Serial killer?

I noticed that boards.ie doesn't have a board for topics on crime. Either that or I just couldn't find it.

Anyway; I came across a blog post by chance the other day, and it got me interested. It basically led me onto a topic that was based around the possibility of a serial killer having roamed the east coast of Ireland in the 90s and early 00s. Up to around 8 women went missing during that period. I'm pretty convinced to be honest. What has me convinced that a serial killer was responsible for at least a few of these dissapearances is the fact that they all went missing in and around the Leinster area. The victimology seems the same too; with these women being in their 20s and early 30s (although I'm not completely sure everyone fits this age group.) Every serial killer has a calling card of some sort - or so it is believed; and some have noted that the fact that these women vanished "without so much as leaving a hair clip" could be seen as a calling card. Whats your opinion on this? I've started to get an interest in criminology, victimology etc, so this is an interesting case to me, esp. seeing as it's Ireland and this kind of thing is unheard of.

the_syco

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1023 would be the closest to a "crime fourm", but for this topic, I'd say this would be a good forum.

=-=

As for the calling card, a lack of any calling card been seen as a caling card, allows copycats to come into the picture.

the_syco

the_syco wrote: »

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1023 would be the closest to a "crime fourm", but for this topic, I'd say this would be a good forum.

=-=

As for the calling card, a lack of any calling card been seen as a caling card, allows copycats to come into the picture.

I was thinking that - this kind of a topic has more of social/psychological tone to it than most of the other topics on crime.

I agree with your copy cat statement. The only thing that makes me doubt it is the fact that this is Ireland and I would bet against the odds of multiple women being murdered by multiple people - all in the Leinster area - and none of those women being found. Assuming of course that they were murdered.

Interestingly enough, a man was arrested back in 2001 over the rape of a woman in Carlow Town. Two lampers happened across him as he attempted to murder this woman (placing a plastic bag over somebody's head is a sure sign of attempted murder if I ever seen one). This man (whose name I won't say on a public forum) fled the scene, went home, didn't shower or change his clothes and proceeded to make love to his wife (would point towards a sociopathic personality). He then woke up, got back into those same clothes and was apprehended by Gardai, who had been sitting outside his house waiting for a warrant. The way he carried out this rape suggests he was well rehearsed in the act. He was calm, collective and had a plan. He even told his victim the names of his two children and used the family car - which shows that he was clearly intent on murdering her from the get-go. The man worked as a freelance worker on construction sites, which meant that he had the ability to travel without anyone taking much notice. He was also into hunting, and knew forest areas in Leinster very well. This man is up for release next year. He has been questioned with the dissapearences of others, but has failed to answer any questions.

OS119

Mallory Tiny Gunshot wrote: »

Interestingly enough, a man was arrested back in 2001 over the rape of a woman in Carlow Town. Two lampers happened across him as he attempted to murder this woman (placing a plastic bag over somebody's head is a sure sign of attempted murder if I ever seen one). This man (whose name I won't say on a public forum) fled the scene, went home, didn't shower or change his clothes and proceeded to make love to his wife (would point towards a sociopathic personality). He then woke up, got back into those same clothes and was apprehended by Gardai, who had been sitting outside his house waiting for a warrant. The way he carried out this rape suggests he was well rehearsed in the act. He was calm, collective and had a plan. He even told his victim the names of his two children and used the family car - which shows that he was clearly intent on murdering her from the get-go. The man worked as a freelance worker on construction sites, which meant that he had the ability to travel without anyone taking much notice. He was also into hunting, and knew forest areas in Leinster very well. This man is up for release next year. He has been questioned with the dissapearences of others, but has failed to answer any questions.

that it astonishingly Peter Sutcliffe-esque.

use of family car, not disposing of clothes, a 'mobile' profession, loving and attentive hubby, outward (inward?) calmness up to and after the event, as well a geographic 'stomping ground'.

the number of people who 'fall off the world' is astonishing, yet even long-running (successful?) serial killers like Sutcliffe are pretty dumb in terms of repeating the same thing over and over again and then being surprised when they get caught. kind of makes you wonder if the ones who get caught are the 'low-hanging fruit'..

OS119

OS119 wrote: »

that it astonishingly Peter Sutcliffe-esque.

use of family car, not disposing of clothes, a 'mobile' profession, loving and attentive hubby, outward (inward?) calmness up to and after the event, as well a geographic 'stomping ground'.

the number of people who 'fall off the world' is astonishing, yet even long-running (successful?) serial killers like Sutcliffe are pretty dumb in terms of repeating the same thing over and over again and then being surprised when they get caught. kind of makes you wonder if the ones who get caught are the 'low-hanging fruit'..

This guy was described by people who knew him as inward. He'd often fix his gaze on women at a social event and single them out. He was supposedly involved in another sexual assault in Carlow beforehand, but this wasn't reported at the time. The two lampers knew him because of this.

