NCJ Number
178475
Journal
Homicide Studies Volume: 3 Issue: 3 Dated: August 1999 Pages: 241-255
Date Published
1999
Length
15 pages
Annotation
In an attempt to differentiate unsolved serial murder cases from solved cases, five variables -- rate of killing, vulnerability, body disposal, location of body disposal, and mobility -- were used.
Abstract
The study collected data on 75 unsolved serial murder cases and compared them with cases from a set of 399 solved serial murder cases with respect to certain offender characteristics, victim characteristics, and criminal methods. The offenders in the solved-case group killed at a significantly higher rate than those in the unsolved group, as hypothesized; however, contrary to expectation, offenders in the solved cases were more mobile than those in unsolved cases. As expected, the unsolved cases involved a higher proportion of highly vulnerable victims. Further, as anticipated, a higher proportion of victims were disposed of outdoors in the unsolved cases compared to the solved cases. Contrary to expectation, a greater proportion of the solved cases used body disposal sites when compared to the unsolved cases. Although all of the hypotheses were not supported, the empirical analyses show that unsolved serial murder cases are indeed a unique subset of the overall serial murder category. 3 tables, 5 notes, and 24 references