My Favorite Crime Book Club discussion
Your "Favorite" Serial Killer
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Miranda
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May 14, 2020 06:29AM
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That's a big question because they're all interesting in different ways. I think Israel Keyes has been one of the most fascinating ones because he had no criminal run ins with law enforcement and traditionally, that seems to be the case. He was so meticulous and thought out (assuming all the things he said were truthful). Maybe I'm also most fascinated with him because I knew so little about him before reading the book, American Predator.BTK is also fascinating because he was dormant for so many years (as far as we know). I think it's usually assumed that when a serial killer is dormant it is due to an incarceration or death, but that was not the case with him. He's also interesting because some serial killers I've read about struggle with maintaining "normal" relationships, or romantic relationships but he was married with children. I think his wife had discovered him once when he had tied himself up, but for the most part it appears he was able to maintain social relationships.
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Knowledge gaps aside, I tend to be the most fascinated by cult leaders like Charles Manson and Jim Jones. The true crime book that really pulled me in first was Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders, which I read with a friends' book club and then followed up with a fictionalized version of the Manson murders: The Girls. And then when I began leading the My Favorite Crime Book Club, we started with The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple, and it is still one of my favorites that we've read.
One of the things about cult leaders that is so interesting to me is that instead of hiding from society like many serial killers do to be able to fly under the radar, these cult leaders are charismatic people who want all the attention they can get. And because they get so many people to fall in line with their vision, they can get away with a lot before the *expletive* hits the fan.
I am fascinated by Fred and Rosemary West, married serial killers! I think (?) partner serial killers are pretty rare and this duo got away with it for over 30 years. They were arrested in 1992 for the murder of their daughter. When the police started digging in the West's back garden for her remains, Fred confessed and directed investigators to a different part of the yard but before they stopped digging a thigh bone was uncovered. This led to the discover of other victims. There are several books about them. I have had Fred & Rose on my TBR pile for a while.
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OMG that is a wild story! Like Bonnie & Clyde except actually evil.
Miranda wrote: "Emily wrote: "I am fascinated by Fred and Rosemary West, married serial killers! I think (?) partner serial killers are pretty rare and this duo got away with it for over 30 years. They were arrest..."So evil. Reading about their crimes is horrifying but the psychology behind it is so weird and fascinating. The fact that killing wasn't the motivation for their crimes it was the torture part. They didn't commit any known murders from 1979-1987 and then none after that (that we know of). The psychology of the case is so interesting but disturbing.
That’s crazy! I wonder if independently of each other they would have both still become serial killers. Or was it in their marriage they found their *common interests*
I am going to have to look up this story- did the guy direct police to his daughters body hoping to avoid them digging up the graves of their other victims?
Hannah wrote: "That’s crazy! I wonder if independently of each other they would have both still become serial killers. Or was it in their marriage they found their *common interests*
I am going to have to look..."
Yes! They buried a bunch of people in their basement (basement are so creepy!!!) and in their back garden. They would then build parts of the house over those sections. One of the burial sites had a bathroom built over it. And the section where his daughter was buried they put a bbq and picnic table area.
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I wonder if independently of each other they would have both still become serial killers. Or was it in their marriage they found their *common interests*
I am going ..."
That is so messed up. They had picnics above their dead daughter's body.
D:
My Favorite Crime Book Club
Books mentioned in this topic
Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders (other topics)Fred & Rose (other topics)
The Girls (other topics)
The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple (other topics)
