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zorbathegrate t1_j9l5gsq wrote

Reply to comment by Nanarcho_Cumianist in Murder of Vermont woman solved after more than 50 years using DNA found on a cigarette and the victim's clothing | CNN by flowerhoney10

Serial killers never retire, they just slow down

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palcatraz t1_j9m1iy7 wrote

They absolutely retire sometimes.

The problem is that the ones that are continuously compelled to keep killing are far more likely to get caught than the ones that are able to have some control and go dormant. All our data was based on the ones that got caught, so for a long time, that was our understanding.

Now with genetic genealogy helping up solve some long-time unsolved cases, we actually learned that serial killers do sometimes just stop killing. The Golden State Killer famously did. After '86, he didn't commit any more killings. At that point, he was in his forties, so it wasn't even that he stopped killing due to an advanced age. Dennis Radar (BTK) committed his last murder in '91, but wasn't caught until 2005

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HeySlimIJustDrankA5 t1_j9naroq wrote

To be fair, Dennis played himself because he got egotistical. I have no doubt he would’ve been caught at a later date because of DNA, but him sending a floppy disk to the police after asking them if they couldn’t trace it is sheer stupidity on Rader’s part. That (unfortunately still living) jackass thinks he’s too smart for his own good.

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