Arts and Entertainment Network. Serial Killers: Profiling the Criminal Mind. New York: A&E Entertainment Networks, 1993-1997, VHS, 4 vols., 50 min. each. Call Number: HV 6515 .S48 1993 A/V
Abstract: Dahmer, Gacy, Manson--these names have earned their place among America's most notorious cultural icons. America is fascinated by its serial killers--who they are, what they've done, and how they got away with it for so long. Creating the mental picture of these killers is the job of criminal specialists known as profilers, people who analyze and dissect the intricate motives that fuel these frighteningly intelligent stalkers. In this four-part A&E series, former FBI Agent John Douglas walks you through up-close case studies of a few of the most savage men in the history of law enforcement. The first volume looks at the rash of murders that took place between the late 1970s and early 1980s in Atlanta. The horrific murder spree of Wayne Williams provided an opportunity for the FBI to legitimize and bring criminal profiling to the forefront of serial-killer investigations. The second volume on Jeffrey Dahmer shows how the child of a college professor, raised in an affluent neighborhood in Ohio, could turn into a man obsessed with murder, molestation, dissection, and the consumption of his victims. The third volume looks at John Wayne Gacy, a successful business and family man by day; by night, he transformed into a cruising, child molesting, "rope trick" strangling clown. When Gacy was finally pinned for the murder of a teenage boy, the police had no idea of the horrors that lay under the Gacy residence. The authorities ended up uncovering a cemetery of 22 victims under his house. The fourth volume looks at the best known of the killers, Charles Manson. It tells of Manson's childhood, his life behind bars, and the development and dynamics of his cult-like "Family," and follows the trial that captivated a nation.

Baker, Thomas E. "Hunting Serial Killers: Understanding and Apprehending America's Most Dangerous Criminals." Law and Order (May 2001): pp. 43-48.
Abstract: Recreational, hedonistic, or lust serial killers can be grouped because of similar attributes. A significant obstacle to recreational homicide investigation remains police cross-jurisdictional coordination. There is the tendency for investigators to define these crimes as isolated events and not recognize possibly related serial homicides. Crime analysis, mapping software, scientific evidence and signature clues carefully combined with a criminal profile may assist in the timely identification of possible suspects. This article profiles the personalities and criminal methods of serial killers, followed by suggestions for investigating the crimes of such killers.

Bryjak, George J. "The Horror of Serial Killers." The San Diego Union-Tribune (San Diego, CA), October 24, 2002, B-11. Notes: Available full-text on Lexis-Nexis database.
Abstract: While most Americans could name half a dozen serial killers, or are familiar with their media tags ("Son of Sam," the "Hillside Strangler," the "Night Stalker," and now the "Serial Sniper"), few individuals have more than superficial knowledge about the fundamental issues surrounding these criminals. How many serial killers are there in the United States? How many people do they kill? How do these predators choose their victims? And, perhaps the most important question, why do they kill? This article answers all of these questions.

Cullen, Robert. The Killer Department: Detective Viktor Burakov's Eight-Year Hunt for the Most Savage Serial Killer in Russian History. New York: Ivy Books, 1993. Call Number: HV 6535 .R942R673 1993
Abstract: The first victim was a 13-year-old girl. Her remains were found in the woods outside Rostov-on-Don in 1982. There would be 52 more bodies over the next 8 years, all savagely slashed and sexually mutilated. It became the personal mission of Rostov detective Viktor Burakov to track down this human monster. Here is the chilling true story of the manhunt for the most frighteningly brutal serial killer of modern times. As the killer stalked train stations for new young prey, Detective Burakov stalked him, while an archaic Soviet system put every obstacle in his way. Overwhelmed by the sheer horror of the killer's deeds and haunted by the specters of the dead, Burakov broke the rules of Soviet police work: he secretly asked a psychiatrist to create a psychological profile of the killer, which allowed Burakov to get inside the mind of the world's most dangerous man.

