More handpicked essays just for you.
A critical analysis of research related to the criminal mind of serial killers
Essays on the psychology of serial killers
A critical analysis of research related to the criminal mind of serial killers
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
In the San Francisco Bay area, as well as in the rest of California, the late ‘60’s and early ‘70’s was a time of terror and fear. What started out as a seemingly random, but brutal murder on the night of October 30th, 1966, turned out to be the start of a series of horrific murders that would span 2,500 suspects, 56 possible victims, and over 400 miles. On the calm, cool night of December 20th, 1968, a young seventeen year-old named David Arthur Faraday was getting ready to take a young sixteen year-old named Betty Lou Jensen on her first date. David arrived at Betty’s house, picked her up, and promptly proceeded to Lake Herman Road, a well known "lover’s lane" of the local teenagers. After a while, a car, possibly a blue Valiant, pulled up next to David’s 1961 brown and beige four-door station wagon, and a man got out. "Framed only in silhouette, the man appeared to be stocky in build and slightly heavy, with an eerie sense about him" (Tina 3). The man requested that the teens get out of their car, but they refused. Upon hearing David and Betty’s refusal, the man pulled out a gun, and fired a round into the right rear window, shattering it with incredible force. He then moved to the front of the car and fired another round into the left tire. Stricken with panic, David and Betty rushed out of the car, but the man was there to meet them. Betty was able to scramble out, but David wasn’t so lucky, as he was met with the cold, hard barrel of a gun pressing behind his left ear. "The shot made a deafening blast, as the bullet entered David’s head at a horizontal angle, blowing it apart" (Tina 3). With David out of his way, the killer turned his attention back to Betty. "He pursued her through the woods, his gun drawn, and shot her five times in the back from less than ten feet away." (Tina 3). The killer then got back into his car, and drove away as quickly as he had appeared. David, amazingly, was still alive, and bleeding profusely from his wounds, but Betty was dead. In the ambulance on the way to the hospital, David was able to give the police an account of the events that had taken place that night, but he died shortly after from his wounds. Upon investigation, the police came up with nothing, and ruled the murder a random homicide.Darlene Ferrin, a close friend of both Betty and David, was the next victim on the Zodiac’s list. On Friday... ... middle of paper ... ...nd most stunningly, the NSA deciphered cryptographs that contained his name; all pointing to him as the most likely, and the most probable culprit.The Zodiac was one of the most cold and calculating murderers of the twentieth century. His gruesome and violent ways of killing, along with the coinciding of his murders with moon phases, star appearances, radians, and the astrological chart, among other things, also make him the most terrifying murderer of the twentieth century. The scariest thing of all is that this maniac was never caught, and if not dead, is still living somewhere, potentially threatening the lives of the peaceful people around him. Works Cited: Mrazik, Tina. "The Zodiac Killer" Online. Internet. 1998. Available: href="http://crimelibrary.com/zodiac/zodiac/zodiacmain.html">http://crimelibrary.com/zodiac/zodiac/zodiacmain.htmlWorks Consulted:Graysmith, Robert. Zodiac New York: Berkley Books, 1987. Penn, Gareth. Times Seventeen: The Amazing Story of the Zodiac Murders in California and Massachusetts, 1966-1981 New York: The Foxglove Press, 1987.
The morning of November 15th, two of Nancy’s friends went to visit her and they found Nancy dead upstairs from being shot in the head. Law enforcement was called and they found
On August 23, 1980 in Conroe, Texas, is 40 miles north of Houston, a 16-year-old girl, Cheryl Fergeson, disappeared while searching for a women’s restroom at Conroe High School (Gores, 1991). Cheryl was the manager of the Bellville High girls’ volleyball team visiting Conroe High School for a preseason scrimmage. Later that day while searching for the girl two janitors, Clarence Brandley who is black, and Henry Peace who is white, found the girl’s body hidden under some scenery flats in the loft above the auditorium stage. Cheryl has been raped and strangled to death. Clarence and Henry were interrogated and made to sign statements. The two janitors were then taken to the hospital and made to give sperm, blood, and hair samples from their head
The death of Marie also altered the way that he thought about his father, in that before he thought that he was not a true sheriff, saying that he “didn’t even look like a proper sheriff” and that he carried “the wrong kind of gun for a sheriff.” However, after Marie passed away, David went on to realise that the “har...
When they finally arrived at Cadrain's home, David changed his pants, and they left to go to Alberta. Larry Fisher, who was later convicted of this crime (Miller's murder) was staying in the same home as Cadrain at the time.
The murder of Lorraine Kelly and Mary Pryor still haunts the town of North Bergen because their disappearance was strange and rapid. This case has been closed due to the lack of evidence but was reopened again after forty years for the purpose of acquiring justice and answers to the death of both teenage girls. The last person to have seen and spoken to Mary Pryor was her sister Nancy Pryor when she was told by her sister that she would be back by eight o’ clock the latest. For the purpose of hiding her and her families’ identity, after the murder occurred she moved out of Hudson County and didn’t divulge her married name or current locality of residence because of the frantic fear that the murderer may plan an attack to her and or family. Prior to their killing both teenagers used to reside at 76st and were active hitchhikers. Both victims were found in a wooded area in Bergen County known as Montvale, and it was evident that they were beaten, sexually assaulted, and strangled by force. As a result, when the bodies were found they were in an early state of decomposition which allowed the medical examiners to see visible evidence on the body such as sperm and marks.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was shot. Mrs. Kennedy didn’t know what to do, “I was looking to the left and I heard these terrible noises.and my husband never made a sound. I could see a piece of his skull.and then I remember falling on him saying, ‘Oh, no, no, no,’.it just seemed like an eternity.” The limousine raced to nearby Parkland Hospital.
