Serial Killer vs. Multiple Murderer: What's the Difference? - CrimeSpace2024-03-29T13:46:53Zhttps://crimespace.ning.com/forum/topics/serial-killer-vs-multiple-murderer-what-s-the-difference?commentId=537324%3AComment%3A355042&feed=yes&xn_auth=noI just added a new post a to…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2012-09-12:537324:Comment:3552642012-09-12T23:15:35.850ZSusanhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Susan
<p>I just added a new post a to my Renzi Rant blog about mass murders. There are several interesting links within the piece to online articles I used as source material. The title: is below, with the link.</p>
<p><a href="http://darkdeeds.susanfleet.com/blog/renzirants.php?entry_id=1347404642&title=hate-%2B-guns-%3D-dead-people" target="_blank">Hate + Guns = Dead People</a></p>
<p>I just added a new post a to my Renzi Rant blog about mass murders. There are several interesting links within the piece to online articles I used as source material. The title: is below, with the link.</p>
<p><a href="http://darkdeeds.susanfleet.com/blog/renzirants.php?entry_id=1347404642&title=hate-%2B-guns-%3D-dead-people" target="_blank">Hate + Guns = Dead People</a></p> Mass murderers are event-crea…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2012-09-12:537324:Comment:3550422012-09-12T08:10:18.795ZRaymond Embrackhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/RaymondEmbrack
<p>Mass murderers are event-creators. Serial killers are creatures of habit.</p>
<p>Mass murderers are event-creators. Serial killers are creatures of habit.</p> Interesting question. Now and…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2012-09-01:537324:Comment:3545032012-09-01T23:03:35.997ZSusanhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Susan
<p>Interesting question. Now and then, a killer is both mass murderer and serial killer. I did a post about Mark Barton, the day trader who massacred several people in Atlanta. But he might also be considered a serial killer, since he murdered his first wife, and then, the day of the massacre, his second wife. See details here: <a href="http://darkdeeds.susanfleet.com/blog_1.php?entry_id=1326913416&title=bloodbath-in-atlanta" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Atlanta massacre</a></p>
<p>Of…</p>
<p>Interesting question. Now and then, a killer is both mass murderer and serial killer. I did a post about Mark Barton, the day trader who massacred several people in Atlanta. But he might also be considered a serial killer, since he murdered his first wife, and then, the day of the massacre, his second wife. See details here: <a rel="nofollow" href="http://darkdeeds.susanfleet.com/blog_1.php?entry_id=1326913416&title=bloodbath-in-atlanta" target="_blank">Atlanta massacre</a></p>
<p>Of course, the FBI has detailed definitions of both.</p>
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<p></p> The difference is why and how…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2012-09-01:537324:Comment:3545722012-09-01T22:46:16.286ZStacyhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/StacyDeanne
<p>The difference is why and how the people are killed. Serial killers usually kill people who all have something in common and a lot of serial killers (though not all) kill everyone in the same fashion. So usually you have a serial killer whose victims are all women, strippers or prostitutes, etc. where they all might be strangled, hacked up or stabbed. Serial killers also plan their murders.</p>
<p>A multiple murderer can be just someone who happened to kill different people but didn't…</p>
<p>The difference is why and how the people are killed. Serial killers usually kill people who all have something in common and a lot of serial killers (though not all) kill everyone in the same fashion. So usually you have a serial killer whose victims are all women, strippers or prostitutes, etc. where they all might be strangled, hacked up or stabbed. Serial killers also plan their murders.</p>
<p>A multiple murderer can be just someone who happened to kill different people but didn't necessarily plan it. For example you can have a rapist or a burglar who never intended to kill but during their journeys ended up having to. Multiple murderers usually don't kill for pleasure but circumstance. They kill people who might get in their way and their murders might be spur of the moment so definitely different from a serial killer.</p>
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<p>They definitely can be linked with some cases but totally different in how they do things and how the killings come about.</p>
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<p>At least that's how I've always seen it. Serial is in a class all its own. Those folks kill because they think they have a higher purpose, are superior, hate their victims or because it brings them pleasure they can't get anywhere else. The thrill is the kill and something inside drives them to do it.</p> You may be a Dude, but we (wo…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2012-09-01:537324:Comment:3544792012-09-01T11:26:35.154ZCaroline Trippehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/CarolineTrippe
<p>You may be a Dude, but we (women) are not. :)</p>
<p>We know that serial killers are "psychologically" motivated, and that the motivation is sexual.</p>
<p>But I'll bet the number of murders committed by men who decide to kill their wives ( or girlfrienhds) far outnumbers the total number of serial killers. Why, in Durham alone....let me amend that....in North Carolina alone....wife-killing is just about the number one pasttime! And we get the odd husband-killing as well. (Ann Miller…</p>
<p>You may be a Dude, but we (women) are not. :)</p>
<p>We know that serial killers are "psychologically" motivated, and that the motivation is sexual.</p>
<p>But I'll bet the number of murders committed by men who decide to kill their wives ( or girlfrienhds) far outnumbers the total number of serial killers. Why, in Durham alone....let me amend that....in North Carolina alone....wife-killing is just about the number one pasttime! And we get the odd husband-killing as well. (Ann Miller Kuntz, Barbara Stager). We don't need serial killers to make headlines here. </p>
<p>And the motivation for those crimes is either jealousy or an overwhelming need to escape a tiresome marriage but not get taken to the cleaners. Because I've often thought, wouldn't divorce be a simpler way out? But no....</p>