Douglas, John and Mark Olshaker. Unabomber: On the Trail of America's Most-Wanted Serial Killer. New York: Pocket Books, 1996. Call Number: HV 6432.5 .U53D69 1996
Abstract: When Federal Agents raided a remote Montana cabin to apprehend Theodore J. Kaczynski, the alleged Unabomber, they discovered what amounted to a one-room bomb factory. Now John Douglas, the former FBI unit chief who originated the Unabomber profile, reveals the remarkable inside story behind the Bureau's 18-year manhunt, the elusive Kaczynski, and his dramatic arrest. Douglas' expert knowledge and firsthand experience bring all aspects of this fascinating case to vivid life: the bomber's first calculated, daring attempts to severely injure his targets; his chilling turn to murder; the FBI's frustrating attempts to build an investigation; the controversy surrounding the Unabomber's manifesto; and the unexpected twists that brought the FBI to the outskirts of Lincoln, Montana. Go behind the scenes of one of the most painstaking, dangerous--and secretive--FBI investigations of our time, as John Douglas delves into the mind, methods, and madness of America's most-wanted serial killer.

Duffy, Brian, et al. "The End of the Road." US News & World Report (November 4, 2002): p. 18.
Abstract: More Americans die each year from bee stings, bug bites, and falling in the bathtub than the number of victims the two snipers claimed in their 22 days of murder and mayhem in suburban Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. Lots more. But the fear the snipers inspired--not just in Washington but across the nation--was never about numbers. Even as they racked up kill after kill, the snipers spawned a panic fueled more by the randomness of their attacks, their deadly accuracy, the chilling warning of their intent to target children, and their demand for $10 million to stop the carnage. It was extortion on a scale both breathtaking and bizarre. And coupled with the killers' seeming ability to slay at will, then vanish like evil spirits, it had the cable-news pundits, the fearless forensics specialists, and that army of ubiquitous criminal profilers gasping for breath as they promulgated increasingly elaborate hypotheses of who, what, and why. This article takes a look at the background and capture of alleged serial snipers John Allen Muhammad and John Lee Malvo.

Eftimiades, Maria. Garden of Graves: The Shocking True Story of Long Island Serial Killer Joel Rifkin. New York: St. Martins Paperbacks, 1993. Call Number: HV 6534 .N5E35 1993
Abstract: Neighbors knew him as the quiet, unemployed landscaper who tended his mother's beautiful garden. None of them ever suspected that the foul odor coming from his garage was the stench of death hanging over a blood-soaked wheelbarrow, or that the truck he used to carry fresh soil and flower bulbs became a hearse once night fell. Rifkin cruised lower Manhattan, carefully selecting his prey of mostly young prostitutes. Once they were inside his vehicle, the gentle guy who told them he just wanted sex turned into a deranged monster who strangled them with savage force. His lust for killing satisfied, he then stuffed his victims' broken bodies in barrels, trunks and suitcases, dumping them like trash in remote areas across three states. The only trace they left were the photographs, jewelry, and personal mementoes their sadistic murderer displayed on his bureau shelf--macabre trophies of his kills.

Egger, Steven A. The Killers Among Us: An Examination of Serial Murder and Its Investigation, 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2002. Call Number: HV 6515 E34 2002
Abstract: This book takes the reader into the complex world of serial killers by providing a detailed account of seven up-to-date cases that include John Wayne Gacy, Henry Lee Lucas, Kenneth Bianchi, Theodore Robert Bundy, Jerry Marcus, Joseph Miller and Jeffrey Dahmer; 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 14 different strategies used by law enforcement agencies who respond to serial murder.

________. "Psychological Profiling: Past, Present, and Future." Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice (August 1999): pp. 242-61. Notes: Also available full-text on Criminal Justice Periodical Index database.
Abstract: The terms psychological profiling, offender profiling, criminal profiling, or criminal personality profiling have become almost household words when the public hears about serial killers or unsolved murders in the mass media or in works of fiction. Unfortunately, most of the public associates these terms with the blond psychic profiler seen on The Profiler on Saturday night television or the abilities of Frank Black seen on Millennium on Friday night television. Of course, there was Hannibal Lecter and Agent Starling working together on a profile of a serial killer in the film The Silence of the Lambs. All of these popular portrayals of profiling are inaccurate, and they are beginning to construct icons in our popular culture who promote the myth that profiling is a magical skill, frequently encompassing precognitive psychic ability. Fiction blurs with reality for the general public who expect profiling to be the answer to solving murders, rapes, and other violent crimes. The development of psychological profiling is examined in this article, from its use during World War II to its use today in criminal investigation.

