The Silent Mystery

Modern society is marked by an unstoppable race for productivity, a focus on daily needs, and a continuous search for answers to immediate questions. Amid this frenzy, we rarely stop to reflect on how much, within our everyday lives, the shadow of extreme violence might be lurking. Every day, inevitably, there are people committing murders, yet most of us remain oblivious. However, statistically, it is highly likely that, within our buildings, the streets we walk every day, or the houses surrounding us, there is a serial killer walking undisturbed among us.

Every day, a startling number of murders are committed worldwide. According to international estimates, around 400,000 murders were recorded globally in 2023, yet the majority of these go unnoticed by the public. Many murders occur in the shadows, in contexts that do not attract attention: within the walls of homes, in solitary and remote places, or in social environments where crime is hidden behind a facade of normalcy.

Although the idea of a serial killer among us might seem like a thriller theme, the reality is that serial violence is far from rare. According to criminology, a serial killer is someone who commits more than three murders with a "cooling-off" period between each killing, and often blends into a seemingly normal and anonymous routine. Statistically, among the hundreds of thousands of people we encounter daily, it is highly likely that someone is leading a double life.

The Ubiquity of Serial Killers

The thought that a serial killer could be present in our neighborhood or building is unsettling, but when we consider the numbers, this possibility becomes less of a science fiction scenario. According to an FBI report in the United States, there are between 25 and 50 active serial killers in the country at any given time, although the actual number may be much higher, as many killings are never attributed to a single perpetrator.

A study by the National Institute of Justice estimates that only about 10% of serial killer victims are ever correctly identified, meaning that in every city and community, there could be unsolved murders that, upon closer examination, may reveal a pattern linking one murder to another.

On a global scale, if we multiply the number of estimated serial killers in the United States by a global population projection, the number of potential killers in action could easily reach the thousands.

What makes these criminals particularly dangerous is their ability to blend in. Most serial killers are not monstrous figures lurking in the streets with a sinister appearance, but individuals who live among society, with normal jobs and daily lives that raise no suspicion. They can be neighbors, coworkers, or members of our local community, whose personalities are distorted by homicidal impulses. The behavior of these killers is often methodical, and their psyche is as complex as it is unpredictable. Many are driven by sexual motives, a sense of power, or desires for control and dominance, and often they are able to raise no suspicion simply because they know how to present themselves as "normal" people.

Their ability to camouflage and operate in the shadows makes it even harder for authorities to link victims, although law enforcement is developing increasingly advanced criminal profiling methods and investigative technologies. However, this process is slow and requires constant data analysis.

Many of us tend to ignore the violence around us, not because it isn’t there, but because we are too focused on our daily struggles. The loss of a human life, no matter how tragic, may seem like distant news, an event that happens "elsewhere," far from us. Yet, as criminology experts suggest, violence and crime are part of everyday life, even if we don’t always see them. Our perception of safety can be misleading.

Serial killers take refuge in the silence of our indifference. Every day, someone could be the victim of a serial murder, and no one would notice. This is partly due to the trivialization of crime, which is often reduced to statistics or isolated events, without linking the victims together.

As unsettling as it may seem, the reality is that there could be serial killers among us. The question is not whether they exist, but how many there are and where they hide. Statistics suggest that there are still vast margins of unreported crime, making our world even more insidious. The unknown, the normalcy that surrounds us, could, in reality, be concealing horrors we could never imagine.

In an era dominated by advanced technologies, our level of awareness of crime is still relatively low compared to reality. The inability to recognize danger signals, to put the pieces of the puzzle together, allows the monster to continue walking among us, unnoticed, while statistics only underline the terrifying truth: there is a serial killer closer than we think.

Stories of serial killers are often reduced to urban legends or sensational novels, but the truth is that these crimes exist in the real world. While not all of them are easy to identify, we can conclude that, statistically, it is likely that among our neighbors, coworkers, or people we encounter every day, someone is hiding a much darker reality than we dare to imagine.

When Missing Persons Become Victims:

Every day, hundreds of people disappear without a trace. These cases are sometimes dismissed as voluntary disappearances or simply accidents. However, in many instances, behind the disappearance of a person may lie a far darker crime. Statistics show that a significant number of people who are reported missing each year may have fallen into the hands of serial killers, whose existence often escapes the radar of law enforcement, masked by the normality of daily life.

