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Serial killers and their backgrounds
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Primarily in the late 1960s and the early 1970s, the Northern California region was terrorized by an unknown serial killer, who went simply as the Zodiac Killer. Zodiac was directly linked to 5 murders, but is believed to have been connected to many more; at one time this individual claimed to have taken the lives of 37 victims. Before the first letter was sent in 1969, the first two murders were just killings by an unknown man due to a claim on the deaths, this is meaning that someone did claim responsibility for the two murders in the end of 1968 and the middle of 1969, but it was never pieced together until then. August 1, 1969, the first letter was received, the Zodiac Killer would sent taunting letters to the police about how they have …show more content…
not caught him yet and sent threats to local newspapers from 1964-1974 until it all dramatically stopped. This killer switched between two methods of killing, shooting some victims and stabbing others; the crime scenes were in remote areas across the Northern California region. The victims that have been definitely linked to the Zodiac are: Betty Lou Jensen (16), David Arthur Faraday (17), Darlene Elizabeth Ferrin (22), Michael Renault Mageau (19, survived), Cecelia Ann Shepard (22), Bryan Calvin Hartnell (20, survived), and Paul Lee Stein (29).
All of these events took place in remote locations and the killer always seems to prey on couples in their cars late at night. Paul Stein, was the odd one out of the group because he was an older man who was killed in his taxi, it is believed that he figured out who was the Zodiac, and therefore he was silenced. Possible victims include: Robert Domingos (18), Linda Edwards (17), Cheri Jo Bates (18), Kathleen Johns (22), and Donna Yass (25). It is important to remember that these last five victims have not been directly linked to the Zodiac, it is only suspected by the way the crimes were carried out. There were consistencies between these victims that linked them to the killer, they were mostly couples who were together either early in the morning or late at night, in a remote area. They also were all around the same age from 16-22, except for the taxi driver who was 29. The Zodiac also seemed to kill in sets of two, again except for Stein. The Zodiac has claimed that he committed all these acts because it felt good, and because all the people he killed would become his slaves in the …show more content…
afterlife. The first crime scene, December 20, 1968, was located at a gravel turnout just inside the city limits of Vallejo, on Lake Herman Road.
That night there were two other instances where a suspicious white Chevrolet was seen, it was later determined that this was the car the Zodiac killer was driving. The first run in was when a couple of hunters stumbled across the car, but there was no one inside so they continued on their way, then at around 9:30 in the evening, a man named Bill Crow and his girlfriend pulled into the turnout and saw the white Chevy drive past, stop and back up towards the other car. Crow drove off with the Chevy following him where he made a sharp turn in order to lose him, when the Chevy then stopped at the intersection, Crow yelled a challenge of some sort to him and he took off. Later that night, around 11:00 the Chevy returned to the turnout and parked next to Betty Lou Jensen and David Arthur Faraday. It was said that a witness had driven by and saw both cars parked next to each other but there was no one inside the car, about a quarter of a mile away he thought he had heard a gunshot but was unsure due to the radio being on. The first shot, a 22mm was fired show the rear passenger window, he shot through the roof of the car which forced Jensen and Faraday to exit the vehicle and try to escape. Faraday was shot once in the head whereas Jensen was shot five times while she was trying to run away. The bodies of the victims were found minutes later by a
woman who lived nearby, Stella Borges who alerted the authorities. No leads were found or determined. The second crime scene involving Darlene Elizabeth Ferrin and Michael Renault Mageau, was committed around midnight on July 5, 1969; the attack took place at the Blue Rock Springs Golf Course in Vallejo, which was only a couple miles from the other murder site. While they were parked another car came and parked next to them, proceeded to leave and then return almost 10 minutes later. This time the car parked behind them in order to stop any type of escape, the killer approached the side of the car with a flashlight in hand in order to blind them while he shot them with a 9mm handgun. It was recorded that at 12:40 AM, an anonymous caller reported the attack to the Vallejo Police Department, while on the phone he took credit for the murders of Jensen and Faraday that past December; when the police traced the booth that the phone was made, it was determined that it was only 3/10 of a mile from where Ferrin lived a couple blocks from the police department. Ferrin was the only victim in this attack, Mageau survived.
Throughout history, America has been the home of serial killers, with more than 2,000 throughout history. In this country, America has encountered many different kinds of these sick people. One of the most infamous serial killers throughout American History was Theodore Robert Bundy, also known as Ted Bundy. On November 24, 1946, in Burlington, Vermont, Theodore Robert Bundy was born. When people think of serial killers, they usually see a dirty, insane looking person that would stand out from the average person. In Bundy’s case it was very different. Ted was a very smart individual who had attended 5 different colleges throughout the United States, studying law and eventually getting his degree in psychology at the University of Washington. Bundy was a very handsome and charming man, unlike most other serial killers. Looking helpless and using his good looks, Bundy was able to lure his victims and would knock them unconscious with an object such as a crowbar or a pipe, then would handcuff them inside his car. Once the victims were under his control he would then proceed in kidnapping, raping, sodomizing, and eventually killing them in very harsh ways. Throughout the 70’s, he raped and murdered young women all across the country. Bundy was said to be connected to at least 36 murders, and suspected to have committed one hundred or more.
