The FBI suspects that serial killers working as long-haul truckers are responsible for the slayings of hundreds of prostitutes, hitchhikers and stranded motorists whose bodies have been dumped near highways over the last three decades.
Federal authorities first made the connection about five years ago while helping police link a trucker to a string of unsolved killings along Interstate 40 in Oklahoma and several other states. After that, the FBI launched the Highway Serial Killings Initiative to track suspicious slayings and suspect truckers.
A computer database maintained by the FBI has grown to include information on more than 500 female crime victims, most of whom were killed and their bodies discarded at truck stops, motels and other locations along popular trucking routes crisscrossing the U.S.
The database also has information on scores of truckers who’ve been charged with killings or rapes committed near highways or who are suspects in such crimes, officials said. Authorities said they do not have statistics on whether driving trucks ranks high on the list of occupations of known serial killers…
Although some local police agencies have been briefed on the program, the FBI had not publicized its existence outside law enforcement until earlier this year, when officials agreed to show The Times the inner workings of the operation and share details of some of their cases.
Since the program began, more than two dozen killings have been solved, authorities said.
I know, we all saw the plot on Criminal Minds. Art imitating life once again?
I’m certainly no expert on serial killers, but this doesn’t seem all that surprising to me. I feel that the FBI should have been suspicious of truck drivers being potential perpetrators 25 years ago.
Any individual who is on the move frequently and is rarely if ever monitored can certainly find it easy to commit these types of crimes.
Often the FBI has focuses their investigation around a radius of space with the dead body at the origin. The fairly random movements and brief spacial location in time indicative of truck drivers helps to conceal them immensely. Of course, not anymore with the advent of GPS and other regulations centered around regulating driver competency and such.
Seriously, it seems odd that the FBI didn’t recognize the potential many years ago.
This is more right wing inspired class warfare. Sure, its the truckers. The poorest people in the transportation industry.
What about airline pilots? Oh no. No chance its pilots going from airport to airport ALL OVER THE WORLD! They make too much money to be serial killers.
Its class warfare, plain and simple.
An example of how compulsory DNA records of people who listen to country and western music, might be a good idea.
“We don’t want to scare the public”
oh please..this is a complete crock.
why even bother bringing this up?
looks more like a precursor to announce
random searches of truck drivers along
the routes and to garnish info from local
authorities without a warrant or due
process.
-get the public to be “OK” with being
stopped and searched with no warrant
“for your protection” -give me an F’n
break.
that map and its dots mirror common
drug and gun distribution centers
more than anything else.
the girls, if they exist at all in
relation to the article, are probably
mules or belong to something *much*
bigger.
expect alot more of this crap in
coming months no doubt. all part of
pumping up the fear factor to get us
to accept a total police state.
incrementalism at its best.
i’d give this a big fat 9 on the
bullshit meter.
the only thing this will produce is a
bunch of hard up truckers who cant get
laid.
pitiful.
-s
#1 said:
“Seriously, it seems odd that the FBI didn’t recognize the potential many years ago.”
no offense, but why dont you just go ahead
and bend over and grab your ankles while
your at it?
-no such thing as a coincidence.
-s
Y’know, jokingly, Top Gear has been saying this during two shows I can think of and it’s been along running stereotype too. It’s been the plot of movies too.
Horrible as it is, the minority of these guys (or gals) that do this have given a bad name to truckers for years. Only now, we see there’s reason for this stereotype, horrible as it is.
It’s not necessarily truckers killing these people.
Almost EVERYONE prefers to drive freeways, just because you can drive between Point A and Point B in less time than it takes if you drive other highways. The killer(s) might be anyone, male or female. More traffic, so more people for the real culprit(s) to hide among.
Now if most of the victims had been seen before hand at a truck stop trying to get a ride, there might be something to work on…
I would agree that murder victims being found alongside highways may have something to do with highways. Don’t Highway Patrol Officers spend a lot of time on highways? Hmmmmmm.
#2 “The poorest people in the transportation industry. What about airline pilots?”
ah…first officers, right seat pilots, are the poorest people in transportation. try 20k per year.
A couple few years back I remember a truck stop in Kearney Mo. a human head was found in a bucket of cement. Now that is just strange.
They should outlaw roads.
As a long haul trucker for 17 years I want to call BS on it, but deep down I have little doubt there are probably a couple of them in trucking. And by being on the move, they have probably escaped detection.
Unfortunately, their targets probably come right up to the truck in the middle of the night. There are certain truckstops and service areas that I avoid spending the night in because I cannot get any sleep for the prostitutes knocking on the door of my truck.
Constant tracking by GPS systems that relay the info back to the trucking company may be a help in finding them, but the turnover rate in trucking is greater than 100%. So unless the killer spends several years with the same company, the job of tracking him is vastly complicated and intensive. And if the killer owns his own truck or works for a small fleet, it is quite possible there is no system keeping track of the truck.
