Clues From Killers: Serial Murder and Crime Scene Messages

By Dirk C. Gibson
Westport, CT: Praeger, 2004

There are many excellent compilations that discuss the vagaries of serial killers and their various predilections and, in some cases, psychopathy.¹ Clues From Killers offers a different perspective to understanding serial murderers. Drawing on publicly available government and library archives, Gibson (2004) describes the crime scene communicative behavior of serial killers to create “a cohesive narrative” (p. 4). The criminal careers of ten serial killers span from 1888 to 2002 and the data are analyzed by conducting integrative research and rhetorical criticism. The rhetorical process adopted by Gibson (2004) involves quoting the message, describing its content and appearance, and analyzing its content and form.

One of the strengths of this book is the choice of serial killers that are reviewed. A common theme of other analyses of this type of criminal involves sampling only the more well-known killers for the analysis. Gibson (2004) clearly did not choose this option.² Three of the lesser known serial killers included are the Mad Butcher, John Robinson, Sr., and William Heirens. The Son of Sam, the DC Sniper, the Unabomber, the Zodiac, the BTK Strangler, Jack the Ripper, and the Black Dahlia Avenger are all much more recognizable to the lay and specialized reader alike.

More importantly, the author includes extensive excerpts from serial killer communications via mail, writing on walls, and other mediums. These include crime scene communication as well as other crime-related messages (e.g. after a killing, between killings). These carefully selected communications are placed within their social context as adequate case history information is provided to the reader in order to establish the significance of the communication under analysis.

The overall conclusions drawn add to our current knowledge base on serial murderers. Gibson (2004) finds that a “consistent compulsion to communicate characterizes these serial killers” (p. 209). In most cases, communicating with society and law enforcement was imperative for the selected killers examined. In their communications they left clues, taunted and insulted law enforcement, re-injured victims’ loved ones, threatened to kill again, made demands and offered explanations for their behavior (see pp. 210-211). A brief comparative analysis suggests that each killer had different motives to communicate (e.g. a form of venting). In fact, “it is what they disclose about themselves that reveals a greater reality” (quoting Joel Norris (1988), p. 212).

However, this reviewer feels that the rhetorical analytical approach is insufficient to grasp the broader themes that may (or may not) be present in these ten cases. The communication is presented and then quoted by the author; however, the interpretation is limited as few no cross-case comparisons are made. Thematic cross-cases analyses could help to shed some light on communication etiologies these killers and others have in common.

Gibson (2004) makes a very strong case for the importance that communication methods, form, and content have for the apprehension of serial killers. The author rightly advocates for further research in this area. This book would serve as a good supplemental text for a course on violent crime or serial killers. Students and researchers alike can benefit from this fresh approach to extant data.

¹ See Eric Hickey, Serial murderers and their victims (Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole, 1991); Ronald M. Holmes and Steven T. Holmes, Murder in America (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2001); Brian Lane and Wilfred Greg, The encyclopedia of serial killers (New York, NY: Berkeley Books, 1995); and Jack Levin and James Alan Fox, Mass murder & serial killing exposed (New York, NY: Plenum Press, 1994).

² Although the author does not explicitly state the reason for choosing these killers, after reading this work, I believe they were chosen for theoretical relevance to the main concept of interest – that is, communication.