#motive-unknown

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Psychology
fromMail Online
13 hours ago

Study confirms serial killers attack victims who resemble their MUMS

Serial killers often select victims resembling their mothers due to unresolved childhood trauma.
Careers
fromSecuritymagazine
4 days ago

Beyond the Certificate: Why Real Expertise in Investigative Interviewing Comes from Practice

Training and certifications signal competence, but true effectiveness in investigative interviewing requires disciplined application and real-world experience.
US news
fromBoston.com
3 days ago

New DNA testing confirms serial killer Ted Bundy killed a Utah teen in 1974

New DNA testing confirmed Ted Bundy killed 17-year-old Laura Ann Aime in 1974, linking him to another unsolved murder.
#murder
California
fromSFGATE
4 days ago

Cigarettes lead to killer of woman alone in Bay Area home

The murder of Marjorie Rudolph in 1966 has been solved after decades, revealing a violent struggle and staged robbery.
fromwww.mediaite.com
1 week ago
DC food

Quadruple Amputee Accused of Murdering Someone and Fleeing the Scene by Car And Police Haven't Explained How That's Even Possible

California
fromSFGATE
4 days ago

Cigarettes lead to killer of woman alone in Bay Area home

The murder of Marjorie Rudolph in 1966 has been solved after decades, revealing a violent struggle and staged robbery.
fromwww.mediaite.com
1 week ago
DC food

Quadruple Amputee Accused of Murdering Someone and Fleeing the Scene by Car And Police Haven't Explained How That's Even Possible

SOMA, SF
fromSan Jose Inside
5 days ago

DA Hires Stanford Grad to Run County Crime Lab

Sandra Burnham Sachs is the new chief of the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Crime Lab, succeeding Dr. Ian Fitch.
#murder-investigation
fromIndependent
6 days ago
UK news

From nerd to cold killer: colleague of murderer Stephen McCullagh reveals chilling transformation of monster he thought he knew

SOMA, SF
fromNew York Post
3 weeks ago

Husband, 75, busted after dismembered remains of his much-younger wife found scattered in NYC: cops

A 75-year-old Queens man was arrested for murdering his 34-year-old wife whose dismembered remains were discovered across the borough months apart.
UK news
fromwww.bbc.com
1 month ago

Woman's death in home prompts murder investigation

A 71-year-old woman died from significant injuries at a Hounslow home; murder investigation launched with no arrests made.
fromIndependent
6 days ago
UK news

From nerd to cold killer: colleague of murderer Stephen McCullagh reveals chilling transformation of monster he thought he knew

SOMA, SF
fromNew York Post
3 weeks ago

Husband, 75, busted after dismembered remains of his much-younger wife found scattered in NYC: cops

A 75-year-old Queens man was arrested for murdering his 34-year-old wife whose dismembered remains were discovered across the borough months apart.
UK news
fromwww.bbc.com
1 month ago

Woman's death in home prompts murder investigation

A 71-year-old woman died from significant injuries at a Hounslow home; murder investigation launched with no arrests made.
#crime
DC food
fromTruthout
1 week ago

How Maryland's Medical Examiner Helped Conceal Suspicious Deaths

Dr. David Fowler's controversial rulings on deaths in police custody have sparked significant media scrutiny and debate over his use of the excited delirium theory.
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 days ago

Original Sin by Kathryn Paige Harden review are criminals born or made?

Harden's research outlines genetic patterns associated with a higher risk of substance abuse and risk-taking behaviors, framing her work as an exploration of the genetics of sin.
Psychology
fromPsychology Today
1 week ago

Embracing the Warrior-Guardian Paradox in Modern Policing

The warrior and guardian are not competing philosophies between which a department must choose. They are complementary capacities every officer needs - and every agency must develop, sustain, and honor equally.
Social justice
#homicide
California
fromABC7 San Francisco
4 days ago

DNA on cigarette links suspect to 'brutal' San Rafael homicide cold case, solving 1966 murder

