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Serial murder is a genre of crime that has received a great deal of media and academic attention, yet, serial murder committed by women has only begun to garner a portion of this attention within the last 15 years. This study examines the reliability of Kelleher and Kelleher's classification rubric, the only classification system developed for female serial murderers, as well as considering Hickey's classification of serial offenders by location. Other variables associated with homicide research have also been examined to determine their roles in both these crimes and classifying offenders. The current research will demonstrate that offender motivation is not an ideal basis for the classification of female serial murderers, who tend to defy simple or singular classification within existing typologies. The other variables analysed indicate that victim–offender relationship and victim approach are important to understanding these female offenders and their crimes, as well as the possible development of more accurate classification systems. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This study examined 733 child abduction murders (CAMs) occurring from 1968 to 2002 to explore the influence of forensic evidence on case solvability in CAM investigations. It was hypothesized that the presence of forensic evidence connecting the offender to the crime would enhance case solvability in murder investigations of abducted children. This study examined the impact of CAM of different types of forensic evidence and the impact of the summed total of forensic evidence items on case solvability by controlling for victim age, victim race, victim gender, and victim-offender relationship. Time and distance theoretical predictors were also included. Binomial logistic regression models were used to determine whether forensic evidence was a critical solvability factor in murder investigations of abducted children. This research indicated that, while forensic evidence increased case solvability, the impact of forensic evidence on solvability was not as important as other solvability factors examined. Language: en

Serial murderers are rare offenders, and this, coupled with challenges to accessing data about them, poses a significant challenge to empirical investigation. It is also true that female serial murderers are thought to be rarer than their male counterparts and have often been excluded from being labeled “serial murderers” due to narrowly constructed definitions. Thus, female serial murderers are an even more elusive population to study. The results of this exploratory analysis, using newspaper articles to gather data about the crimes of a subset of 10 female serial murderers in the United States, suggest that not only are these women different from men who commit serial murder but also that the scant information published about these rare offenders may have underestimated the female serial murderer in terms of both offender and offense characteristics.

Empirical studies of child abduction murder investigations are lacking. Accordingly, an empirical analysis of the effect of time and distance relationships on case solvability in child abduction murders (N=735) was conducted. The murders occurred across the United States from 1968 to 2002. Murder incident components examined were: victim last seen site, initial contact site, murder site, and body recovery site. Time and distance intervals between component pairings were also examined. Descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate analyses were performed to determine if information relating to time and distance intervals between components were critical solvability factors. Results show that information about time and distance increases case solvability. Results also demonstrate that time and distance relationships contribute uniquely to case solvability in murders of abducted children. Findings also indicate that additional factors such as type of forensic evidence, investigative resources, or actions by first responders, may be critical to case solvability. Language: en

A number of females, commonly recognized as 11 victims, were murdered in separate events in Whitechapel, London between 1888 and 1891. An evaluation of the murders revealed that six of those murders were linked by a number of distinct, personal signature characteristics, including picquerism, overkill, incapacitation, domination and control, open and displayed, unusual body position, sexual degradation, mutilation, organ harvesting, specific areas of attack, preplanning and organization, and a combination of signature features. The signature characteristics observed in these infamous Jack the Ripper murders were compared to a 1981‐1995 cohort of 3359 homicide cases from Washington State’s HITS database. The analysis revealed that the signature displayed in six of the Whitechapel murders was extremely rare. There were only six records of female victims, one a prostitute, with probed, explored, or mutilated body cavities. There were only two cases, both females who were not prostitutes, where the body was left in an unusual position and body cavities were explored, probed, or mutilated. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The act of leaving a victim's body in an unusual position is a conscious criminal action by an offender to thwart an investigation, shock the finder and investigators of the crime scene, or give perverted pleasure to the killer. The unusual position concepts of posing and staging a murder victim have been documented thoroughly and have been accepted by the courts as a definable phenomenon. One staging case and one posing case are outlined and reveal characteristics of those homicides. From the Washington State Attorney General's Homicide Investigation and Tracking System's database on murder covering the years 1981-2000 (a total of 5,224 cases), the relative frequency of unusual body dispositions is revealed as a very rare occurrence. Only 1.3% of victims are left in an unusual position, with 0.3% being posed and 0.1% being staged. The characteristics of these types of murders also set them apart: compared to all other murders, in staged murders the victims and killers are, on average, older. All victims and offenders in the staged murders are white, with victims being disproportionately white in murders with any kind of unusual body disposition. Likewise, females stand out as victims when the body is posed, staged, or left in other unusual positions. Whereas posed bodies are more likely to include sexual assault, often in serial murders, there is no evidence of either in the staged cases. Lastly, when a body is left in an unusual position, binding is more likely, as well as the use of more "hands on" means of killing the victim, such as stabbing or cutting weapons, bludgeons, ligatures, or hands and feet.