Serial killers are everywhere! Well, perhaps not in our neighborhood, but on our television screens, at the movie theaters, and in rows and rows of books at our local Borders or Barnes and Nobles Booksellers” (Brown). When people think of serial killers, names such as Dahmer, Gacy, Bundy, and Gein are cited. During the time Jack the Ripper was executing his victims in London, Holmes began his gruesome career in Chicago (America’s Serial Killers). “Despite being America’s first serial killer, Holmes is hardly a familiar name and until now we haven’t had any popular visual record of his crimes: (Spikol). Why is it that people only think of the more popular killers with higher known profiles? They are all very similar to one another because they share characteristics. H.H. Holmes was a successful serial killer because he was well educated, cunning and charming. Those are just a few traits Holmes ...
The Zodiac Killer is an unidentified man who is presumed to be a serial killer that operated in Northern California in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Murdering at least five people, but the Zodiac claims to have killed upwards of 37 people in total. In 1969 the Zodiac Killer began sending letters to the Bay Area newspapers, taking credit for the five killings and threatening further violence. The Zodiac Killer would call and send cryptic letters to the law enforcement agencies in Northern California, taunting them since they were unable to bring him to justice. The police had suspects but none that they could ever charge for the murders, due to lack of evidence, so this mystery still remains unsolved. The cultural impact that the Zodiac Killer has had on tv, movies and the media is still around today and has had many shows and movies remade after what this killer did. The cultural impact as well as for the families of the victims still remains today with still no closure, for those families who live in Northern California still there is the fear that crosses the minds on how such an awful criminal was once a part of their society, someone they may
These murders were indeed brutal. Herb lay sprawled on a mattress in the basement, stabbed, his throat slashed and a shotgun charge fired to his head. His hands were bound and his mouth was taped shut. Found on a couch in the adjacent room was his son, Kenyon, bound, gagged and shot in the head. Upstairs was Bonnie and Nancy. Bonnie was bound and gagged, Nancy was only bound. They had both been shot in the head.
The Cheri Jo Bates murder would have been believed to have been committed by a spurned lover, were it not for a bizarre twist occurring almost a month after the murder. On November 29, 1966 an anonymous letter was sent to both the Riverside Police and the Riverside Enterprise, a local newspaper. The letter, entitles “The Confession”...
But maybe he died, which could explain the end of his communication with California. In the end, he claimed to have killed at least 37 people. People thought Zodiac was unintelligent, but that perception was obviously wrong because he had training in the following areas: explosives, cryptography, astrology, chemistry and guns. He also knew how to prevent leaving fingerprints on crime scenes; he could have learned that from jail. He knew he was clever, and it made him happy to know that the police seemed to be running in circles.
Three women, three murders. The first woman called the cops one night saying that there had been a horrible accident and she had shot her husband in the head. She told the story of the horrible accident to the police. They believed her. She said that when she was sleeping in her bed she heard a sound so she reached for the gun that her husband kept under the pillow for protection. When she was pulling it out she hit the trigger firing a bullet into the back of her husband’s head. She said it was a horrible accident and she couldn't believe it had happened.
Still, police were unable to get Shawcross to admit to the murders until they confirmed that a piece of jewelry he had given to Clara Neal that previously belonged to the victim June Cicero (Ewing, 2008). When police threatened to connect her in the killings, Shawcross surrendered and admitted to most of the murders, giving detailed excuses about why he had been "forced" to kill each one (Ewing, 2008). He even admitted to the killing of two undiscovered bodies, those of prostitutes Maria Welsh and Darlene Trippi, leading investigators to their bodies. His formal confession was nearly 80 pages long (Ewing,
Investigators were only able to confirm seven victims, two out of these seven survived. The seven murders consisted of David Faraday, Betty Jensen, Michael Mageau, Darlene Ferrin, Bryan Hartnell, Cecelia Shepard, and Paul Stine. The Zodiac struck first when he committed the murders at Lake Herman Road Attack it was the shooting of Betty Lou Jenson who was 16 and David Arthur Faraday who was 17 both in high school. The date of the first murders was December 20, 1968 along Lake Herman Road in the city of Benicia, California. Around 10:15p.m., David Faraday parked his mother's rambler off the road in Lover’s Lane which is a turnout off the side of the road. A little after 11:00p.m., their bodies were found by a nearby resident, Stella Borges, no leads were found when the Solano County Sheriff's Department looked into the case. After forensic data was analyzed by Robert Graysmith, he conclude that another car had drove into the turnout a little before 11:00 p.m. and had parked right next to Faraday's car. The murder then exited his car and walked towards Faraday and Jensen as they were in there were in their car, he ...
The first confirmed killing took place on the night of December 20, 1968, when 17 year old David Faraday and his 16 year old girlfriend, Betty Lou Jensen, were shot to death near their car at a remote spot on Lake Herman Road, on the outskirts of Vallejo, California. Police were left confused, unable to determine the motive for the crime or a suspect. Then, early in the morning of July 5, 1969, Darlene Ferrin and her boyfriend Mike Mageau were sitting in parked car in a similarly Vallejo location, when they were approached by a man with a flashlight. The killer fired multiple shots at them, killing Ferrin and wounding Mageau. After an hour of the incident, a man called the Vallejo Police Department, giving them the location of the crime scene and claiming responsibility for both that attack and the 1968 murders of Faraday and