A 60-year-old homicide case was solved using DNA evidence from cigarette butts, identifying James Switzer as the suspect in Marjorie Rudolph's murder.
California
fromABC7 San Francisco
4 days ago

DNA on cigarette links suspect to 'brutal' San Rafael homicide cold case, solving 1966 murder

A 60-year-old homicide case was solved using DNA evidence from cigarette butts, identifying James Switzer as the suspect in Marjorie Rudolph's murder.
fromwww.theguardian.com
1 week ago

What the Epstein case teaches us about grooming podcast

People talk about Jeffrey Epstein as though he's special or as though he's mysterious in some way. That takes away from the truth of it, which is that there are lots of people like him.
Books
US news
from6abc Philadelphia
1 week ago

Bryan Kohberger caught in casual conversation with DMV worker about murders he committed

Bryan Kohberger was seen casually at a DMV days after murdering four Idaho students.
Psychology
fromPsychology Today
5 days ago

New Research: Some People Really Do Fall for Corporate BS

Employees impressed by corporate gibberish perform poorly in decision-making and confuse it with business savvy.
Privacy professionals
fromwww.bbc.com
2 weeks ago

Child seen in sex abuse videos identified after researcher spots school badge

Internet Watch Foundation researchers identified a child sexual abuse victim after years of searching by recognizing her school uniform in images, enabling police to locate and help her.
Media industry
fromPsychology Today
2 weeks ago

Build Your Digital Detective Kit

Digital and media literacy skills are essential for all online users to navigate AI-generated content, partisan framing, and viral misinformation in today's information landscape.
fromBoston.com
2 weeks ago

11 charged after allegedly staging robberies to claim victim status on immigration applications

The scheme began in March 2023, when Rambhai Patel, then 36, carried out staged armed robberies with co-conspirators at at least six convenience stores, liquor stores, and fast food restaurants in Massachusetts and other states. Prosecutors said the robberies were designed to help store clerks falsely claim they were victims of violent crimes in applications for U nonimmigrant status, commonly known as a U visa.
Boston
fromwww.scientificamerican.com
3 weeks ago

AI techniques speed up forensic analysis of crucial crime scene larvae

A maggot's age and species can give essential information to forensic entomologists investigating murders. Combing through these fly larvae, investigators can potentially learn when and where a crime happened, whether the body has been moved or whether toxins were involved. For example, blowflies are among the earliest insect colonizers of corpses; they typically sniff out and lay eggs on a dead body within minutes to hours.
Roam Research
SF parents
fromBoston.com
3 weeks ago

Student charged in Danvers murder allegedly told police he 'wanted to kill someone for a long time'

An 18-year-old Bishop Fenwick High School senior is charged with murdering a 68-year-old woman in a random home invasion, allegedly confessing to police that he planned the killing for an extended period.
Privacy professionals
fromJezebel
3 weeks ago

The Dumbest Criminals Keep Asking AI How to Get Away with Murder

ChatGPT provided advice to an accused murderer on handling a dead body instead of contacting police, raising serious concerns about AI safety and misuse.
Women
fromSilicon Canals
4 weeks ago

Psychology says the true crime audience is overwhelmingly women not because women are morbid but because women are the primary targets of the crimes being described - and learning the patterns isn't entertainment, it's threat intelligence dressed up as a podcast - Silicon Canals

Women's high consumption of true crime content represents threat assessment and safety education rather than morbid entertainment preference.
Law
fromAbove the Law
4 weeks ago

This Is Why Criminal Justice Needs Number Nerds - Above the Law

Data-driven evidence, not ideology, should guide criminal justice reform through incentive-based systems and rigorous testing of policies.
fromPsychology Today
2 weeks ago

When We Assume Psychopathy Is Involved in Serial Murders

When the topic of serial murder comes up, almost reflexively, the diagnosis of psychopathic personality is given as an explanation for the offender's behavior. Question: "Why did he kill all these people?" Answer: "He's a psychopath." It seems that once it is proclaimed that the serial killer is a psychopath, everything is understood. This assertion has gained such widespread acceptance that its validity is never questioned.
Psychology
fromBusiness Insider
1 month ago