Generally, murder classifications have failed to be useful for investigators in identifying perpetrators of murders. Based on the experience of the authors, this article extends the definitions of four previously recognized rape-offender typologies (power-assertive, power- reassurance, anger-retaliatory, and anger-excitation) into classifications for sexually oriented killers. These types of murderers and their crime scenes are described through the dynamics of their behaviors, homicidal patterns, and suspect profiles. Each typology is followed by an actual case example that fits that particular type of killer. By identifying crime scene and behavioral factors of these killers, the homicide investigator will be more equipped to process murder scenes, prioritize leads, and apprehend killers. Unlike earlier efforts at crime scene classification, the present work addresses the behaviors, motivational continuum, and the effects of experiential learning by the perpetrators. The relative frequency of the four types within a population of murderers at the Michigan State Penitentiary is revealed.

This study examined 733 child abduction murders (CAMs) occurring from 1968 to 2002 to explore the influence of forensic evidence on case solvability in CAM investigations. It was hypothesized that the presence of forensic evidence connecting the offender to the crime would enhance case solvability in murder investigations of abducted children. This study examined the impact of CAM of different types of forensic evidence and the impact of the summed total of forensic evidence items on case solvability by controlling for victim age, victim race, victim gender, and victim-offender relationship. Time and distance theoretical predictors were also included. Binomial logistic regression models were used to determine whether forensic evidence was a critical solvability factor in murder investigations of abducted children. This research indicated that, while forensic evidence increased case solvability, the impact of forensic evidence on solvability was not as important as other solvability factors examined.

The act of leaving a victim's body in an unusual position is a conscious criminal action by an offender to thwart an investigation, shock the finder and investigators of the crime scene, or give perverted pleasure to the killer. The unusual position concepts of posing and staging a murder victim have been documented thoroughly and have been accepted by the courts as a definable phenomenon. One staging case and one posing case are outlined and reveal characteristics of those homicides. From the Washington State Attorney General's Homicide Investigation and Tracking System's database on murder covering the years 1981-2000 (a total of 5,224 cases), the relative frequency of unusual body dispositions is revealed as a very rare occurrence. Only 1.3% of victims are left in an unusual position, with 0.3% being posed and 0.1% being staged. The characteristics of these types of murders also set them apart: compared to all other murders, in staged murders the victims and killers are, on average, older. All victims and offenders in the staged murders are white, with victims being disproportionately white in murders with any kind of unusual body disposition. Likewise, females stand out as victims when the body is posed, staged, or left in other unusual positions. Whereas posed bodies are more likely to include sexual assault, often in serial murders, there is no evidence of either in the staged cases. Lastly, when a body is left in an unusual position, binding is more likely, as well as the use of more "hands on" means of killing the victim, such as stabbing or cutting weapons, bludgeons, ligatures, or hands and feet.

Three female patrons of singles bars were murdered in separate events in Bellevue, Washington in 1990 within sixty-seven days of each other. An evaluation of those murders revealed that all the murders were linked by a distinct personal "signature" or "calling card" left by the killer. As reported in the literature, the modus operandi of a killer frequently changes from one murder to the next and is different from the killer's signature, which is a permanent psychological imprint at each scene. The murder cases reported here demonstrate an elaborate signature of one killer who engaged in a rare personalization of his necrophilic fantasies by posing, openly displaying, and sexually inserting foreign objects into each one of three victims' bodies.

Two females, Denean Worms and Brenda Hughes, were murdered in separate events in Cranbrook, British Columbia in 1984 within three months of each other. Terrence Wayne Burlingham was found guilty of both murders and he appealed. The Supreme Court of Canada granted Burlingham a new trial in the Worms case, but no evidence from Burlingham's confession nor the murder weapon could be used. The Crown counsel requested an evaluation of the two murders to determine if they were committed by the same person. The analyses of those murders revealed that they were linked by a personal "signature" of the killer. The murder cases reported here demonstrate a control-oriented signature. The killer used a .410 shotgun as his method of control and death, engaged in overkill of each victim by shooting them twice in the head, and left the victims in sexually degrading positions. Another signature feature was the absence of typical wounds to the victims which would be expected from a serial sex offender. All of these characteristics, in combination, accounted for this killer's personal expression.