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Pastimes : DC Sniper - Theories? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: KLP who wrote (360)	10/12/2002 10:46:51 PM
From: Gordon A. Langston	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2746

CNN's advice to killer. Killers often undone by their own mistakes A parking ticket tripped up the Son of Sam, the Long Island sniper was found because of a burglary, and Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh drove too fast on his way out of town. In mass-murder history, it's often the killers' own mistakes that are their undoing. Washington-area police are hoping the same kind of break will lead them to whoever is responsible for a rash of sniper shootings that has killed seven people and injured two since October 2. Take David Berkowitz, the self-described Son of Sam who terrorized New York City for more than a year in the mid-1970s, killing six people and wounding seven with a .44-caliber revolver. His mistake was parking illegally -- and getting a $25 ticket that led to his arrest. Mike Rustigan, a San Francisco State University criminologist, said serial killers eventually make mistakes because they start to feel invincible the longer they get away with their crimes. "They really come to believe they're not going to get caught so they get overconfident," he said. "Then they'll make a mistake. It's kind of like pride goeth before the fall." An example, Rustigan says, is Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, who went uncaptured during a series of mail-bomb attacks that killed three people and injured 23 between 1978 and 1995. Unabomber Ted Kaczynski was captured after his manifesto was published by The New York Times and the Washington Post. "The Unabomber would have been bombing into old age but his big mistake was in demanding that his manifesto be published" by The New York Times and The Washington Post, Rustigan said. Police zeroed in after his brother, David, saw the 35,000-word treatise, suspected it was the work of his sibling and notified authorities. Kaczynski is serving a life sentence in federal prison in Colorado. Driving too fast, without a license or in a stolen car has led to other high-profile captures. After the bombing of the Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City, McVeigh was pulled over on an interstate highway north of the city for speeding in his yellow Mercury and driving without a license plate. Weapons charges, for the pistol strapped to his shoulder in a holster, were added later. His connection to the bombing wasn't discovered until hours later when he was matched to a police sketch of "John Doe No. 1," the suspected bomber. McVeigh was executed last year. The stolen car that serial killer Ted Bundy was driving led to his arrest. He confessed to more than 30 murders, including that of a 12-year-old girl, and was executed in Florida in 1989. Mohammed A. Salameh's mistake was trying to get back his deposit for the rental truck that was loaded with explosives and destroyed in the 1993 bombing at New York's World Trade Center. Salameh was arrested after he returned to the Ryder dealership in Jersey City, New Jersey, with police documents showing he had reported the vehicle stolen. Investigators had found vehicle fragments with an identification number matching the one on the van, and Salameh's involvement was confirmed after his rental papers tested positive for chemical nitrates, which is common to many explosives. Asked why Salameh would have rented a truck in his own name, reported it stolen to police and the dealership and return twice seeking a refund of his $400 deposit, a senior law enforcement official at the time said: "Who knows? Just because he's a terrorist doesn't mean he's a brain surgeon." In other cases: -- Peter Sylvester, the Long Island sniper who shot and killed a man inside a diner and later wounded a woman inside a Burger King in 1994, ultimately was caught after police linked him to a burglary at a taxidermist's shop, where three guns had been stolen. One of the weapons, a .35-caliber rifle, turned out to be the murder weapon, which police found at Sylvester's mother's home. -- In a previous sniper case in the District of Columbia, police capped the investigation of an eight-week series of random shootings that killed four people after the suspect, James E. Swann, was caught running red lights. An off-duty police officer chased him into a parking lot, where he was arrested minutes after his final slaying. Okay now Mr. Sniper, CNN has provided you with some great tips on how to NOT get caught... * don't get overconfident * don't park illegally * don't trust relatives * don't run red lights * don't use stolen weapons * don't use your sniper rifle for any other crimes * don't use stolen cars * don't use rental cars and try to get your deposit back * make sure your getaway vehicle has a license plate and the lights all work Got all that Mr. Sniper? Okay now, CNN just wants you to be careful out there and don't make any mistakes. CNN furthermore is confident that the killer could not get to any of their executives and double dog dares them to try to get a talking head live on the set.;)