[Serial Murder and Media Circuses] (By: Dirk C. Gibson) [published: July, 2006]

by Dirk C. Gibson

The Axman of New Orleans specialized in killing grocers of Italian descent in the 1910s, apparently to promote jazz music. Dorothea Puente was a little old landlady who murdered her tenants, but kept cashing their government checks. the Manson family terrorized California in the 1960s, as did the Hillside Stranglers a decade later. Twelve serial murder cases, occurring in the eight decades between the 1890s and 1990s, had one thing in significant presence of the mass media. This book examines these cases, and the way the media became involved in the investigations and trials of each.

Hardcover

First published July 1, 2006