Forensic fan
Member
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2008
- Messages
- 533
- Reaction score
- 6
I have a friend who studied criminal justice in the Pacific Northwest, and I asked her about this once. This is what she said she remembered from her classes [paraphrased by me]:
The Pacific Northwest has statistically more than its share of serial killers, etc., because of several things:
1. Highly transient population: I don't mean that "transients/hobos" are more likely to commit a crime. What I mean is that Seattle, Portland, etc., are considered very desirable places to live, with a high quality of life. So you get a lot of people moving there from other places. (There are some cities where it's rare to meet someone who was born and bred there.) When you have a place with a lot of strangers moving in and out, without life-long family ties there, it's easy for a stranger to get "lost" in the crowd and go undiscovered for a longer time. It's easier to be "anonymous." Also, the climate is relatively mild year-round, so you also get a lot more people who do fit the "hobo" definition of "transient." A homeless person can't survive a midwestern winter as easily as a winter in Seattle or Portland. I'm not saying that homeless are more likely to commit crimes, but this does mean that someone who acts oddly or suspiciously is more likely to be dismissed or overlooked on the streets of Portland than on the streets of, say, Butte, Montana.
There are also a lot of military bases in the PNW, which adds to the "strangers come and go" factor.
2. Culture: the Pacific Northwest cultivates a kind of "individualistic" air, in the same way that Austin, Texas, does. There are some places where being an odd duck is embraced as part of the ethos. This also contributes to the tendency to overlook someone who might appear "slightly off" or "suspicious."
The Pacific Northwest also has a higher concentration of "outdoorsy" people and hunters. Access to things like 4-wheel drive trucks with gun racks (outside of the larger cities, at least), or having the alibi that a ranger has found you out in the middle of nowhere with a shovel because you're "roughing it" is more likely to pass muster in the Pacific Northwest. After all, communing with the wilderness is the whole reason a lot of people move there. I'm not saying that hunters are more likely to kill; what I'm saying is that it's easy to say, "I'm camping/hunting/fishing/whatever" as a reason to go to or be in a remote area, or to have the kind of equipment that could also be used for killing and disposing of humans. People camp in the redwoods; they don't camp in a soybean field or a desert.
3. Geography: Without being too grisly, there are lots of places to hide bodies in the Pacific Northwest--you don't have to go too far to find someplace that is rugged enough to hide a body, often to be undetected for years, if not forever. (Just reading about the blackberry brambles is enough to convince me of this.) Additionally, animal activity due to wild areas close by, as well as how wet the climate is, means that evidence will decompose more quickly than someplace else. Plus, there are a lot of bodies of water nearby for evidence disposal.
4: Economy: The Pacific Northwest has a high immigrant population. This means that there's a proportionately higher level of low-paying, entry level jobs. For someone who is trying to fly under the radar and not leave a paper trail--or who has a criminal history already--these is how someone on the fringes of society supports himself. Those are the kinds of jobs that have "faceless" employees--no trail of credit history, mortgages, college transcripts, professional certification, professional standing and recognition, business ownership, etc.--they're the kinds of jobs that just want a body to fill a space behind a counter, and they could care less who you are inside. But ironically, you often have more contact with the public than you do in a more specialized, highly skilled job like "research scientist." I would imagine that's exactly that "just looking for a warm body" kind of jobs are exactly what someone hoping to remain unnoticed would want. There are exceptions, of course (John Wayne Gacy, for example). But if you're tracing a missing housewife, you're going to remember if a college professor was acting weird, or if someone in her literature discussion group was absent that day. Nobody's going to notice or remember that the frycook at the nearby McDonald's was shifty-eyed that day when she dashed in there for lunch.
Pretty much all of these factors apply to Florida, as well:
Transient population (snow birds, service-industry workers, immigrants, spring breakers, etc.). Plus, there's a lot of agriculture, so there's a lot of seasonal farm workers coming in and out. It can often feel rare to meet a native Floridian.
Culture: Florida is also "outdoorsy," and as part of the southeast, has a prevalent "gun rack" atmosphere, and therefore, easier to have a built-in alibi and/or reason to have weapons or go "camping" and disappear for a few days. Also, people are more likely to be outdoors in Florida through much of the year, as they are in the PNW, and this means more access to victims.
Geography: Florida also has tracts of wilderness (and bodies of water) handy, high animal and insect activity, and a very wet climate.
Economy: modern Florida is pretty much all service-industry jobs--it's all about the theme parks and beaches, which means lots of low-qualification/low references needed jobs; these are the only jobs you're likely to get if you're a RSO. Zoning laws in Florida also mean that there are more trailer parks, which may be attractive to registered sex offenders because they're cheap to live in, and easy to put in an unincorporated area if you're bound by a "so many feet away from a church or school" restriction. Other states have much stricter zoning laws.
All of these things relate to California, as well. Plus, California just has a huge population, comparatively--as does Florida.
*Sorry for rambling--this is something I've thought about quite a bit.
That was a very good, informative post, thanks so much
