Serial Killers

Canada is a country of just 34 million people but it has its fair share of serial killers including the worst Canadian serial killer Robert William Pickton. We have already covered some of Canada’s serial killers and will continue to do so. We invite our readers to share their comments and questions and we really appreciate hearing from retired police officers, case workers etc that have been involved in any of these cases.

If you have information on any of Canada’s serial killers please contact us and let us know. We keep all sender’s information strictly confidential.

Aileen Wuornos was a tragic case of American history gone wrong, a female serial killer whose troubled life spiraled out of control into multiple murders. The Florida coast experienced a streak of chilling killings through the mid to late eighties. Cold case after cold case piled up when the woman prostitute assaulted victims as she stood by the highway assessing the next murder. The thirty-something blonde woman with the harsh brown eyes and stringy blonde hair would only be arrested after seven men were found dead.

Aileen Carol Wuornos claims to have killed men out of a need to make money, but surely someone as risk taking as she was might have avoided murder if she wished. Wuornos maintained that the killings simply rounded out a robbery modus operandi, and perhaps did not acknowledge herself how damaged psychologically she was in order to do that to them. Wuornos communicated to the court and in her trial testimony in a lucid, almost transparent manner about her serial crimes.

The Wuornos case is a bellwether that proves how the image and stereotype of the serial killer can mask the real criminals in the population at large. Born in Michigan in 1956, Aileen Carol Pittman certainly received more than her share of life’s rocky twists and turns. Aileen Wuornos was far from the typical psycho killer, she was an emotionally distraught woman who viewed murder and robbery as her only pathway to day to day security. It is indicated that even from her first suicide attempt she never received adequate psychological counseling. That said, FBI profiling did help nab Wuornos before she could kill anyone else.
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In the late 1980’s most serial killers had been caught or blazed their way through the media and courtroom. Arthur Shawcross became known as the Genesee River Killer. Shawcross has a uniquely vicious and brutal reputation among even serial killers due to the pointless nature of his crimes. Shawcross’ claims of childhood sexual abuse were disbelieved and his killings after release on parole for manslaughter raised questions about the criminal justice system.

Born in 1945 in Kittery, Maine, Shawcross claimed a childhood influenced by a domineering mother. The oldest child, he was wetting his bed into his teens, Shawcross was nicknamed ‘Oddie”. On probation for burglary and assault before he was married, Shawcross did a stint in Vietnam circa 1968, and took sexual gratification from committing arson and hit prison before his third marriage in 1972.

Weeks after wedding number three, Arthur Shawcross was fingered in the disappearances of local children. This might have been enough for many people to suggest Shawcross needed to stay in the slammer. But the sexually aggressive killings of Jack Blake and Karen Hill paved the way for more time inside for Shawcross. But like many sentencing deals of that era, compliance of regulations for evidence lightened pleas and reduced time for serious public threats like Shawcross.
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