Download or read book The People Behind Murderous Crime Sprees written by John A. Torres and published by Enslow Publishing, LLC. This book was released on 2016-07-15 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the area of Washington, D.C., the beltway snipers caused widespread fear just a year after the World Trade Center attacks. The pair of killers targeted random people doing everyday things, such as pumping gas or going shopping, and ultimately killed ten people. Psychology students will learn about the motives of these snipers and other criminal murderers responsible for crime-spree attacks. Featuring psychological profiles, this book educates readers about how killers are diagnosed and classified, and whether it is possible to treat or cure them.

Download or read book Spree Kill the True Story of George Banks written by Ana Benson and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-06-08 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Spree killers are a special kind of murderers who are completely different from serial killers. They commit two or more murders in a short period of time. This means that they do not experience the cooling-off period which is typical for a serial killer. As a matter of fact, their killing spree is often quick and pretty violent. Driven by an uncontrollable rage, spree killers would often turn on their families, co-workers, or any group of people that wrong them in any way. What triggers these crimes? The debate is still ongoing but it is usually connected with a major event in a killer's life such as a breakup or an argument with someone who is more superior to them. So when George Banks, a former prison guard, began his rampage in Jenkins Township, Pennsylvania, the entire police force went out to hunt him and try to prevent his further unraveling. Unsure what started his killing spree, they weren't ready for the crime scenes he left behind. They knew he had military training since he worked at a prison and that catching him would be a problem. The law enforcement also realized that they are dealing with a highly psychotic individual that simply had nothing to lose. So what exactly happened on that autumn day in 1982 and why did George Banks turn on those who were closest to him?

Download or read book Angel of Darkness written by Dennis McDougal and published by Grand Central Publishing. This book was released on 2009-06-27 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Randy Kraft was highly intelligent, politically active, loyal to his friends, committed to his work--and the killer of 67 people--more than any other serial killer known. This book offers a glimpse into the dark mind of a living monster. "To open this book is to open a peephole into hell".--Associated Press. Photographs.

Download or read book Hell s Half Acre written by Susan Jonusas and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2022-03-01 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Rich in historical perspective and graced by novelistic touches, grips the reader from first to last.”—Wall Street Journal A suspense filled tale of murder on the American frontier—shedding new light on a family of serial killers in Kansas, whose horrifying crimes gripped the attention of a nation still reeling from war. In 1873 the people of Labette County, Kansas made a grisly discovery. Buried by a trailside cabin beneath an orchard of young apple trees were the remains of countless bodies. Below the cabin itself was a cellar stained with blood. The Benders, the family of four who once resided on the property were nowhere to be found. The discovery sent the local community and national newspapers into a frenzy that continued for decades, sparking an epic manhunt for the Benders. The idea that a family of seemingly respectable homesteaders—one among the thousands relocating farther west in search of land and opportunity after the Civil War—were capable of operating "a human slaughter pen" appalled and fascinated the nation. But who the Benders really were, why they committed such a vicious killing spree and whether justice ever caught up to them is a mystery that remains unsolved to this day. Set against the backdrop of postbellum America, Hell’s Half-Acre explores the environment capable of allowing such horrors to take place. Drawing on extensive original archival material, Susan Jonusas introduces us to a fascinating cast of characters, many of whom have been previously missing from the story. Among them are the families of the victims, the hapless detectives who lost the trail, and the fugitives that helped the murderers escape. Hell’s Half-Acre is a journey into the turbulent heart of nineteenth century America, a place where modernity stalks across the landscape, violently displacing existing populations and building new ones. It is a world where folklore can quickly become fact and an entire family of criminals can slip through a community’s fingers, only to reappear in the most unexpected of places.

