Serial killers and Truckers? Link?

According to the LA times FBI have thought for many years that there is a strong link between Long haul truckers and serial killers, Investigations have allegedly been done that shows a link between the two, Records of over 500 women found murdered where along truck stops, motels and other places used by long haul truckers.

The pattern was first seen 5 years ago after many unsolved killings on an interstate in Oklahoma,

It’s defiantly interesting but I would also imaging that 500 is still quite a low number if you look at the big picture,
Very scary indeed but also im sure annoying for those truckers that would never even think of such a thing,.

I guess you have to be careful how you label people.

Link

I guess the questions we need to look at are Why would Truckers be more likely to kill, if indeed there is a pattern,
Or is it that this is why some of these Murders take the job? knowing they will be alone for vast amounts of time and able to feed there need.




[edit on 5-4-2009 by asala]

I don't really see how they came to this conclusion. A lot of people who are not truckers stop at truck stops or stay at motels when traveling.

I just saw a show on court TV where a cop was pulling over young women after they left gas stations along the interstate then he would rape then kill the women. I just think it is too hard to profile a killer, it always seems like people talking about killers say they seemed like everyday normal people.

If there is a connection it could be due to the very long hours these drivers go without sleep or contact with others. They probably have a lot of time to think and might get a little out of touch with reality, but I think it's stretch to say they are more prone to kill.

Its stupid, if your a serial killer you join the polcie or army. In the police you can kill anyone you want especially in america.

The highest rate of serial killers must be in the police. Just because loads of bodies are beside truck stops mean nothing, like the above says.

[edit on 4/5/2009 by andy1033]

The biggest & most successful serial killer & the one we all love because we know if we go against him he'll smite us with his power is.....God.

Originally posted by smokehouseslim
The biggest & most successful serial killer & the one we all love because we know if we go against him he'll smite us with his power is.....God.

Everyone has there time to go. Does not make god a serial killer.

If your looking for responsible for deaths, than surely the police go as far as anyone for killing anyone they want. Plus what they do is supposedly legal.

God has a pretty good track record though I think a few thousand years beats everthing else in spades.

A lot of people who are not truckers stop at truck stops or stay at motels when traveling.

Yes thats my thoughts on this, I don't get how they can really determine if the killers are Truckers, It makes sense i guess to hide the bodies in places that are out of the way from normal traffic, I imagine that these roads are long stretches of nothing, I would have also thought many of these men would have already been police checked? I know its common practice here in the UK for most jobs,

Im wondering if there is any more evidence to this, something ill have a look in to later..

Originally posted by asala
I guess the questions we need to look at are Why would Truckers be more likely to kill, if indeed there is a pattern,

I do not believe that Truckers are more likely to be killers than people from other professions, rather I believe that some evil people with serious mental issues are able to gain employment in the trucking industry, particularly in long haul trucking.

There are many professional drivers who make a good living in long haul trucking. I myself have driven for a company in the past and can tell you that there are some pretty scary people in this industry, but they are very few.

In my job I was required to have a full background check which included criminal and psychological background checks because some of the equipment and materials I was transporting were hazardous.

The vast majority of truckers do not have this background check done and personally I believe that if it were required industry wide you would eliminate a lot of people with potential mental issues, and even perhaps drivers who could be killers. The way to make that happen is simple, you require every person with a CDL to have mandatory HAZMAT certification. The background checks are deep and extensive and would find any potential problems. and it should be repeated yearly. If a person has any criminal or psychological issues past (including childhood) or present they cannot legally drive nor can any company contract them to haul any loads.

I also believe that mandatory drug and alcohol tests should be given to every driver on a constant basis.

Bad truckers can make the majority of good people who drive for a living look bad and it is not fair to those who are in this profession to carry a stigma because of some bad apples.

Could serial killers be exploiting the trucking industry to seek out and kill victims?

You bet they can, they could also be working in your office building, or perhaps they could be your neighbor. You never really know who or where they are.

I do believe the above government background check would help weed out the potential bad people from a generally good industry.

