The Killers among Us: An Examination of Serial Murder and Its Investigation - Softcover

Egger, Steven A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0138947341 ISBN 13: 9780138947347

Publisher: Pearson Education (US), 1997

Synopsis

This book brings together all of what we know, what we think we know, and what we don't know about the horrific violence of serial murder.Part I introduces the subject of serial murder and presents the "six myths" of serial murder that interfere with understanding and successful investigation. Part II presents detailed case studies of four infamous serial killers, John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, Kenneth Bianchi and Henry Lee Lucas. Part III focuses on the investigation of serial murder, showing the problems law enforcement faces -- notably "linkage blindness," the inability of unwillingness of police agencies to share information on unsolved murders. This seciton includes an extensive discussion of fourteen different police responses to serial murder. Finally, the author -- a noted criminologist and former homicide investigator -- discusses the future of serial murder and its investigation.Students of criminology, psychology and sociology; true crime buffs; mystery writers and readers; journalists; skeptics; and criminal justice professionals.

About this title

About the Author:

Steven A. Egger is professor of Criminal justice at the University of Illinois at Springfield. He was formerly interim dean of the School of Health and Human Services at the University of Illinois. He was project director of the Homicide Assessment and Lead Tracking System (HALT) for the state of New York. HALT, which was the first statewide computerized system to track and identify serial murderers, has become the model for the development of a number of other statewide systems.

Dr. Egger has been conducting research on serial murder since 1983. He holds B.S. and M.S. degrees from the School of Criminal Justice, Michigan State University. He has a Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from Sam Houston State University, where he completed the first dissertation on serial murder in the world. He has worked as a police officer, homicide investigator, police consultant, and law enforcement academy director. His other research interests include the epistemology of criminal investigation, police interagency networking, and the future predator.

He is the author of Serial Murder: An Elusive Phenomenon (Praeger, 1990), editor of a series of monographs entitled Criminology and Crime Control Policy for Praeger, and series editor of a series entitled Issues in Criminal Justice Controversy, under contract to Allyn and Bacon. He has lectured on serial murder in England, Canada, the Netherlands, and Spain.

Dr. Egger and his wife, Kim, are currently working on an encyclopedia of serial murder, which will include entries on over seven hundred serial killers.

Kim A. Egger studied at Purdue University and has a B.S. in Psychology from the University of Illinois at Springfield. She is currently pursuing a master's degree in Law and Psychology. She has co-authored, with Steven Egger, a chapter on the victims of serial murder in a monograph on victimology. For the past ten years she has been developing a database on serial killers, which currently holds information on 1,246 serial murderers. She has lectured at Purdue University, the University of Illinois at Springfield, and Brazosport College, Texas.

Don Larsen is a detective with the Springfield, Illinois, -Police Department. He holds a B.S. in Criminal Justice from the University of Illinois at Springfield.

Linda Kreuger was formerly a part-time patrol officer with the Sangamon County Sheriff's Office. She is currently employed in Rehabilitation Administration for the state of Illinois. She holds a master's degree in Rehabilitation from Southern Illinois University.

Both Don and Linda were previously enrolled in Steven Egger's course on serial murder at the University of Illinois at Springfield.

From the Back Cover:

Definition of a Serial Killer: A series of two or more murders, committed as separate events usually, but not a/ways, by one offender acting alone. The crimes may occur over a time ranging from hours to years. Quite often the motive is psychological, and the offender's behavior and the physical evidence observed at the scene will reflect sadistic and sexual overtones.
– The Definition of a Serial Killer (Brooks et al., 1988)

This book takes the reader into the complex world of serial killers by providing a detailed account of seven up-to-date cases, the myths surrounding serial murderers and the reasons why they continue to kill, the seven major problems of investigating a serial murder, and an analysis of the fourteen different law enforcement agencies who respond to a serial murder.

New to the second edition:

• An expanded chapter on how the media treats the phenomenon of serial murder
• An essay on victimology
• An expanded chapter on the victims of serial killers
• Three new cases
• Numerous examples of serial killers, both on a national and international basis
• A discussion on the concept of "the less dead" or how victims of serial killers are devalued

About this edition

• Publisher: Pearson Education (US)
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0138947341
• ISBN 13: 9780138947347
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 316