Murderers and Serial Killers in the Chicago Area. A notorious murderer or serial killer is the typical next door neighbor one would hardly associate with a serious crime: an educated psychopath with little regard for life. Most of them commit murder for some misplaced psychological benefit. Their actions border on insanity, as some commit theft by stealing their victims’ belongings and committing rapes, an indication of a need for financial gain or a craving for distorted sexual desires.
He was intelligent, articulate and handsome. During a gruesome killing spree, Ted Bundy slaughtered more than thirty five women within the span of five years, becoming one of the most notorious serial killers in American history. He grew up believing that his grandparents were his parents and his unwed mother to be his older sister. He was not very good at building relationships and had a lot of conflict with his stepfather and enjoyed the terms of violence and sex as a child. Ted shoplifted during his teenage years and enjoyed being above the law. He was generally very shy and gained a lot of popularity and self esteem in high school because of his good looks. It was there that he met his high school girlfriend Stephanie Brooks with whom he become obsessed, but the relationship did not last very long as she did not feel the same way for him so she broke up with him. Depressed by the break up, Ted dropped out of college and returned home with his family where he found out the truth about his biological mother. This left Ted in a state of confusion about his identity and he felt betrayed by the women in his life. He went back to high school where he and Stephanie got back together but right after she agreed to marry him, he broke up with her to seek revenge. After this charade his killing spree began, luring young women with lies, abducting, raping, physically abusing and killing them.
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
The term serial killer was created in the 1970’s by a man named Robert Ressler. He chose serial killer as the name to describe a killer that murders three or more victims over a period of time because the FBI were always studying a series of cases created by the killers (Freeman, 2007). Serial killers have been around for centuries, since ancient times. There have been many studies done to try and figure out how the minds of serial killers work, so the FBI can catch them and find a way to stop them. Not all serial killers are the same, this makes it hard to figure them out and provide a clear definition of how their minds work. Most serial killers have similar character traits and can be classified into different categories to make it easier to find patterns and reasons as to why they are killing.
Now this man killed allot of people so this paragraph isn’t for the faint of heart. The first victim will be Paul Lee Stein. He worked as a cab driver in the late 1960s 1968 to be exact. The zodiac hopped in the car of steins cab… A normal customer is all steins must have thought but boy was he wrong…. He asked to get taken across town. About a block before arrival he shot stein in the head with a 9mm. pistol. After he took his wallet keys and a piece of his shirt for proof. Now onto Darlene Elizabeth Ferrin the next victim on the list. She sat in her car with her boyfriend who survived the attack… he must have been devastated by the fact that he couldn’t help what is possibly the love of his life…. When the zodiacs car parked behind them. He got out and shot both multiple times with a 9mm. luger pistol. Later, Ferrin, had a medical professional pronounce her dead. The final victim will be Cecelia Ann Shepard. The zodiac pulled up his car by a couple having a picnic he then said he had just escaped from prison he held tied them up while holding a 45. He stabbed both of them but only Shepard died. As it can see he could be known as a very evil man and killed at weird times as the saying goes expect it when it’s least expect
...se events formed two rectangles held together by a solid line. This symbol, whose origin is the same as the Zodiac symbol used by the murderer, symbolizes the afterlife, and is placed on graves to hurry the souls to the afterlife. With Zodiac’s obsession with the afterlife, and the need for slaves in the thereafter, it is hypothesized that he is responsible for close to 100 murders across the area. The most resent developments to the Zodiac case have taken place on the East Coast. In 1998, a string of murders occurred in the New York metro area by someone claiming to be the Zodiac. Though police have assumed that this is a copycat case, it has not been ruled out that the Zodiac may once again be on the move.
The mysterious person did not have a real name because no one was able to identify him. The murder gave his a name which was the Zodiac Killer. The Zodiac Killer was responsible for five murders in California during the late 1960s. The Zodiac Killers first two murders was on December of 1968 in Benicia, California. David Farraday, who was 17, and Betty Lou Jensen, who was 16, were the first two of a series of murders by the Zodiac Killer. The two of them were inside a parked, when the Zodiac Killer came up behind them and shot them. A similar case happened to the next victim of the mysterious killer. The following year, on July 4, 1969, another couple were shot dead in their car, in Blue Rock Springs Park in Vallejo, California. 22 year old Darlene Ferrin was shot dead, but Michael Mageau, who was 19 years old survived the shots. The strange thing after these murders is that the police received a phone call from an unidentified person that confessed to murdering those people. The next killings occurred two months later, on September 27, 1969. Two couples were also in a parked car in Lake Berryessa in Napa County. Cecelia Shepard and Brian Hartnell were shot at by the killer, but Brian Hartnell, who was 20 years old survived the mu...