<p></p> Despite its crappy title, "Hu…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2012-08-31:537324:Comment:3543722012-08-31T14:27:51.741ZJohn McFetridgehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/JohnMcF
<p>Despite its crappy title, "Hunting Humans" is a very good book about this: <a href="http://www.amazon.ca/Hunting-Humans-Modern-Multiple-Murderer/dp/0771053096">http://www.amazon.ca/Hunting-Humans-Modern-Multiple-Murderer/dp/0771053096</a></p>
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<p>Despite its crappy title, "Hunting Humans" is a very good book about this: <a href="http://www.amazon.ca/Hunting-Humans-Modern-Multiple-Murderer/dp/0771053096">http://www.amazon.ca/Hunting-Humans-Modern-Multiple-Murderer/dp/0771053096</a></p>
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<p></p> I've always thought of a mult…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2012-08-31:537324:Comment:3544662012-08-31T00:18:49.492ZLinda Romerohttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/LindaRomero
<p>I've always thought of a multiple murderer as more of a 'one time' killer - such as school shootings, the killings at an army base, etcetera. I throw the "clean-up" murders in with the one-time aspect.</p>
<p>To me, multiple killers are trying to make a big statement or revenge an imagined wrong (regardless of how twisted or hard it is to understand) through their mass killings. For the most part, they anticipate that the public will likely learn of their actions and identity and, in…</p>
<p>I've always thought of a multiple murderer as more of a 'one time' killer - such as school shootings, the killings at an army base, etcetera. I throw the "clean-up" murders in with the one-time aspect.</p>
<p>To me, multiple killers are trying to make a big statement or revenge an imagined wrong (regardless of how twisted or hard it is to understand) through their mass killings. For the most part, they anticipate that the public will likely learn of their actions and identity and, in several cases, actually welcome that notoriety.</p>
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<p>Whereas, I think of a serial killer as an on-going, need-driven killer. Not driven by making a statement, but by a psychological need to kill; either for control, power, sexual satisfaction, etcetera. To them, the kill is the important aspect, not any statement or reason. And their goal is to not be identified so that they can continue killing.</p> Dude, you need to watch Crimi…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2012-08-30:537324:Comment:3542292012-08-30T21:10:57.336ZJack Getzehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/JGetze
<p>Dude, you need to watch Criminal Minds. Not only do serial killers have a psychological reason to abduct, torture and kill, that reason is almost always twisted sex. Profilers have names for all these sub-categories, too.</p>
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<p>Dude, you need to watch Criminal Minds. Not only do serial killers have a psychological reason to abduct, torture and kill, that reason is almost always twisted sex. Profilers have names for all these sub-categories, too.</p>
<p></p> Ah, excellent point. I thoug…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2012-08-30:537324:Comment:3542832012-08-30T21:05:40.414ZI. J. Parkerhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Ingpark
<p>Ah, excellent point. I thought about the same thing. In murder mysteries this keeps the suspense alive and the danger high. It also produces more needed clues (as does the fictional serial killer). In real life, I think, crimes are simple and so are the killers. The kind of clever plotting that would be needed to remove witnesses is generally beyond them. Having said this, we have had local cases where star witnesses in murder trials were killed before they could testify. This is…</p>
<p>Ah, excellent point. I thought about the same thing. In murder mysteries this keeps the suspense alive and the danger high. It also produces more needed clues (as does the fictional serial killer). In real life, I think, crimes are simple and so are the killers. The kind of clever plotting that would be needed to remove witnesses is generally beyond them. Having said this, we have had local cases where star witnesses in murder trials were killed before they could testify. This is likely to happen in a culture of a closed society that protects its own. Gangs for example.</p> A reader's question. In real…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2012-08-30:537324:Comment:3542732012-08-30T18:41:22.060ZCaroline Trippehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/CarolineTrippe
<p>A reader's question. In real life, there are "serial" killers, and "mass" murderers. The former, as IJ points out, kill because of some psychological need, and according to some pattern that makes sense to them. A mass murderer, like the "Unabomber" kills a lot of people at one time perhaps for a political motive, or just plain rage. Perhaps both types of killer are "sociopaths." I would guess that a woman who poisons a series of husbands could be called a "serial" killer. And I suppose…</p>
<p>A reader's question. In real life, there are "serial" killers, and "mass" murderers. The former, as IJ points out, kill because of some psychological need, and according to some pattern that makes sense to them. A mass murderer, like the "Unabomber" kills a lot of people at one time perhaps for a political motive, or just plain rage. Perhaps both types of killer are "sociopaths." I would guess that a woman who poisons a series of husbands could be called a "serial" killer. And I suppose someone who murders his or her entire family in one fell swoop could be called a "mass"murderer too----if the murders all take place at the same time.</p>
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<p>But the "multiple" murderer----is this not a "construct" of the murder mystery? Who kills, as you put it , a "pile" of people----the first victim, then the one who knows something, then someone else who saw something or knows something, then someone else who knows something....I've never really believed in this kind of killer. :) But they turn up all the time in crime fiction! But does this really happen in real life? I wonder.</p>
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