Okay, y’all, so I’m sitting there last night watching CBS’s news magazine wishing I had a poker player next to me, because when the kid was all “I so didn’t stick an ax in my parents’ faces while they slept,” his eyes did something funky that seemed to me as if he was saying, “Yes, yes, I did and I thought they would both die!” when the news came on and Channel 5 starts talking about a serial killer along I-40.
Well, that will sit a girl bolt upright.
Sadly, the story was about 15 seconds long, which leaves me with a ton of questions, which I shall ask you.
For as long as I’ve lived in Nashville, I’ve heard rumors of a suspected serial killer who preyed on prostitutes who work Dickerson Pike. Has anyone else heard this? Is it true? Is it just legend?
If it is true, do law enforcement folks think that this is the same guy as the I-40 killer, if indeed there is an I-40 killer? Or are there possibly two serial killers at work here in Nashville? According to wikipedia (I know!), the FBI has said that there are probably 35 serial killers at work in the country at any given time. It would seem strange for Nashville to have two.
Is the I-40 killer only killing women in Middle Tennessee or are there other murders along I-40 that fit that pattern? The investigation is surely hampered by how busy truckstops are, but isn’t it also hampered by the marginal stature of the victims?
One could make a good argument about how this is just more evidence that prostitution needs to be legalized and well-regulated, but I will refrain.
Tiny Cat Pants 
“One could make a good argument about how this is just more evidence that prostitution needs to be legalized and well-regulated”
I used to read a lot of “True Crime” books. FBI profilers, that kind of stuff. Take this with a grain of salt. But as I understand it, of all the motivation serial killers have for killing prostitutes, I’d say the legality of prostitution is pretty low on the list.
But hopefully, if they can break an agent free from chasing Mexicans, somebody form the FBI is investigating this.
No, it’s not that serial killers won’t want to kill prostitutes if prostitution is legal, it’s that the prostitutes could be working in situations of greater safety.
That’s just what I was coming to say, nm. I don’t care why serial killers think they kill prostitutes. I know why they kill prostitutes: because they’re easy targets. No one really keeps track of them. If they disappear, it can go without notice. And other prostitutes are loathe to cooperate with the police because they don’t want to come to the attention of the police.
If prostitution were legalized and regulated, if “Sally” didn’t come in for her weekly license or her monthly HIV test (or however we set it up), someone could say, “Hey, ladies and gentlemen, has anyone seen Sally?” and someone could say, “I think she’s moved back in with her mom” or “No, we haven’t and we’re worried too.” And folks might be more willing to cooperate with the police.
What nm said. Not only could prostitutes work in greater safety, but there could be less of a stigma. Consider that right now if you have two stories, one where a serial killer is targeting prostitutes, and one where a serial killer is targeting fine upstanding white women, even if they are all targeted at the same location (say rest stops along the highway), one story is going to get more attention, outrage, and fear. The other story is going to get, “Oh well, they’re hookers.”
[Which is to say that it’s easier to target victims that many people don’t really care about.]
This reminds me of a program in Germany where they were training, shall we say, the more seasoned prostitutes, to work as caregivers for the elderly.
The story actually talked about how these women knew how to make their customers feel happy, so they were a perfect choice.
I thought it was brilliant.
Exador, I wish you had your own country. I don’t think I’d want to live there, but god damn, it would be fascinating to visit. I know I’d have to shave my cooter and wear a bullet-proof vest just to be sure I fit in with the natives, but it’d be worth it, I think.
Ex,
I remember that story. I think I have it somewhere… ah! here it is
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Ok for everyone…prostitutes are people too. They have family and children I know one of them people kill in this story was my sister. She wasnt just a prostitute she was a daughter, mother, sister and a wonderful person. We (her family) really didnt have a clue… and it is possible for a kill to grab anyone not just prostitute they are just in the wrong place at the wrong time… anyone can wall a dark parking lot and get killed… some people live 2 different lives…
Being fascinated since childhood with serial killers, and reading a lot about their statements after being caught, MOST of the time they kill prostitutes or even unpaid sleazy women, because they think their lifestyle is disgraceful and not moral, and it almost always links back to some way their own mother led their life, or what he saw growing up with a less than virginal mother…. read a lot of books about them, it is almost always some sort of perverted , twisted, sick revenge to get even with a mom who neglected/abused him , cause she was too rapped up in MEN / Drugs/ slut hood etc… her own self to show her child the proper amount of love… NOT my opinion, the facts out of the prostitue killers mouths, the do not respect women either, cause they never could respect their mother. Sometimes added onto this how the dad/ many men in their mothers lives also treated her bad.
Jonnie, serial killers kill people because they are fucked up, not because women can’t behave themselves. But good luck finding yourself a virginal mother.