Signature murders: a report of several related cases

J Forensic Sci. 1995 Jul;40(4):670-4.

Abstract

Three female patrons of singles bars were murdered in separate events in Bellevue, Washington in 1990 within sixty-seven days of each other. An evaluation of those murders revealed that all the murders were linked by a distinct personal "signature" or "calling card" left by the killer. As reported in the literature, the modus operandi of a killer frequently changes from one murder to the next and is different from the killer's signature, which is a permanent psychological imprint at each scene. The murder cases reported here demonstrate an elaborate signature of one killer who engaged in a rare personalization of his necrophilic fantasies by posing, openly displaying, and sexually inserting foreign objects into each one of three victims' bodies.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Female
  • Homicide / classification*
  • Homicide / psychology*
  • Humans