Beyond Brainwashing: Famous Cults, Control and Deadly Crime
Case statusMixed Outcomes
Comparative Cult Crime Dossier / Evidence First / Archived Deadly cults Cult psychology Coercive control Mass violence Institutional failure CAUTION: “Cult” is…
The Jennifer Pan Case: R. v. Pan, Markham, Ontario, November 8, 2010
Case statusConvicted
Main Street, Unionville, Markham, Ontario, 2024. The Pan family home, where Bich Ha Pan was killed on November 8, 2010, was in…
How the FBI Classifies Serial Killers: Organized, Disorganized, and Mixed
Case statusArchived
Learn how the FBI’s Crime Classification Manual sorts serial killers into organized, disorganized, and mixed offenders, and what those labels actually mean…
Cannibal Couples: When Love, Lust, and Murder Collide
Case statusArchived
The Bender inn near Cherryvale, Labette County, Kansas, photographed by George R. Gamble on May 1, 1873, the day after searchers began…
Necrosadism: The Crime After Death, and the Cases That Defined It
Case statusArchived
What necrosadism means, how it differs from homicidal necrophilia, and what landmark cases reveal about evidence, motive, institutional failure.
Ritual Murder Claims: Separating Evidence From Myth
Case statusArchived
Claims of ritual murder, including those attached to occult networks such as the Order of Nine Angles (O9A), often rely on symbolic…
Santa Muerte Cartel, Narcocultura and Ritual Violence
Case statusActive
Santa Muerte is a widely venerated Mexican folk saint associated with protection, healing, and everyday hardship. While millions of lawful devotees follow…
John E. Robinson: The First Internet Serial Killer Used Chat Rooms to Murder
Case statusConvicted
John E. Robinson used early internet chat rooms to groom victims and conceal murder. Explore his crimes, the investigation, trial, and digital…
Women Serial Killers: Rare Offenders, Common Victims
Case statusArchived
Serial killers are overwhelmingly male. Victims, however? Mostly not. Across multiple datasets and criminological studies, women show up in a strange, brutal…
Serial Killer IQ: What the Data Actually Shows
Case statusArchived
I. Serial Killer IQ: THE ARCHITECTURE OF MEDIOCRITYII. FORENSIC PSYCHIATRIC AUTOPSY: INTELLIGENCE & COGNITIONThe Statistical Reality of "Genius"The Mask of Sanity: Psychopathy…
Serial Killers and Their Mothers: Unnatural Bonds & Broken Attachments
Case statusArchived
Many serial killers blame their mothers, and criminologists note “unnatural” maternal relationships in their histories. But how much of that is real…
Animal Cruelty, Bed-Wetting & Fire: The Truth About the Serial Killer “Triad”
Case statusArchived
Animal Cruelty, Bed-Wetting & Fire: The Truth About the Serial Killer “Triad”
The Serial Killer Cycle: Inside the Six Psychological Phases of Murder
Case statusArchived
From the aura of violent fantasy to the trolling hunt, capture, murder, and post-kill depression, explore the six-stage serial killer cycle.
The Chicago Rippers: Inside the Ripper Crew’s Satanic Serial Killers Who Terrorized 1980s Chicago
Case statusConvicted
Cook County, Illinois, highlighted. The Ripper Crew attacks took place in Chicago and its suburbs between 1981 and 1982. Credit: David Benbennick…
Serial Killers: Psychology, Facts, Motives and What the Evidence Shows
Case statusComparative Case File
DEVIANT MINDS / REFERENCE DOSSIER Serial Killers: What the Evidence Actually Shows Serial murder is not a diagnosis, a childhood checklist, a…
Christa Pike Case File: The Torture-Murder of Colleen Slemmer
Case statusConvicted
Christa Pike, 18, and two other Knoxville Job Corps students killed Colleen Slemmer, 19, in January 1995. This case file sets out…
Ted Bundy Case: The Damning Evidence That Finally Bit Back
Case statusConvicted
Ted Bundy's charm was a weapon. This case study examines the forensic evidence, crime scenes, psychology, and systemic failures that let him…
The Monster of Florence: Anatomy of an Unsolved Italian Nightmare
Case statusMixed Outcomes
The garden of Pietro Pacciani's former house in Mercatale Val di Pesa, photographed in 2016. Pacciani was convicted in 1994, acquitted on…
Sara Aldrete: The Deplorable Voodoo Occult Godmother of Narcosatanticas
Case statusConvicted
Discover the chilling story of Sara Aldrete, the Voodoo Goddess involved in bone-chilling rituals and human sacrifices for a drug cartel cult.
Dennis Rader, the BTK Killer: Crimes, Capture and Psychology
Case statusConvicted
A comprehensive investigative report on Dennis Rader, the BTK Killer (Bind, Torture, Kill) serial killer. Explore detailed crime scene analysis, a psychological…
The Fake Sound of Depravity: The Double Life and Violent End of Ian Watkins
Case statusConvicted
Ian Watkins performing in 2010, two years before his arrest. Credit: Agni Minardi / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0). Introduction The case…
The Archer Home for Chronic Invalids: Amy Archer-Gilligan and the Perils of Unregulated Eldercare
Case statusArchived
Amy Archer-Gilligan, photographed around 1901. Credit: Unknown author / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain). An Industry in Infancy: The State of American Eldercare…
Manufacturing a Monster: A Critical Analysis of Historical Distortion in Netflix's "Monster: The Ed Gein Story"
Case statusClosed
Section I: The Genesis of a Modern Myth1.1 From Plainfield Ghoul to Pop Culture Progenitor1.2 The "Monster" Anthology's Mandate and Critical ReceptionSection…
Ilse Koch The Commandant's Wife: Deconstructing The Bitch of Buchenwald
Case statusConvicted
Ilse Koch, wife of Buchenwald commandant Karl Otto Koch. U.S. Army photograph. Credit: Ilse_Koch.jpg: unknown soldier or employee of the U.S. Army…
