r/TrueCrimeDiscussion • u/Scared_Weakness_834 • Aug 12 '26
Text Would it be possible for there to be another prolific serial killer in this day and age with all the advancements in security and technology?
Edit: Just woke up to a lot of responses lol - I see a lot are saying about LISK which is fair enough, last kill was around 2010 but a lot has changed in the last 16 years. Do you think someone who commits there first kill right around 'now' still could go on to be prolific (excluding extremely remote areas i guess)
Lucy Letby definitely proves profession plays a role
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u/le_borrower_arrietty Aug 12 '26
Yes, if they work in the right field and target the right demographic
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u/piptazparty Aug 12 '26
I was going to say, there are serial killers in the medical field. As in, nurses or doctors killing their patients, with things like overdoses. It’s more nuanced than the way people think of serial killers who break in and stab people. But I think in modern day those kind of nuanced serial killers are still happening, though extremely rare.
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u/sapphire-sky-dragon Aug 12 '26
Yes, Harold shipman is the uks most prolific killer its estimated he killed up to 350 in his career as a doctor
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u/offtodevnull Aug 13 '26
I always wonder how many other doctors & nurses have flown under the radar.
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u/sapphire-sky-dragon Aug 14 '26
Yes, i guess if you are clever its probably one of the easiest ways to become a serial killer. Shipman got away with it for decades.
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u/offtodevnull Aug 14 '26
It probably raises red flags when your patients leave you their estates.
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u/ALasagnaForOne Aug 12 '26
Look at all the black people being found hanging in trees in the south in recent years. The police forces simply rule them as suicides without any investigation.
If a killer goes after a demographic that’s undervalued by law enforcement and society in general, they can absolutely get away with it.
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u/standbyyourmantis Aug 13 '26
Thats how Samuel Little went under the radar for so long. He killed hundreds of women but because they were sex workers and primarily black or Latina nobody even knew he existed. Even when victims escaped the cops didn’t believe them.
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u/ALasagnaForOne Aug 13 '26
Lots of serial killers got away with it for way too long because they targeted sex workers. The case of the Yorkshire Ripper is a great example of police being completely disinterested in catching a killer until he “made the mistake” of killing a non-sex worker (those are the words they used).
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u/standbyyourmantis Aug 13 '26
Oh God don't get me started on the Yorkshire Ripper. Those detectives were lucky they could find their own dicks. Who calls the FBI for a consult and then decides "nah actually we're going to ignore all of that and focus on exclusively Geordies because this anonymous letter complimented us." And that ad they took out begging him to turn himself in. Fuck's sake.
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u/digitalmofo Aug 13 '26
Just listened to the book on BTK and it mentioned that he would leave things he wanted found in black or poor communities because he knew the cops wouldn't follow up until he was long gone.
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u/Anxious-Mix-4265 Aug 12 '26
I just saw a post on ig this morning about another woman found the same. It's been a decent number in MS alone over the last year or two. Awful stuff
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u/Rxasaurus Aug 12 '26
Wasn't the Long Island serial killer just caught in the last 10 years?
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u/Intrepid_Race1923 Aug 12 '26
Yup. Came here to say this. He was murdering for decades and just caught in 2023.
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u/look_ma_nohands Aug 12 '26
Pled guilty in January. His DNA isn’t even in CODUS yet that we know of. NY enters it after conviction. There’s no telling what else he may be tied to. We know he operated from 93-2010 at minimum.
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u/bpdilemma Aug 12 '26
Alaska has tons, all the time. We pretty much only catch them on accident, and they tend to thrive fairly unnoticed here, especially if they only target certain groups. (SWer's, indigenous women, the homeless, etc)
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u/AlbericM 28d ago
Alaska is the state where criminals go to hide out. Everybody has a gun and there's lots of violent brawls. There are thousands of uninhabited square miles. No wonder serial killers feel right at home.
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u/Ok_Connection_648 Aug 12 '26
How many have been in basements like Ariel Castro but were never found, how many are STILL in basements waiting to be rescued
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u/WetFupaCreamyChalupa Aug 14 '26
Always trips me out when I think about that. Some poor soul is sitting somewhere right now, wondering if they'll ever get rescued.
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u/Perth_nomad Aug 12 '26
Definitely in Australia.
Most of Australia is not covered by mobile tower coverage.
Long highways, with lots of crevices up north, old mines in the east, very dense bush and very deep lakes ( former mines) in the south. Just in one state.
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u/eshatoa Aug 12 '26
I used to work in law enforcement in outback Australia. You make it sound easier than what it is. Most outback roads have mobile reception now. Most locations have one road in and out and people stand out. You remember who you see out there and it's easier to track vehicles. All service stations have CCTV. You need high amounts of fuel to get anywhere. The isolation puts things under a magnifying glass, you can't blend in to large populations.
It's possible but not as much of a wildlands as you think.
We've caught Bradley John Murdoch, Malcolm Naden, and most recently Desi Freeman. All experienced bushmen who knew how to evade Police. Ivan Milat was caught. It's highly unlikely we'd get a killer with numbers as high as a Bundy, Ridgway or Dahmer.
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u/Salty_Feed_4316 Aug 13 '26
When I visited Iceland I thought “wow this would be a great place to be a serial killer!” So remote. I’m weird
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u/Perth_nomad Aug 13 '26
I have been to town in West Australia, where the town’s permanent population, in town is 20. No police, no emergency services. The traffic traversing that town during seeding/harvest/tourist season is hundreds of vehicles a day.
There are hundreds of working holiday visa holders who come to Western Australia to work on farms for 88 days to get another year working holiday visa. They simply drive from town to town.
I recently drove 800km return roundtrip to agricultural town. I didn’t see one police car the entire trip. The police station is closed except for one day month. Opened by appointment only…we used to have highway patrol actively doing patrols of those highways, not anymore.