Fisher, Joseph C. Killer Among Us: Public Reactions to Serial Murder. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1997. Call Number: HV 6529 .F57 1997
Abstract: How does the public attempt to make sense of brutal, senseless and random deaths? How do people cope with the fear and anxiety brought on by the news that a serial killer is at large? What psychological impact does a serial killer have on a community? Why do citizens and the media respond as they do to serial killers, when the level of fear is far greater than the actual risk? And what is the media's role in creating a panic-stricken public? This book answers these questions by exploring some of the most infamous cases of serial murder from a new perspective--how the public reacts to the news that a killer is at large in their community.

Godwin, Grover Maurice. Hunting Serial Predators: A Multivariate Classification Approach to Profiling Violent Behavior. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2000. Call Number: HV 6529 .G58 2000
Abstract: Where do investigators search for clues when there is very little forensic evidence? Homicide detectives in Raleigh, North Carolina, faced this exact dilemma in 1996, when they spent most of that year chasing a phantom. Someone was killing poor, black women on the city's downtown streets. But with very little evidence other than the bodies that kept turning up, police had no solid leads--until an academic sleuth--using a new method for profiling serial murderers--formed a profile of the killer that turned out to be strikingly similar to the suspect later arrested for the brutal killings. This book examines this new method in-depth. It presents a facet classification of serial murderers and their crime scene actions based on empirical and repeatable studies, and argues that such an empirical process to analyzing their behavior is necessary to make logical decisions on how to detect and apprehend them.

Holmes, Stephen T., et al. "Fractured Identity Syndrome: A New Theory of Serial Murder." Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice (August 1999): pp. 262-72.
Notes: Also available full-text on Criminal Justice Periodical Index database.
Abstract: The topic of serial murder has captured the attention of many in the academic community. A quick scan of the best selling novels in any given week are likely to include at least a couple of postings about a serial or other type of predatory killer. Even on college campuses today, courses on serial murder rank as one of the hardest classes for students to get in to. Despite the attention currently being paid to the topic of serial killing, relatively little is known about the intrinsic motivation and etiology of these individuals. This article examines the current literature concerning serial murder and explains how current theories are often no more than physical descriptions or characteristics of these murderers' acts. This article proposes a new theory of serial murder, the "Fractured Identity Syndrome," applying the works of Cooley's "Actual Social Identity" and Gottman's "Virtual Social Identity" to the development of the serial killer mentality.

Kelleher, Michael D. and C. L. Kelleher. Murder Most Rare: The Female Serial Killer. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1998. Call Number: HV 6515 .K395 1998
Abstract: This book provides startling information about the female serial murderer, who is shown to be far more deadly and determined, difficult to apprehend, and complexly motivated than her male counterpart. While serial murder by women is relatively rare, a surprising number of female serial killers are identified by the authors, nearly 100 in the 20th Century, with half of them having committed their crimes in America. By examining these women's backgrounds, motives and methods of killing, the book sheds new light on dozens of overlooked cases of murder and uncovers callous crimes and passions gone awry. The book divides female serial murderers for the first time into categories. The authors reveal patterns that occur within the types, but stress that the complicated nature of these women's crimes makes personality profiling almost impossible--a fact that causes the jobs of homicide investigators to be difficult, indeed, sometimes impossible. This is a uniquely personal look into a dark, shocking world.

Keppel, Robert D. Serial Murder: Future Implications for Police Investigations. Irving, TX: Authorlink Press, 2000. Call Number: HV 6529 .K35 2000
Abstract: Serial murder has become one of the central concerns in homicide investigation, both because of its apparent frequency and because of the unique problems it presents to investigative agencies. Above all, recent experience with serial killers has pointed out the inadequacies of the "reactive response" approach to investigating serial murder cases. In this essential guide for criminal justice professionals, an expert homicide investigator and researcher explores the daunting task of investigating serial murder. The author presents five detailed profiles of savage killers, to demonstrate how the smallest procedural detail can assure or wreck successful prosecution, and suggests how investigators can plug the loopholes.

