Serial killers and geography

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
We will look at some patterns that serial killers have,
especially when it comes to proximity. So let's take a
look at the serial killer's exhibit what they call several
behavior and spatial patterns. These have been studied extensively. The
patterns are derived from analysis of documented cases. To give
you an example, a study of German serial murderers found
that sixty three percent live within ten kilometers of their

(00:22):
crime locations, with a medium home to crime distance of
about six and a half kilometers and an average of
thirty kilometers. Similarly, in an examination of fifty four US
serial killers, they revealed a mean distance from about one
and a half miles, while body disposal sites averaged fourteen miles,

(00:44):
supporting again the notion of a central home focus right
fourteen miles away. If you're driving twenty miles an hour,
that's going to take you less than an hour. If
you're driving thirty miles an hour, take you about thirty
minutes away. This proximity often follows a distance decay pattern,
with a frequency of offenses decreases as distance from the
home increases. Distinctions between offender types further refined the pattern

(01:08):
disorganized serial killers characterized by impulsive and less less planned
actions typically remain closer to home, often less than ten kilometers,
with their home exerting strong centrality over disposal sites. So again,
disorganized its associated with remaining closer to home organize. Serial Killers,
though demonstrate greater planning and control, tend to travel further

(01:31):
greater than thirty kilometers, showing less influence from their home location.
Body disposal sites may progressively move closer to the home
as well, integrating into the offender's routine activities. Factors such
as age, older offenders operate nearer to home IQ higher
IQ usually goes away from the home, and mode of
transportation car users travel farther than those walking also will

(01:54):
influence the spatial decisions beyond spatial proximity. Other patterns that
you can see are victims selection, which we'll expand on
another time, modus opperendi signature, and geographical tendencies. Also temporal
patterns of the cooling off periods and what they mean.
So I will do a little bit of a series

(02:14):
on serial killers and how they operate.