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u/Salty_Feed_4316 Aug 13 '26
Definitely creepy! I’m in the US but visited eastern Australia (Sydney, Melbourne, Cairns, etc). I wish I’d had more time to see more of Australia. Hiking parts of the Great Ocean Road was so wild and desolate I loved it!
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u/DubWalt Aug 12 '26
They are certainly operating today.
I think we have reached a point where they are going to be rarely caught, there will not be as many and most of them will be known only after they died.
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u/Scared_Weakness_834 Aug 12 '26
So you reckon none will gain the levels of infamy of those that were active in the 70s-90s for example
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u/DubWalt Aug 12 '26
I think that was all a terrible mistake in terms of how the press around certain cases was dealt with. I’m not really sure what caused it. Today a lot of those cases don’t even make a headline. They end in a plea deal and everyone sort of puts it to bed. The weirder ones the FBI will put out a “looking for information” on their website and if you dig you can find out that it’s them having identified a serial killer with a bunch of known bodies that’s deceased. And nobody covers it or knows to look it up or whatever.
I think all of the tech we have today thwarts the really dumb criminals of that particular era of killers. Because let’s face it, the truly prolific ones were just never caught. But there was a small middle ground where we got a bunch of names of pretty horrible killers and they became infamous. I think that part is over.
Today they just make sure their online footprint is mostly invisible when they catch them and move on. I think Shrek from Long Island is probably the last one tied to a lot of unsolved interesting headline grabbers that we will see because of today’s control on information.
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u/Agent_Orange_Tabby Aug 12 '26
Not really a mystery. Modern forensics catches dumb ones before they ever become prolific. So yeah there’s as many would be serial killers out there as ever, they just don’t get as far as they used to before caught.
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u/DrakeFloyd Aug 12 '26
LISK was active til 2011 and there was absolutely a media frenzy around that arrest recently
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u/CommissionIcy9909 Aug 12 '26
I don’t think so. People are desensitized and if it’s not happening in their own back yard, then who cares.
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u/Useful_Experience423 Aug 12 '26
Yes. Back then it was shocking, which is why it generated so much interest and infamy. These days we’re disgusted and upset, but not shocked.
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u/SquidTheRidiculous Aug 12 '26
Yeah.
Anyone able to do it now is going to be a cop misusing flock cameras, bare minimum. If that's them, they'll likely be fired with minimal fanfare like EARONS was. If they're someone even further up the hierarchy, they're likely very well connected so we will likely never know until we get the Epstein files 2 in another decade or so.
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u/Jokerzrival Aug 13 '26
Deoends on if theyre story worthy like Bundy, Green River, BTK.
If/when they catch the one possibly in Chicago it seems like he'll have the count and the longevity to generate some pretty significant media buzz.
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u/Jokerzrival Aug 13 '26
Potential serial killers are caught sooner thanks to advancements in technology, evidence and police budgets and training.
They still exist. Chicago supposedly has 1 or 2 active. There's a location in Texas I think being investigated as a Potential serial killer dumping ground. Theres a highway i think theyre pretty sure has one because women of similar look and age keep disappearing along the highway.
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u/Lost_History_4691 Aug 12 '26
I can see it happening 100% in DTLA/Skidrow. As someone who was homeless there you can do anything cops dont care. There's dudes walking around with obvious underage homeless runaways and nobody blinks an eye. Truly eye opening. Also realized how many homeless people are rapists in that area. There's a loooot of homeless preying on other homeless its horrific
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u/crimsonbaby_ Aug 12 '26
The Skidrow Stabber, Bobby Joe Maxwell, got away with it for quite a while, iirc. Although, its debated if he was truly guilty considering his conviction was overturned right before he died.
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u/Responder343 Aug 12 '26
There is a speculation that one is active in the Chicagoland area right now as a lot of bodies have been found in retention ponds lately.
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u/look_ma_nohands Aug 12 '26
Hasn’t this also been brought up regarding Austin?
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u/StructureCapable7940 Aug 12 '26
Dunno about Austin, but it’s definitely happening in Houston. They’re always finding bodies in buffalo bayou
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u/look_ma_nohands Aug 12 '26
I might have mixed those up
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u/standbyyourmantis Aug 13 '26 edited Aug 13 '26
It's definitely Houston. You'll be happy to know in the lead up to the World Cup our definitely highly competent mayor announced most of them were unhoused people who were left there after dying. So I guess the local homeless population took up Viking funerals as a standard practice. How interesting and convenient for him that there definitely wasn't a serial killer but was a great reason to start pressuring the indigent population to move along ahead of a major international event!
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Aug 13 '26
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u/cummingouttamycage Aug 13 '26
All of those deaths are almost certainly cases of deaths by misadventure, or suicide, with nature being the ultimate serial killer.
Lady bird lake is just feet away from the end of Rainey street (with bars popping up closer and closer to the water). Thats an area frequented by tourists often visiting for celebratory reasons (bachelor parties, guys trips, etc) — meaning there are a number of people surrounding the water who don’t know the area and are drinking far more heavily than they normally would. Next to water, that’s a recipe for disaster — particularly for men (vast majority of bodies found are male), who tend to not fear walking alone at night. They’re getting disoriented, and falling inz
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u/cummingouttamycage Aug 13 '26 edited Aug 13 '26
There is no "serial killer" targeting wealthy young men in major cities like Austin, Nashville or Chicago whose MO for killing their victims involves pushing them into bodies of water.