Klein, Larry, et al. Mind of a Serial Killer. Boston: WGBH Educational Foundation, 1992, VHS, 1 vol., 60 min. Call Number: HV 6529 .M55 1992 A/V
Abstract: The Boston Strangler. The Son of Sam. Jeffrey Dahmer. Every time a serial killer hits, it touches a deep collective nerve of fear--in part because his grisly acts so defy comprehension. Or do they? Step behind the scenes at the FBI's Investigative Support Unit, where psychological detectives race against time to penetrate the minds and emotions of the most elusive of murderers. Using state-of-the-art science, elite investigators tease apart crime scene evidence and scrutinize victim profiles to construct an astonishingly accurate personality print of the perpetrator--and a good guess as to how and when he'll make his next move. This time the scene is Rochester, New York, where multiple slayings of prostitutes have left local authorities baffled. Find out how FBI sleuths figure out what makes this dark mind tick--and how remarkable prediction lets them stop the killer in his tracks before he can strike again.

Leyton, Elliott and Linda Chafe [eds.]. Serial Murder: Modern Scientific Perspectives. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2000. Call Number: HV 6515 .S49 2000
Abstract: A collection of essays on serial murder, mostly from the 1980s and 1990s, with a few classic essays from earlier decades. Essays are in sections that include "Cultural Overview," "Origins of the Impulse," "Criminological Analysis," "Psychiatric Diagnosis and the Law," "Psychological Perspectives," "Gender Issues," and "Policing Concerns." Some specific topics include Assessment of PTSD symptoms in a community exposed to serial murder, the insanity plea, difficulties diagnosing the multiple personality syndrome in a death penalty case, and gender differences in serial killers.

Manners, Terry. Deadlier Than The Male: Stories of Female Serial Killers. London: Pan Books, 1995. Call Number: HV 6515 .M35 1995
Abstract: On a cold January morning, Karla Homolka ran screaming from her suburban house, covered with blood. Beaten by her husband, she finally cracked, spilling the deadly secrets that would end in her imprisonment for brutal sex slayings. Thus she joined the terrible list of female serial killers whose actions have shocked the world. In this book are the stories of women who have killed not once but again and again. Not just a modern phenomenon, the author looks back in time, recreating the crimes of Victorian Mary Ann Cotton, who poisoned 20 people with arsenic; of Christine Falling, the babysitter who killed the children in her care; of Nanny Doss, who mixed rat poison with stewed prunes. These infamous women and others such as Beverly Allitt, Aileen Wuornos and Karla Homolka had a common bond. Their sex made them unlikely suspects as the death tolls grew. Why did they do it? Through interviews with renowned criminal psychologists, the author attempts to find a pattern and an answer to the frightening phenomenon that is women who kill.

Mendoza, Antonio. Killers on the Loose: Unsolved Cases of Serial Murder. London: Virgin Books, 2002. Call Number: HV 6529 .M46 2002
Abstract: According to an FBI study, serial killing has climbed to "an almost epidemic proportion." In the United Kingdom, there are up to four unidentified predators, with many more traveling around continental Europe. Authorities estimate that there are between 35-50 serial killers on the loose in the United States-and new reports of suspected killers are constantly surfacing all over the globe. From the files of the Internet Crime Archives, this is the first look at serial killers at large, by one of the world's foremost authorities at www.mayhem.net.

Newton, Michael. The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers. New York: Facts on File, 2000.
Call Number: HV 6245 .N49 2000
Abstract: The phenomenon of serial murder has often been considered both the most macabre and fascinating branch of modern crime and criminology. Only recently have law enforcement authorities, psychologists, and scientists pierced its shroud of mystery to uncover the secrets, motives, and dangers of serial killers previously hidden in the dark. This book offers an unprecedented view of serial killing from ancient Rome to the present day, providing the most comprehensive resource available on the topic and shattering many of the popular myths about this most terrifying breed of criminal, with more than 240 detailed entries, 70 photographs, and extensive appendixes.

