Serial Murder 101 by Bridget DiCosmo (July 2009)

Serial Murder 101 by Bridget DiCosmo (July 2009)

Bridget DiCosmo, an award-winning crime reporter for the Southeast Missourian, tells the story of Serial Killer Timothy Krajcir in her debut book Serial Murder 101.

Serial Killer Timothy Kjarcir

Serial Killer Timothy Kjarcir

Krajcir was a sexual predator even his early adolescent years; having began his preying on vunerable women by “Peeping Tomming.”

Before turning to murder as a means to “leave no witness,” Krajcir would be convicted of sexual molestation of two young girls.

While serving his sentence, he would study psychology; learning how to manipulate prison counselors and convince them he would not be a repeat offender.

A true sociopath at work.

And, as history tells us, Krajcir would repeat his crimes.  Only this time they would escalate to murder.

Brutually murdering many women in his wake, their deaths would become cold cases in numerous police departments across many states for more than two decades.

Confronted with DNA evidence on at least two cases, Krajcir would confess to murdering nine more women.

Question is:  for how many was Krajcir truly responsible?

Serial Murder 101 starts out with a story-style telling of Krajcir childhood and the crimes he committed; those known and some suspected. 

However, after page 157, the book extremely mundane, having been taken direct from the interrogation transcripts.   Since only one or two bits of new information is revealed, the remaining chapters are repeatitive.

I always realized halfway into the Prologue that the author was revealing much of what would be disclosed in the upcoming chapters and stopped reading.

Would I recommend it?  Sure.  It’s an interesting case and the overall history of Krajcir is a case study within itself.   Just be prepared to read only half the book.