The last active serial killer apprehended in America was Gary Ridgway active from 1982-2000.  Considering the number of crimes I have seen recently that have been solved via security cameras I think the odds of a new serial killer being successful has greatly lowered.

Couple that with the fact that DNA tests and testing continue to greatly improve.  People freely donate their DNA to databases like  Ancestry.com and 23 and me. I have seen a couple crimes solved just because of a relative donating their DNA to a free source base.  Imagine if you wanted to be a serial killer but in the past had given your DNA to 23 and me.  Now you can't be a serial killer....aaargh.  shot that idea in the foot.  Let alone, now you got to make sure none of your relatives have donated their DNA to the open market.  This calls for some micromanagement.

Cell phones and GPS are the two other big factors for me.  I know way too much about missing and abducted children and the numbers of children who are missing or abducted have gone down drastically as almost everyone can be reached at almost any given time.  The window of time we allow people to be not readily available has shrunk considerably.  People don't go missing for extended periods of time without contact like they used.  Plus they can ping phones off cell phone towers.  Every good horror movie now needs to cover the base of why these people can't just call out on their phone.  It is obligatory for a slasher flick to have the short scene where someone checks their phone and shows they get no coverage where they are.  I imagine in the future this will be a fast way to date any film.  Like, it will be comical to think of the time when there were places no matter how remote that phone service was not available. 

The other big factor I believe is connectivity.  Cities, counties and states all communicate and can share data now.  Patterns can get recognized faster now over distance.

Given all these factors I don't believe we will see another successful serial killer in the states again.  It's just too hard.  Maybe in less developed nations but I can't see someone getting high numbers again.

I don't know exactly where you got your information from , but there have been serial killers active and apprehended since 2000 , including the Cleveland Strangler and Anchorage something or another. I just don't think they are as high profile as they once were because of all the other ways people tend to get killed , including mass shootings.

I do think and studies do show that serial killers , or cases of serial killings have been in a steady decline though and I'm assuming for all reasons you mentioned. The technology is incredibly hard to get around but at the same time - knowing more about how to get away with it could set up for some more efficient serial killers.

If you believe the FBI and their releasing of studies though , they still believe their are up to 50 serial killers active at any given time.

honest admission. I glanced at research and my numbers of victims was accidentally really freaking high. I am open to a more generous opening in the number of victims before being seen as prolific. 30+ is a high bar. Let's say over 15. That is fair to me. That pushes me up to Ronald Dominique active to 2006. Still over 10 years ago.

Obviously, any number is arbitrary.  But I just don't think we are likely to see someone go over 15.  Or over 10 separate incidents. Like, you can go over 15, but you would have to kill some families or groups to get to the total now.  I don't think anyone is getting over 10 individual incidents again.

15 seems rather arbitrary , especially when the term serial killer doesn't even set that as close to the number. It sets it at a mere 2.

Cleveland Strangler has 11 victims and was apprehended 10 years ago. Dominique in theory only had 8 confirmed kills with the possibility of 20+.

I guess I need to clarify. Prolific and successful serial killers. Not just the baseline minimal requirement serial killer.  My rules.  I am making em up.

Clarification is good , then I can see your point a bit more. I still don't think it'll never happen again - there will always be people who seek the notoriety and attention that comes with cases like this. Granted one could argue mass shootings/killings took the place of that but someone will come along with the knowledge of forensics and ideas of how to circumvent the FBI long enough to make a bigger impact.

Look at the Closs case , there wasn't a single shred of evidence because the guy knew to shave every piece of hair on his body , shower , switch license plates , wear two pairs of gloves and stay under the radar. His fatal flaw was obviously keeping Jayme alive and giving the chance to escape - but had she never escaped the cops had ZERO leads and he could have easily done it again. Now if he could get to 15 without leaving evidence is a huge IF but I'm just saying there are ways to get around forensics if you really want to plan everything out.

I guess, if you wanted to be a successful serial killer.. and this is just my hot tip here, you might frequent areas with limited or no CCTV and/or in isolated communities. The wilderness, rural, isolated bush/forest areas. 

Feb 18, 2019 20:06:30 GMT theend said:

I guess I need to clarify. Prolific and successful serial killers. Not just the baseline minimal requirement serial killer.  My rules.  I am making em up.

I think there probably are numerous serial killers operating around the world.
If they are careful about what they do and grab people nobody cares about they could get away with it for decades.
It's mostly the show boating that gets them caught.
Have a look at the missing persons figures for most countries and you will realize how much room there is for serial killers to be operating.

If there are no more showboating serial killers what am I going to watch on Netflix? 😔

Attitudes have changed also. Whenever I watch serial killer documentaries there is a lot of talk of hitchhiking and opening doors to strangers and other stranger danger behaviour that’s frowned upon now.