Ireland doesn't even have a missings persons unit (last time I checked). We're completely open to these kind of "people." In 2003, over 3000 people in Ireland were reported missing. By the end of 2003, over 70 of that 3000 could not be traced - period. That's 70 people from a population of just over/under 4 million. How can 70 people just "vanish" like that? Humans are herd-like creatures. It's why we live in towns, cities and other populated areas. Anyone who "goes missing" usually goes to a friends place, a relative's house etc. I find it hard to believe that all of these 70 people cut all ties with everyone they ever knew and just walked off into the sunset without any bringing anything with them. It's scary, and you're dead right. If we find it difficult enough to catch the dumber and less cautious killers; how are we (esp. in Ireland) supposed to even know (let alone catch) if a serial killer is on the loose? We're completely ill-equipped for this; and our attitude usually revolves around the usual - "sure that kind of thing only happens in the States". I looked up the age group of that particular set of women that went missing and they're all around 17-25. There's a reason why external criminologists and investigators in Ireland started musing over such a possibility. A geographical pattern as well as the victimology had began to match. I should also note that this fiend, who is set to be released next year will be tagged. He's obviously a threat. Then again, anyone so calmly rehearsed in such a brutal crime should be considered a threat as long as they're breathing.

Little Acorn

This topic is really interesting. I always watch shows like CSI, Most Evil, and FBI files etc. Wire in the Blood is the best, though haven't seen it in ages. I also read all the James Patterson books,and love his character Alex Cross. The films don't do the books justice at all. Kiss the Girls, and 4 Blind Mice are some of the creepiest things I've ever read,but find the profiling in them intresting.
Lived with a girl in her final year of psychology,and she said their lecturer had same ideas as you regarding Ireland. Said government might not want to frighten people. I'd like to think they would tell us though.

Little Acorn

Little Acorn wrote: »

This topic is really interesting. I always watch shows like CSI, Most Evil, and FBI files etc. Wire in the Blood is the best, though haven't seen it in ages. I also read all the James Patterson books,and love his character Alex Cross. The films don't do the books justice at all. Kiss the Girls, and 4 Blind Mice are some of the creepiest things I've ever read,but find the profiling in them intresting.
Lived with a girl in her final year of psychology,and she said their lecturer had same ideas as you regarding Ireland. Said government might not want to frighten people. I'd like to think they would tell us though.

They wouldn't tell us because of the fact that they know we're pretty much incapable of stopping these "kind of people". Serial killers are a tough act to catch. They usually aim for victims that they don't know, which means that figuring out a motive is nearly impossible. They often carry out these murders over long-extended period of time with lengthy breaks inbetween. Usually, a murder is carried out by somebody the victim knew, which makes it that little bit easier to narrow down suspects. But how can you narrow down any suspects if the killer you're looking for is picking off people he doesn't know, and doing it every few months/years or so? The only way the Govt would have to admit to it if it became blindingly obvious, to the point that people are going missing/turning up dead within days of each other.

Nodin

Mallory Tiny Gunshot wrote: »

Interestingly enough, a man was arrested back in 2001 over the rape of a woman in Carlow Town(...snip...)questions.

I remember that one. She was lucky.

Theres another individual currently inside for murder who was mentioned as a 'person of interest' into those dissappearances.
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/suspect-serving-life-for-double-murder-76432.html

Nodin

Nodin wrote: »

I remember that one. She was lucky.

Theres another individual currently inside for murder who was mentioned as a 'person of interest' into those dissappearances.
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/suspect-serving-life-for-double-murder-76432.html

I would doubt that he was behind those dissappearances. He doesn't seem like the kind of guy that could be methodical enough to abduct women and then "make them dissapear" so easily. Also, the women who dissapeared were supposedly out walking (Jo Jo Dullard was hitchhiking) at the time; whereas this guy seemed to like breaking into houses to carry out these murders. He could have been on a power trip; him getting off on the fact that he could turn a safe place such as a person's home into his very own killing den; using their knife to do the job too. He seems rash and careless, which would suggest that he isn't the type of guy who's disciplined enough to pick women off the side of the road.

giddybootz

Mallory Tiny Gunshot wrote: »

Interestingly enough, a man was arrested back in 2001 over the rape of a woman in Carlow Town.

Yeah I remember reading about this and being fasinated! When I was a primary school kid I really wanted to grow up, move to America and become a FBI agent :rolleyes: I was fascinated about serial killers and how their minds work.

I still am...To me it is like they live in an area of their brain that 'normal' peole don't access. Scientists still know relatively little about why humans only use certain parts of their brains. Perhaps serial killers use a differant bit?

Ireland has 'caught up' to the States in virtually every aspect so it seems almost niave to assume we wouln't get at least one serial killer.

My great uncle was one of the founders of forensic investigation here in Ireland and I wish he was still around to chat to about these things.

anonymous_joe

I seem to recall from somewhere that there's meant to be roughly 1 potential/likely serial killer per million people.

Keep in mind that such things are so rare as to be nearly beyond belief. The vast vast vast majority of murders are people who know each other, family, friends, spouses, etc, or crime related.

OS119

anonymous_joe wrote: »

I seem to recall from somewhere that there's meant to be roughly 1 potential/likely serial killer per million people.

Keep in mind that such things are so rare as to be nearly beyond belief. The vast vast vast majority of murders are people who know each other, family, friends, spouses, etc, or crime related.

we believe that serial killers are very rare because we catch very few of them - the problem however is that far more people disappear off the face of the earth (according to Mallory Tiny Gunshot, in 2003 70 people in Ireland fell off the planet - no trace of them was ever found, anywhere) than can be accounted for by totting up the totals of domestic and known serial killers.

now some of those 70 going to be still alive, they've done a bunk with the intention of not being found - but because doing that is harder than you'd think, its not an unreasonable supposition that a good proportion of them were victims of killers we know nothing about.