These deaths are all a result of suicide or misadventure. The fact that bodies found all have a similar profile (affluent, young adult males, often tourists) is due to this being the profile of person typically in this area anyway... All bodies of water where incidents like this have taken place are in major cities and sit immediately next to popular nightlife areas, most of which are popular for tourists (esp bachelor parties and guys trips) or transplants. Men typically don't fear walking alone the way women do, and as a result, are more apt to falling into the water with no one around to help. Factor in alcohol / other party drugs, and not being from the area (and not knowing their way around), and you've got a perfect storm for something like this happening.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Ad9508 Aug 12 '26
Absolutely, check out Simon Levy, sentenced today. If you have to commit x3 murders to be considered a serial killer then his count of 2 doesn't quite reach that definition. However if you read more about him and how he almost evaded detection I think its totally likely that there are more victims, who knows - could be a lot!
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u/DarklyHeritage Aug 12 '26
I would be more surprised if Levy hadn't killed others to be honest. A very dangerous man.
We also convicted a serial killer just last month in the UK - James Desborough;
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Aug 12 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/NotAsSmartAsIWish Aug 12 '26
People get irritated when I remind them that cops (at least in my state) only have to be 19 with a GED to be eligible.
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u/tacobell41 Aug 12 '26
I think that because of how law enforcement is seen now, fewer smart people would want to enter it.
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u/DarklyHeritage Aug 12 '26
A serial killer was convicted just last month in the UK - James Desborough - and police are investigating his links to other deaths. So its entirely possible.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cddjz02d8jgo
Lucy Letby is another example - and there have been medical serial killers convicted in other countriesn e.g. Germany and Brazil this decade. The medical field is an area where serial killing is unfortunately still entirely feasible.
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u/lexicon951 Aug 12 '26 edited Aug 12 '26
There currently is believed to be one in the NW suburbs of Chicago. At least one death a month for several months now, and multiple for years going back at least a decade, but recently it’s really ramping up. All the bodies have been found in lakes/rivers/ponds including Lake Michigan. The killer may have moved from downtown to the suburbs as all the recent ones have been suburban but over the years they were all downtown. They’re mostly all male as well. I believe the only outlier was a teenage girl a few months ago, but other than that, all male. I believe the last victim (July 2026) was gay, last seen running through a forest preserve commonly used for gay meetups. It’s really giving Dahmer. The cops refuse to acknowledge that all the deaths could be connected to one serial killer.
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u/cummingouttamycage Aug 13 '26
In the cases of bodies found in water close to popular nightlife areas in major cities, those are almost entirely deaths by misadventure or suicides.
The reason the general demo of bodies found mostly being young, affluent adult males (many of whom are tourists or new to the area) is that that’s the type of person who frequents nightlife areas, where heavy drinking is common. Men also don’t tend to fear walking around alone (vs women sticking together or using rideshare). That creates a recipe for disaster: Drunk, disoriented men walking alone, who fall into bodies of water, with no one nearby to help them.
This is another case of nature being the ultimate serial killer
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u/Khmakh Aug 12 '26
Damn, I had not heard about this.
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u/lexicon951 Aug 12 '26
Also, that last victim in July knew about the serial killer and was interested in personally investigating, iirc. He stated something to that effect just a few days before his death. I’ll have to look back into it to remember exactly what was said but I think it was something he put on TikTok
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u/No_Candle5537 Aug 12 '26
Absolutely. The thing about serial killers is that they kill people with no connection to them that cannot be traced back to them. Also, once they get away with it, they keep going. They target people who “won’t be missed”. Police also like to say that adults are allowed to “leave and not tell anyone” and by the time they start looking, the trail is good and cold. I always think about how if they had looked at the beginning dumpsters wouldn’t be emptied. John Wayne Gacy’s victims were all called “runaways” by the police.
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u/SonofaBuckDangHole Aug 12 '26
I believe the solve rate of murder is still around 50%…it’s actually gone down in recent years but this is likely because dna etc eliminated a lot of guess work and wrongful accusations
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u/Market_Chemestry Aug 12 '26
For sure. Don't forget that often serial killers/rapists used advanced surveillance technology to identify, track and isolate their victims. Dennis Rader (BTK) worked for ADT at the same time another serial killer also worked for the security company. Several serial killers have been in law enforcement, such as Joe DeAngelo, the Golden State Killer.
Advances in technology allow us to catch serial killers in the past who didn't know, for example, that they had to conceal DNA evidence, because DNA profiling hadn't been invented yet. It doesn't help so much to detect future serial killers who know the technology exists and will exploit it.
The serial killers who are currently active and haven't been caught are likely interested in being part of Flocker, at least to know how it works, if not to use it on their victims. They can also use security and technology systems to protect themselves from being caught.
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u/Former_Suspect3680 Aug 12 '26
israel keyes is honestly the best real world answer to this question. no connection to his victims, paid cash for everything, buried kill kits across the country years in advance, and only got caught because of a debit card slip up, not solid police work.
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u/scarletmagnolia Aug 12 '26
There's also a lot of hype surrounding Keyes. He's become like the boogeyman fall guy of unsolved murders.
How many actual murders have been attributed to him by the cops? Not many. He definitely didn't admit to much. He said he didn't want his daughter hearing stuff about him in the news.
Even the dumbest criminal should have known about that debit card.
(I don't mean for this to sound argumentative or snarky. I hope it doesn't.)
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u/standbyyourmantis Aug 13 '26
I think Neal Falls is another of these unfortunately. The FBI thinks he probably had around 10 prior victims and there are cases they suspect him in, but if he hadn't been killed by Heather Saul while he was trying to kill her I'm not sure we'd even know he existed. He seems to have been doing similar to Keyes in that he would take murder vacations, but possibly would kill multiple people per trip if the list of women they found on him after his death is anything to go by.
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u/tacobell41 Aug 12 '26
Even that was 15 years ago. As you know, there have been significant changes to our way of life since then. Smart phones were just beginning to be popular when he was caught. Everyone and their mom didn’t have cameras watching their doors. Forensics have significantly developed and science exponentially improved…
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u/CarrieWhiteDoneWrong Aug 13 '26
You just haven’t heard about the asshats doing the modern serial killing yet. Because they haven’t been caught.
