By David Lohr

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December 7, 2007

LONDON, England— Kenneth Erskine, 42, dubbed the "Stockwell Strangler" by the media, has launched another appeal of his 1988 prison sentence, for the murders of seven elderly men and women. According to his appeal, Erskine had an "abnormality of mind" when he committed the murders. An appeal filed by Erskine two years ago was recently rejected, with the High Court ruling he should not be released until at least 2008. His latest appeal is currently making its way through the court system.

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

INDIANAPOLIS — According to an article written by Kenna Quinet, associate professor in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, serial killers in the United States could be responsible for up to 10 times as many U.S. deaths as previously estimated. "We're talking about a factor of two clear up to a factor of 10," Quinet said in an interview with Newsinfo.iu.edu. "And this is not new — these are victims that we've never been counting... The true number of serial murder victims in the United States is a function of what we know... The exaggeration and hype of the 1980s have been replaced by more reasonable estimates, but we may yet be undercounting the number of serial murder victims in the United States by discounting what we do not know." Quinet is currently writing a series of recommendations for the Department of Justice.

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

NEW DELHI, India — In May, police arrested Chandrakant Jha, a native of north Bihar, for killing six men and dumping the headless bodies of four of the victims outside of the Tihar Jail. Today, Metropolitan Magistrate Manish Gupta ordered charges in one of those cases dropped, citing a lack of evidence. "In view of the circumstances and material on record and submissions of the prosecution and investigating officer, I am of the considered opinion that there is no sufficient evidence against the accused," Gupta said in a brief court hearing. Jha remains behind bars on three other murder charges. A trial date in those cases has not yet been set.

Thursday, December 06, 2007

Beverly Alitt

LINCOLNSHIRE, England — Justice Stanley Burnton has upheld the minimum sentence of 30 years for convicted serial killer Beverly Allitt, 39. In 1993, Allitt was given 13 life sentences for the murders of three children and the attempted murder of three others between 1991 and 1993. "I have to say that I regard the determination of the minimum period in a case such as the present - and fortunately cases as extreme as this are rare - as a very difficult task," Burnton said in court. "Once it is accepted that the offender was suffering from mental disorder, difficult ethical and indeed philosophical questions arise as to the degree to which responsibility for the offences in question should be regarded as diminished. I have found that there is an element of sadism in Ms. Allitt's conduct and her offending. But that sadism is itself, if not the result, certainly a manifestation of her mental disorder, and it would be unduly simplistic to treat it in the same way as one would if the offender were mentally well. By her actions, what should have been a place of safety for its patients became not just a place of danger, but if not a killing field something close to it." To read Crime Library's feature story on this case, click here.

Friday, December 07, 2007

Robert Pickton

New Westminster, British Columbia— A jury of seven men and five women continues to debate the fate of accused serial killer Robert Pickton in the first-degree murders of Georgina Papin, Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Brenda Wolfe, and Marnie Frey. Yesterday, Supreme Court Justice James Williams clarified his instructions to the jury. "I have concluded that I was not sufficiently precise. I was in error with respect to three paragraphs of your charge," Williams said. "If you find that Mr. Pickton shot Ms. Abotsway or was otherwise an active participant in her killing, you should find that the Crown has proved this element. On the other hand, if you have a reasonable doubt about his being an active participant in her killing you must return a verdict of not guilty on the charge of murdering her." A total of 128 witnesses testified at the trial, which began on January 22. Following this trial, Pickton will be tried on an additional 20 counts of murder.

Serial Killer Story of the Week

Arohn Kee

CRIME LIBRARY — Linda Fairstein's Murder by the Book - Here is a story that tells you why DNA evidence is the greatest advance in crime and punishment since the invention of the jury. The rapes and murders of three East Harlem teenage girls defied experienced NYPD detectives. The killer moved their bodies from the crime scenes to dump sites in a shopping cart. After many years, a comparison of DNA taken from serial rapist Arohn Kee is matched against semen found in all three victims. DNA technology also matches Kee's semen in another rape for which an innocent man was charged.

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Contact David Lohr at  crimewriter74@adelphia.net