'Survivor' host Jeff Probst spends his downtime watching real-life police interrogation videos

If I have 15 minutes, my go-to is going to be a police interrogation, almost always. You are watching a human walk into a room wondering, how much do these detectives know? What they don't know is in most cases, the detective knows a lot more than you think, but they want to see what you're willing to share.
Television
Psychology
fromPsychology Today
2 weeks ago

Why False Accusations Are So Disturbing

False accusations are uniquely disturbing because they violate the just-world hypothesis, undermining our belief that fairness exists and people deserve their outcomes.
East Bay (California)
fromThe Oaklandside
1 month ago

Deadly lookalikes

An unusually wet winter in the Bay Area caused a surge in deadly death cap mushrooms, leading to unprecedented poisonings disproportionately affecting immigrant communities who forage based on traditional knowledge.
Psychology
fromBusiness Insider
3 weeks ago

The 10-second trick to spot a liar, according to a psychopathy researcher

Open-ended and unexpected questions make it harder for people with dark personality traits to lie convincingly.
fromwww.mercurynews.com
1 month ago

San Jose police renew investigation into 42-year-old homicide

During a review of the case, investigators found a description of a possible suspect that had not been disclosed to the public, according to San Jose police Sgt. Jorge Garibay. The person was described as a white man, 32 to 35 years old and 5 feet 7 inches to 5 feet 8 inches tall, Garibay said. He also had a thin build and strawberry blond hair.
San Jose Sharks
Privacy professionals
fromTheregister
1 month ago

Turns out most cybercriminals are old enough to know better

Middle-aged adults aged 35-44 comprise 37% of cybercrime arrests, with 25-44 year-olds accounting for nearly 60% of cases, contradicting the teenage hacker stereotype.
Los Angeles
fromLos Angeles Times
1 month ago

D4vd is 'target' of grand jury murder probe into dismembered teen found in his Tesla

Singer D4vd (David Burke) is under criminal investigation as a murder suspect after dismembered remains of a 14-year-old girl were discovered in his Tesla's trunk in Hollywood.
UK news
fromwww.independent.co.uk
1 month ago

Almost half of officers' DNA still missing from Met Police database

Nearly half of Metropolitan Police officers' DNA and over a fifth of their fingerprints are missing from elimination databases, potentially hindering criminal investigations and internal misconduct detection.
#psychopathy
fromwww.bbc.com
1 month ago

Drive-by murder accused was not at scene, jury told

Michelle Sadio, 44, died at the scene and two others were injured when shots were fired from a passing Kia as a crowd of mourners stood outside the River of Life Pentecostal Church following a wake in December 2024. On Monday, Tahjin Sommersall,19, told the court he had never even seen the car used in the shooting and had been in Wembley when the attack happened.
Miscellaneous
fromFortune
1 month ago

'Could it kill someone?' A Seoul woman allegedly used ChatGPT to carry out two murders in South Korean motels | Fortune

What happens if you take sleeping pills with alcohol? How much would be considered dangerous? Could it be fatal? Could it kill someone? Kim is reported to have asked the OpenAI chatbot, with prosecutors alleging her search and chatbot history show a suspect asking for pointers on how to carry out premeditated murder.
Privacy professionals
fromVulture
1 month ago

What Kind of Person Would Kidnap an 84-Year-Old Woman?

During retired FBI profiler Mary Ellen O'Toole's work in the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit, the first thing investigators would do is create a 'study of the victim.' O'Toole said that kidnappings of older people are 'very rare' - meaning there is little empirical evidence to work with in terms of understanding such crimes.
US news
#murder-trial
fromThe Bold Italic
1 month ago

Missing story or content

If you were looking for a specific story and landed here, we're sorry - that content has been misplaced. The Bold Italic has recently undergone a massive transition. After moving across several platforms over the last decade, some legacy content didn't make the final trip. We've already logged your broken link. This helps us see which stories are most missed so we can try to recover them.
San Francisco
Mental health
fromPsychology Today
2 months ago

10 Things a Hitman Thought Before Pulling the Trigger

Chronic fear, humiliation, and neglect can create practiced emotional patterns that numb moral resistance and train the mind to carry out violence automatically.
Psychology
fromPsychology Today
1 month ago

Attitudes Toward War Can Be Predicted by Psychologists

Psychological factors, including childhood maltreatment and social dominance orientation, significantly predict support for military conflict more than political ideology alone.
Law
fromPsychology Today
2 months ago

Premeditated but Psychotic?

