Midwest Serial Killer?

In Indiana and Ohio not so long ago, a respectable business and family man, Herb Baumeister, committed suicide after skeletal remains of young men were discovered in the back woods of his spacious rural property. Turned out he had asphyxiated some unknown number of such, picked up from gay clubs and taken to remote spots for thrills. No one knows how many he killed. There were quite a number of bodies found along an interstate between his home and (I think it was) Columbus, OH, murders never solved, but very similar to Baumeister's known ones. Serial killers remain among the most difficult of criminals to detect and catch, partly because, like Ted Bundy, Ed Kemper, and Baumeister, they are smart and enjoy their hobby. They often enjoy the game-playing aspects of it, like Dennis Rader, the infamous BTK killer of Wichita, Kansas. Nearly all are sociopathic narcissists who regard themselves as better than all other humans, and find the game-playing with authorities part of the thrill. Quite possibly someone else is out there salivating over these news reports at this very moment.

As an aside, if anyone wishes to watch a really good, constructively disturbing movie relating to this phenomenon, rent from your local video store The Minus Man, starring Owen Wilson, Brian Cox, Sheryl Crow, Dennis Haysbert and Dwight Yoakam.

caw

I'm following the ongoing case of the UK serial killer on the loose. Five bodies of naked young women, all prostitutes, dumped in the last two weeks or so, and all withing a six mile radius. the thinking is he killed them somewhere else and then disposed of their remains so that the cops could easily find them. Some profilers are suggesting the short time span between the victims turning up suggests that rather than this being someone who has recently flipped, he's actually losing control as he comes to the end of his killing spree, and may well have killed on many previous occasions. A bit like Bundy when he finally lost it and went on a slaugher fest at the University rooms.

A macabre detail to this case was that one of the girls was interviewed on TV after the first couple of victims turned up. She was asked why she was still on the streets when this man was on the loose, and responded that although she was terrified she needed the money. A few days later her body was found near where the others were discovered.

BottomlessCup said:

http://www.madison.com/tct/news/index.php?ntid=110693&ntpid=4

The police are insisting that these deaths are accidents, including eight deaths in La Crosse alone (population = 51,000).

I think their opinion would be different if these were fit, young women instead. The cops would be all over it. Wisconsin cops returned one of Jeffrey Dahmer's naked, pleading victims to his home - "a lover's quarrel." Which undoubtedly wouldn't have happened if it was a woman. Are we more willing to view women as victims?

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Interesting point. I'm not going to say that it's definitely a serial, but police probably would be leaning more toward that theory were the victims women.

It may not be so mush based on gender as respectability. The Vancouver pig farm serial killer clocked up an estimated forty victims depite one of them escaping and telling the cops part way through--but they were all prostitutes or drug addicts so the investigation was only broken when the press got involved.

blacbird said:

As an aside, if anyone wishes to watch a really good, constructively disturbing movie relating to this phenomenon, rent from your local video store The Minus Man, starring Owen Wilson, Brian Cox, Sheryl Crow, Dennis Haysbert and Dwight Yoakam.

caw

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disturbing film, indeed.

you think you have problems? There's a dyslexic Santa going around Suffolk leaving prossies under the trees.

This writer always tells all her underaged and pros friends to be careful this time of year. You should too.

Police are urging anyone in Ipswhich who wants sex before Christmas to hurry up while stocks last.