A serial killer is traditional defined as the separate killings of three or more people by an individual over a certain period of time, usually with breaks between the murders. (Angela Pilson, p. 2, 2011) This definition has been accepted by both the police and academics and therefore provides a useful frame of reference (Kevin Haggerty, p.1, 2009). The paper will seek to provide the readers with an explanation of how serial killers came to be and how they are portrayed in the media.
Introduction: On the spectrum of criminal activity, serial killers are rather rare. Rarer still is a serial killer like Ted Bundy. Bundy confessed to killing 28 women in the 1970s in ghastly fashion and some believe he may have killed far more. It is hard to imagine what could cause any person to cross the mental boundary into such macabre behavior as Bundy perpetrated. Nevertheless, it is important to try to understand that behavior because only though such an understanding would society be able to identify and deter mass murderers in order to save lives.
In California, December 20, 1968, Zodiac attacked Betty Lou Jenson and David Faraday. This was his first significant criminal act. In a matter of 2 or 3 minutes, the attack was finished and he drove casually away from the scene. He showed no signs of remorse and seemed very calm about all of his actions. After the attack of these two people-murdering the female-Zodiac would have read about his actions in local newspapers, listened to it on a radio report, or watched it on a local news report on the tv. Seven months later he attacked Darlene Ferrin and Micheal Mageau on July 4, 1969, killing the woman of course. Afterward he phoned the Vallejo Police departement to brag about what he did. He also wrote to three newspapers to brag.
Just a few months later, he kept to his promise that there would be more deaths. The Zodiac killer murdered a young couple, David Faraday and Betty Jensen, in Vallejo, California. David was killed by one shot to the head and Betty was shot five times ten feet away from the car. Police suspected Arthur Leigh Allen, a child molester, who fit the description of the Zodiac Killer almost to a T, but there was no incriminating evidence, so he was never charged. The Zodiac Killer was suspected of killing 2,500 people throughout his killing spree, and was never caught.
My essay is going to be about the unsolved murders of the Zodiac Killer. The Zodiac killer was never discovered and remains unknown to this day. Between 1968 to 1969 he went on to kill 5 people that the police knew about, but claims to have killed up to 37 people in total. But some say it’s just the rambling of a sick man who just craves for attention. On the other hand, they might be people he never spoke about or who has never been investigated. It’s really a question of if he really did kill that many people or was he just making things up. He was really known for sending threats and codes along with letters to newspapers from 1969-1974 to get his message out to the world before disappearing forever. Most of the Zodiacs murders took place
By 1978, roughly thirty women were dead and mutilated by the same man with little explanation as to why. Ted Bundy, one of the most infamous serial killers in history brutally took the lives of numerous women for seemingly no reason at all. His justification for these murders was simply that he felt like committing them. A serial killer is defined as someone who has killed more than three people over a period of a month or more for seemingly no reason at all. Most serial killers have no real motive for killing; for them it is an urge that they must satisfy. Was Ted Bundy and others like him always a violent psychopath or did certain events cause him to behave this way? One common belief is that abusive childhoods and other environmental factors are the main reason serial killers develop the way they do. The other belief is that serial killers are born with an innate desire to kill. The answer to this question lies within both arguments and there is no secret serial killer formula. Serial Killers are neither born nor made; instead many factors, both biological and psychological, contribute to the making of these destructive monsters.
He was an attractive late-twenties male who had a professional career as an accountant, which differs from the myth mentioned in the book that most serial killers are of a higher education and hold professional job when in reality they are usually of a lower education and don’t have professional jobs. In addition to being a serial rapist Paul was also known as a serial killer. He was convicted of killing three women; Tammy Lyn Homolka (Karla’s sister), Tina McCarthy, and Kaitlyn Ross. In addition to these confirmed raped and killings, Paul is suspected to be involved in many more rapes and attempts of rape. Paul and his wife, Karla were both convicted with the carrying out the aforementioned three murders; making them a serial killer team. Hints the name “Ken and Barbie killers”. Each of the three people Paul Bernardo murdered where young, mid-twenties, Caucasian women. Paul actively murdered Tina McCarthy and Kaitlyn Ross by strangling them, which appears to be his preferred method of killing. All women were very vulnerable and “easy targets”; Tammy was Karla’s trusting sister while the other two were complete strangers. All three women were violently raped and physically and verbally abused prior to their murder. A common myth is that serial killers do not stalk their victims prior to picking them. Paul would follow this standard and despite what the book says