Olsen, Jack. I: The Creation of a Serial Killer. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2002.
Call Number: HV 6248 .J475O46 2002
Abstract: In February 1990, Oregon State Police arrested John Sosnovske and Laverne Pavlinac for the vicious rape and murder of Taunja Bennett, a troubled 23-year-old barfly who had suffered mild retardation since birth. Pavlinac had come forth and confessed, implicating her boyfriend and producing physical evidence that linked them to the crime. Authorities closed the case. There was just one problem. They had the wrong people. And the real killer wasn't about to let anyone take credit for his kill. Keith Hunter Jesperson was a long-haul truck driver and the murderer of eight women, including Taunja Bennett. As Sosnovske and Pavlinac received life sentences, Jesperson began a twisted, one man campaign to win their release. To editors of newspapers and on the walls of highway rest stops, Jesperson scribbled out a series of taunting confessions. This book takes the reader along on Jesperson's vicious cross-country killing spree, letting him describe how he played his "death game" with eight innocent victims, and how he finally came to grips with the fate he deserved.

Schechter, Harold. Fiend: The Shocking True Story of America's Youngest Serial Killer. New York: Pocket Books, 2000. Call Number: HV 6248 .P6S34x 2000
Abstract: When 14-year-old Jesse Pomeroy was arrested in 1874, a nightmarish reign of terror over an unsuspecting city came to an end. "The Boston Boy Fiend" was imprisoned at last. But the complex questions sparked by his ghastly crime spree--the hows and whys of vicious juvenile crime--were as relevant in the so-called Age of Innocence as they are today. Jesse Pomeroy was outwardly repellent in appearance, with a gruesome "dead" eye; inside, he was deformed beyond imagining. A sexual sadist of disturbing precocity, he satisfied his atrocious appetites by abducting and torturing his child victims. But soon, the teenager's bloodlust gave way to another obsession: murder. At a time when juvenile misbehavior was epitomized in the shenanigans of Tom Sawyer, the atrocities of young Jesse Harding Pomeroy seemed almost unimaginably monstrous.

Schurman-Kauflin, Deborah. The New Predator: Women Who Kill. New York: Algora Publishing, 2000. Call Number: HV 6529 .S34 2000
Abstract: This book offers a disturbing look, based on personal interviews, at seven women who have committed multiple murders. Addressing her colleagues in the fields of forensic pathology and law enforcement, the author establishes a sense of urgency, noting that while females represent a small percentage of all multiple murderers in the US, their numbers have increased in the second half of the 20th century, to an estimated 26 over the past 30 years. Clinical, painstakingly detailed and heart-wrenchingly ugly, the book points out such commonalities among these women as early parental abandonment or abuse and financial instability. They tend to gravitate toward typically female roles or occupations like nursing and babysitting, and also to stripping and prostitution. They are older than their male counterparts and seem the least likely villain in any given situation. The author offers professionals a starting point, based on "exploratory research," for identifying and capturing female serial killers because, in her opinion, no amount of therapy will stop a multiple murderer from killing again.

Skrapec, Candice A. "Phenomenology and Serial Murder: Asking Different Questions." Homicide Studies (February 2001): pp. 46-63.
Abstract: Departing from a traditional clinical approach in terms of diagnostic categorizations of serial killers and from a conventional descriptive study in which generic aspects of serial murders such as modus operandi are described and interpreted, this article presents a qualitative approach as essential to a more comprehensive understanding of serial murderers. Specifically, learning about personal constructions of meaning in the lives of serial murderers helps identify the motives underlying their repeated acts of killing. Results obtained using this approach raise concerns regarding the validity of conclusions drawn from studies that rely on more traditional methods of inquiry into motives.

Smolkin, Rachel. "Off Target: The News Media, Particularly Cable Channels, Relied Heavily on Profilers During the Sniper Coverage." American Journalism Review (December 2002): p. 26(6). Notes: Available full-text on Infotrac database.
Abstract: On the morning of October 3, 2002, local and national media seized on a gripping and terrifying story: five people dead near Washington, DC, picked off seemingly at random, in the same region where last year a plane slammed into the Pentagon and mysterious anthrax attacks felled two postal workers. Over the next three weeks, the death toll would mount to ten. Confronted with an unprecedented news story, a panicked public, and a dearth of hard information from law enforcement officials, 24-hour cable news channels and other media outlets filled time and space with a parade of profilers, criminologists, forensic specialists and former detectives. In theory, these designated "experts" could educate and perhaps even reassure the public by providing context and perspective about the unknown sniper. The commentators could divulge statistics, discuss similar episodes, and assess the unfolding case based on their own experience. But the reality was less constructive. Many profilers and pundits, prodded by interviewers, plunged into a din of speculation, much of it wrong. This article discusses who these experts are, what they said, and the lessons learned from it all.

