Washington Serial Killers
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), serial killers tend to operate in defined geographical areas. Based on the Serial Killer Database, produced through a partnership of Radford University and the Florida Gulf Coast University, 24/7 Wall St. Reviewed the states with the highest numbers of documented victims of serial killers since 1900, adjusted for population.
Washington Serial Killers
Washington state and Seattle have had their share of serial killers. Here’s a look at some of the most notorious.
While the 51 total serial killings in Alaska is not an especially high number compared with the rest of the country, adjusted for historical population levels, the state leads the nation with the most serial killings. While motives range from one killer to another, data reveals certain patterns in victims across the United States. About 858 people murdered by serial killers were prostitutes. Another 325 serial killings were related to hitchhiking. According to Aamodt, prostitutes and hitchhikers are particularly vulnerable because they are putting themselves in situations with strangers. The most common circumstance surrounding serial murders in the U.S., however is a home invasion.
Washington Serial Killers 1970s
Roughly 1,500 Americans have been killed by a serial killer during a home invasion since 1900. To identify the 10 states with the most serial killings, 24/7 Wall St. Reviewed the highest numbers of serial killer victims, adjusted for population, from the Serial Killer Database, produced through a partnership of Radford University and the Florida Gulf Coast University. The database has compiled documented victims of serial killers since 1900 through September of 2014. Characteristics of the victims, including sex, age, and race, as well characteristics of the killers, including motive and decade of activity, also came from the database.
To adjust for historical population levels, we calculated the rate of serial murders per 1 million residents for each decade from 1900 through 2010 using the state’s (or territory’s) population at the end of each decade. To calculate the rate of serial killings over the whole period, we averaged each decade’s rate in every state, weighted by population.
State populations by decade came from the long-form (or decennial) Census. National populations prior to 1960 did not include Alaska or Hawaii. However, both states were included in national aggregates of serial killings. Thus, for the purposes of calculating a population-adjusted rate of serial killings prior to 1960, the populations of Hawaii and Alaska to the officially reported national populations. We also considered violent crime rates, which came from the FBI’s 2014 Uniform Crime Report. Adjusted number of serial killings per 1 million: 5.86 Total no. Of serial killings: 174 Worst decade for serial killings: 1980 Since the turn of the 20th century, there have been 174 serial murders in Oklahoma.
Compared with the state’s population, serial killings occur more frequently in Oklahoma than in all but nine other states. There were 48 documented serial killings in Oklahoma in the 1980s — the most active decade compared to other decades. This was the case in many other states as well. In 1995, Timothy McVeigh killed 168 people in the Oklahoma City bombing. While this may be one of the worst home-grown terrorist attacks the country has experienced, McVeigh’s crime does not count as serial killing.
Serial killing is separate consecutive murders, while mass murders are many killings in one incident. Adjusted number of serial killings per 1 million: 6.01 Total no. Of serial killings: 78 Worst decade for serial killings: 1980 Serial killers in Utah murdered 18 victims in the 1970s and 31 victims in the 1980s. Arthur Gary Bishop — also known as Roger Downs — was a child molester serial killer operating around that time, between 1979 and 1983.
He was accused of killing five children by beating or drowning them to death and was eventually executed by lethal injection in 1988. Some of the other serial murders recorded in Utah were committed by notorious rapist and murderer Ted Bundy, who lived in the state from 1974 until he was caught in 1975. Bundy killed at least 36 women in multiple states, although some estimate he killed many more. Adjusted number of serial killings per 1 million: 6.11 Total no.
Of serial killings: 793 Worst decade for serial killings: 1990 Nearly 800 murders in Texas have been connected with serial killers since 1900, the highest count of any state after only California. The high number of serial killings in Texas, as in California, is likely due in large part to Texas’ relatively large population.
A number of serial killers operating in Texas over the years were executed by the state — Texas is one of 19 states where the death penalty is legal, but it is by far the most likely to use it. One of the most recent Texan accused of serial killing, Tommy Lynn Sells, was put to death less than two years ago. Rafael Resendez-Ramirez, and known as the Railroad Killer, murdered at least 15 people in Kentucky, Texas, and Illinois before he surrendered in 1999. According to the FBI, travelling to other states and countries is actually unusual among serial killers carrying out their crimes. Adjusted number of serial killings per 1 million: 7.35 Total no.
Of serial killings: 276 Worst decade for serial killings: 2000 While nationwide the 1980s were the worst years for serial killings, in Louisiana it was last decade — there were more serial murders between 2000 and 2010 than in any other decade since the beginning of the 20th century. Derrick Todd Lee, a notorious serial killer in the state, was active in the early part of that decade. Also known as the Baton Rouge Serial Killer, Lee is currently awaiting execution for several murders across Louisiana. Serial murderers in Louisiana have shot and strangled at least 149 victims since 1900, the two most common killing methods. Many victims met their killer at a bar.