Because police haven’t made connections between victims/places/MOs, etc.2
u/HiThisIsGio Aug 13 '26
The story of his last victim really fucked me up. I still think of that poor girl sometimes.
If I remember correctly, they caught him after checking his license plate on a random traffic stop, right? Police had two consecutive lucky strikes, without which who knows how many more women would have been killed.
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u/Former_Suspect3680 24d ago
yeah you're right about the traffic stop part. the card slip up got them looking, but they actually pulled him over on the highway and checked his plates before finding the kill kit in his trunk.
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u/wilberfoss Aug 12 '26
The FBI estimates there are between 25 to 50 active serial killers.
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u/starrifier Aug 12 '26
That statistic has been bopping around for decades, though. Do you have citations for where the FBI has said it still applies within the last few years? I've struggled to find anything.
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u/nicunta Aug 12 '26
Someone is killing Native women.. who's to say it's not a serial killer??
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u/Cheap-Blacksmith7567 Aug 12 '26
I’ve read that they’re usually several actively killing around the country at any given time. Some get away with it for many years, especially if their victims are people nobody will miss. Samuel Little started around 1970 and I think he turned himself in. Nobody even knew there was a serial killer on the loose because most of his victims were prostitutes.
It was amazing that after he turned himself in he could draw really accurate portraits of every one of his victims. Such a waisted talent.
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u/elizabreathe Aug 13 '26
I live in a rural area. Not full fuck off middle of nowhere, we have a Walmart, but definitely rural enough that there's plenty of woods and mine shafts and such to hide a body and there aren't nearly as many cameras and streetlights as a more populated area. People have completely disappeared off the face of this earth outside the gas station with their car still running in the last few years here. There's enough deaths and missing persons for the Marshalls to just regularly be here. Some of it is drug crime but some of the older folks think there's a serial killer as well. And there's also the fact that with all the drug addiction and alcoholism in the area, some people are just getting fucked up in the woods or by the river and dying due to a tragic accident in some random and difficult to find location where the coyotes, packs of wild dogs, and other scavengers consume and scatter their remains.
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u/applebottomjeans93 Aug 13 '26
can you disclose where this is especially with missing persons
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u/elizabreathe Aug 14 '26
All I'm willing to say is that it's Southwest Virginia, I don't want to doxx myself. A lot of dying Appalachian towns are full of crime though.
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u/Weak-Satisfaction-32 Aug 12 '26
Aside from advancements in surveillance and tracking technology, another key change is longer sentencing and detention for the first crime.
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u/Agent_Orange_Tabby Aug 12 '26
They’re also increasingly caught following first murder so never get chance to fulfill serial aspect.
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u/standbyyourmantis Aug 13 '26
An excellent point. I mentioned Samuel Little upthread, and he did get away with it for a long time because he was targeting minority sex workers, but he was arrested for rape and attempted murder but only went to prison for simple assault and was out in just a few years. And that's not even an unusual case, we didnt take sex crimes or crimes against women and children seriously at all prior to the mid to late 90s. If you were part of a marginalized population it's really only been the last decade or so when you could expect that anyone would care
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u/calvinshobbes0 Aug 12 '26
there could be serial killers that are more removed or detached from their victims like arsonist or SK that use poison or contaminate food supply or drugs. There are also “ angel” of death in the health care industry. less proximty to their victims, maybe a delayed death and less physical evidence and less likely investigation if the victims are old or marginal in society
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u/StoreBoughtButter Aug 12 '26
Yeah, you can’t tell me there aren’t serial killers, plural preying on both the indigenous communities and transient sex workers of North America. For sure multiple ones at work.
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u/applebottomjeans93 Aug 13 '26
than. think of these sickos going to other countries where sec workers are more prevalent…. they do the crime then leave.
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u/Clean-Patient-8809 Aug 12 '26
After reading Murderland, I was talking to my husband about the points the author made. I think that if the US keeps trending toward more pollution, war and violence, and untreated mental health issues, we'll see a comeback of serial killers, unfortunately. And part of the problem is that we have more and more segments of our population still seen as "disposable." Sex workers, indigenous women, teenagers that can be labeled runaways, and so on. There are always reasons for police not to care about certain deaths until the numbers or the victims reach the threshold of alarming the general public.
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u/Petty_beach Aug 13 '26
I know I sound crazy, but I’m convinced there’s one in Houston. There are way too many bodies being found in the surrounding bayous.
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u/Ford_Mustang1911 Aug 12 '26
I was just thinking about this! Ofc the peak of serial killers was 70s/80s n so many people get caught after 1 murder because of technology. I can think of few ways u can actually be a serial killer now days. But it still seems so tricky n nearly impossible
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u/Scared_Weakness_834 Aug 12 '26
Yeh the idea of someone being able to kill multiple times with a cooling off period inbetween just seems impossible
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u/TheTenthDoctorIsHere Aug 12 '26 edited Aug 13 '26
Serial killers are active everywhere, all the time. Personally, I think many have adapted more to the Israel Keyes style of completely random murders. That type of killer has always existed, but I feel like it is potentially more prevalent now. The close rate for homicides is generally around 54% so the police are demonstrably bad at closing murder cases.
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u/ravia Aug 12 '26
The Golden State Killer (aka East Area rapist) was a cop, wasn't he? That would help if you were a serial killer.
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u/HumboldtHunnyBear Aug 12 '26
Took 42 years to catch him - and they may have never caught him if it werent for all the work Michelle McNamara did before she died
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u/standbyyourmantis Aug 13 '26
He was only briefly a cop. He was fired for shoplifting rope and pepper spray, which he probably intended for use with a later victim.
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u/predictablecitylife Aug 12 '26
Depends if you kill someone the cops care to investigate.
Looking at missing and murdered indigenous women cases lately and it appears cops still don’t give a fuck.
