Why We Love Serial Killers by Scott Bonn Page B

killers may become bored, reckless, or sloppy in their work and make mistakes that can lead to their apprehension. Any serial killer, no matter how meticulous, will make an error that can result in his arrest if he operates long enough.
    Myth #8: All Serial Killer Victims Are Female.
    Reality : This final myth is a corollary to the one stating that all serial killers are male. According to the stereotypical imagery presented in Hollywood films and best-selling novels, male serial killers prey exclusively on female victims. This is simply not true. Just as not all serial killers are male, not all serial killer victims are female, although females do represent the majority of victims. The FBI has been compiling data on the victims of serial killers, including their gender, for nearly thirty years. The FBI data reveal that women are significantly more likely than men to be victims of serial killers but, contrary to media stereotypes, they certainly do not represent all of the victims. According to FBI data, women accounted for 70 percent of the 1,398 known victims of serial killers between 1985 and 2010. 5 By way of comparison, females represented only 22 percent of all other homicide victims in the US during that same time period. Based on these statistics, the victim is 3.5 times more likely to be female in a serial murder incident than in a non-serial homicide incident.
    Cold-blooded psychopaths, such as Ted Bundy and Joel Rifkin, who target women typically plan their crimes meticulously in advance. This is counter to the 99 percent of homicides that are not committed by serial killers in the US. The vast majority of murders are not premeditated events, and they involve a male rather than a female victim. More precisely, the typical murder in the US involves one man killing anotherman either in a momentary fit of rage or to help him commit or conceal another crime such as armed robbery. The motives for serial killing are quite different than for the average murder and those differences result in a divergent victim profile, including gender. Moreover, there are important reasons why the victims of serial killers are so frequently female, and the reasons are unique to male serial killers and their pathological needs.
    The presence of a sexual motive often leads a male serial killer to prey on women. As noted by special agent Mark Hilts, chief of the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit No. 2 that profiles serial killers, a “large number” of male serial killers have a sexual motive for their crimes. In fact, it is estimated that sex is a leading motive for approximately 50 percent of all male serial killers. 6 Sex is rarely the only motive for serial killers, however. As explained by special agent Hilts, “Sex can be a motivation, but it’s a motivation in conjunction with something else.” Although a sexual element is often involved in serial homicide, particularly when committed by males, sex is generally found in combination with another motive such as sadism, thrill seeking, or a thirst for power and control. Specifically, a deep lust for the sheer act of killing combined with a sexual motive, and perhaps a third motive such as thrill seeking, normally leads a heterosexual male serial killer to target female victims. More rarely, there are homosexual serial killers, such as Jeffrey Dahmer, who target men.
    No Myth: Serial Murder Victims and the New York Connection
    In addition to details on race and gender, the FBI has also released information on the age and geographic location of victims of serial homicide in the US. Concerning age, the data revealed that nearly half of the victims in known serial homicide cases that occurred between 1985 and 2010 were in their twenties or thirties. However, the FBI data also revealed that people of every age have been victims of serial killers during the same period but in smaller proportions. 7
    Concerning the geographic concentration of serial homicide by state, the same FBI study