FBI Freedom of Information Act Request – Filed 7/7/11 – Denied 8/16/11
Subject: NAMES & DEMOGRAPHICS OF ALL SERIAL KILLERS KNOWN TO NCAVC
Response:
As it pertains to your request, the FBI does not maintain a running list of serial killers. Therefore, the information you seek is not in a retrievable format. Because the FOIA does not require agencies to create records, your request does not comply with the FOIA and its regulations.
Request:
In Geberth and Turco's article titled Antisocial Personality Disorder, Sexual Sadism, Malignant Narcissism, and Serial Murder (1997), the authors state that "The National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC) identified 331 serial murderers in the United States between 1977 and April 1992." In filing this request, we ask that only the first and last names of all offenders cataloged within research databases located at the Critical Incident Response Group’s (CIRG) National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime Behavioral Analysis Unit 2 (Crimes Against Adults), the Child Abduction and Serial Murder Investigative Resources Center (CASMIRC) and the FBI Academy’s Behavioral Science Unit (BSU) be identified. In an effort to avoid impeding an ongoing investigation or interfering with a pending investigation or internal inquiry, the focus of our request is solely closed, fully adjudicated cases. Information on any unsolved homicides, offenders suspected of unsolved homicides or classified law enforcement techniques or methods is beyond the scope of this inquiry.
The NCAVC’s research database is comprised of cases submitted on a voluntary basis by law enforcement agencies from across the country. Thusly, agents of the NCAVC claim that they cannot dispense information without the consent or knowledge of the agency that provided the data. While we agree that the source of this information should remain confidential in order to protect the NCAVC’s ability to remain a clearinghouse of violent crimes, an offender’s first and last name become public record after an arrest. The NCAVC cannot claim proprietary ownership of the data if it was supplied by outside parties.
As mentioned above, Geberth and Turco gained access to the NCAVC’s research database to complete their manuscript. It would have been administratively impossible to obtain consent from each of the 331 law enforcement agencies that populated the database before granting these researchers access to the dataset. Louis B. Schlesinger, author of Ritual and Signature in Serial Sexual Homicide (2010), also utilized data from FBI databases where “All cases were closed and fully adjudicated and were contributed by law enforcement agencies from around the country.” Janet Warren, author of The Sexually Sadistic Serial Murderer (1996), stated that the data used in her study were “compiled from case files obtained by the FBI’s NCAVC through their research efforts.”
As established, the NCAVC’s BAU 2 gathers data for the purpose of research; it is not a classified law enforcement database commensurate with NCIC, Interpol, HITS, CODIS or ViCAP. Thusly, the contents of any research databases located within CIRG’s NCAVC or the Behavioral Science Unit should not be held to the same heightened confidentiality standards as ViCAP, a classified law enforcement database. Fulfilling this FOIA request would hamper the NCAVC’s continued ability to obtain information from law enforcement agencies no more so than ViCAP’s recent release of unsolved homicide data to the Scripps Howard News Service will compromise that unit’s ability to collect homicide cases from law enforcement agencies.
Agents from the NCAVC have also mined their databases for the purpose of research. In Serial Murder in America: Case Studies of Seven Offenders (2004), an agent of the NCAVC stated that four of the offenders included in the article were identified from “previously compiled lists in the NCAVC of individuals fitting the research criteria…”. FBI agents again consulted the “NCAVC case records” for the publication Frequency of Serial Sexual Homicide Victimization in Virginia for a Ten-Year Period (2004). Although neither of these articles identified the offenders by name, enough biographical details were supplied that the following individuals were identified as the killers referenced in the articles:
Serial Murder in America: Case Studies of Seven Offenders
Offender 1 - Joel Rifkin
Offender 2 - Steven Howard Oken
Offender 3 - Gary Ray Bowles
Offender 4 - Danny Rolling
Offender 5 - Reginald McFadden
Offender 6 - Elroy Chester
Offender 7 - Faryion Edward Wardrip
Frequency of Serial Sexual Homicide Victimization in Virginia for a Ten Year Period
Offender 1 – Elton Manning Jackson
Offender 2 – Chander Matta
Offender 3 – Sean Patrick Goble
Offender 4 – Timothy W. Spencer
Offender 5 – Richard M Evonitz
Offender 6 – Leslie Leon Burchart
Agents of the NCAVC have also constructed manuscripts and journal articles that identify offenders by name. One such article, Cross Cultural Comparison of Two Serial Sexual Murder Series in Italy and the United States (2010), exposed an investigative technique that any offender may now use to avoid further incarceration. In this instance, the NCAVC recommended searching the offender’s cell which revealed additional forbidden materials that led to the offender’s further incarceration.
According to the American Psychological Association, academic professionals “do not withhold the data on which their conclusions are based from other competent professionals who seek to verify the substantive claims through reanalysis” of the data. In this case, the contents of the NCAVC’s research database should be analyzed by “other competent professionals” to verify that it meets the definitional standards of serial murder set forth by the academic community during the 2005 Serial Murder Symposium held in San Antonio, Texas.
In closing, the release of a small subset of information contained within the NCAVC’s research databases should not adversely affect the agencies’ ability to conduct operations. In this case, the NCAVC should release the requested data to satisfy this request in much the same way that ViCAP supplied unsolved homicide summary information to members of the press. The nature in which this information is secreted from the public is in direct contrast with their safety. If an offender, such as Loren Joseph Herzog, were to be released into society, the public should know who the offender is and into what community they will be returning. By law, no organization that engages in research activities can secret the identities of convicted criminals from public knowledge. Therefore, the identities of the offender’s located within the units listed above should be made known through this request.