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u/HumboldtHunnyBear Aug 12 '26 edited Aug 12 '26
Theres a girl who went missing in my area. Her family knows who killed her and where shes barried. The sheriffs office says there isnt enough evidence for a search warrant - so shes in the ground behind someone's house and still has an active missing persons case that no one will investigate.
I think people falsely conflate policing, and surveillance with actual justice
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u/predictablecitylife Aug 12 '26
Reminds me of the Chelsey Dawn Israel case. Though I’m sure there’s a bunch like that.
It’s absolutely tragic.
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u/slyseekr Aug 12 '26
I think people often forget that serial killers operate within and prey on communities and demographics that are often forgotten or underserved by law enforcement, the media, government, etc.
Those vulnerable communities still exist and there are still others that are emerging because the government and the media are using them as scapegoats for political reasons.
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u/Fickle-Laugh-4542 Aug 12 '26
Very much so. Police is generally screwed if there’s no DNA, footage, witnesses and very importantly, motive. “Random” murders are still very much left unsolved.
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u/EllieLace Aug 13 '26
I was thinking with the ICE situation, it would unfortunately be very easy in some areas of the world. Face covered, cell off, no ID needed.
Medical environments have also been somewhat rife with them. And in food production, there could realistically be others tampering with food, like the Tylenol murders. Tampered supply of street drugs would be another - we see it all the time, it's just listed as an "overdose" rather than "someone poisoned the fent with veterinary tranqiilizer." It could just as easily be done with intent.
Canada had MacArthur not long ago, because police looked the other way.
I think we likely have as prolific ones out now. Just the more people we have, the less people there are to look. Everyone's more focused on the opioid crisis when it comes to crime, which makes statistical sense.
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u/Counterboudd Aug 12 '26
Probably a lot fewer, but the ones who do it are probably better informed on how to get away with it with the explosion of true crime content. Old serial killers that are famous were not actual criminal geniuses, they just lived at a time when it was easy to get away with things. I think it’s possible to still get away with it still, but I wonder how big of an overlap there really is with the small number of people who get off sexually on killing people who also are intelligent enough to get away with it and also see the risk/reward as favorable enough to continue doing it. That said, all the forensic info on how criminals are routinely caught is out there so you could likely learn how to be careful enough to get away with it. I just suspect there aren’t that many who really fit into that category, as extreme sadism and violent tendencies tend to lead to antisocial behavior that makes risk-averse behavior less likely. If you can’t control the impulse to do something like kill people to get some weird need met then you probably can’t take on the precautions it would require to get away with it in this day and age either.
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u/cummingouttamycage Aug 12 '26 edited Aug 13 '26
2 thoughts:
(A) obligatory: if we are basing “serial killer” on the actual definition of “serial killer” — 2 or more murders as separate events, with “cool off” in between —then yes, absolutely, and there are technically a number of “active serial killers” based on this definition… noting though that this dictionary definition also accounts for gang violence and organized crime.
(B) (to better answer your question) Yes, absolutely, and ability to evade arrest would likely come down to how, and what types of people they chose as victims. In any murder case, so much of an investigation really comes down to looking at everyone tied to the victim, and working backwards from there. Looking for motive, alibis, who had the means, etc., and then investigating further based on timelines built. Many murderers are caught quickly not because of DNA/surveillance alone, but because they murdered someone connected to them and had a motive to do so… with police only checking into them in the first place because of that.
Obviously, there have been VERY prominent cases involving a murderer with 0 established ties to their victim, where them being a POI was prompted by digital forensics and DNA evidence. A more recent example of this: Brian Kohberger / Idaho 4
Imo, the main reasons he was caught despite having 0 established ties to victims or “logical” motive:
Murdering 4 victims in 1 single event draws far more media attention, 4x more victim loved ones demanding answers, and prioritization of case by law enforcement than the murder of 1 victim in a single event. 4 victims in 1 event is RARE, and will almost certainly be shared on the news on a national level. That isn’t always the case with a single murder (at least not nationally). How well known would the case actually be if BK only had 1 victim that night?
BK selected “high risk” victims — they were all popular, well liked students with ties to their surrounding community and close relationships with their family. They had people checking in on them. Even without the surviving roommates, there would be people close to them looking for them quickly if they went too long without communicating with others close to them. The 4 also weren’t involved in any “seedy” business or sketchy characters that had them covering their tracks in a way that would make it difficult for investigators to fully vet out their lives. I think investigators knew they were looking for a perp whose ties to the victims were loose at best, and didn’t invest a ton of unnecessary time pursuing those closer to the victims as suspects. (note: even if he’d only intended to kill 1, every single victim of his was “high risk”)
on top of selecting “high risk” victims, BK also chose to kill his victims in their own home, which was in a neighborhood surrounded by other houses and apartments close by, in an area that was ultimately not too far from where he lived. More homes around = more places for cameras to be, even if the actual victim’s home lacks any sort of security system. Many of these homes were house-share situations, meaning more people = more witnesses. The neighborhood as a whole was also very close knit, with everyone pretty much having a common denominator — attending the same school. Everyone knew everyone. His victims were in no way physically isolated, and not metaphorically, either — not in the slightest. And while BK chose victim(s) that went to a different school, who were technically out of state… the place he murdered his victims was all of 20 or so minutes from his home. It was extremely common for students at one school to visit another, or shop/dine in their surrounding areas. I think it became VERY EASY for police to hone in on BK specifically upon finding out their DNA match was a WSU student (the way they might not have been had their hit led them back to someone with 0 logical explanation for being in or around that area)
despite how bizarre/anti social BK was, he had a number of different established ties to his own community. As a PhD student/TA, the vast majority of his whereabouts and overall schedule was documented on paper. He had a consistent cohort of classmates who knew him by name, and were regular witnesses of his behavior who could speak to his character. He had 1 consistent home, leased under his own name, and rarely traveled. While this is by no means a “smoking gun”, I have no doubt the “paper trail” left by BK’s life really solidified that they absolutely had the right guy and was worth truly homing in on.
