PROFILE OF A CHILD KILLER
From a study of 883 cases where the murderer was caught and convicted. Percentages based strictly on the cases researched in this study.
He lives on the edge of society, and is socially retarded. “Social marginals” is the term used for him.
He lives on the edge of society, and is socially retarded. “Social marginals” is the term used for him.
- I say “him” because child killers are almost 100% male.
- His average age is 27.8 years old.
- 69.8% are white, 19.1 black,
- He is usually unmarried and unattached at the time of the murder.
- 17.1% of child killers live alone, and 33.2% live with their parents.
- He usually either lives in the neighborhood where the abduction takes place or frequents that area during his everyday activities.
- 1/2 of child killers are unemployed or work in unskilled or semi-skilled jobs.
- 2/3 of child killers have prior arrests for violent crimes. 1/2 of those violent crimes were committed against children.
- The child killer’s most frequent past crime is sexual in nature, and the primary motive for a child abduction is sexual.
- The use of pornography by killers as a trigger to murder has increased since the original study.
- The child is usually abducted in a place very close to where he/she was last seen.
- The child killer usually takes the child more than 1/4 mile from where he was abducted,
- but the distance between the murder site and where the body is later dumped is less than 199 feet in most cases.
- 23.7 returned to the place they dumped the body
- 9.7 contacted the victim’s family
- 10% of the child killers interjected themselves into the actual murder investigation.
- In the initial study, the name of the killer was almost always in police files within the first week. When the supplemental cases were studied, that proved to no longer be the case. (does that mean the killers are getting smarter?)
- Police usually have contact with the killer before he becomes a primary suspect.