There is no single, black-and-white answer as to why some serial killers get more attention than others, but there are several things to consider.
What makes Unknown Serial Killers of America stand out is its focus on killers whose names and identities, such as the Sunday Morning Slasher or the Chameleon Killer, didn’t receive as much media attention.
In discussing recent times, Giacalone said, “All crime is local.”
“For instance, the Long Island Serial Killer case developed virtually in my backyard from where I lived, so it was front and center,” he said.
He noted that the public tends to pay more attention to local news rather than national stories, especially when crimes happen nearby. “However, the emergence of true crime enthusiasts might start to shift this trend.”
Newland-Davis said much of why some serial killers grab more attention than others, generally speaking, lies with the victims.
“Nobody wants to discuss deceased girls in ditches. If these girls were involved in high-risk lifestyles, even fewer are willing to address it; it’s not considered suitable conversation for social settings,” she remarked. “People often feel comfortable living in their upper-middle-class environments, casting judgment on victims instead of the perpetrators.”
It didn’t help when people used derogatory terms to highlight victims’ lifestyles, sexuality, and race to suggest they deserved to be victimized above others.
But, on the other side of the token, the media often pandered to the fears of people whose lives were more relatable to the victims. Newland-Davis pointed to the still-unidentified Zodiac Killer, who targeted lovers’ lane couples in the San Francisco Bay area in the late ’60s by shooting them in parked cars.
“Using The Zodiac, for example, the people killed during those murders were clean-cut and pretty much all-American,” she said. “Plus, the idea that someone in nice and safe areas was murdering young couples in love? That’s a media frenzy right there.”
The elusive killer gained widespread attention for sending ciphered messages to major media outlets and forcing them to publish his messages under threat of reoffending.
