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The caveat, of course, is that a single defining occupation is in continuous flux.
What makes a serial killer different than one time murderer Offline#
The result is that we are likely to see, returning once again to alleged Toronto serial killer Bruce McArthur, blurred occupational-recreational categories involving both online and offline dimensions - a new paradigm that will force us to adjust the list of the most common jobs among serial killers. In this artist’s sketch, alleged serial killer Bruce McArthur makes an appearance via video in a Toronto courtroom in April 2018. It’s also where they mentally rehearse their crimes amid a shrinking offline public sphere and work world. But new research suggests that leisure activities like music, including online interactions, may be the new avenue through which serial killers troll for their victims. Serial killers once used the guise of their employment to stalk and acquire specific victims or types of victims ( Dennis Rader, Roger Kibbe and Bruce Mendenhall all immediately come to mind). The shift toward a service-based, tech-driven and typically contractual economy, what is often called precarious work, along with the disappearance of once traditional career paths will obviously have profound effects not only on the jobs held by offenders but also how they acquire their victims.Īs discussed in my forthcoming book, Monster City, there was a precipitous surge in serial murder in Nashville with the rise of the “new” country music scene in the '80s and '90s, giving would-be killers access to new victims. The job market is changing with that, so is the disturbing but legitimate nexus between murder and labour. Bygone eraĪ closer look at the these occupations reveals a bygone era in terms of available jobs - occupations that, while once common and accessible to killers in the ‘60s, '70s and '80s -are now largely obsolete. navy), and, peripherally, truck driver, although his post-police career (he was fired in 1979 for shoplifting) was spent mostly as a mechanic for a fleet of grocery store freezer trucks. Obviously, not everyone occupying these jobs is a serial killer, nor are they likely to become one.īut there’s something about these jobs that is inherently appealing to offenders, or that otherwise cultivates the impulses of serial killers-in-waiting and causes them to be curiously over-represented among this rare breed of murderer.ĭeAngelo, the alleged Golden State Killer, for instance, actually held down three of these jobs over the course of his lifetime: Police officer, military personnel (he was previously in the U.S. Top 3 Professional/Government Serial Killer Occupations: 1. Top 3 Unskilled Serial Killer Occupations: 1. Top 3 Semi-Skilled Serial Killer Occupations: 1. Top 3 Skilled Serial-Killer Occupations: 1. Some of them might surprise you, others not. So much so, in fact, that over the last 50 years, some dominant patterns have emerged.Īs detailed in my recent book, Murder in Plain English, these same occupations are commonly broken down into four categories based on skill, training and turnover. Russell Williams (who once piloted a VIP aircraft whose passengers included Queen Elizabeth) to lesser-known computer store owner and prominent Nashville businessman Tom Steeples, who killed three people for thrills before committing suicide while in police custody.īut in fact, occupations and serial murders are often linked, and some specific full-time and part-time jobs are strangely over-represented among serial killers. Similar questions have been raised in the past about other serial offenders, killers whose innocuous and even virtuous jobs seemed to belie the horrors they committed while hiding behind a veneer of respectability. One question is how a serial burglar, rapist and murderer could operate in so many jurisdictions simultaneously and, much like the case of Paul Bernardo in Canada, have law enforcement officials so myopically overlook the connections among his crimes in several different cities.Īnother question is, of course, how a police officer like Joseph DeAngelo, the accused Golden State Killer who makes his next court appearance on May 14, could be capable of such sadistic brutality throughout a large portion of his brief and troubled law enforcement career. The recent and startling arrest of the elusive Golden State Killer, aka the East Area Rapist/Original Night Stalker/Diamond Knot Killer/Visalia Ransacker in what was arguably the most vexing and disturbing constellation of interlinked cold cases in American history, has raised more questions than answers.