walsh Murder," declares one of the many headlines announcing today's breaking news out of Hollywood, Florida. John Walsh, wife Reve and their children by his side, gave an emotional press conference in which John thanked Chief Chad Wagner and retired detective Joe Matthews for bringing closure to his family. "Not knowing was torture."

I feel for John and Reve. Years of working with victims has given me a ringside seat to the the pain they have suffered being left in limbo, the cases of their murdered loved ones going unsolved for years and years. I see the tears slip out of John's eyes and run down his cheek, his voice trembling as all his feelings of twenty-seven years rushed out, and I empathize with his relief that the years of questions and no answers has come to an end.

Unfortunately, when I separate myself from the tendency of us humans to accept what is the "nicest" answer, I feel uncomfortable with the conclusion of Walsh and the Hollywood police. I have worked on cases that have been administratively closed for a number of reasons - overwhelming circumstantial evidence exists but is linked to a dead suspect, limited circumstantial evidence that is linked to a dead suspect, and absolutely no circumstantial evidence but a dead suspect that is useful to pin the crime on.

The Adam Walsh case falls into the middle ground. Serial killer Ottis Toole was looked into as a possible suspect two years after Adam's murder, not because he came into their investigation through evidence or witness reports, but because they had convicted him on another homicide and pressured him to confess to other murders "he had committed". It is not unheard of for police detectives to offer attractive benefits for confessing to homicides regardless of guilt - better prison arrangements, notoriety, and trips out of jail complete with camaraderie and McDonald's treats. Often the police drop inside information about a crime and the convicted felon parrots back the details which "proves" he had knowledge of the murder "only the suspect would know".

So, Ottis Toole confessed a couple of times and recanted a couple of times. Interestingly, the one thing the police didn't know - where Adam's body was dumped - was something apparently Toole didn't know either. The location he told police was the final resting place of Adam's body was searched and no remains were found.

No physical evidence links Ottis Toole to the murder of Adam Walsh either. While the police claim they found a machete and carpeting in Toole's vehicle that had blood on them, they never scientifically proved that the blood was Adam's. Then that "evidence" went missing. Was it accidentally lost or did the blood turn out to exclude Adam as the contributor? Even if the DNA of that time was not as advanced, blood typing could have easily eliminated Adam Walsh as the victim connected to that evidence. It wouldn't be the first time a police department or prosecution misplaced evidence that would prove the desired theory wrong.

Jeffrey Dahmer was another possible suspect in Adam's murder. At least he was proven to be in the area at the time, drove a van that matched witnesses' descriptions of a vehicle they had seen at the mall when Adam disappeared. A man of his description was seen pulling a resisting boy into the van like the one he drove for his place of employment. Furthermore, a witness has claimed he saw Dahmer in Sears that day. While none of this proves Jeffrey Dahmer killed Adam Walsh, he certainly seems to have more possible connections to the Walsh murder than Toole. But, he makes less of a useful suspect post-death because he didn't "confess" to killing the boy.

Even John Walsh admits the police do not have any smoking gun evidence with which to link Toole to Adam's homicide, only a thread of reasoning which he was not privy to from outside the police investigation.

"If Ottis Toole was alive today, he would be arrested for the abduction and murder of Adam Walsh on July 27, 1981," claimed Hollywood Police Chief Wagner at the new conference. He added that there was no "magic" piece of evidence that caused Ottis Toole to now be labeled the one-and-only possible suspect. Worse, Chief Wagner offers so little evidence linking Toole to Adam's murder that no prosecutor in his right mind would have been willing to risk his reputation by taking such a pitiful case to court.

But, Toole is dead, the Hollywood police department would like to close this unfortunate blemish on the history of the department's investigative prowess. John Walsh would like to feel justice (perhaps by believing the man who killed his son is dead) has been served. The American citizens are happy because John is happy.

Closing this heinous case based on a "could of been him" conclusion, is not only egregious but dangerous. Cases should never been considered solved when there is nothing more than wishful thinking and political expediency. Worse, nailing Ottis Toole with Adam's murder without solid evidence proving he was involved, may leave a child killer on the loose. How will everyone feel if next year an aging pedophile named John Smith is arrested for the kidnapping and abduction of a small boy and when the police search his house they find pictures of him with a little boy named Adam Walsh in a basement safe?

As many times as I have heard the opposite on television news in the last few hours, justice has not been served and the killer of Adam Walsh has not been conclusively identified or linked to the crime. The investigation has no more evidence today than it did twenty-seven years ago and the only reason the case has been closed is because Chief Wagner wants it closed. Ending an investigation without a shred of proof is a travesty, not justice.

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