Szegedy-Maszak, Marianne. "Two Troubled Minds: Profiling John Allen Muhammad, the Sniper Who Terrorized the Nation's Capital and 5 Other States." US News & World Report (November 4, 2002): p. 29(3).
Abstract: The general outline of Muhammad's life in many ways aligns with a 1999 study of 30 mass murderers published in the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. Yet what occurred in the Washington area was technically a "spree killing"--repeated murders over a short period of time where the killer apparently doesn't take time to return to a regular routine in life. By comparison, a serial killer, in forensic psychologists' terms, tends to kill, cool off, and return to regular life, then kill again--so the murders can often be separated by weeks, months, even years. And a mass murderer kills several people at one time. As the killing went on, the clues mounted, and the suspects attempted to engage law enforcement in ways that seemed to be designed to lead to capture. This too is typical for the spree or serial killer. Missing in all of this may be the most compelling, complex and revealing element in this case: a 17-year-old Jamaican boy named John Lee Malvo, whose fingerprints may have led authorities to the suspects. Understanding the relationship between the older man and the youth may prove to be crucial in understanding the crimes in which they may have been involved.

Tithecott, Richard. Of Men and Monsters: Jeffrey Dahmer and the Construction of the Serial Killer. Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1997. Call Number: HV 6515 .T57 1997
Abstract: This book examines the serial killer as an American cultural icon, one that both attracts and repels. The author suggests that the stories we tell and the images we conjure of serial killers--real and fictional--reveal as much about mainstream culture and its values, desires, and anxieties as they do about the killers themselves. Why, for example, does Hannibal Lecter, though clearly dangerous, seem brilliant, even alluring, while his dark counterpart in Silence of the Lambs, Buffalo Bill, represents pure monstrosity? In a nation where murders occur every day, why do those we name "serial killers" seem so different, meriting a flood of public and media attention? Looking at how Jeffrey Dahmer's story was told--on the Geraldo talk show and CNN specials, in Washington Post editorials and People Weekly pictorials--the argument is made that the serial killer we construct for ourselves is a mythical figure in the contemporary world. Transcending boundaries between madness and sanity, civilization and savagery, the ideal of the serial killer fulfills dreams of masculinity, purity, and violence.

Warren, Janet, et al. "The Sexually Sadistic Serial Killer." Journal of Forensic Sciences (November 1996): pp. 970-974.
Abstract: This study explored characteristics and crime scene behavior of 20 sexually sadistic serial murderers. Data was compiled from case files obtained by the FBI's National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime. Cases were included in the sample if the perpetrator demonstrated an enduring pattern of sexual arousal to images of suffering or humiliation and the offender killed at least three victims in at least three incidents separated by time, place, or both. Data on these 20 sexually sadistic serial murderers suggested they represented a group of serial murderers whose demographics, offense behavior, and victim acquisition techniques were surprisingly consistent; 95 percent were white males and 65 percent were from middle class origins. They repeatedly executed murders that reflected careful planning, the use of preselected locations, captivity, various painful sexual acts, sexual bondage, intentional torture, and death primarily by means of strangulation or stabbing. The murders were consistent over time and reflected sexual arousal to victim pain, fear, and panic. Murderers choreographed assaults that allowed them to intrude upon and control victim deaths. One man who murdered victims by manual strangulation told of breathing air into his dying victim so he could watch more closely her realization that he was in fact going to kill her. The study suggests that the sexually sadistic killer represents a distinctive type of serial murderer whose expertise and thoroughness make him a particularly dangerous threat to society.

Whitechapel, Simon. Crossing To Kill: The True Story of the Serial-Killer Playground. London: Virgin Books, Ltd., 2002. Call Number: HV 6535 .M392W55 2002
Abstract: Since 1993, over 180 women have been raped and brutally murdered in Ciudad Juarez, a Mexican border town notorious for its pollution and overcrowding. The police continue to arrest suspects, but the killing won't stop. Authorities suspect that killers are coming from all over Mexico--and even crossing the border from the United States--to rape and kill with impunity. Is there any way to protect women from this playground for serial killers? This is the first detailed portrait of these astonishing unsolved crimes.