Download or read book Talking with Psychopaths Mass Murderers and Spree Killers written by Christopher Berry-Dee and published by Diversion Books. This book was released on 2023-08-22 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bestselling true-crime author Christopher Berry-Dee's latest book tackles the heavy crime of people who randomly kill large numbers of others (spree killers) and those who set out to do so in specific places or situations (mass killers). As such killings become more frequent, the ready availability and ease of obtaining firearms and weak backgrounds checks in the United States inevitably lends to many of these cases, but there have been other recent examples in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Norway, where extremely robust firearms legislation could not stop these horrific crimes. What is more difficult to establish is the motivation behind such killings. Some are occasioned by grievance, real or imagined, while others have their origins in a sense of failure or feelings of inadequacy, yet others seem to be driven by a desire for power over their fellow humans, often coupled with an overriding contempt for the lives of others. In a search for answers, Christopher Berry-Dee offers case studies in some of the most infamous mass killings of the past fifty years, from school massacres to workplace killings, hate crimes to familicides. But is the awful truth that such murderers are almost impossible to predict and therefore almost impossible to prevent? Dig in and find out.

Download or read book The Allure of Premeditated Murder written by Jack Levin and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2018-10-18 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Any murder causes pain and suffering that ripple through families and communities—of both the victims and the perpetrators—but premeditated murders cause the worst kind of damage. The Allure of Premeditated Murder is about the worst kinds of premeditated homicide in which the perpetrator plans an attack over a period of days, weeks, or months, leaving behind massive carnage and unspeakable suffering. Drawing on extensive research and interviews with murderers, sociologists Jack Levin and Julie B. Wiest help readers understand why such vicious murders occur and what we can do to minimize their incidence. Throughout the book, theyexamine why people engage in acts of premeditated murder—planning and implementing terrible violence against others—from the perpetrator’s viewpoint. By juxtaposing the motivations for these hideous homicides against everyday social circumstances, these often-baffling crimes are explained in an easy-to-understand manner that paves the way for promising solutions. In the process of examining the characteristics of premeditated murder, the book also addresses those questions that are commonly asked about this kind of violent crime but usually unanswered. How could a killer have enjoyed his murderous rampage when he committed suicide right afterward? Why do sadistic killers sometimes regard their murders as great accomplishments? What can be done to effectively reduce the likelihood of this kind of homicide? As violence remains such a prominent and troubling topic nationwide, The Allure of Premeditated Murder successfully explores the reasons behind the worst violence as well as the most promising solutions.

Download or read book Absolute Madness written by Catherine Pelonero and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2017-11-07 with total page 617 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Absolute Madness tells the disturbing true story of Joseph Christopher, a white serial killer who targeted black males and struck fear into the residents of New York in the 1980s. Dubbed both the 22-Caliber Killer and the Midtown Slasher, Christopher allegedly claimed eighteen victims during a savage four-month spree across the state. The investigation, aided by famed FBI profiler John Douglas, drew national attention and biting criticism from Jesse Jackson and other civil rights leaders. The killer, when at last he was unmasked, seemed an unlikely candidate to have held New York in a grip of terror. His capture was neither the end of the story nor the end of the racial strife, which flared anew during circuitous prosecutions and judicial rulings that prompted cries of a double standard in the justice system. Both a wrenching true crime story and an incisive portrait of dangerously discordant race relations in America, Absolute Madness also chronicles a lonely, vulnerable man’s tragic descent into madness and the failure of the American mental health system that refused his pleas for help.