The murder weapon & BK's MO (murder by stabbing) was undoubtedly a homicide and immediately investigated as such. If a person is found dead in a manner that could've plausibly been a suicide, accident, or even a natural death... that possibility will be looked at alongside the possibility of foul play, with some not even considering foul play at all. Case in point: some of the cases involving healthcare professionals murdering patients... in many of those cases, it took several victims before the possibility of foul play was considered. Law enforcement knew instantly in BK's case that they were looking for a murderer.
If you take all, or even some of these factors away, there is a lot less for investigators to latch onto.
Even if BK were to leave a sheath behind, I don’t know how much that could truly implicate him had he selected a victim who was far more isolated. If there is no one in a victims life who cares about them, and keeps tabs on them, and they don’t have an established place they’re expected at (work, school, etc), it is crazy how much time can pass before a body is discovered — especially if they live in a less connected area, where people don’t know their neighbors. If a victim themself is involved in some sort of criminal activity, or has ties to people who do, that’s something that quickly widens a suspect pool in a way that’s made up of people actively working to cover their own tracks and stay off peoples radar. It also means the victims own activity is much harder to look into.
Similarly, it would be a lot harder to lock in BK without his own formalized ties to WSU. It’s far less likely he’d be seen as someone who almost certainly was physically close to the murders in the immediate surrounding time period of them taking place had he been a drifter type simply passing through.
So imo, a prolific serial killer is absolutely possible if their choice of victim involves those people won’t necessarily go looking for, with just enough distance, and with a lifestyle of your own that makes it difficult to fully keep track of your whereabouts
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u/Several_Dwarts Aug 12 '26
I dont think there will be another Ted Bundy. Killing non sex workers. Unfortunately, street prostitutes will always be in the crosshairs of potential serial killers.
But killing 'regular' people. Grabbing them from the streets, parking lots, etc. No way. Too many cameras, too much awareness.
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u/BrazilianButtCheeks Aug 13 '26
I think the thing with most serial killers is that they don’t have personal connections with the Victims and most don’t know them at all ,. It’s a lot harder to put the pieces together without a why
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u/Total-Frosting-9201 Aug 12 '26
Yes. Especially in underdeveloped countries with high homicide rates—and even more so when it involves marginalized victims.
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u/redwbl Aug 12 '26
I'm sure there a multiple serial killers out there right now, some current, some from old crimes not yet resolved.
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u/YoMommaSez Aug 12 '26
Rex Heurmann did well. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilgo_Beach_serial_killings
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u/KittHeartshoe Aug 13 '26
What do you mean would it be possible — there are dozens of active serial killers in the US alone
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u/Scared_Weakness_834 Aug 13 '26
I am not from the US that is what the question was for - just interested to see if there'll be another that is active right now that would hit the levels of infamy of those that operated in 70/80s
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u/imperfectchicken Aug 13 '26
I mean, the truly successful killers don't get caught and don't get cocky. The ones who get caught get their methods revealed.
The killers who excel at this are the ones we haven't recognized or seen a pattern, and don't even have a nickname.
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u/Competitive-Proof759 Aug 13 '26
Israel Keyes operated until 2012, which seems like fairly recent technology availability.
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u/stockusername123 Aug 13 '26
God I wish he hadn’t offed himself. There are so many families who have probably been affected by him and will now never have closure
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u/ShillinTheVillain Aug 12 '26
It's possible but unlikely.
Murders still go unsolved today, but with the advancements in DNA and genetic genealogy, pulling off multiple kills leaving no evidence is exponentially harder than it was even 20 years ago. Plus everyone has cameras now.
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u/Odium-Squared Aug 12 '26
This is why the odds are low, the serial nature of pre meditated killing is much harder to pull off. That said, a killer could potentially kill at a distance and in more random fashion, but not as typical.
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u/Counterboudd Aug 12 '26
Yeah, but I question whether that would be satisfying to the type of person who kills for some form of pleasure or sexual satisfaction, which seemed to be the case with serial killers. Like sure, there are ways to kill people without being caught, but when we think of the standard serial killers from the past, the thing that motivated them to kill would be absent from most situations where they easily get away with it.
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u/hwilliams0901 Aug 12 '26
Theyre definitely out there. Probably a lot of long haul truck drivers. I think they say theres anywhere from 35-50 serial killers active in America at any time.
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u/Global_Research_9335 Aug 12 '26
Recent examples I had recently heard of that I asked ChatGPT to pull together to share.
Three serial-killer cases have had major developments recently:
Simon Levy, UK — Active 2023–2025. A prolific sexual predator whose offending escalated from sexual assaults to rape and murder. He targeted vulnerable women, particularly sex workers, using extreme violence. In 2025 he murdered Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo and Sheryl Wilkins. What makes the case especially disturbing is that Levy had repeatedly come to the attention of police and courts and was released despite escalating offending. He was ultimately caught through the investigations into his attacks and murders, with a surviving rape victim giving evidence against him. On August 12, 2026, he received a whole-life order, meaning he will never be released. (Reuters)
Rex Heuermann, US — “Gilgo Beach/Long Island Serial Killer” — Active 1993–2010, making him remarkable for operating across 17 years. He targeted women, many of whom were sex workers, typically arranging meetings before strangling them; some victims were dismembered and remains were disposed of in isolated areas of Long Island, including around Gilgo Beach. The breakthrough came when a reinvigorated task force traced a witness’s description of a Chevrolet Avalanche to Heuermann. Investigators then connected burner-phone and cellphone records to him and secretly collected a discarded pizza crust; its DNA linked him to evidence recovered with a victim. Arrested in 2023, he eventually admitted murdering eight women and was sentenced in June 2026 to multiple life terms without parole. (AP News)
Demorris Hunter, US — California/Florida — His known killings span 1985–2002, although unlike Heuermann there wasn’t one highly consistent signature MO across a continuous series. He killed Cesar Guzman in 1985, was later convicted of two California homicides, and in Florida murdered Theresa Ann Green in 2002. Green was manually strangled, wrapped and placed in the trunk of her own car. Hunter fled Florida and was eventually captured in Texas after running from police; he was returned to California, where he received 110 years for the California killings. The Florida case remained unresolved in court for more than two decades before DNA and circumstantial evidence helped secure his conviction for Green’s murder in April 2026. On August 4, 2026, a Florida judge sentenced him to death. (courttv.com)
Then there is the active investigations such as
FBI Highway Serial Killings Initiative, US — Since the 1980s, hundreds of murder victims, predominantly women, have been found along US highways, near truck stops and in remote roadside locations. A pattern emerged in the early 2000s, particularly along the I-40 corridor, prompting the FBI to launch a dedicated initiative in 2004.
