What is a serial killer and what makes them kill? There are many answers to this question. Although only a hand full of serial killers make the national news every year. The FBI reports that there are as many as 35 to 50 serial killers in the United States at any given time. Since the year 1800 there have been at least 150-documented cases of serial killers in the United States alone. It is estimated that of the 7,000 murders in the U.S. every year about 120 are by serial killers. World wide it is estimated that there are as many as 6,000 serial killer victims per year. In order to be considered a serial killer a person must kill three to four people with brief intervals between the murders. These killers kill over a period of days, weeks, months, even years. They have a "cooling off" period which means they go through periods of times where they do not even kill. Most serial killers pick people at random to kill. The murders of serial killers are all linked in at least one way such as the manner in which they are committed, and the characteristics of the victims. A serial killer works alone except in very rare cases, and they continuously kill unless they are made

Serial killers feel that they must have control over their victims. They often want to feel as if they own the person they are going to kill. Some serial killers humiliate their victims to show their control over them.

Prostitutes and hitchhikers are most commonly the victims of serial killers. These groups of people are easy targets. They can fulfill the sexual void in the serial killers life. These victims are the least likely to be missed by others until a good deal of time has passed.

Dahmer killed seventeen males. He said that he had no hatred for his victims, he just wanted to control them. Dahmer killed his first victim just after he graduated high school. His victim was Steven Hicks. He was hitchhiking one night when Jeffrey picked him up. They went to Jeffrey's house where they drank beer and had sex. Steven wanted to leave, but Jeffrey didn't want him to. Dahmer struck Steven in the head with a barbell and then choked him to death with it. Dahmer then cut open Steven's body to examine it.

Explanations as to why a serial killer kills have been given. Some say it is

John Gacy was married before this whole ordeal. His wife shortly after divorced him. He then moved from Iowa to Des Plaines, Illinois. He got remarried, and started a construction business, which he ran from his home. To most people John seemed like an all around good guy. He was portrayed as a caring and giving man. If you had talked to his wife or co-workers on the other hand, you would have gotten a totally different story. They said that he was mean and fought with them constantly. In 1976 his second wife also left him. Gacy, from then on was quite regularly seen in what was known as the homosexual prostitute area of town.

and terrifying names. What do they have in common? They are the names of notorious serial killers whose stories have been heard by almost everybody.

Gacy was convicted and sentenced to die in 1980. Over ten years later he was finally put to death by lethal injection.

Dahmer would keep the bodies of his victims for many days. He would put them in a large freezer to keep them fresh. He would often take pictures of their bodies, some half dissected with their organs hanging out. He decided that he wanted to keep the bodies longer, so he began a drilling technique. This technique involved putting holes in their heads and then putting acid in their frontal lobes.

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