Posted on 04/05/2009 6:17:52 PM PDT by zaphod3000
The FBI suspects that serial killers working as long-haul truckers are responsible for the slayings of hundreds of prostitutes, hitchhikers and stranded motorists whose bodies have been dumped near highways over the last three decades.
Federal authorities first made the connection about five years ago while helping police link a trucker to a string of unsolved killings along Interstate 40 in Oklahoma and several other states. After that, the FBI launched the Highway Serial Killings Initiative to track suspicious slayings and suspect truckers.
A computer database maintained by the FBI has grown to include information on more than 500 female crime victims, most of whom were killed and their bodies discarded at truck stops, motels and other locations along popular trucking routes crisscrossing the U.S.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
It's all politics.
The 55 mph for trucks is absurd.
And isn't really enforced often enough to get truckers to obey it.
Which is a good thing IMO.
Of course the reason they have draconian laws in almost every situation you can imagine is so if they want to, they can arrest every one.
I've traveled across the country 8 times or so this decade, and most states have reasonable speed limits for trucks and there is no problem.
I always hated getting back to California when I was driving trucks, you had to crawl at 55 and could only use the two right lanes.
Yes, truckers are unfairly maligned. I remember a story about how much it costs the state to clean up bottles of "truckers lemonade" tossed on the side of the highways. You have to admit that the trucking profession could be seen as attractive to the isolated anti-social type. However, trucking certainly doesn't have a corner on those people.
Yeow! Looks like the theory works. All the red dots on major interstates would make the existence of trucker serial killer(s) a distinct possibility.
“Federal authorities first made the connection about five years ago...”
Federal work pace. No wonder 9-11-2001 happened. No real sense of urgency?
Every profession has people that get into it because it creates a way for them to engage in some criminal activity.
In the case of truck stop prostitutes, the truckers leave their door open and the women climb in.
With engine idling, once the door is closed, nobody outside will hear a thing.
I saw bits and pieces of that movie and I just laughed at the dated style of storytelling. Love Dennis Weaver, though.
“EVERTHING, everyone has, i.e.; cars, food, clothing, just the necessities of life, has been in or on a truck”
Right! I often think of this when I go by our local truck stop at night and see the trucks lined up for the night. It is terrible the way truckers are treated. Not nearly enough places for them to park and rest. Crappy food. Rude and ignorant drivers. And to think the people in the huge cities want to limit trucks in their purified areas. I well remember our 2007 ice storm when trucks couldn’t get here, the shelves were empty in two days! If the truckers ever decide not to roll this country will be stopped dead in just a few days.
You know, there was a time when most truckers were pros and I thought a lot of them. But these days, so many drivers drive like they don’t have a clue there is anyone else on the road. I’m sorry, but if what I see on the road these days is the norm for how truckers drive I suspect they are responsible for a large number of accidents. Please note I did not say all of them, but there are quite a few who are either too tired to be driving or are simply too aggressive or inexperienced or whatever.
Gee, I thought it was bad they were tossing out “trucker bombs.”
It might be a little more revealing if only truckers were allowed to use the interstates. As it stands, it mostly proves that bodies get dumped along the roads that are most used by motorists of all sorts.
Terrible story.
Excellent post.
Yes. The article is a paean to the FBI. But if you read it closely, they have hardly caught any perps, and those seem to have been caught more or less by accident rather than by using the database.
Moreover, bodies found by the Interstate weren’t necessarily dropped there by truckers, as you say. Wouldn’t mobsters also find it convenient if they wanted to dump bodies in other jurisdictions, for instance? Or car drivers? or hitchhikers?
The article is a pretty good read and it is a very interesting story.
I'm going to have to rent Suspect Zero soon. A cousin of mine has a small role in that film.
Breakdown was also a good drive-in style flick on this subject. Kurt Russell was good. J.T. Walsh and M.C. Gainey were two of the most evil SOB's that you will ever see in that film.
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