re: Is the serial killer obsolete today?

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i mean, even the dumbest serial killer would leave their phone at home

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Not technically a serial killer, but the Idaho college murderer brought it with him. And I don't think he's dumb, but that was very fricking dumb.

Even homeless people and truck stop prostitutes have GPS smartphones now. And there are HD cameras EVERYWHERE. And the DNA databases out there can peg almost anyone to a familial blood line.

It would be very, very difficult to be a serial killer.

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It's no fun if you can't kill who you want how you want.

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Well there are product killers and process killers. If you just do it for the end result then it might not matter. That obviously wouldn't work for a process killer.

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if there were cell phones and video cameras everywhere like today. Throw in DNA forensics, and it’s basically impossible.

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It's much more difficult to get away with multiple murders, especially outside of gang shootings. Even during the Derrick Todd Lee years 20 years ago, they were starting to figure out how to triangulate cell signals. Once they had a DNA swab from him, it was over. I'm not sure if DTL could get away with what he did for so long if it happened today.

Then again I'm sure that it's easier for killers to fly under the radar in truly dysfunctional cities where law enforcement wouldn't even notice a pattern even if they know a murder occurred.

Spree killers are another story. They tend to work so quickly that they could very well be known but "at large" and are frequently racking up victims in a matter of days before they can be detained. They also tend to be more sloppy and less concerned with getting caught. That kind of makes them more scary IMO.

It's way harder to pull off these days, but, there's also still niches that can be filled...they're just fewer and further between now.

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The I-10 serial killer has been at it for years. I’m not even sure the NOPD is looking for him.

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This dude(s) definitely found their niche.

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Randall Lee Smith was finally caught around 2008 after killing 2 and attempting to murder two other people on the Appalachian trail between 1981 and 2008.

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National Parks and areas with remote hiking trails have been some serial killers hunting grounds for years.

Single people walking trails could be easy targets for them. Kill them, hide the body and leave as little trace as possible.

Raping women, handling the body for any length of time and having it found fairly quickly could lead to DNA being found, but the longer it takes to find the body, the less evidence is usually found.

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Wouldn't be shocked if he had done more previously but probably not. For as smart as he thinks he was, he was still a fricking imbecile.

But yeah, 20, 30, 40 years ago, this dude would have been a major killer.

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Yeah, there's no doubt he was a budding serial killer. And he was smart and planned it well. But it was the variables that he hadn't planned for--or thought through--that did him in. I think he scouted that house for a long time and expected only 4 small girls being there. But there was an extra girl who had moved out that had come back that weekend to show off her new vehicle. There was also a boyfriend there that may not have usually. I think the boyfriend probably put up a little more fight, and he struggled a bit with him, causing him to leave his knife sheath, where they found his DNA on the snap.

Still, he wasn't in the system, so there was nothing to compare that DNA to that would point to him. But I think it made him freak out a bit and got the frick out of there, leaving 2 survivors, one who saw him (I think she'll be a huge witness at trial).

But still, nothing pointing at him. It's pretty incredible that he was able to afflict so much carnage without leaving any more DNA. And he did take his phone, but turned it off when he left Washington state. Very suspicious and eventually damning, but still nothing pointing at him to even know to check his phone history. And he could have even been aware of Ring cams and business cams, but knew they couldn't pick up his license plate number and wouldn't know what times to even look. And he drove a pretty generic car that hundreds, if not thousands of other people nearby drove a similar make/model.

2 things he didn't count on/think about:

1) one of the girls ordered Door Dash and had it delivered right before the murders. That, along with the other girls' phone records helped police really narrow down a time line, so they knew what time to really focus on video from a certain time.

2) As generic as his car was, Washington state (and maybe Idaho, I may have the exact details off) requires both a front and rear license plate, and his car was still registered in Pennsylvania, which only requires a rear plate. (He may have recently registered it in Washington, but hadn't put the front plate on). So when a bunch of cameras picked up that car driving around very suspiciously made unique by not having a front license plate, agencies in Washington and Idaho started looking for cars that matched the make model without a front license plate. I think they found his at WSU.

And apparently that was enough (combined with him matching the witness's ID) to get a warrant that lead to getting his cellphone records and DNA, both damning. Neither of which, though, they'd have ever been able to use without finding his car, which they likely wouldn't have had he put the front license plate on. Or at least it would have taken a lot longer. And he was somehow able to not bring any of the girls' DNA into the car, which again, is amazing considering how violent the murders were.

So, he was smart and planned it well, but just ran across some variables he hadn't accounted for and, thank God, was caught relatively shortly. But if 2 or 3 thing had gone a different way, he'd still be on the loose. Luck plays a big part. Look at how they caught the Delphi Murders guy and how long that took. I'll get into that later when I have more time.

Not at all. In fact, I slaughtered a whole bowl this morning. I often do.

I think with technology it has made it harder but a serial killer was able to lurk where as now they can't really lurk as much.