Download or read book The Boston Strangler written by Charles River Charles River Editors and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-03-25 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures *Includes contemporary newspaper reports about the crimes *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents "It wasn't as dark and scary as it sounds. I had a lot of fun....killing people is a funny experience." - Albert DeSalvo "I did this not as a sex act...but out of hate for her. I don't mean out of hate for her in particular, really I mean out of hate for a woman." - Albert DeSalvo The story reads like something out of a mini-series. The police are called to the home of an elderly woman who has been raped and strangled. She's a socialite and popular in among the Boston upper-crust. As the grizzled detective stand over her body, wondering who would do something like this, someone mentions that there was a similar case recently, except that time the victim was a lower-middle class immigrant woman. He wonders briefly if there is a pattern and hopes there isn't, but before long there's a third victim, and then a fourth. At first, the women are all elderly, and the police psychologist postulates that the culprit has some sort of hatred for his own mother and therefore attacks motherly figures. The police begin to track down mental patients with histories of violence and question them about their whereabouts, but there is no one suspect, even as more bodies pile up in the morgue. Then, suddenly, there's a change, and young women start turning up dead, changing the whole approach to the case. As tension in the city builds, the mayor and other civic leaders begin demanding action, even as another young woman dies, followed in short order by an elderly one. Young women start refusing dates and looking under their beds at night, while older ladies refuse to open their doors to anyone. The city is in turmoil and the police are at a loss about what to do next, but just as quickly as they started, the murders stopped after 13 confirmed victims. Just as that description makes it sound, the case of the Boston Strangler is as confusing and mystifying as it is terrifying. In fact, the mythology and debate lingering over the crime spree only heightened when Albert DeSalvo confessed to the crimes, provided both accurate and inaccurate details about some of them, and had his DNA tied to several of the crime scenes. However, before DeSalvo himself was murdered by an unknown assailant in jail in 1973, he had recanted his confession, and ultimately, he was never tried for the murders in Boston. 50 years after the Boston Strangler stopped killing, investigators and amateurs alike are still debating the very messy and all too real 18 month reign of terror that gripped the city of Boston in the early 1960s and haunts many to this day. Even in the wake of DeSalvo's confession, and in part because of the various inaccuracies he told authorities, people continue to argue whether he was the Boston Strangler, or even if the Boston Strangler was just one killer given the seemingly different M.O.s used in some of the crimes. The Boston Strangler: The History and Mystery of the Notorious Crime Spree covers the crimes of one of America's most infamous serial killers. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about the Boston Strangler like never before.

Download or read book A Special Kind of Evil written by Blaine L. Pardoe and published by WildBlue Press. This book was released on 2017-07-12 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The New York Times bestselling coauthors uncover new information in the Colonial Parkway Murders of 1980s Virginia in this true crime investigation. For four years a killer, or killers, stalked Virginia’s Tidewater region, carefully selecting victims and terrorizing the local community. Again and again, young people in the prime of their lives were targeted. But the pattern that stitched these killings together was more like a spider web of theory, intrigue, and mathematics. Then, mysteriously, the killing spree stopped. The unknown predator, or predators, who stalked the Colonial Parkway seemingly disappeared. Now, father-daughter true crime authors Blaine Pardoe and Victoria Hester blow the dust off of these cases. Interviewing the victims’ family and friends, as well as members of law enforcement, they provide the most complete and in-depth look at these horrifying murders and disappearances. The author-investigators peel back the rumors and myths surrounding these crimes and provide new information never before revealed about the investigations. “Remarkable research and a compelling narrative…relentless and harrowing.”—Burl Barer, author of Betrayal in Blue

Download or read book Starkweather written by Harry N. MacLean and published by Catapult. This book was released on 2023-11-28 with total page 441 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The definitive story of Charles Starkweather, often considered to be the first mass killer in the modern age of America On January 21, 1958, nineteen-year-old Charles Starkweather changed the course of crime in the United States when he murdered the parents and sister of his fourteen-year-old girlfriend (and possible accomplice), Caril Ann Fugate, in a house on the edge of Lincoln, Nebraska. They then drove to the nearby town of Bennet, where a farmer was robbed and killed. When Starkweather’s car broke down, the teenagers who stopped to help were murdered and jammed into a storm cellar. By the time the dust settled, ten innocent people were dead and the city of Lincoln was in a state of terror. Schools closed. Men with rifles perched on the roofs of their houses. The National Guard patrolled the street. If there is a cultural version of PTSD, the town suffered from it. Starkweather and Fugate’s capture and arrest, and the resulting trials about the killing spree, received worldwide coverage. The event would serve as the inspiration for the movie Natural Born Killers and Springsteen’s iconic album Nebraska. Today, the story has dropped far from the national consciousness. With new material, new reporting, and new conclusions about the possible guilt or innocence of Fugate, the tale is ripe for an updated and definitive retelling. In Starkweather, bestselling author Harry N. MacLean tells the story of this shocking event and its lasting impact, a crime spree that struck deep into the heart of the heartland.