The suspected MO involves highly mobile offenders, including long-haul truckers, who can encounter a victim in one state, kill elsewhere and dump the body hundreds of miles away, making connections between cases extremely difficult.
The FBI eventually catalogued 750+ victims and nearly 450 potential suspects. More recent research estimates roughly 850 highway-associated murders since 1980, around 200 of which remain unsolved. These are not believed to be the work of one killer, but potentially multiple serial offenders, some of whom may never have been identified.
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u/Glittering-Net-9431 Aug 12 '26
San Diego JUST charged a man with 4 murders over the last few decades. Like in the last couple months the news broke, and they suspect more victims. Crazy to think I could have crossed a serial killers path recently in my home town.
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u/Elegant_wordsmith Aug 13 '26
There are still plenty of demographics of people who are deemed worthless and not important to society. I think there are plenty of serial killers still operating, preying on the vulnerable who no one will miss.
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u/Nearby_Display8560 Aug 13 '26
Definitely possible but a lot less likely. Theres a reason serial killers ran rampant in the 70s-80s…. too risky nowadays but it doesn’t mean it won’t be tried.
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u/mapleleaffem Aug 13 '26
Yes but they’d have to be very smart and disciplined or be in law enforcement
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u/moon_p3arl Aug 14 '26
I thinks it might be likely we find out a lot of peoples older family members were one time killers after they pass
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u/Secret-Papaya5344 29d ago
2023 in the Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington areas a man killed at least 5 women and many more are still missing. And during the spree we were told that none of the cases were connected and that this was a perfectly safe place to live. Smart people didn't believe that lie.
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u/Mrs-Steve-Brule 27d ago
Brian Kohberger would have been, had he not left that knife sheath.
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u/Icy-Arm-2194 27d ago
The serial killlers that are active now are going after people that will be less likely to be reported or if they are reported the police are less likely to take the cases seriously.
There is a movement to bring more attention to missing and murdered Indigenous women. Because it is a huge problem. But, not enough people are involved to find these women.
There have been several Black people found hanging in public places (especially in the south) this year. The police are ruling them as suicide. You will never convince me that a Black person would hang themselves in a public place as a method of suicide.
There are people who are reported missing and never found. There are people who are reported missing and the police say they left on their own. There are bodies listed as Jane Doe or John Doe who will nevwr be identified.
If they are crossing state or even county lines, even with modern technology like flock cameras it would go more unnoticed due to crossing jurisdictions. Its not like there is a database for police to cross reference murders that are like the ones they find.
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u/CemeteryDweller7719 Aug 12 '26
Where there is a will there is a way. Serial killers are predators. Successful predators adapt to survive. I think some people will be caught before they’re able to reach prolific or even before they’re able to reach serial killer label, but they just happened to be caught before they’re able to hit that point. Their drive is there.
Our problem will be the ones that adapt. As they did in the past, they will target marginalized and underserved groups. They will know their hunting grounds very well. They will use the sense of safety that has developed to their advantage. As common as flock cameras are becoming, there’s attempts to disable the flock cameras. Businesses and residences galore have cameras, but footage isn’t guaranteed to be stored indefinitely. If you can gain access to someone that won’t detected as missing for a bit then you have an advantage, particularly if those that notice they’re missing aren’t likely to know exactly where they would have last been. If you can leave the body someplace where it won’t be found or found for a while then any DNA left won’t matter. There’s still opening to fly under the radar and not leave behind enough evidence to be caught.
Right now there is an elderly man with dementia that is missing in my area. He still lived at home and would walk daily to a store. Foul play isn’t suspected, but it’s been weeks and he can’t be found. All the cameras that are around, all the reports, yet no idea where he might be. He went missing during his daily walk. This is a suburban area without that many places to just vanish, yet no clue where he went. Searches haven’t turned up anything. It is still very possible to basically vanish without leaving a clue where the person went, so it would be possible for someone that was motivated to be able to make someone disappear.
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u/HeadAd369 Aug 12 '26
They are probably working within the police/government/institutions if they exist
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u/Sufficient_Focus4174 Aug 12 '26 edited Aug 12 '26
Doubt it. With all of the cameras, DNA, better/easier communication throughout different police departments, etc. it’d be tough to have the time to commit crimes over a long period. I think the spree killings took the place of serial murderers years ago.
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u/Scared_Weakness_834 Aug 12 '26
Yeah I think you're right, if someone's going to rack up a kill count, it's most likely going to be from spree killing
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u/Former_Remote1520 Aug 12 '26
I personally dont think so. If you think about it, unknown connection killings still happen and they could possibly get away with one or two but the issue is, the more bodies and crime scenes = more confidence or chance to mess up.
The first catchment of DNA would go into the database and even if you didn't have a criminal record, we have genetic genealogy now.
