In 2005 the FBI published a guide to serial murder for investigators which listed seven myths or misconceptions about serial killers. Their examples were all cases from the United States – so we decided to try and match the myths with cases from London’s own history of murder. 1) Myth: Serial killers are all dysfunctional …
Author archives: murdermap
Sanction Detection Rates
The ‘murder rate’ is one way of measuring the effectiveness of the justice system. Another is the percentage of homicides that are ‘cleared up’ – otherwise known as the Sanction Detection Rate. This means cases where a suspect has been identified but not necessarily convicted of the crime, perhaps because they have been acquitted on …
Suspicious and Unexplained Deaths
The case of MI6 spy Gareth Williams is one of those rare mysteries that seems to defy all logic. It begins with a body, but it is a body within a locked bag within a locked room. Detectives and scientists have marshaled all their resources in an attempt to work out how it happened yet …
Off the Map: The case of Jayden Wray
This week it was reported that the parents of Jayden Wray had been cleared by the High Court of all responsibility for the death of their son. As a result we have decided to remove the case from the map as it can no longer be said to be a homicide. Although experts disagreed about …
The London Homicide Manual
How do detectives investigate a murder? Books, TV programmes and documentaries give us some idea – even if their focus is on a single grizzled cop who solves a homicide single-handed. But what exactly is the ‘procedure’ when that call first comes in about a dead body? As it happens the Metropolitan Police have what …