'Food for thought'-
Many violent felons and serial predators are becoming more aware of investigative strategies, techniques, as well as (CSI)forensics, etc. Imo, in many cases the sexual predators/serial killers of today are much more elusive than those of the past..and their numbers are much higher than previously thought..
The FBI estimates that there are between 50 & 75 active predators/SKs in the USA at any given time.
It wasn't until 2009 when the FBI Highway/Trucker serial killer initiative was launched..
Highway Serial Killings
New Initiative on an Emerging Trend
http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2009/april/highwayserial_040609
In 2004, an analyst from the Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation detected a crime pattern: the bodies of murdered women were being dumped along the Interstate 40 corridor in Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, and Mississippi.
The analyst and a police colleague from the Grapevine, Texas Police Department referred these cases to our Violent Criminal Apprehension Program, or ViCAP, where our analysts looked at other records in our database to see if there were similar patterns of highway killings elsewhere.
Turns out there were. So we launched an extensive effort to support our state and local partners with open investigations into highway murders.
Today, we’re publicly announcing our Highway Serial Killings initiative to raise awareness among law enforcement agencies and the general public about this issue and our unique assistance on these cases.
Enter FBI BAU2 ViCAP, part of our National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime and a national repository for violent crimes. The database—which contains information on homicides, sexual assaults, missing persons, and unidentified human remains—is available to law enforcement throughout the country over a secure Internet link on our Law Enforcement Online (LEO).
ViCAP analysts have created a national matrix of more than 500 murder victims from along or near highways, as well as a list of some 200 potential suspects.
See Map: This map shows the more than 500 cases in our Highway Serial Killings Initiative database; the red dots mark where bodies or remains have been found along highways over the past 30 years.
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