Download or read book Manuel written by A.M. Nicol and published by Black & White Publishing. This book was released on 2008-11-19 with total page 479 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The true story behind the notorious serial killer Peter Manuel, and Detective William Muncie's quest to bring him to justice, recently dramatised in the major ITV drama In Plain Sight. In a two-year killing spree, Peter Manuel terrorised a city. As the people of Glasgow held their breath and anxiously awaited news, Peter Manuel killed Anne Kneilands, Marion Watt, her daughter Vivienne and her sister Margaret, Isabelle Cooke and the Smart family - all in cold blood. But what drove him to commit such barbaric crimes? And could the police have caught him sooner? MANUEL: Portrait of a Serial Killer tells the full story from his birth in the USA and his love of gangster movies to his life of crime that would ultimately end on the gallows after one of the most sensational trials in legal history. Revealing new facts about the case and the myths that surround it, this is the definitive account of one of the most notorious criminals in history - Peter Manuel, serial killer.

Download or read book The Hillside Stranglers written by Darcy O'Brien and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2014-07-01 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The riveting true crime account of the Hillside Stranglers and the horrific serial killings they unleashed on 1970s Los Angeles. For weeks that fall, the body count of sexually violated, brutally murdered young women escalated. With increasing alarm, Los Angeles newspapers headlined the deeds of a serial killer they named the Hillside Strangler. The city was held hostage by fear. But not until January 1979, more than a year later, would the mysterious disappearance of two university students near Seattle lead police to the arrest of a security guard—the handsome, charming, fast-talking Kenny Bianchi—and the discovery that the strangler was not one man but two. Compellingly, O’Brien explores the symbiotic relationship between Bianchi and his cousin Angelo Buono, their lust for women as insatiable as their hate, before examining the crimes they remorselessly perpetrated and the lives of the unsuspecting victims they claimed. Equally riveting is O’Brien’s account of the trial—one of the longest and most controversial criminal court cases in American history—with the defense team parading, one after another, expert witnesses who had been effectively duped by Bianchi’s impersonation of a man suffering multiple personality disorder. It’s one way a man might contrive to get away with murder. Like Truman Capote in In Cold Blood and Norman Mailer in The Executioner’s Song, Darcy O’Brien weds the narrative skill of an award-winning novelist with the detailed observations of an experienced investigator to unravel this chilling true-crime story.

Download or read book Night Stalker written by Clifford L. Linedecker and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 1991-04-15 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the darkest corner of your bedroom a gaunt face suddenly looms over you. You're pulled violently from your bed and a terrifying voice screams, "Swear to Satan!" During a two year rampage, a sadistic serial killer entered the homes of families from El Paso to San Francisco. He raped, mutilated and tortured his unfortunate victims in one of the most vicious crime sprees in California history. This is the horrifying account of his bloody journey, of the strange coincidence that led to his arrest-and of the sensational trial where the Night Stalker's eerie sexual magnetism resulted in women actually demonstrating for his acquittal.

Download or read book Death at Every Stop written by Wensley Clarkson and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2013-05-28 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE SPREE KILLINGS THAT TERRORIZED THE NATION April 29, 1997--The body of 28-year-old Jeffrey Trail found wrapped in a rug in a Minneapolis apartment. May 3--Fishermen find the body of 33-year-old architect David Madson in Minnesota's East Rush lake. May 4--The tortured body of wealthy 72-year-old real estate investor Lee Miglin found in his garage. May 9--45-year-old caretaker William Reese found in a New Jersey cemetery with a bullet in his head. July 15--World-renowned fashion designer Gianni Versace shot twice in the back of the head and left to die in front of his South Beach mansion. THE CAT AND MOUSE CHASE THAT GRIPPED THE COUNTRY The man responsible for these horrific slayings was Andrew Cunanan, a cunning, cold-blooded killer who eluded police for three months until July 23rd, 1997, when, after a harrowing standoff on a Miami houseboat, police found Cunanan inside the boat--dead by his own hand. But as the tragic crime spree comes to an end, the mystery is just beginning--who was Andrew Cunanan and what led him to savagely murder five men? What was his relationship to the victims? And how did a handsome, privileged young man venture so far into the dark side? THE FINAL ENDING THAT SHOCKED THE WORLD Described as everything from a flamboyant playboy to a transvestite prostitute to a gold-digging "kept man," Andrew Cunanan has remained an enigma--even in death. Now, in this searing expose, author Wensley Clarkson examines Cunanan from the inside out, revealing never-before-told facts about his life, including: - The truth about the wife and child he claimed to have had - A scandalous affair Cunanan claimed to have had with an older TV star - The tragic childhood that sparked his fury - How Cunanan starred in gay porno videos - Cunanan's deadly obsession with Tom Cruise - And much, much, more

