How not to be a serial killer victim

[Tirod]

The title is outlandish and I intended for it to be as such, the last few days this has been a constant thought due to podcast I have listened to centering around serial killerconfessions and unsolved murder cases.

The most notable in my opinion was BTK and the tactics he applied, his use of burglary and ambush are interesting. I know nothing is simple, one could surmise if the victim had simply patrolled the interior of the home BTK would have been found and another variable added to an already complex situation. Of course if one had this forethought, the would be victim would recognize the value having a firarm at the ready. To compare modern opinions on self defense to the time frame in which BTK operated is to compare an apple to a orange. No matter the era this action would still leave the victim with a armed and murderous predator at arms length away.

Let's take a moment and discuss behavior and tactics we can employe in our day to day lives to make our homes and families safer.

How did he get in?

The result of answering this is to realize its not a "gun forum" solution, it's a "home security" solution exercised with proper construction techniques and upgraded materials. It's much the same as the dreaded Home Invasion! subject and the answer to that is "don't open your door." Most invasions start when the homeowner buys some weak lie and unlocks the door.

Perps select the naive and unlearned by observation of their lackluster security and that they have no strong habits to prevent them entering. Exactly why so many aluminum storefronts were attacked in the last few years, retailers thinking a building with less security than the average ATM could withstand a determined attack - with a brick. We have gamestop stores in town with better security.

We work real hard at trying to see who's carrying, or what their intent is, for the most part is just another one of us. It's the perps in a vanilla hoody canvassing with the intent to see who is the most naive and lucrative who get robbed. In a lot cases you even showed them your guns - friend of a friend slobbering about the cool shooter you have and can I see it?

If they don't know what you have and where it is, then they don't know. If they can't get in, they can't. Simple rules of home security. Big picture windows and a two car roll up door open to see step tread tool boxes, wave runners, and huge stainless grilles isn't being secure, it's waving a red flag at them.

 

[Meeks36]

Avoid all people you don't know. Like I always say, "Strangers are just serial killers who have not murdered us yet."

Strange I’ve always been taught 90% of murders are committed by someone you know and trust. The other 10 wrong place wrong time.

 

[CapnMac]

One of the hardest things about situational awareness is that it's hard work.
It's exhausting to be at "Yellow Alert" on a constant basis.
And, if you are spent, used up, from being on alert for too long, you don't slip down to an Orange or White level of alertness, you slip to near no alertness at all.

This is the flip side of the moral of the fable about the Boy Who Cried Wolf. It's not only to admonish children about being foolish, it's also to be aware that some threats are real, even when reported by unreliable sources

The trick of it is in developing a "habit" of being aware, a more practiced level of White Alert.

What the Chief said above is very important, too. You have to know what the "weak" points are in your routines (and we all have routines, even varying the schedules, routes, etc.)
Do you shift awareness when you are going places where you must disarm--post office, medical office, government office, etc.? When you are in the carpool lane waiting on your kid, are you paying attention? Not a lot more, but enough?

 

[Walkalong]

Whether one's attacker is a serial killer is meaningless.

I would argue against that, a serial killer picking people at random is going to be, in general, tougher to see coming.

That said, yes, it’s the same as far as preparation, awareness etc

 

[Monac]

Strange I’ve always been taught 90% of murders are committed by someone you know and trust. The other 10 wrong place wrong time.

If you know and trust someone and then, to your surprise, they turn out to be a killer, and your killer in particular, did you really know them? Really and truly? I would say not.

Man, I should have been a lawyer! That, or an English major.

 

[Terry G]

White Alert. Your home with a big noisy Dog and guns where you can reach one quickly.. Grey Alert. Out of the house in your car or in a relatively safe area. Gun is on you and your paying attention to your surroundings. Yellow Alert. You are in a bad area or notice a possible threat. Your ready to react. This is tiring and can't be kept up for a long time. Red Alert. Forget everything else and start shooting. Old Military Alert System.

 

[eastbank]

we all can be had at one time or another when we are out and about, i carry and try keep up on whats going on around my zone of safety. at home is where i put my most effort to stay alive. with three alarms(battery operated(no wires) that interface into a three point shield ,driveway-front and back porchs, with loud alarms. dead bolt locks and several pistols with in easy reach. i also never open the door untill i know who is there and have a pistol in hand.

 

[Tirod]

As pointed out, most people will know who is trying to kill them. They deliberately disrepected them repeatedly and made them infuriated at the lack of any regard for their rights and feelings. If it's known 9 out of 10 times who it may be who could kill you - then looking for that BKT serial snuffer is a waste of time and resources.

You have your hands full 9 to 1 with the much more dangerous folks you continue to enrage with your obscene behavior stripping away their rights and respect. If you don't know who they are, you are working from a highly insensitive deficit.

Guys my age remember a conversation topic we typically brought up in small groups listing which persons if gone would make this planet better. Now - I can't even go further. And no, you shouldn't either. But if you think about it and there are 9 others thinking that about YOU, it's time to strongly reconsider what kind of character you have that prompts such extreme emotion and reaction.

At the very least your dog will thank you.

 

[RetiredUSNChief]

Keep this with all always and it will never happen, Learn how to use it too.

That's a nice sentiment...and certainly part of being prepared.

However, it would be foolish to honestly believe "it will never happen".

Whether one's attacker is a serial killer is meaningless.

I don't believe it's meaningless.

A serial killer isn't like other killers.

