The End of a Myth: Most New Serial Killers in America are not White Males

The End of a Myth: Most New Serial Killers in America are not White Males

Every so often the story of a serial killer and their horrid crimes break the news. In typical media fashion they cast their light on the case, whilst they ignore other similar crimes around the country.

In the past few days the news of another serial killer in Cleveland has broke the news and as with the crimes of this nature, his story is just as sick and twisted. Thus far police have found the bodies of three black women stuffed in garbage bags, and expect to find more victims of 35 year old Michael Madison. So far he’s uncooperative with police, other than telling them there are more victims.

When people see his picture in the news, they’re confused because he doesn’t fit the media’s version of what we think a serial killer should look like—he’s a black man. Some brush it off as an anomaly, and think white men still hold the market on serial murder. Others remember the case of Anthony Sowell another black serial killer with eleven victims in Cleveland and think perhaps it’s just a something about the area. The hard truth however is black serial killers do exist in great numbers, and actually far outnumber their white counterparts. It’s just not kosher to for the media to tell the truth about the subject.

In a book I published on the subject in May of 2012 (Rise of the Black Serial Killer), I discovered there have been 843 black serial killers from 1850 to present in the United States, compared to 832 whites, 64 Hispanic, and 10 Asians. Since writing the book I’ve continued to research the subject and have been dismayed how many have turned up. To date there are 914 black serial killers, with 37 of the 71 new killers having surfaced in the past year (the other 34 new killers are ones I missed in my previous research of old court, prison, and media records).

The number to remember is from May 2012 to July 2013 there have been 37 new black serial killers surface. Some of these killers started as early as 1982 and have just been caught; others like Michael Madison are new to the game. Some had as few as two victims, others as many as eleven—the point each met the criteria to be listed serial killers as set by the FBI. However, aside from Michael Madison few of these killers have seen the light of day in the media. Had it not been for the horrid crimes of Anthony Sowell or the recent kidnapping case of the monster Ariel Castro bringing attention to Cleveland, the story of Michael Madison would have never seen the light of day. He wouldn’t have even registered a blip on the media radar.

I’ll continue to watch the story of Michael Madison unfold, but I’ll not forget to dig through old records and watch for new serial killers to surface. Look for the second expanded edition of my book to hit stores in a few weeks. It’ll list the names and crimes of the new killers, and I’ll dive into answering a few of the minor critiques I’ve had from criminologists and psychologists. Until then remember 49.38% of all serial killers in the United States have been black, despite blacks only making up about 13% of the population. Another key stat to remember is black males aged 18-40 make up the largest demographic of serial killers having committed about 46% of all serial murders, yet their population is less than 3% of the total US population. This means a minority in a minority commits the majority of serial murder, a fact the media continues to ignore.

by Justin Cottrell, author of Rise of the Black Serial Killer

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