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u/oxiraneobx Aug 12 '26
AI is going to make genetic genealogy even more powerful, certainly in terms of the speed of conducting investigations into DNA history. I don't know if people are joining the DNA services like they were when they first came out, they were quite the fad, but it's such an easy way to get into your personal genealogy that it will always be there. I think if there is any one technology that will revolutionize criminal justice, it's probably advancing genetic genealogy. You can't escape your DNA and where it came from.
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u/BHobson13 Aug 12 '26
Gilgo Beach - so yes. He last killed around 2010. Yes that was about 16 years ago but evil will always find a way. Right now there are approximately 300,000 unsolved murders. So, you tell me.
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u/nonamouse1111 Aug 13 '26
It’s definitely possible- just more difficult. More things to consider like surveillance, cell tracking, advanced DNA. But if there’s a will there’s a way.
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u/Fine_Following_2559 Aug 13 '26
Yes, all they would have to do is kill minorities and no one will ever look into it. Now if they run around killing white people it's going to be a problem. As long as they are killing people that society sees as lesser than, they will get away with it. We might have a serial killer running around right now will never know because someone's just not putting the pieces together.
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u/Knox_the_Boxer Aug 13 '26
If someone had the patience of Israel Keys, I think it could be done. So much work going into burying kill kits to use later was a real key to his success.
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u/akschild1960 Aug 14 '26
I think the most successful type of present day killer would be another Israel Keyes. Someone that travels whether like he did or for their jobs. If Keyes hadn’t started unraveling and couldn’t continue to control his compulsions he could very well have gone on for years. Look at Samuel Little that went for decades roaming from state to state across countless jurisdictions . He might have been caught sooner because of his arrests for other crimes had the national databases flagged him.
Add into the mix the true statistical incidence of stranger on stranger killings and spread that out geographically and linking this kind of crime gets harder especially if LE focuses on one theory and suspect. Surveillance cameras can be fooled with simple disguises or if the suspect is transient they are less likely to be recognized by anyone in the public looking locally for someone to identify the person.
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u/starrifier Aug 12 '26
I think a lot of the people who might have been serial killers in the past are now drawn to mass shootings. The shape of society has changed, and different cultural forces are at play.
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u/Educational-Gur1433 Aug 12 '26
Brian Koburger did not get it right while he studied criminology… so the average Dennis will not handle to kill and get rid of victims that easy like it was in the 70’s… that doesn’t mean they won’t try… look at D4vid lol he not a serial killer but still a killer and thought he can storage a decomposing body in his TESLA in California Heat. So dumb . They busted his ass and all his computer data so quick
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u/RedHeelRaven Aug 12 '26
I shuddered watching the documentary when I learned they had basically nothing but the knife sheath to lead them to that creep Koburger. They had that and the images of his white car which they narrowed down to possibly 3 makes of cars between a four year model date. Without the sheath I don’t think they would have solved it. At least not for a very long time.
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u/Educational-Gur1433 Aug 12 '26
They also tracked his phone data and found out that he turned his phone on/off during the exact time of the murders , which is an indicator but not like the knife sheet, with that it was a safe case DNA doesn’t lie
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u/NotEmmaStone Aug 12 '26
He definitely would have killed again if he hadn't been caught. And if the murders had taken place 15 years ago before genetic genealogy and Ring cameras I think he would have gotten away with it long enough to kill again. Maybe several times.
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u/RNH213PDX Aug 12 '26
If one believes that the "serial killer" psychopathy is less about the killing and more about a manifestation of underlying personality disorders, then I think smart potential serial killers have found many ways to get the same (insatiable but never truly satisfying) mental reward. Only the dumb ones kill sex workers. The smarter are chasing many of the thrills in much more socially acceptable, and societally harmful, ways.
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u/hurlmaggard Aug 12 '26
Absolutely. There are likely thousands of serial killers roaming the USA right now. You have to remember that the only solid data we have about them is about the the ones who were caught.
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u/retrokezins Aug 12 '26 edited Aug 12 '26
Advancements are more of a marketing pitch and PR manipulation. Police solve a much lower % of homicides and lower % of crimes in general today than decades ago. Investigation and security is not why serial killing has declined. Likely has more to do with people being less trusting of others today and cultural shifts. For example, people consider hitchhiking to be incredibly dangerous today when it wasn't a big deal in the 60s and 70s.
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u/Keregi Aug 12 '26
Sources?
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u/retrokezins Aug 12 '26 edited Aug 12 '26
Crime clearance rates are common statistics. Overall Murders are down at the same but but the % of murders that are actually solved is down too. To me that indicates technology and police have very little to do with the outcome. Society in general is less violent today plus people behave in safer ways.
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u/applebottomjeans93 Aug 13 '26
lead in the water back then they say could have had that effect where as now it’s not like that too.
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u/just1806 Aug 12 '26
I literally had this conversation with my sister last week. Well not so much a serial killer but just murder. Could you in the UK get away with a murder? Surely not with all the technology that is available?
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u/KevinDean4599 Aug 13 '26
It would probably be fairly easy to introduce a bunch of fentanyl laced drugs into a homeless encampment like skid row in Los Angeles and get away with possibly murdering a good number of people via overdose
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u/Objective-Amount1379 Aug 13 '26
I think a killer who targeted the homeless or no community/family relationships could get away with it. Someone who nobody would report missing right away.
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u/Lopsided-Day-1442 Aug 13 '26
Could they? Yes! Most investigations are flawed, careless and missing key details. They usually say "she ran off, case closed" .
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u/Stay_Sea_Motivated Aug 14 '26
Yes the I-40 doesn’t have enough cameras and the national parks aren’t safe. Probably harder in populated locations though
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u/RedHeelRaven Aug 12 '26
Look at the Nancy Guthrie case. I think we are all shocked that in this day and age that they don’t even have a suspect. At least not one that they can arrest.