Interesting topic.

reply to post by smokehouseslim

Dont blame it on God~! WE turned away from him long ago!
NOT the other way around. He is waiting for us to change now.
The devil is in charge of dealings on this earth for the time being.
Obviously! Only takes turning on the news to realize it!
If we knew of the grand plan, we all would realize it is happening
regardless of our personal quirks and indifference to the obviously!
If it wasnt for God, we would not be here!
Unless you think we are a fluke of nature destined to go extinct!
Then whats the use, lets party! Weehooo!

What are we then, apes or men? Literaly.
Can an ape play yyz from Rush?
Or write it?
Sorry mods if too far off topic!

[edit on 5-4-2009 by dodadoom]

There have been numerous serial killers who have also been truckers, so I can see where the link is. But I would say most truckers are honest people. Maybe there is a connection within the serial killers mind that draws him to this line of work. Loner, average to above average intelligence, also remember serial killers like to be in control, a trucker is able to control his cargo and truck.

Hmm, I don't remember a psych profile as part of my Haz-Hat endorsement. Just the FBI fingerprint and background check, but I suppose they look for any reported professional diagnosis of mental problems. Now the FAST Pass for crossing into Canada easier included CIA, FBI, RCMP and possibly an Interpol check for criminal history, again not sure about the psych part as there was no profile evaluation portion either. Although having a CCW permit would result in an automatic denial...

There are additional and more extensive checks done above Haz-Mat for hauling weapons, ammo, military equipment and currency. That will give a driver a security clearance, the level of which will determine the extent of the loads that can be hauled. Eventhough I have hauled secured loads in the past, I do not have a security clearance as it was for a private business and not for the government nor directly associated to the government.

I have always viewed long haul drivers as more like snipers. They are given their assignment and do need communication and further instructions until the assignment is complete and they return for the next mission unless the company needs to contact them for a status change.

Drivers are somewhat solitary and do not always have access to daily hygiene so as showers and laundry services when out on longer runs away from home for extended periods of months. Since I was solo and had the room, I always tried to keep a month's worth of clothes and a week's worth of food (Heater meals) for when I needed the extra buffer beyond my three weeks out and one weekend home schedule. But I have had to do a two month stretch and had to hit a laundromat while on the road.

But despite the solitary lifestyle driver do socialize with other drivers. Most view themselves as a fraternal brotherhood and will talk at great length with other drivers for an hour or so when in the mood despite just really wanting to eat and grab a shower. Favors are often exchanged for a "do the same for me or another when they need it" or bartered for a clean change of clothes if the need is great enough. Other drivers still see themselves as "Old Knights of the Road" and will help motorists and travelers as they can for nothing more than a thank you. On one particularly cold night in Chicago I offered a woman who was sleeping in her pickup my upper bunk. She finally agreed and was pleasantly surprised that is was not a "warm bed in exchange for sex" ploy on my behalf.

I don't know about every trucking company, but the one my husband works for does random drug testing.

The thing is, if every trucker works as hard as my husband, I don't know where he/she would find the TIME for murder. If my husband isn't driving, he's doing paperwork, trip planning, inspecting his truck, sweeping out the trailer, waiting in line at some shipping office, at an operating center trying to get something fixed on the truck or trailer, being loaded, being unloaded, grabbing a bite of food or a shower, or sleeping. Every bit of his time has to be logged.

To crw2006: "a trucker is able to control his cargo and truck"?! Maybe if you are an owner-operator, but if you drive a company truck, that is not true at all. The company says pick up a specific load at a specific time, then deliver it to another location at a specific time, all while having to follow the company rules and the DOC regulations.

I think truck stops provide a conveinant place because

1) they are open 24 hours
2) very transient, lots of people, people are less likely to notice someone suspicious. And since so many people do come and go, someone is less likely to notice if a girl has gone missing.
3) they provide good cover, since so many average men come and go, it would be really hard to figure out which one is a serial killer. best place to hide is in plain view.

Originally posted by asala
Or is it that this is why some of these Murders take the job? knowing they will be alone for vast amounts of time and able to feed there need.
[edit on 5-4-2009 by asala]

From a serial killer's point of view, I guess working as a long haul trucker makes a lot of sense. First of all, these individuals are psychopats (the diagnosis is "antisocial personality disorder"), so it would be difficult to function well with coworkers day after day, perhaps in an office landscape. Coworkers would also notice that there is something very wrong with you, and one of them might just make a phone call to the police/FBI regarding an ongoing murder investigation.