Download or read book The Manson Family Murders written by Evelyne Bertran and published by . This book was released on 2021-06-22 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Charles Manson, (born November 12, 1934, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.-died November 19, 2017, Kern County, California), American criminal and cult leader whose followers carried out several notorious murders in the late 1960s. Their crimes inspired the best-selling book Helter Skelter (1974). The day that etched Charles Manson into the mind of the world's collective consciousness was Friday, August 8th, 1969. That was the fateful weekend when Manson's alleged cult named the "Manson Family" slaughtered seven people. It wasn't the first time the group had committed murder, nor would it be the last, but the events of that weekend are why Charlie Manson will be remembered as the devil incarnate. A real-life boogeyman was capable of untold evil. A maniacal puppet master carved a swastika in his head with a razor blade. Ironically, the first murder of Manson's infamous crime spree was one of poor timing. Steven Parent was an eighteen-year-old California native whose freshman yearbook photo looks remarkably like Buddy Holly. The oldest of five, Steven was raised in El Monte, a city east of Los Angeles. His family was working-class and being the eldest, Steven was ambitious. His father had nurtured Steve's love of electronics and by the summer of 1969, Steven was working two jobs with plans to attend community college in the fall. On the evening of August 8th, just after 11:00 pm, Steven had closed up shop at his second job at Jonas Miller Stereo and driven through Los Angeles to visit an acquaintance who lived in a guest house at the far end of secluded property in Beverly Hills.

Download or read book The Son of Sam and Me written by Carl Denaro and published by WildBlue Press. This book was released on 2021-03-02 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An alleged victim of the Son of Sam shares his search for the truth about who really tried to kill him in this true crime story. In 1976, a killer who called himself “The Son of Sam” shot and killed a half dozen people and wounded as many more in New York City. During his crime spree, the madman left bizarre letters mocking the police and promising more deaths. After months of terrorizing the city while garnering front-page headlines and international attention, a man named David Berkowitz was arrested. He confessed to the shootings, claiming to be obeying a demon that resided in a dog belonging to his neighbor “Sam.” Among the alleged victims was Carl Denaro. On the night he was shot, Denaro was hanging out with some friends at a bar when he met up with a woman named Rosemary Keenan. The couple left the bar and went to Keenan’s car for some privacy. However, a few minutes later, the windows of the car exploded as Denaro was shot in the head by an unseen assailant. Miraculously, Denaro survived the attack. When Berkowitz was arrested, he was charged with trying to kill Denaro. However, there was a twist. Although he confessed to the other shootings, after his conviction Berkowitz denied attacking Denaro. Now, after years of research, Denaro is convinced that Berkowitz was telling the truth, and that someone else tried to kill him . . . In “The Son of Sam” and Me, author Carl Denaro with co-author Brian Whitney (The “Supreme Gentleman” Killer) reveals his search for the truth and his shocking conclusion regarding the real shooter’s identity. Denaro also discusses his friendship and investigative partnership with Maury Terry, the author of The Ultimate Evil, which is considered the definitive case study on the theory that Berkowitz did not act alone. Includes never-revealed correspondence between Denaro and Berkowitz

Download or read book The Axeman written by Wallace Edwards and published by BookCaps Study Guides. This book was released on 2020-09-01 with total page 79 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ★★★ Discover a serial killer you'll never forget! ★★★ Between 1918 to 1919 a serial killer ran rampant throughout New Orleans. His weapon of choice? The axe. He didn't spare women. Or children. Or even men. There was only one kind of person who could be sparred from the blade of his axe: the home of a person playing jazz music. At least eight people were brutally murdered. Who could have been responsible for this crime, and how was the Mafia connected? Did a corrupt police department intentionally leave this case unsolved? Come, if you dare, as Absolute Crime takes you on the hunt for one of the most brutal killers who ever lived.