Monday, April 11, 2011

Myths About Serial Killers

There are several myths about serial killers that most people don't know.

Myth: Serial killers are all dysfunctional and loners

A lot of serial killers can hide in plain sight and look like everyone else with a job, a nice home, and family. The FBI report gives excellent examples to cases that you wouldn't even think would be a serial killer.

The BTK Killer- Dennis Rader, killed ten people in Wichita, Kansas over a 30 year period. He was married with two children, a Boy Scout leader, working for the local government and was the president of his church congregation.

Robert Yates- Killed seventeen prostitutes in the 1990's in Spokane, Washington. He was married, had five children, lived in a middle-class neighborhood and was U.S. Army National Guard pilot.

Myth: Serial killers are all white males

No, not all serial killers are white. 

Charles Ng- A native of Hong Kong, China, tortured and killed 25 people with his partner, Robert Lake

Coral Watts- A black man from Michigan, known as the "Sunday Morning Slasher," killed 17 people in Michigan and Texas

Myth: Serial killers are only motivated by sex

Some serial killers are motivated by sex, but many others have different motivations for their murders, like anger, thrill-seeking, finical gain, and attention seeking

Dr. Michael Swango- Convicted for four murders in the U.S. but have poisoned as many as 50 people in the U.S. and in Africa.

Paul Reid- Killed seven people during robberies of fast-food restaurants in Tenn. His motive for the robberies for for finical gain. 

Myth: Serial killers want to get caught

Most serial killers develop a feeling that they will never be identified or caught. They gain confidence in the process where they begin to make mistakes. The mistakes lead them to being identified by law enforcement, not because they want to.

Myth: Serial killers cannot stop killing

Something will change in a serial killers life that will cause them to stop killing before they get caught. The FBI report said the circumstances can include increased participation in family activities, sexual substitution, and other diversions.

Dennis Radar- The BTK killer murdered 10 people from 1974-1991 and did not kill again until he was caught in 2005.

Jeffrey Gorton- Killed his first victim in 1986 and his second in 1991. He did not kill again until 2002 when he was caught.


Brown, Pat. (2011). Serial killer myths exposed. Retrieved from http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/criminal_mind/profiling/s_k_myths/6.html


Montaldo, Charles. (2008, July 8). Report dispells myths about serial killers. Retrieved from http://crime.about.com/b/2008/07/08/report-dispells-myths-about-serial-killers.htm

Montaldo, Charles. (2011). The myth about serial killers. Retrieved from http://crime.about.com/od/serial/a/serial_myths.htm






Monday, April 4, 2011

Carl Eugene Watts

Carl Watts is also known as "Coral" and "The Sunday Morning Slasher."

Watts was born on November 7, 1953 in Killeen, Texas. His father was a private first class in the Army, and his mother was a kindergarten teacher. When watts was less than two years old his parents separated, and was raised by his mother. As a child Watts was described as "strange." Around the age of 12, Watts claimed that this was when he started to fantasize about torturing and killing girls/young women. During his teen years, Watts began to stalk girls and have believed to killed his first victim before the age of 15.
School was hard for Watts. He was held back in the eighth grade due to meningitis. He would receive failing grades, and was reading at a third grade level by the age of 16. He also was bullied very severe at school.

On June 29, 1969, Watts was arrested for sexually assaulting a 26 year old women. When Watts was tried he was sentenced to the Lafayette Clinic, a mental hospital. From a psychiatric assessment, Watts was revealed to have suffered from mild mental retardation. He would often have delusional thought process but very good memory. He was released from the Clinic on November 9, 1969.

Watts graduated in 1973 with a football scholarship to Lane College in Jackson, Tennessee. He was expelled from Lane College because he was accused of stalking and assaulting women. He was also expelled because a lot of people thought he was the suspect of the murder of a female student, but there was no evidence to convict him.

Watt's serial killing began when he was 20 years old in 1974. He would kidnap his victims from their homes, torture them, and murder them. He would almost always kill white women (Watts was black.) He would kill females between the ages of 14 and 44 using methods like strangulation, stabbing, bludgeoning, and drowning. Between 1974-1982 Watts had murdered dozens of women.

On May 23, 1982 Watts was arrested for breaking into the home of two young women in Houston, attempting to kill them. While in custody, police began to link Watts with recent murders of women. Watts confessed and they gave him immunity from the murder charges and would instead face just a charge of burglary with intent to murder. He was sentenced to 60 years in prison.

Watts later confessed that their were a total of 80 victims he killed. Police still think that Watts is a suspect in the 90 unsolved murders.


Bell, Rachel. "Coral Eugene Watts: "The Sunday Morning Slasher"." n. pag. Web. 4 Apr 2011. <http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/coral_watts/index.html>.


Coral eugene watts: "the sunday morning slasher". (2011). Retrieved from http://www.nndb.com/people/608/000071395/


Montaldo, Charles. "Carl Eugene Watts-The Sunday Morning Slasher." n. pag. Web. 4 Apr 2011. <http://crime.about.com/od/serial/p/watts.htm>.