![]() (Note: There are naturally more women than men in the general US population, and this is only slightly more than proportional.)Īcross race lines, two-thirds of serial killer victims are white. Gender-wise, victims are essentially split down the middle, with a slight lean toward women. Looking deeper into the Serial Killer Database data, we’re also able to get a better idea of who these 9,915 victims are. Generally, the messier and more direct the murder method, the lower the IQ score. But serial killers who concoct bombs average 140 - well into the realm of what is considered “superior.” In general, criminals score half a standard deviation below that. Using IQs from these records, we can see a differentiation by murder method.Īn IQ of between 85 and 100 is considered average in America. Murderers frequently use an insanity plea in court to avoid the death sentence, and are, at times, given IQ tests to gauge their mental capacity. Interestingly, there is a correlation between a serial killer’s murder method and what he or she scores on an IQ test. ![]() Less commonly, 145 victims were axed to death, 94 were drowned by force, and 63 were burned alive. ![]() Following this, 21.7 percent were strangled, 14.8 percent were stabbed, and 9.2 percent were bludgeoned with blunt objects. ![]() A review of 9,915 US serial killer victims reveals that nearly half were shot to death. For instance, Jeffrey Dahmer, who killed 17 young men in the 1970s and ’80s, would drill holes in his victims’ heads and inject them with acid before strangling them.īut historically, most serial killers have preferred “easier” methods. Serial killers are often reputed to have repulsive killing techniques. How do serial killers kill their victims? It is possible that many of them provided the more general response that they did it for money. Gang activity only accounts for 6.3 percent of all serial murders - though gang members often don’t reveal their affiliation in interrogations or post-trial psychological evaluations. What they found is that the majority of serial killers simply kill for enjoyment. Whenever a motive was specifically defined (through interrogation, investigation, or admission), they recorded it. When we think of the serial killer in popular culture, figures like Ed Gein or John Wayne Gacy come to mind - troubled, often psychotic individuals who go on massive killing sprees dressed as clowns or eat their victims’ flesh.īut the Serial Killer Database uses the FBI’s official definition of serial killing (which is also the most common): “the unlawful killing of two or more victims by the same offender, in separate events.” This includes not just typical folkloric serial killers like Charles Manson, but also gang members and organized criminals - people who frequently commit repeat murders without much publicity.Īamodt and his researchers compiled and analyzed publicly available information - news clips, court reports, books - for thousands of these serial killers. Ultimately, though, as we’ll show, there isn’t much to fear: Serial killers have declined by 85 percent over the past three decades. The cases, ranging in data from 1900 to present, each contain hundreds of variables, shedding eerie light on serial killers’ motives and methodologies and giving us a specific idea of whom they most frequently target.įirst, we’ll explore why and how serial killers kill (according to public records) then we’ll take a look at who the victims have historically been and where they tend to live. Over a 25-year period, Aamodt and his students went through public records of serial murderer cases around the globe, collecting granular data on nearly 3,000 US serial killers and 10,000 victims. At the time, “there wasn’t much out there,” he says. Mike Aamodt, then a forensic psychology professor at Radford University, started to collect and code data on serial killers.
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