Famous serial killers such as Ted Bundy, Jeff Dahmer and Dennis Rader grew up in healthy households with supportive family members.
Poor Family Life
Many serial killers come from unstable families with criminal, psychiatric, or alcoholic histories. These killers often have terrible relationships with their families, and often use them as their first victims.
The Bender family, more well known as the Bloody Benders, were a family of serial killers in Labette County, Kansas, United States, from May 1871 to December 1872. The family consisted of John Bender, his wife Elvira, their son John Jr., and their daughter Kate. While popular retelling of the story holds that John Jr.
Many serial killers are survivors of early childhood trauma of some kind – physical or sexual abuse, family dysfunction, emotionally distant or absent parents. Trauma is the single recurring theme in the biographies of most killers As a consequence of this trauma, they suppress their emotional response.
The Kelly Family was a family of serial killers who operated near a Kansas town called Oak City between August and December 1887. The family consisted of William Kelly (55); his wife Kate; his son Bill, also called 'Billy' (20) and daughter, Kit (18).
The FBI did not recognize female serial killers until the 1990s. They called these crimes sexual killing, and sexual killing is almost always indicative of a male murderer. But there are well-known women who murdered far more victims than men did. Jolly Jane Toppan was a nurse in Boston in the late 1800s.
Psychopathic Killers and Childhood Abuse
John Wayne Gacy, Gary Ridgeway, and Ed Gein are three infamous serial killers who were physically and verbally abused as children by a parent.
#1: Aileen Wuornos
By the time she was 11, she was having sex at school in exchange for drugs. When she was 14, she was raped by her grandfather's friend, and, after placing the child for adoption, the homeless Aileen resorted to prostitution to support herself.
Herman Webster Mudgett
The last on my list is the man who was known by the name H.H Holmes. He was born in Herman Webster Mudgett, New Hampshire on May 16th 1860. Holmes grew up in an impoverished family with an abusive alcoholic father as it's head.
Eight-year-old Amarjeet Sada was all smiles when he was brought to the police station in 2007 in connection with the murder of an infant. Sada, known as the world's youngest serial killer, was held after three murders, two of which went unreported.
Ted Bundy
Bundy is considered to be the most charming serial killer in history. He raped and mutilated many women.
The MAOA gene codes for the enzyme monoamine oxidase-A which plays a key role in the breakdown of neurotransmitters such as serotonin. Individuals with defects in the MAOA gene that are associated with a low dopamine turnover rate have been shown to be more prone to aggressive behavior than their counterparts.
While each of these types and their crimes have distinguishing characteristics, a general profile of serial killers indicates they are generally white males from 25 to 34 years old.
On 25 May 1968, the day before her 11th birthday, Bell strangled four-year-old Martin Brown in an upstairs bedroom of a derelict house located at 85 St. Margaret's Road. She is believed to have committed this crime alone.
Ted Bundy. Theodore Robert Bundy was the archetype of the serial killer, the cunning psychopath whose disarming appearance—he was often called “charming,” “handsome” and “intelligent”—concealed a sadistic compulsion to kill—repeatedly—for sexual gratification.
1: Pedro Alonso Lopez. In 2002, Pedro Alonso Lopez received 14 years in prison in Ecuador for killing mostly young girls. He claimed to have killed over 300 people. The "Monster of the Andes" just might be the world's most prolific serial killer.
In April, 1873 on a homestead in Labette County, Kansas, another of these stories was unfolding—one that would leave a local family with a nickname that remains infamous almost 150 years later. This is the story of the Bloody Benders, America's first family of serial killers.
Scientists searched and found what is believed to be hard evidence, that genetics is the key role in determining who becomes a serial killer unlike criminologists and psychologists who argue that large events such as abuse and abandonment create the setting and foundation in which serial killers grow into sadistic mass ...
The serial killing phenomenon in the United States was especially prominent from 1970 to 2000, which has been described as the "golden age of serial murder." The cause of the spike in serial killings has been attributed to urbanization, which put people in close proximity and offered anonymity.
Serial killers. Australians convicted of multiple murders: Catherine Birnie, rape and murder of four women in Perth in 1986. David Birnie (1951–2005) rape and murder of four women in Perth in 1986.
But both Hitler and Stalin were outdone by Mao Zedong. From 1958 to 1962, his Great Leap Forward policy led to the deaths of up to 45 million people—easily making it the biggest episode of mass murder ever recorded.
While the origin of the term "serial killer" may be slightly ambiguous, it is quite clear which country is home to the highest number of serial killers. The United States is the runaway leader in this category, with more documented serial killers in its history than the next ten closest countries combined.