Between 1990 and 2010, 25 Louisiana residents were murdered by a serial killer they met at a bar. Adjusted number of serial killings per 1 million: 7.36 Total no.
Of serial killings: 162 Worst decade for serial killings: 1980 Dayton Leroy Rogers, known as the Molalla Forest Killer, is currently on death row for the stabbing murders of seven Oregon women in the late 1980s. After adjusting for population, Oregon has the sixth greatest frequency of serial murders in the country. Across the nation, serial killers have used a firearm to kill a significantly larger number of victims than any other method. In Oregon, however, serial killers have strangled victims to death more than any other killing method. Since 1900, serial killers have strangled to death 52 Oregon residents.
Despite the relative prevalence of serial killings, violent crime more generally is relatively rare in Oregon. About 232 violent crimes are reported per 100,000 state residents annually, lower than all but 10 other states.
Adjusted number of serial killings per 1 million: 7.44 Total no. Of serial killings: 277 Worst decade for serial killings: 1980 Contrary to popular belief, serial killers do not always appear to be sociopathic monsters with debilitating mental illnesses.
In fact, many crimes documented over the past century were committed by individuals leading seemingly normal lives. Robert Yates, for example, who targeted prostitutes, was a decorated U.S. Army National Guard helicopter pilot, father of five, and active community member. Kannana kanne song. He was accused of committing at least 13 murders in the Washington area during the 1990s. Gary Ridgway, who came to be known as the Green River Killer, worked as a truck painter, attended church, and is reported to have read the Bible regularly. He eventually confessed to committing 48 murders, mostly of women, over a 20-year period in the Seattle area. Adjusted number of serial killings per 1 million: 7.81 Total no.
Of serial killings: 1507 Worst decade for serial killings: 1980 Serial killing activity in the United States peaked during the 1980s. Of the 2,670 total serial murders that decade, roughly one-fifth took place in California.
However, it was two decades earlier, during the late 1960s, that one of the nation’s most notorious serial killers was active in the state. The Zodiac Killer was likely responsible for at least five murders in northern California during 1968 and 1969. In written correspondence with the police and the media, the unidentified Zodiac Killer claimed to have killed as many as 37 people. To this day, the Zodiac Killer’s identity remains a mystery.
Serial killers claim the lives of their victims in different ways, from poisoning to suffocation. In California, shootings and strangulations are the two most common methods of serial murder. Since 1900, 552 Californians died from gunshot wounds inflicted by serial killers, and 334 Californians were strangled to death at the hands of a serial killer. Adjusted number of serial killings per 1 million: 9.92 Total no. Of serial killings: 778 Worst decade for serial killings: 1980 Florida trails just two other states in terms of total serial killer victims, with 778 documented victims since 1900. As was the case across the nation, serial killers were most active during the 1980s. Florida recorded 247 murders by serial killers during that 10 year period.
While serial killings are far more uncommon than homicides and violent crimes in general, Florida, like a few other top states for historical serial killings, is not especially safe. There were 541 violent crimes and 5.8 murders per 100,000 Floridians last year, each among the 10 highest rates compared with other states. Adjusted number of serial killings per 1 million: 12.19 Total no. Of serial killings: 98 Worst decade for serial killings: 1980 Over the first half of the 20th century, only two people were killed by serial killers in Nevada.
Starting with a single victim in the 1950s and peaking at 33 victims in the 1980s, the total number of victims spiked to 80 in the second half of the century. The increased regularity of serial killings coincided with Las Vegas’s boom as a gambling destination. In the 30 years between 1970 and 2000, eight of the victims of serial killers were prostitutes. The serial murder rate is relatively high in Nevada, and the occurrence of violent crime in general is relatively common as well in the state. With roughly 636 incidents of violent crime per 100,000 residents, Nevada has the second highest violent crime rate in the country. Adjusted number of serial killings per 1 million: 15.65 Total no. Of serial killings: 51 Worst decade for serial killings: 1980 No state in the country has a higher rate of serial murders than Alaska.
As was the case in most other states, serial killers in Alaska claimed more victims in the 1980s than in any other decade. Robert Hansen, perhaps the most prolific serial killer in the state’s history, was sentenced to 461 years of prison in 1984 after confessing to the particularly gruesome murders 17 women. More than half of the 51 serial murders that occurred in Alaska took place between 1980 and 1990. Not only does Alaska have a higher incidence of serial killings than any other state, it also has the highest violent crime rate in the country.