Premeditation does not preclude legal insanity; planning can stem from psychosis, and evaluations assess whether mental illness causally produced the criminal act.
fromPsychology Today
2 months ago

'It Was Just an Accident'... Until It Wasn't

The movie opens with a brief prologue. A family is driving at night. They hit something on the road, which turns out to be a dog, and the dog dies. The daughter in the back seat is visibly upset. The mother consoles her by saying, "It was just an accident-Dad didn't do it on purpose." Then the title appears, and the main story begins.
Film
fromHarvard Gazette
1 month ago

New factor in predicting who becomes criminal: when you were born. - Harvard Gazette

Sampson mines 30 years of data on more than 1,000 Chicagoans born in the 1980s and '90s. The youngest cohort, born in the mid-1990s, came of age amid declining rates of violence, incarceration, and even lead exposure. Those in this younger sample proved far less likely to be arrested than the study's oldest participants, those born in the early to mid-1980s. The youngest were also less likely to use a firearm or witness gun violence.
Science
#child-sexual-abuse
fromwww.mediaite.com
2 months ago

Former Federal Prosecutor Claims Man Shot and Killed By Federal Agents Had a Death Wish'

A total of 10 gunshots rang out from the ICE officers, leaving Pretti lying supine and motionless in the middle of the street. He was declared dead at the scene. Video of the incident appeared to contradict the Department of Homeland Security narrative that Pretti approached US Border Patrol officers with a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun, and that the officers were forced to shoot in self-defense.
US politics
fromNew York Post
2 months ago

Woman's remains found stuffed in bag in NYC basement

The remains of a woman were found stuffed inside a black plastic bag in the basement of a Brooklyn building Sunday, police and law-enforcement sources said. Cops responded to a 911 call for an unconscious person at The Borinquen Public Houses at 330 Bushwick Avenue on the border of Williamsburg and Bushwick at 9:38 a.m., police said. In the basement of the NYCHA apartment building, officers found the remains of an adult woman in a black plastic bag, the sources and cops said.
Brooklyn
Psychology
fromPsychology Today
1 month ago

The Value of True Crime

Evolutionary psychology explains true crime fascination as a survival mechanism for identifying threats, yet successful predators still evade detection through deception and social bonding.
#missing-person
fromFortune
1 month ago
US news

FBI's search for Nancy Guthrie has few leads, with potential break in the case fizzling | Fortune

fromFortune
1 month ago
US news

FBI's search for Nancy Guthrie has few leads, with potential break in the case fizzling | Fortune

Law
fromAxios
2 months ago

AI is reshaping police detective work, starting with cold cases

AI tools enable detectives to rapidly search and analyze large, multimodal evidence (calls, interviews, photos, social media) to accelerate cold and active investigations.
Social justice
fromThe Mercury News
2 months ago

Independent autopsy points to homicide as cause of death in Brentwood police custody case

An independent autopsy found Yolanda Ramirez died from multiple blunt force trauma and asphyxiation, ruling her death a homicide caused by police restraint.
US news
fromwww.mercurynews.com
1 month ago

Genealogical sites have helped solve major crimes. Police in Nancy Guthrie's case might turn to them

Investigators may use DNA genealogy databases to match DNA from Nancy Guthrie's case and potentially identify suspects or relatives when CODIS yields no matches.
fromSFGATE
2 months ago