#4—-Current law and practice is that law enforcement does not need probable cause to pull over a truck or to search it. A driver of a vehicle engaged in commerce does not enjoy the same rights as someone in their private vehicle. My truck is subject to search anytime a law enforcement officer pulls me over or I enter a state weigh/inspection station. And law enforcement can pull me over at any time, if only to check my license, logbook, and truck registration.
send in to US predator drones and bomb all truckers on all highways. Problem solved!
Well atleast that’s the way the US military thinks.
Cap’nKangaroo,
Isn’t the travel of all commercial trucks logged as well as who was driving?
If they could get that info into a database, it seems these guys could be identified — even if there is turn-over.
Cap’n Kangaroo – will you please explain to some of the amateurs around here that there actually are truckers who don’t obey the law and take the risk of running outside the regs.
And why. In 10,000 words or less.
How to do you folks think significant quantities of illegal shit, from weed to untaxed cigarettes get moved around? In the back of Volkswagen buses?
#15 -no sh*t shirlock..
fwiw..i used to do a NC NY run with a trunk full of cigarettes in honda. you dont need a rig
run “contraband” -big deal.
it’s not like the people who write the laws and run this country are anywhere near being saints
themselves.
the point is if you suddenly decide, “omg their are millions of truckers every year who could be killing people, transporting untaxed or illegal goods, look at the statistics!, we gotta start doing random checks!” -it wont stop there.
people in power are never happy. once you give them cause to impinge on your liberties in the name of security. -they will *always* want more.
(just look how crazy they went with this bogus terrorist crap)
people have been smuggling (and killing) for
centuries and nothing will ever stop them.
more laws will only impede progress and our liberties.
when will people get it through their thick skulls that people who break the law **dont give a flying F about the law* -they will always find a way to circumvent any checks you institute.
even when you institute a full and total
lock down, they will merely install corrupt
people into positions of authority (or corrupt those already there) and continue their operations.
get over it. it’s pointless. -life will always entail Risk.
get over your Utopian ideals. -so long as humans have emotion, there will always be corruption of thought and law.
-s
Since we are on the topic 🙂
http://tinyurl.com/6c47hg
As a truck driver myself for many years I can think of a few drivers with issues. Just listen to a resturant conversation by some of us truck drivers and you will find some with very strange bed fellows. But most of us are hard working blue collar American’s just making a living doing a hard job. Granted I have to say prostitutes were a real problem for many years. But it has become much better except for certain area’s. Considering the amount of truck driver’s on the road, the FBI is going to find it very difficult to gather leads on any of the crimes if they are connected to a truck driver. But I can see how they could be considered much more a suspect because of their opportunities that come with the job.
I’m sure those long drives get boring and it is obvious that these guys are just killing time and a few of God’s lost people.
#9, Skunkman, I don’t know about the $20K for a right seat, but you can double or quadruple that as a charter pilot and work 4 days a week.
That’s it! How many airports are there along those interstates? Bwa-ha-ha-ha.
#16, “get over your Utopian ideals. -so long as humans have emotion, there will always be corruption of thought and law.”
That just about sums it up.
We got ourselves a convoy!
10-4
Born on a mountian, raised in a cave, truckin’ and fuckin’ is all I crave!
According to that map it looks like they need to kill some more people in California, just to balance things out.
#14 All truckers who travel more than 150 statue miles from their home terminals are required to keep a logbook of our work. What town or city we are in when we began the day, where we stopped for more than 15 minutes, where we fueled/loaded/unloaded, etc. Other than toll receipts and fuel tickets, there is not much to back up a trucker’s paper log. So for someone to create a fictional log that would be hard to disprove is not difficult. Even a truthful log would not tell you what particular route the driver traveled, other than the start and stop points.
As to getting all these paper logs from all these different companies and individuals in all the various formats transferred into a database that is useful; Good Luck. My prediction is that the serial killer/killers will die of old age before the database comes on line.
Also, keep in mind almost all long haul truckers are paid either percentage or by the mile. Either way, the driver’s best interest (as far as pay) is to massage the log book to maximize the amount of time available to drive. So I would call the log book a good representation of my day, nothing more.
#18 Well said. Strike up a conversation with a driver in truck stop or on the CB and you never know what you will get. Every now and then it will take a turn that makes you want to crawl into your truck, lock the doors and hide. There is a reason some people take employment in a profession where contact with your supervisors is almost always thru a phone or computer screen.
#3 – there’s country and western but there’s not such thing as country and western music.
Sure glad I live in Canada. Not a single murder there. Phew!
The map looks like an image of the lymphatic system of the USA.