This disgusting story happened where I live, can never be too careful these days.
www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/sallys-horror-raped-bashed-and-left-naked-on-a-nest-of-ants-20121109-2922e.html

I saw someone make a post making fun of millennials saying that they won’t open their door if they don’t know who it is.

Of course I don’t 🤷🏻‍♀️.

Feb 19, 2019 3:25:51 GMT System said:

Attitudes have changed also. Whenever I watch serial killer documentaries there is a lot of talk of hitchhiking and opening doors to strangers and other stranger danger behaviour that’s frowned upon now.

This disgusting story happened where I live, can never be too careful these days.
www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/sallys-horror-raped-bashed-and-left-naked-on-a-nest-of-ants-20121109-2922e.html

I saw someone make a post making fun of millennials saying that they won’t open their door if they don’t know who it is.

Of course I don’t 🤷🏻‍♀️.

Millenials killing ANOTHER industry. Now it's serial killing.

Although I guess we became business killers.

Feb 19, 2019 9:20:48 GMT @ness said:

Feb 19, 2019 3:25:51 GMT System said:

Attitudes have changed also. Whenever I watch serial killer documentaries there is a lot of talk of hitchhiking and opening doors to strangers and other stranger danger behaviour that’s frowned upon now.

This disgusting story happened where I live, can never be too careful these days.
www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/sallys-horror-raped-bashed-and-left-naked-on-a-nest-of-ants-20121109-2922e.html

I saw someone make a post making fun of millennials saying that they won’t open their door if they don’t know who it is.

Of course I don’t 🤷🏻‍♀️.

Millenials killing ANOTHER industry. Now it's serial killing.

Although I guess we became business killers.

Mass murdering seems to be more of a millennial thing rather than serial killing, instant gratification and a lack of patience for the latter.

If I had to say, serial killers will just become smarter. Pay cash for burner cell phones, choose careful hiding sites for the victims, or remove any possible way to identify them. Remove the hands and head of any person, and unless they have tattoos, you've only got DNA to work with. No dental records to compare without a skull, no fingerprints without hands , you may not have shit to work with. This new technology is helping to solve cases but it's not coming along fast enough to catch all of the serial killers. Look at BTK. He went 30 years without being caught. He was only caught because he knew nothing about floppy disks. If he'd have stayed silent, he may have never been caught. Then there are places where people don't have any neighbors for miles. Isolation may be craved by a lot of people but it also makes them vulnerable to random attacks. Most serial killers look and act totally normal people to blend into society.

Mar 8, 2019 1:42:39 GMT kbc said:

If I had to say, serial killers will just become smarter. Pay cash for burner cell phones, choose careful hiding sites for the victims, or remove any possible way to identify them. Remove the hands and head of any person, and unless they have tattoos, you've only got DNA to work with. No dental records to compare without a skull, no fingerprints without hands , you may not have shit to work with. This new technology is helping to solve cases but it's not coming along fast enough to catch all of the serial killers. Look at BTK. He went 30 years without being caught. He was only caught because he knew nothing about floppy disks. If he'd have stayed silent, he may have never been caught. Then there are places where people don't have any neighbors for miles. Isolation may be craved by a lot of people but it also makes them vulnerable to random attacks. Most serial killers look and act totally normal people to blend into society.

I think he was caught moreso for fame. He wanted credit for what he did. Yeah, he got caught by technology... but he never would've been in that position if he wasn't taunting police and writing letters and stuff. His case was pretty interesting though as I think he worked in home security. LOL.

In keeping with my thought process/ fascination with how many people get caught due to everyone having cameras watching their Amazon packages and those cameras catching random murderers on 20/20. I would also bet we will see a serious drop in child abduction due to number of cameras out there. There is that one recent case of a girl gone missing and they have footage of her on the school bus. nOw they are locking down the neighborhood and combing the streets for cameras. They will likely be able to isolate the time window and make comparisons of everyone's footage and see which cars were where. It is an oddly amazing time.

Read this theend

This is how they get away with it in modern times. It's believed by many that multiple serial killers are active on this stretch of highway.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highway_of_Tears

Seeing one change in serial killers, in the hurtcore movement, which is not talked about enough. Peter Scully and "Lux" Matthew Graham were arrested four years ago and unveiled a massive child porn/torture/snuff network on the darkweb. Two years of CIA raids took down thousands of people involved then everything went dark when Trump took office. Not an area I encourage a deep dive into, but simple article on Lux is here:

www.smh.com.au/national/lux-captured-the-simple-error-that-brought-down-the-worlds-worst-hurtcore-paedophile-20160513-goum54.html