Body found halfway across country ties back to horrific Calif. criminal

Ronald Joseph Cole was a 19-year-old with a shy smile and a buzz cut in 1965, the year he moved from San Diego to Fillmore, a town about 25 miles from Santa Clarita. He was just starting out in life and, hoping to find a job, moved in with his older half-brother David LaFever. By May 1965, Cole had stopped contacting relatives. He had disappeared.
fromLos Angeles Times
1 month ago

Break in cold case leads to 39-year-old man, now facing murder charge in L.A. Juvenile Court

At a Juvenile Court hearing this week in East Lost Angeles, sheriff's deputies led shackled defendants into a courtroom reserved for youths accused of serious crimes. Most were baby-faced teenagers wearing orange jumpsuits. Then they brought out a 39-year-old father of four. The man, Victor Perez, is accused of killing a woman in Hollywood in 2003. But because he was 17 at the time, Perez, who has pleaded not guilty, is being prosecuted as a juvenile - at least for now.
US news
Law
fromwww.scientificamerican.com
2 months ago

Video evidence and eye witness accounts: The science behind why people see different things

The same police dashcam footage of a 2007 high-speed chase and collision produced sharply different interpretations, culminating in the Supreme Court ruling for the officer.
California
fromSFGATE
2 months ago

After DUI arrest, man charged with murder relating to Calif. cold case

A suspect was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the 2008 Kern County cold-case homicide of Thomas Charles Horton following a 2025 DUI arrest.
fromwww.bbc.com
2 months ago

Schizophrenic bus stop killer held indefinitely

The court has heard a man with a severe mental illness was known to services and assessed by consultant psychiatrists as psychologically stable and safe for the community.
UK news
UK news
fromwww.bbc.com
2 months ago

Teen charged with killing girl who died in fire

A 16-year-old boy has been charged with manslaughter, arson and arson with recklessness after a 6 April 2023 Beckton flat fire killed 15-year-old Tiffany Regis.
US news
fromwww.mercurynews.com
1 month ago

Nancy Guthrie abduction clues: Retired homicide sergeant weighs in

FBI-released doorbell footage yields identifiable clues—clothing, apparent firearm, gloves, estimated height/weight and facial biometrics—providing a major investigative lead in Nancy Guthrie's suspected abduction.
Psychology
fromPsychology Today
2 months ago

What Explains Why Homicide Levels Are Historically Low?

Lethal violence declined in 2025, explained by a threshold-dependent model where archetype, drive, culture, and threshold must converge for violent behavior to occur.
US news
fromwww.theguardian.com
2 months ago

Pennsylvania man charged after more than 100 human remains found in his possession

A Pennsylvania man faces hundreds of grave-robbery charges after authorities found over 100 human remains, including skulls and mummified parts, taken from Mount Moriah mausoleums.
Psychology
fromPsychology Today
2 months ago

Did She Die the Way They Say?

Psychological autopsy clarifies equivocal manners of death but lacks standardized protocols, challenging reliability; qualitative forensic mental-state assessments deserve standing.
fromSilicon Canals
1 month ago

Psychology says people who always pay with exact change display these 7 personality traits that go beyond just being organized - Silicon Canals

They're displaying a fascinating set of personality traits that go much deeper than having their finances sorted. 1) They have exceptional impulse control Think about what it takes to always have exact change ready. You need to resist the urge to spend those coins on vending machines or leave them as tips. You have to plan ahead, knowing what you'll buy and preparing accordingly.
Psychology
Psychology
fromMail Online
2 months ago

Common health condition indicates a woman might be a PSYCHOPATH

Hyperthyroidism is associated with higher psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and sadism, along with greater antagonism and reduced empathic functioning.
fromPsychology Today
2 months ago

The Cause Illusion

Ever since our ancestors first stood upright and squinted at the horizon, we've been wired to notice patterns. A rustle in the grass might have meant a stalking predator. Dark clouds often meant rain. Those who made these connections and guessed that one thing caused another tended to survive. Over time, this ability to link events became one of our most significant evolutionary advantages. It's how we built tools, tamed fire, and eventually invented Wi-Fi.
Psychology
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