. Residents in the wealthy Washington D.C. Suburb of Alexandria were warned today that a serial killer may be on the loose. The February shooting death of Ruthanne Lodato is being investigating in connection with two other unsolved murders that took place in similar circumstances just blocks from each other, police announced Thursday. Alexandria Police Chief Earl Cook said at a press conference that they believe Lodato's killer may be the same man suspected of killing Nancy Dunning in December 2003 and Ronald Kirby last November. Upon studying ballistics in the three murders, police identified similarities in bullet fragments, but Cook wouldn't say for certain whether the same weapon was used in all three shootings.
Famous Washington State Serial Killers
'The cases appear to be linked, but until we have evidence to point to only one suspect, we investigate all possibilities,' Cook said. Lodato, a married mother-of-three, was killed February 6 after a man knocked on her door at 11:30am and opened fire on her and a nurse caring for her mother. Lodato was rushed to the ER in a critical condition but was later pronounced dead and the caregiver who gave police a description of the man who shot her in the arm survived. All three murders took place at the same time of day after the victims presented themselves at the front door. Home shooting: Ruthanne Lodato was gunned down on the doorstep to the home she shared with her husband where she was caring for her mother along with a nurse The victims were also well-respected in their DC community. Lodato was a well-known music teacher, Kirby was a respected transportation planner and Dunning was a real estate agent who was married to then-Sheriff James Dunning. Sheriff Dunning was never ruled out as a suspect in his wife's murder, but died in 2012.
Lodato was answering the door when she was shot, but Cook wouldn't say whether that was the same case in the other two shootings. Fears: Alexandria police investigate the scene at Ruthanne Lodato's home after she was shot dead on the doorstep on Thursday So far, residents have taken the warning relatively well. Pam Beard, who lived across the street from Nancy Dunning when she was shot in 2003, says she's been locking her door in the ten years since. 'I just couldn't believe it,' Ms Beard told.
'You hear the cliche 'it doesn't happen in this neighborhood.' Well, it does.' Fellow neighbor Judy Miller she says she's not going to let the latest warning impact her life too much. 'I wouldn't let anything change the way I live.
I am not going to live in fear and I think anyone who does shouldn't,' Ms Miller said. Frightening: This is the November scene outside the home of Ronald Kirby who was shot dead inside his house still holding his glasses in a crime which is still baffling and nowhere near to being solved Police find Lodato's death strikingly similar to two other unsolved murders in the neighborhood. In November last year, 69-year-old Ronald Kirby was shot inside his home, less than one mile from Lodato's house and to date police have not arrested anyone in connection with that murder. And in 2003, real estate agent Nancy Dunning and the wife of now deceased Sheriff Jim Dunning was killed inside her Del Ray home - less than two miles from where Lodato lived. Family members of Kirby and Dunning told the that they were stunned by the killings and were struck by the fact that all three seemed to be 'random'. Liz Dunning, whose mother Nancy was shot inside her home, said that so far she had not been informed by police of any possible link between her death and Lodato's or Kirby's. 'It’s heartbreaking there is another family that is experiencing this type of loss without answers,' said Dunning, 36.
Joan Gartlan, who was a friend of Lodato said that she had on idea who would hurt Lodato, who had three daughters with her husband Norman, Lucia Lodato, 32; Gina Lodato Pelusi, 29; and Carmen Lodato, 20. 'We’re all devastated,' Gartlan said. 'She was really kind of the glue that held everything together.' In December, Ronald Kirby's wife Anne Haynes, 67, said that she was still devastated by the loss of her husband - and that they were planning on taking a tour to the Antarctic before he was shot dead inside their home. Horrifying: In 2003, real estate agent, community leader and sheriff's wife Nancy Dunning was shot dead in her home in Del Ray just two miles from Lodato and Kirby's homes in still as-yet unsolved crime 'I’ve lost the love of my life.
I’ve lost my life’s companion,' said Haynes, 67 at the time to the 'I have my memories, but that’s all I have. I loved Ron, right down to his little feet.' Father-of-two Kirby, was shot between between 11am and 12:30pm on November 11 and was found by his son on the floor of his home, holding his glasses, having been shot multiple times with an automatic weapon. Nothing was stolen and Haynes said her husband had no enemies.
And more than a decade on from the death of Nancy Dunning, law enforcement are seeing scary similarities between her death, Lodato's and Kirby's. The real estate agent who was married to then Sheriff James Dunning, was known as the 'Queen of Del Ray' for her efforts in organizing arts festivals and other events within the community. On December 5, 2003, she failed to meet her husband and son for a lunch date and when they returned home, they discovered her on the floor, shot dead.
After her death, Sheriff Dunning moved to Souh Carolina and died in 2012 - but at the time of her death, police investigators said that she was targeted by someone she knew. However, they still have no 'viable suspect' in the case.