I’m having a hard time reading about these stats in my home state. Just looking at this sign feels creepy.
Killers on wheels
In the early 2000s, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation noted a pattern in a string of women’s bodies that had been dumped along Interstate 40 in four states. This prompted the FBI to establish a Highway Serial Killings Initiative, which tracks known and unknown killers. The program initiative noted that suspects included predominantly long-haul truck drivers.
Today, the FBI has collected profiles of as many as 400 truckers who may still be active serial killers, Arntfield said.
Trucking, he explained, is an ideal profession for serial killers, as it gives drivers both mobility and anonymity.
Tower sign advertising a truck stop in Van Horn, Texas, 26 June 2008.
"It also provides a veneer of legitimacy to serial killers being on the highway or at truck stops in the middle of the night,” he said. “Truck stops are known hotbeds of the sex trade, and truckers with nefarious motives can exploit that.”
Native women are at particularly high risk of commercial sexual exploitation, according to a
2009 study by the Minnesota Indian Women’s Sexual Assault Coalition, which blamed historic trauma, poverty, alcohol or substance abuse, domestic violence and homelessness.
Native women and girls may be exploited into trafficking by force, fraud or coercion. Others may turn to prostitution as a means of economic survival.
Many Native women and girls, lacking cars or access to public transportation, are forced to rely on hitchhiking to get from place to place, making them easy prey for killers.
Data Suggest Serial Killers Active in Indian Country
Eta:
https://www.usccr.gov/pubs/2018/12-20-Broken-Promises.pdf