re: Will there ever be another true serial killer?

DTL got caught because he targeted college students and middele class women. A serial killer who goes after societal throwaways like prostitutes and transients can get away with it indefinitely. The I35 killer (or killers) in Texas has been at large since the eighties.

As long as prostitution is illegal, there will be plenty of serial killers.

You make it seem like serial killers can't use technology. While they're all insane, almost all are very smart. I think they can figure it out to their advantage.

This thread is so fricking stupid btw.

Serial type killers still exist, but the thing is that I doubt we'll see very many with kill counts like Bundy, Golden State Killer or Green River Killer. It's way too hard to get away with it for the following reasons:

1) DNA has advanced so much that they can pull DNA from almost anything, even surfaces the suspect merely touched. In the early days of DNA, you needed large blood or semen samples, etc. Now even skin cells can be used.

2) Crime databases. These computerized databases didn't exist in the old days. Now all police departments are interconnected and communicate. It is hard to pull of a crime in one state then move to another and continue your spree. Cops are doing a much better job connecting killings across states thanks to the internet. Also suspects can't skip town and expect to go unnoticed in another state if they turn up there. In the old days you could be wanted for murder in one state, get arrested in another, and get out on bail before they realized you're wanted for murder. That type of thing never happens now. Even police in BFE Louisiana have immediate access to who's wanted in NYC for instance.

3) Surveillance. In the old days cameras were rare or didn't exist at all (maybe banks had them and that was it). Nowadays you can't go anywhere without being on tape in a dozen places. Makes it much easier for police to monitor a crime scene or dump site for possible suspects and suspect vehicles. And with computerized databases, makes it much easier (and faster) for them to match up a vehicle with a person.

4) Cell phones. Makes it easier for a victim to be tracked. Even if the killer takes the phone away immediately, well the police still know exactly when and where the victim was kidnapped (by pinging the towers) which will help greatly with piecing things together. There's also a good chance another citizen might see something suspicious and get it on camera. Everyone has a 4k camera in his pocket.

5) Genealogy databases. These are the new thing. Numerous high profile murders have been solved in the past couple years using this technique (the big one was the Golden State Killer/Original Nightstalker). Even if the killer never submits his DNA to a genealogy company, chances are someone in his family has. And if they have, the killer is almost certainly busted. DNA has advanced to the point where they can match a killer's profile to a relative and tell how far removed that relative is (cousin, etc.) If you know who the killer's cousins or uncles are, it's easy to find the killer.