An interesting post by James L’Etoile got me thinking about the serial killers in my area. So, like I often do, I researched the subject. It’s not surprising that the U.S. has more serial killers than any other country. In 2016, active serial killers traveled in the United States, Thailand, Kenya, Canada, Italy, Germany, Columbia, Costa Rica, Russia, Turkey, the U.K., India, and China. In the United States, suspected serial killers were arrested in New Jersey, South Carolina, Texas, Ohio, and Alaska, where a cab driver contacted police about a passenger who refused to pay his fare, and was later linked to several murders along a bike path. Phoenix, Arizona had a serial shooter who remains at large, and I’m sure you all remember the media coverage surrounding the Long Island serial killer(s).

Throughout this post I’ve added serial killers’ quotes that are extremely telling. Be sure to read a few. Some will chill you to the bone when you consider they’re talking about murder the way you and I make dinner plans.

Who is most at risk?

It may surprise you to learn male and female victims are essentially split down the middle, with a slight lean toward women.

As far as race is concerned, two-thirds of serial killers’ victims were white and African-Americans accounted for almost a quarter of all victims.

In general, serial killers prefer younger victims. Your odds of being murdered by a serial killer dramatically decreases after the age of 30.

In 2016, the majority of victims appeared to be women, but the demographics varied widely — homeless men, adults meandering along a bike path, prostitutes, children, hospital patients, kidnapped women.

Motives also varied. Some worked as nurses who killed the patients who annoyed them, or because they wanted to play hero and “save them.” Some serial killers murdered to avenge a parent’s death, or they killed the homeless and prostitutes as a way to clean up the “dregs of society.” Their words, not mine.

Not surprisingly, about half the serial killers were sexual predators. Although, technically, sexual sadists are not always driven by sexual desire. More often, the rape is about power and sometimes, humiliation.

Which states had the most active serial killers?

Let’s take a look at the top 10, according to the FBI.

Oklahoma

Adjusted number of serial killings per 1 million: 5.86

Total no. of serial killings: 174

Oklahoma appears to be rife with serial killers. Since the turn of the 20th century, 174 serial murders have taken place there. Compared to the state’s population, serial killings occurred more frequently in Oklahoma than in all but nine other states. During the 1980’s, the FBI documented 48 serial killings. We can’t count Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City Bomber who killed 168 people in Oklahoma City because, technically, he wasn’t a serial killer.

Worst decade for serial killings: 1980’s

Utah

Adjusted number of serial killings per 1 million: 6.01

Total no. of serial killings: 78

Ted Bundy lived in the state of Utah from 1974-1975, and confessed to killing 8 women during that time, though authorities believe that number is closer to 11-14 out of the 18 serial killers’ victims in the 1970’s. Especially if you count the three women whose bodies were too decomposed for forensic analysis.

In the 1980’s, that number rose to 31. Total body count for Utah is 78.

Worst decade for serial killings: 1980’s

Texas

Adjusted number of serial killings per 1 million: 6.11

Total no. of serial killings: 793

Since the 1900’s, nearly 800 serial killer murders took place in Texas, the highest body count after California. Perhaps it’s the larger populations that lure serial killers to these states. Although, Texas also executes its serial killers. You’d think that’d be a deterrent, but it doesn’t seem to make a difference.

Robert Ben Rhoades aka The Truck Stop Killer called Houston home. He killed 50 during his long haul trucking days, carting victims all over the U.S., torturing them in his cab for so many highway miles their hair was noticeably longer by the time he dumped their bodies. Suspected of attempted murder in 1980 in Houston, and killing as many as 3 per month in the years prior, his first confirmed kill was in January 1990.

There’s a great quote by the Dallas Observer about Genene Jones, an especially nasty female serial killer: “If Coral Watts beat the system, then Jones is about to put handcuffs on it and make it her bitch.”

Why? Because in less than 2 years, this psychotic pediatric nurse — who injected 46 babies and toddlers with succinylcholine!!! — walked free after serving a fraction of her 99 year prison sentence.

Then we had the Candy Man, privately known as Dean Corll, who killed upwards of 29 boys, mostly teenagers he raped and killed in Houston in the early 1970’s. After his discharge from the Army, he went to work in his family’s candy business, which sat across the street from the elementary school. In 1973, he reaped what he sowed when two young men — men who’d helped him lure the boys over — murdered him.

Most active decade: 1990’s.

Louisiana

Adjusted number of serial killings per 1 million: 7.35

Total no. of serial killings: 276

We can’t discuss Louisiana without mentioning Derrick Todd Lee aka the Baton Rouge Serial Killer. From 1998-2003, Derrick Todd Lee murdered 5 women in their homes, 2 others he abducted from their homes and dumped their bodies in the swamp. DNA tied Lee to all 7 murders. There’s something inherently creepy about a serial killer targeting you in the privacy of your own home. Incidentally, at least three of the women lived on the same street. Imagine?

Serial killers in Louisiana have either shot and/or strangled at least 149 victims since 1900. Between 1990 and 2010, 25 Louisiana residents were murdered by serial killers they met at a bar.

Most active decade for serial killings: 2000’s

Oregon

Adjusted number of serial killings per 1 million: 7.36

Total no. of serial killings: 162

In the late 1980’s, Dayton Leroy Rogers aka the Molalla Forest Killer stabbed 7 women in Oregon. After adjusting for population, Oregon has the 6th greatest frequency of serial murders in the country. Across the nation, serial killers have used firearms to kill a significantly larger number of victims than any other murder method. In Oregon, however, serial killers prefer to strangle their victims to death. Since 1900, serial killers have strangled 52 Oregon residents.

