Serial killers and true crime

There are a lot of new links almost no new information yet.

The Village Voice has an inspiring quote from Shannan Gilbert’s mom:

The latest bodies were found Monday — three, to be exact — following one last Tuesday and four in late 2010. Gilbert has not been found, but her mother remains hopeful. “”If it wasn’t for my daughter, these bodies never would have been found,” she said. “Everyone has their destiny, maybe this was hers. I’m still hoping she comes home.”

That quote can also be found in a very in-depth article in the New York Times.

The WNYC News Blog spoke with Dr. Louis Schlesinger about the case trying to get some insight into the killer.

Police continued to scour a barrier island near Oak Beach, Long Island, just 45 miles east of New York City this week following the grisly discovery of eight bodies — four of whom were prostitutes. Details of the slayings are sparse, but experts painted a vivid picture of the mind likely behind the slayings based on the past behavior of cold-blooded killers.

Dr. Louis Schlesinger, a professor of forensic psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said this case had the hallmarks of sexually motivated crime.

“When someone is killing this way, the power and control is sexually stimulating,” Schlesinger said.

Serial killers are often romanticized in Hollywood as suave, intelligent types, but that is often not the case, Schlesinger said.

“Most are blue collar guys who are unemployed,” he said. “When they’re apprehended they’re disappointingly below average in every aspect.”

Most serial killers tend to be “normal”-seeming guys, according to Harold Schechter, a professor of Literature at Queens College who has written extensively about serial killers, both non-fiction and fiction.

“Perpetrators are often guys leading pretty conventional normal lives, with wives and children and normal jobs,” Schechter said.

Murders of prostitutes date back to Victorian times when perps were called “harlot killers,” he added.

Bruce Barket, former Nassau County assistant district attorney and criminal defense attorney, said there is another common thread among serial killers.

“One thing you can say about serial killers: they don’t stop because they convert,” he said. “They don’t find Jesus and stop. They stop because they’re caught or they die.”

Very true Mr. Barket.

Back to the NY Times article. The article goes through the history of the case to date.

It confirms that none of the 8 bodies found so far is Ms. Gilbert.

Investigators determined on Tuesday that none of the eight victims was Ms. Gilbert, the 24-year-old prostitute from Jersey City whose disappearance sparked the initial search near Ocean Parkway and Gilgo Beach.

The article mentions that police are seeming to spread out the search area.

On Tuesday, investigators focused their attention not only on the brush and grassy dunes where the bodies were found, but also on Oak Beach, a residential area a couple miles away. In the morning, a busload of investigators entered the gated community, known as the Oak Island Beach Association. Investigators have returned numerous times to the gated community since last year: It is where Ms. Gilbert was last seen.

Since they have moved part of the investigation into a residential area I’d guess that they are following leads or following up from other clues.

Another thing I find interesting is that the police are not just lumping all the bodies together. They have made statements that could lead one to wonder if they have a reason to think there 2 more than 2 killers.

The bodies of the four prostitutes discovered in December were deposited aboveground and spread over a quarter-mile. Each one had been placed roughly 500 feet from the next, and each one lay about 50 feet from the north side of Ocean Parkway. Investigators said that although they were placed there at different times, the four women were all in their 20s and that they had all advertised for clients on Craigslist.

Dominick Varrone, chief of detectives in the Suffolk County police, said that it was too early to ascertain much from the new remains; he noted that three of the four newly discovered bodies “were of a considerable distance from the original four.”

He said that the police still believe that the first four victims were “the work of a serial killer,” but that it was too soon to determine if any of the latest victims were connected to the earlier murders.

He also added that it seemed that the four latest victims had been left there at least as long as the earlier victims, who had been reported missing between July 2007 and September 2010.

There has been no more information about the bodies, no more official discussion about a connection to the Atlantic City NJ bodies. I do want to note that it does not seem that there are NJ officers assisting in NY. I guess there could be but I have not seen any in uniform nor have I seen any official reports about it.

The search for Shannan Gilbert continues as does the search for more clues. Hopefully there will not be anymore bodies.