Every year, in the United States alone, an estimated 600,000 people are reported missing. Many of these cases are resolved quickly, with the missing individuals being found alive. But there are also hundreds of cases that are never solved, where the missing person is never found, and the trail goes cold. Many of these cases are never linked to violence, but a significant percentage of the missing could have been victims of serial killers.

According to some criminology experts, a notable number of missing persons may have been murdered by serial killers, but the connection between the disappearance and the crime is never detected. This happens because, in many cases, missing persons are not considered victims of homicide until a body is found, and in some instances, the body is never recovered or is not immediately identified as part of a serial pattern.

Many serial killers select their victims from vulnerable people who are harder to track or identify. The typical victims of serial killers are often young women, children, or homeless individuals—categories that can easily be "lost" in the vast number of people reported missing each year. Their vulnerability makes them ideal prey for those with the intent to kill without being immediately identified.

An emblematic case is that of Ted Bundy, one of the most notorious serial killers in history, who, during the 1970s, abducted, killed, and dismembered dozens of young women. During the period of his killings, many of his victims were simply declared "missing," and the link between these disappearances was only made after Bundy’s arrest, when law enforcement began to reconstruct his modus operandi.

The most skilled serial killers understand that a missing body is hard to immediately link to a crime. After killing their victim, some serial killers opt for body disposal, trying to destroy any evidence that could lead to their identity. Burial in remote locations, hiding remains in wells or deep waters, or body fragmentation are just some of the methods used to ensure the victim remains "missing."

In the case of Gary Ridgway, known as the "Green River Killer," it is estimated that he killed at least 49 women. For many years, his criminal activity remained hidden behind a series of "disappearances" that seemed like isolated cases of people vanishing in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Only after careful analysis and meticulous investigation did the connection between the victims emerge. Ridgway used his job as a truck driver to abduct and kill his victims, often hiding the bodies in hard-to-reach locations, making his victims difficult to identify as part of a single pattern.

Experts estimate that every year, hundreds of missing persons may indeed be victims of serial killers, but the connection remains hidden or unexplored. According to the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), in the U.S., 70% of missing persons each year are adults, and many of these disappearances are not linked to kidnappings or violent crimes but to missing people who have not yet been found, and whose cases remain unsolved.

An analysis conducted by criminologists based on unsolved disappearance statistics and unresolved homicide cases led to an estimate suggesting that 5% to 10% of missing persons may be connected to serial killers, but these crimes are never recognized due to a lack of evidence or the difficulty in piecing together the necessary details to establish a link.

One of the main difficulties in identifying a serial killer hiding behind disappearances is that law enforcement often lacks the resources or coordination to track and connect the various cases. Disappearances are treated as isolated events, and often authorities do not attempt to make a connection between different cases, especially if the locations or methods are not immediately linked to a single individual.

Moreover, a serial killer who acts strategically knows how to leave no obvious traces and how to make each murder appear to be a separate accident. For example, they may choose victims who do not attract much media attention, such as homeless individuals or people living in isolated environments, or even individuals who, once missing, are quickly forgotten.

The question we must ask ourselves is: how much do we really know about disappearances? Every year, while many are brought home and families breathe a sigh of relief, we must not forget that there are also cases where the truth remains hidden. Statistics and criminological analyses tell us that there are still many unidentified victims, and every disappearance could conceal a serial murder waiting to be uncovered.

The task of law enforcement, criminologists, and society as a whole is to raise public awareness, promote greater attention, and do everything possible to identify those signals that could link a disappearance to a serial crime. Every disappearance should be treated with the utmost seriousness because behind every face that vanishes is a story—and perhaps even a murder that is waiting to be discovered.

The connection between disappearances and serial killers is stronger than we imagine. If there is no attention, no systematic investigation, and no connection between different cases, it is possible that many people who disappear each year are actually victims of a criminal mind acting in the shadows. The world we live in may be more dangerous than it seems, and many of us may never realize how close these horrors are, hidden among the crowd.

Doktor Lazarus