Killers and Murderers, Research Paper Example

The difference between a serial killer and a mass murderer is that serial killers commit many murders over a long period of time, while mass murderers commit many murders at one time. (Siegel) To be considered a serial killer there must be at least three victims linked to the same murderer. To qualify as an instance of mass murder, there must be at least four deaths at the same time. (Dennis)

There are some well-known serial killers from the past three decades, but three early serial killers were Gilles De Rais (1404-1440), Elizabeth “The Bloody Lady” Bathory (1560-1614), and Mary Ann Cotton (1832-1873). (Dennis) Gilles De Rais, of the richest men in France during his time, is reported to have raped and murdered anywhere from 80 – 200 boys and buried them on the grounds of his various estates. Elizabeth Bathory was a Hungarian Countess who tortured and killed young girls, they say so she could bath in their blood. Some sources say as many as 2,000 girls fell to Bathory. Mary Ann Cotton is reported to have poisoned as many as 21 people, killing four husbands, several friends and in-laws, and even some of her own children with arsenic. (Dennis)

Examples of mass murder events include the Chicago 1966 event, where Richard Speck killed eight nursing students in their home the same night. (Montaldo) The term “going postal” was coined when an angry postal worker, Patrick Sherrill, killed 14 employees and himself at an Edmund, Oklahoma post office on August 20, 1986. The last example is of Jack Graham, who on November 1, 1955 put his mother on a plane with dynamite packed in her suitcase. The plane, scheduled to fly from Denver to Portland, exploded mid-air and killed all 44 people aboard. (Dennis)

Bibliography

Dennis, Felix. Serial Killer vs. Mass Murderer. 2012. 27 April 2012 <http://www.mentalfloss.com/difference/serial-killer-vs-mass-murderer/>.

Montaldo, Charles. Multiple Murderers. 2012. The New York Times Company. 27 April 2012 <http://crime.about.com/od/serial/a/killer_types.htm>.

Siegel, Larry J. Criminology 4th Edition. n.d.