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In article <rsav9p$2b5a$21@neodome.net>
forging asshole <governor.swill@gmail.com> wrote:

About two thousand serial killers are on the loose, hunting for
fresh victims all across the country.

That’s the word from California cold-case ace Paul Holes, who
nailed notorious Golden State Killer Joseph James DeAngelo in
2016 after a 40-year manhunt.

He believes many more like him are still out there.

“I’ve seen statistics that some two thousand serial killers are
operating in the United States today,” writes the acclaimed
criminalist in “Unmasked: My Life Solving America’s Cold Cases,”
out now, in which he chronicles his career-long pursuit of
DeAngelo.

“It’s a rough estimate, for sure, but it’s absolutely a
realistic figure,” Holes told The Post.

He said murderers go after the marginalized — particularly
prostitutes, drug addicts and the homeless — relatively easy
marks as they tend to lose touch with family and friends and
might have a history of disappearing for extended periods of
time.

“Often these predators are preying on people whose lives have
spiraled down, so when they go missing, no one is really paying
attention,” he said. “Killers are hiding behind the opioid
crisis.”

Widespread use of heroin, oxycodone and fentanyl provides serial
slayers with a “smokescreen,” Holes said, allowing them to choke
or suffocate victims with less violence than would be needed to
kill the fully conscious — and to fool investigators, who
wrongly assume that drugs are to blame.

“If the manner of killing is a softer manual strangulation,
where the victim is intoxicated and barely conscious, it doesn’t
take much to kill them,” he told The Post.

“Pathologists can write off these cases too fast: ‘This is an
OD.’ They’re not paying attention to a small bruise around the
neck, especially if the investigator is saying, ‘Let’s kiss this
off and get back to the bona fide homicides.’ “

Holes pointed to the example of Samuel Little, who confessed to
murdering 93 women between 1970 and 2012, making him the most
prolific serial killer in US history. Some he killed were sex
workers and drug users.

“He would strangle his victims and command them to swallow,” he
said. “You could see he’s doing this enough times to where they
are unconscious and the amount of physical evidence is very
subtle. It makes it difficult for the experts to determine what
exactly happened.”

A good number of serial killers are believed to be truckers like
the “Happy Face Killer” Keith Jesperson — long-haul drivers who
target prostitutes and take advantage of being on the road for
weeks at a time to hide their crimes.

“They can work a circuit,” Holes said. “Picking up sex workers
is something that has been seen over and over again. ‘Hey, you
need a ride?’ And the victim gets in their vehicle and they’re
done.”

The creation of the FBI’s Highway Serial Killings Initiative in
2009 underscores the pervasiveness of truck-driving predators,
he said. “It’s a huge aspect.”

Years ago killers like DeAngelo — a terrifying menace who raped
13 and killed 50 and sometimes taunted his victims afterward —
didn’t have to worry as much about disguising their whereabouts.

“Back in the day you’d find them working in any type of
community, though not necessarily living there. In the
distribution of crimes you might see a void area — so maybe
that’s where he lives,” said Holes.

“In the 1970s you had serial killers entering houses or picking
up hitchhikers. It was very obvious that something had occurred.
But as society adjusted to public security threats —
surveillance systems, for example — the predator tries to
minimize the risks to himself. They’re using technology to lure
and isolate victims through things like online sex work. They’re
no longer standing around in playgrounds.”

DeAngelo pounced on his victims while they slept in their homes,
shining a flashlight in their faces so they couldn’t see him. He
wore gloves, tied up and blindfolded his targets — typically
couples — and carefully mapped out escape routes.

He went four decades before being identified by Holes as a
suspect in a rape and killing spree that began in 1974. The
crime fighter discovered him using advanced DNA mapping and a
genealogy researcher.

Two recent cases have captured his attention, Holes said: The
Delphi slayings in Indiana — “that’s a serial predator, somebody
who needs to be caught” — and the Gilgo Beach murders on Long
Island, an ongoing mystery involving sex workers and others who
were strangled and dumped near the ocean.

“I think most of those cases are related,” said Holes, referring
to Gilgo.

He said serial killers as a group often blend in, leading
ordinary lives in seemingly safe communities.

“Most are not loners or outcasts,” he writes.

“They can and do function as your friendly next-door neighbor.
They know that what they are doing is twisted, and they can stop
for periods of time, but their urge to kill is stronger than the
fear of getting caught.”

https://nypost.com/2022/04/30/the-us-has-2000-serial-killers- says-man-who-caught-golden-state-killer/

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