As a trucker you also have a lot of opportunities to hunt for prostitutes, runaways and homeless people who can go missing without it being noticed for a while. The killer have easy access to remote locations where the body can hidden or dumped, and sometimes bodies are found years after the crime was commited. This makes it extremely difficult to pinpoint both time of death and place of death, and even more difficult to connect any suspects to the crime.

A trucker and serial killer can also commit murders in different states and even different countries. It can take a very long time before any similarities in modus operandi are discovered by law enforcement and the dots are connected to spell out a serial killer. I guess sometimes the dots are never connected at all.

But to be perfectly clear about this, I do NOT think that truckers are likely to be serial killers. I just think that this line of work may appeal to a certain kind of sick individual. Much like some child molesters are drawn to jobs where they have easy access to children.

I dont know if anyone caught coast to coast last night, Ian Punnett had a guest who talked about serial killers.

I would just guess that if you were planning on being a serial killer or going on a spree being a truck driver, especially a self owned truck, your chances of getting away with it could increase if you traveled the whole country. Unless there was some type of profile the person was seeking out and killing the different deaths would remain unsolved without a link to each other.

This stereotyping goes way too far. Coming up with a theory that a trucker or two might be killing truck stop hookers is one thing, but this is just stupidity.

[edit on 5/4/09 by John Matrix]

On the flight taking me and my comrades to Turkey on our way to Iraq in 91 the subject of taking lives was very popular. In fact it disturbed me the amount of soldiers who I had shared accommodation with, broke bread with and had a more than a few nights out with seemed to be very excited at the prospect of killing someone, anyone, including innocent men, women and children. This discovery led me ultimately to quit the military. Not that I havent seen this attitude in the civilian world. I've lost count of the amount of times I've been a passenger in a car and someone has tried to cross in front of the vehicle only to have the driver put his (or her) foot down on the accelerator. Whenever someone I know finds out I've served in a war the question of how many people I've killed always pops up, normally (normal ha) with a sick sense of fascination with the notion of murder. Every bookshop, post office, bargain shop, newspaper shop I went into in Australia had books devoted to murderers, serial killers, violent crimes on sale in prominent positions. I've heard the argument that its natural for us to be interested in gory details (the slow down at car crash syndrome!) but I think that it runs a lot deeper in our psyche. I wouldnt be at all surprised to find out truckies were prone to serial killing in much the same way I wouldnt be surprised that any portion of the community were prone to it. There's a lot more killers and potential killers out there than we would care to admit.

Originally posted by smokehouseslim
The biggest & most successful serial killer & the one we all love because we know if we go against him he'll smite us with his power is......

Dexter?

The problem with this theory is that there are so many truck drivers that it's not even funny. They're looking to add over 150,000+ truck drivers over the next five or six years. I can literally say that if you buy something from a store, it was on a truck. Are there SOME truck drivers that are serial killers? Sure, that's been proven. But you can't say that there's a link between them just because there are some.

All trucking companies are required to drug test 51% of their drivers annually, and alcohol test 10% of them. The company I used to work for had a little over 8000 drivers, most of them passed just fine, but we caught a handful every quarter in testing. That's just one company, there are hundreds of them out there. If you have say 2-3 serial killers per company on average (just pulling numbers here) then you're going to have more of them percentage wise, just because of the number of companies.

Truck stops are PERFECT for disguising killings. Anyone ever been to the Iowa-80 TA? They just expanded to over 1500 truck parking spots. That's just the truck side of things, there's a side for cars as well. What better place to pick someone up if you're going to do something? Add to that the number of "lot lizards" walking around looking for a lonely truck driver at almost every truck stop, and you have the potential for things to get out of hand.

I would be willing to say that over 90% of truck drivers are honest individuals that wouldn't do anything wrong. But that small percentage of drivers that WILL do something wrong looks a lot bigger when you have the sheer numbers that truck drivers do.