Worst decade for serial killings: 1980’s

Washington

Adjusted number of serial killings per 1 million: 7.44

Total no. of serial killings: 277

We can’t talk about Washington without mentioning the Green River Killer. Gary Ridgeway worked as a truck painter; he also frequented church and Bible studies. At night, however, the monster inside murdered at least 48 people, mostly women, over a 20-year period in the Seattle area. Officials believe that number is much higher (closer to 100), but he only confessed to 48.

Robert Yates, a decorated U.S. Army National Guard helicopter pilot, father of 5, and active community member, murdered at least 13 prostitutes in the Washington area during the 1990’s.

Worst decade for serial killings: 1980’s (likely due to Gary Ridgeway)

California

Adjusted number of serial killings per 1 million: 7.81

Total no. of serial killings: 1507

As you’ve probably guessed by now, across the United States serial killers’ reign of terror peaked during the 1980’s. Of the 2,670 total serial murders that decade, roughly one-fifth took place in California. Notorious serial killers like the Zodiac Killer bragged to the media and police about 37 murders, but if you include a past Murder Blog guest’s theory of the Zodiac’s identity, that number is much higher.

On a summer night in 1969, Charles Manson and his band of followers entered a Benedict Canyon mansion and murdered 5 people. Richard Ramirez aka the Night Stalker went on a month-long rampage of rape and murder that spread fear throughout Southern California. In most of the cases, he entered the homes in the early morning hours through unlocked doors and windows. Some of the victims he strangled, others he sliced their throat, and most he fatally shot, as well. Police found spray-painted pentagrams on the walls in many of the homes.

In California, serial killers’ MOs tended to vary too, from poisoning to suffocation to shootings to strangulation. Since 1900, serial killers murdered 552 Californians by gunshot and 334 from strangulation.

“Between 1976 and 1986, the violent and elusive individual known as the East Area Rapist, and later as the Original Night Stalker and the Golden State Killer, committed 12 homicides, 45 rapes, and more than 120 residential burglaries in multiple California communities. His victims ranged in age from 13 to 41 and included women home alone, women at home with their children, and husbands and wives.” ~ quoted from the FBI website.

In June, 2016, the FBI offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. This video goes into detail about the crimes. Detectives have DNA from multiple crime scenes that can positively link — or eliminate — suspects. To my knowledge, the East Area Rapist remains at large. He’d be 65-70 years old now. Take a few minutes to watch. Who knows? You might score 50 grand.

Worst decade for serial killings: 1980’s

Florida

Adjusted number of serial killings per 1 million: 9.92

Total no. of serial killings: 778

Since 1900, the FBI has documented 778 victims of serial killers. This data would assume Florida is not exactly safe, however, it might depend on where in the state you live. Overall, it certainly seems better than California.

In late 1990, Daniel Howard Rolling aka the Gainesville Ripper murdered and mutilated 5 women in their apartments on the southwest campus of Florida University, raping and stabbing the young women before posing their corpses in sexually suggestive positions. As the days rolled by, his MO evolved to cutting off the nipples of a young woman and even severing one of the victim’s head. The skull he positioned on a shelf facing the rest of the body to suggest the victim was staring at her own corpse.

In the weeks before his execution he confessed to 3 more brutal unsolved slayings that took place in 1989, Shreveport, Louisiana.

Worst decade for serial killings: 1980’s

Nevada

Adjusted number of serial killings per 1 million: 12.19

Total no. of serial killings: 98

The 20th century peaked in the late 1980’s with a combined total of 80 victims of serial killers. Not surprisingly, the increase coincided with the boon of gambling in Las Vegas. Between 1970 and 2000, only 8 of the victims worked as prostitutes. During 2003, however, an alarming number of prostitutes went missing. Similar in appearance — blonde hair, brown eyes, about 5’5”, same approximate weight, went missing around the same time frame, their plastic-wrapped body parts located throughout the country weeks, sometimes months, later — and 3 out of 8 shared the middle name “Marie.” It wasn’t until Neal Falls was shot to death by a prostitute in West Virginia that the murders finally stopped. He, of course, was the one responsible for the killings.

The serial murder rate is high in Nevada. Violent crime in general is common there. In fact, with roughly 636 incidents of violent crime per 100,000 residents, Nevada has the second highest violent crime rate in the country. Can you guess the first?

Worst decade for serial killings: 1980’s

Alaska

Adjusted number of serial killings per 1 million: 15.65

Total no. of serial killings: 51

The highest number of serial killings per capita goes to Alaska. As recent as 2007, the state remained gripped in fear as Joshua Wade traveled through Alaska, leaving body after body in his wake. Arrested for killing 5 men and women between 2000-2007 — the true number reaches into the dozens — the jury acquitted him due to lack of evidence and the prosecution’s failure to prove their case. Wade walked away a free man.

You’d think a close call like that would be enough of a deterrent for him not to re-offend, but anyone who studies serial killers can tell you it’s not that black-and-white.

Karma didn’t bite back till Wade crept into an empty home, or so he believed, where he intended to rob the homeowner. When the female resident emerged from the bedroom, he abducted her and drove north to Wasilla, where he killed her. Authorities suspected him from the start. The choice to murder this particular woman was his ultimate undoing. Wade became a fugitive until his capture weeks later after a brief hostage situation. Today, he remains incarcerated in federal prison.

Perhaps the most prolific serial killer in Alaska history is Robert Hansen, who gruesomely murdered 17 women. Between 1980 and 1990 more than half of the total 51 serial murders took place. Not only does Alaska have the highest incident rate of serial killings than any other state, it also has the highest violent crime rate.

Worst decade for serial killings: 1980’s

40 years ago, nearly one-third of all U.S. serial killers got away with 5 or more murders before getting caught. Today, that figure is down to 13%. Nearly half get caught after 2 killings.