Experts say serial killers find prostitutes easy prey

Sat Dec 16, 2006 1:08 PM GMT

By Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Serial killers have preyed on prostitutes at least since Jack the Ripper, but two being hunted in England and America are likely murdering them because they are easy marks -- not to fulfill some twisted moral vision, criminologists say.

Since Jack the Ripper emerged from the Whitechapel fog to slit throats in 1888, the world's oldest profession has also earned a reputation as one of the most dangerous.

But criminologists largely dismiss Hollywood's portrayal of serial killers as acting out of hatred for prostitutes whom they see as impure.

 

"Some men believe they are cleaning up the streets and making them safe by killing prostitutes, but the typical serial killer tends to target prostitutes because they are simply easy to get and plentiful," said Joseph Diaz, a criminology professor at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina.

"Prostitutes are often seen getting in and out of strange vehicles, they are more willing to go with someone they don't know," Diaz said. "Sometimes they go missing for a few days and people assume they are on a binge of drugs."

The naked bodies of five young women have been found in the past two weeks around Ipswich, all of them prostitutes, and police were searching for a serial killer who has already been compared in the media to Jack the Ripper.

On the outskirts of Atlantic City, New Jersey, four shoeless women, at least three of them known to have been prostitutes, were found dead in a marshy ditch behind several low-rent hotels, their faces turned towards the east.  Continued...

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12.25.2006

hello Brian,

This is Amsterdam calling again. You may be rushing to a conclusion here, the case, as far as the Suffolk police is concerned, is far from being solved:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/suffolk/6192085.stm

As you can see, they have arrested another suspect, nobody's been charged yet, and the police investigation is still ongoing.

The first suspect, arrested on Monday, rather than being the killer, could relate to your dream DD4732: "This man will be shot 4 times in the UK...says to look in his pants to locate the killer", if we don't interpret it too literary - no one has been shot at all, let alone 4 times - but he might be the one who provided the police with a clue leading to the second arrest. That clue may or may not have been a stone ring found in his trousers pocket, for example. The second man arrested in turn may or may not be the killer, it remains to be seen. But, as I said at the beginning, let's not rush to judgment, not the least because it's a gruesome murder we are talking about here.

best regards,

Zoran

reply

Brian

12.29.2006

hello Brian,

Thank you for your response. Here is a brief update on the ongoing investigation.

The police has now charged the second person arrested, a 48-year-old man, with murdering the five women.

The first man arrested has been released on bail pending further inquiries.

source:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/suffolk/6194351.stm

As I wrote in my previous post, Tom Stephens, the first arrest, was not shot four times, but his arrest did lead to the second one, which in turn resulted in murder charges being brought up. Once again, it's important to emphasize that no one has been found guilty of any crime, i.e. the case is not closed yet.

Your dream pattern corresponds with unfolding events still pretty well, as long as one does not expect a dream to be played out word for word, image for image, literary as it was dreamed.

One thing I found particularly intriguing is the first man arrested, Tom Stephens, his peculiar behaviour, best summed up in this comment by Sky News:

"He put himself in the frame and I think he was an irresistible target for detectives"

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,91182-1244474,00.html

This ties up well with a notion of a person "playing a game with the people searching for him". Tom Stephens may have had a part in a game that was played, the game that, just like the police investigation, may as well still be ongoing.

There is no mention of a decoder ring, but the police has so far given very few clues at all as to what information/ evidence led to the two arrests, "a DNA match, CCTV footage or phone call from a member of the public may also have triggered the arrest", the Sky News says...

Also, a decoder ring can be many things here, an actual object, a ring as those described in articles pointed to in earlier posts; but it can also be just a snippet of a computer code, an application, a programming routine that employs a substitution method to encrypt/ decrypt a message.

Perhaps more information will become available once a trial opens. I'll be glad to keep you informed as long as you follow the case, and post the updates.

best regards,

Zoran

reply

Thanks so much, and will post these links.

Brian