(And before anybody else challenges me on this, no...I'm not a criminal psychiatrist or any kind of expert in the field. I'm just another guy putting forth his own opinion based on what I feel I understand about this.)

Serial killers are planners. Not criminals of opportunity for which a killing might take place (like robbery, burglary, mugging, rape, etc.) Their goal isn't to steal money/valuables and possibly incidentally injure/kill someone in the process. Their goal is very specifically to find victims and kill them, perhaps with some acts of torture or other violence involved.

They aren't even like gang violence where the purpose is to incite fear and exercise power/dominance over rival gangs. Like it or not, those types of killings are for another purpose.

Serial killers are killing specifically for the purpose of killing.

Some books I read up on several years ago which talked about several serial killers indicated that many are true psychopaths, with a total inability to experience emotions such as fear, anxiety, or emotionally connect with others at all. For some such people, the torturing and killing of other people may be "experiments" to determine whether or not they can actually stir such emotional responses within themselves.

Many are highly intelligent. Which means they are very good at planning out their killings in ways which make it extremely difficult for law enforcement to catch them. One would think that the more killings such people make, the easier it would be to catch them. While in general this is true, there are quite a number of unsolved serial killings out there to illustrate how difficult these people can be to catch.

Indeed, BTK himself is such an example, who only got caught 14 years after his last killing because he started sending letters to the media again.

The Atlanta murders of 1979-1981 were never solved. 28 people killed.

The Redhead murders between 1978 and 1982 were never solved. 6 to 11 victims, possibley more.

The Honolulu Strangler (Honolulu Rapist) between 1985 and 1986 was never caught. 5 women.

The Chicago Strangler, from 2001 to present, is considered responsible for the deaths of 55 people. Still not solved.

Looking back at several, it would appear that many of these unsolved serial killings only lasted a period of time, and then ceased. This could indicate several things...they simply stopped, knowing if they continued eventually they would be caught. They may have moved on elsewhere, perhaps continuing but using different tactics and therefore not forensically connected to others. Maybe they simply passed away themselves.

Regardless, they were intelligent enough not only to commit these crimes, but also not to have been caught.

Fortunately, such killings constitute a very tiny fraction of the total.

 

[Boattale]

I'm pretty sure I'm not even worth killing. That's my defense.

 

[Rubone]

That's a nice sentiment...and certainly part of being prepared.

However, it would be foolish to honestly believe "it will never happen".





I don't believe it's meaningless.

A serial killer isn't like other killers.

(And before anybody else challenges me on this, no...I'm not a criminal psychiatrist or any kind of expert in the field. I'm just another guy putting forth his own opinion based on what I feel I understand about this.)

Serial killers are planners. Not criminals of opportunity for which a killing might take place (like robbery, burglary, mugging, rape, etc.) Their goal isn't to steal money/valuables and possibly incidentally injure/kill someone in the process. Their goal is very specifically to find victims and kill them, perhaps with some acts of torture or other violence involved.

They aren't even like gang violence where the purpose is to incite fear and exercise power/dominance over rival gangs. Like it or not, those types of killings are for another purpose.

Serial killers are killing specifically for the purpose of killing.

Some books I read up on several years ago which talked about several serial killers indicated that many are true psychopaths, with a total inability to experience emotions such as fear, anxiety, or emotionally connect with others at all. For some such people, the torturing and killing of other people may be "experiments" to determine whether or not they can actually stir such emotional responses within themselves.

Many are highly intelligent. Which means they are very good at planning out their killings in ways which make it extremely difficult for law enforcement to catch them. One would think that the more killings such people make, the easier it would be to catch them. While in general this is true, there are quite a number of unsolved serial killings out there to illustrate how difficult these people can be to catch.

Indeed, BTK himself is such an example, who only got caught 14 years after his last killing because he started sending letters to the media again.

The Atlanta murders of 1979-1981 were never solved. 28 people killed.

The Redhead murders between 1978 and 1982 were never solved. 6 to 11 victims, possibley more.

The Honolulu Strangler (Honolulu Rapist) between 1985 and 1986 was never caught. 5 women.

The Chicago Strangler, from 2001 to present, is considered responsible for the deaths of 55 people. Still not solved.

Looking back at several, it would appear that many of these unsolved serial killings only lasted a period of time, and then ceased. This could indicate several things...they simply stopped, knowing if they continued eventually they would be caught. They may have moved on elsewhere, perhaps continuing but using different tactics and therefore not forensically connected to others. Maybe they simply passed away themselves.

Regardless, they were intelligent enough not only to commit these crimes, but also not to have been caught.

Fortunately, such killings constitute a very tiny fraction of the total.

Most "stop" because they are either incarcerated for something unrelated, or dead. If not dead they usually start again when out in society.

 

[Dibbs]

Well, I, for one, am shocked. I was under the impression that everybody, here, has impenetrable houses, with at least three dogs, a burglar alarm, and a driveway, which circles the entire house 3 times.

Are you now trying to tell me that it's possible, for an intruder to successfully enter somebody on this forum's house?

 

[MrChicken]

Well, I, for one, am shocked. I was under the impression that everybody, here, has impenetrable houses, with at least three dogs, a burglar alarm, and a driveway, which circles the entire house 3 times.

Are you now trying to tell me that it's possible, for an intruder to successfully enter somebody on this forum's house?

I get the sarcasm, so I'll throw in some in some fortune cookie wisdom to go with it.

"The surer you are that you are secure, the less secure you actually are."

 

[Kleanbore]

This one is not providing value,