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A review by kevin_shepherd
Killers Amidst Killers: Hunting Serial Killers Operating Under the Cloak of America's Opioid Epidemic by Billy Jensen
4.0
“All these women, missing and murdered within a span of a handful of years and a few highways between them, with the state capital of Columbus at its center. Why is this not a national story?”
When I think “serial killer” what comes to mind are the smart ones: Gacey, Dahmer, Bundy, BTK… those cunning, conniving, meticulous sons of bitches who out maneuvered and out smarted task forces and veteran homicide detectives for months or years or sometimes even decades. In truth, the so-called intellectual murderers, the “Hannibal Lectors,” are rare exceptions to the rule.
The truth is that the vast majority of degenerates who commit serial murder are not smart or cunning or the least bit clever. They are predatory douche-bags reacting to targets of opportunity. And in south-central Ohio, nothing affords monsters more targets of opportunity than the American opioid crisis.
“There were 16,425 murders in the US in 2019. That same year, 70,630 people died of drug overdoses, and 49,860 of those overdoses were opioid-related.”
And it gets worse.
“In the twelve months ending May 2020, eighty-one thousand people [in the U.S.] died of drug overdoses… Two hundred and twenty-one deaths every day.”
The bottom line is that opioids create more addicts. Addicts tend to gravitate toward more ‘hard-core’ substances (like heroin). More ‘hard-core’ addicts means more targets of opportunity for hustlers, dope peddlers, and sadistic slime-bags.
The question is, if most serial killers are morons why are the ones preying on Ohio’s opium addicts so hard for law enforcement to catch? Three primary reasons: (perceived) public indifference, police corruption and law enforcement incompetence.
“They said in a news release that the circumstances were suspicious. No shit—her body was found in a trash bag.”
Take, for example, the case of serial killer Anthony Sowell - the Cleveland Police had ample opportunity to put him away and chose not to:
On December 8, 2008, Sowell forced a woman named Gladys Wade into his house and assaulted her. Incredibly, she fought her way outside and managed to flag down a passing patrol car.
“The officers saw droplets of Glady’s blood in the snow outside Sowell’s house. They saw the scratch marks on her neck. They knew that Sowell was a registered sex offender…”
Sowell was arrested on a charge of robbery but incredibly, for whatever reason, they let him go.
“…they decided not to charge him at all. Once free, Sowell went on to murder Nancy Cobbs, Telacia Fortson, Amelda Hunter, Le’Shanda Long, Diane Turner, and Janice Webb.”
It wasn’t until much, much later that the Cleveland PD paid any more attention to Anthony Sowell. When they finally did (only after a naked woman fell out of his window) they found the remains of eleven women inside his home.
“If the Ohio police couldn’t catch a serial killer when he was seemingly caught red-handed, how the hell were they going to catch a killer who was more careful…?”
Billy Jensen writes True Crime as well as anyone I have ever read. I cannot put his books down. And it’s not just his writing; he has a drive to solve the unsolvable—a task at which he is often surprisingly successful. I highly recommend both Killers Amidst Killers and his previous book, Chase Darkness With Me.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4423605850
When I think “serial killer” what comes to mind are the smart ones: Gacey, Dahmer, Bundy, BTK… those cunning, conniving, meticulous sons of bitches who out maneuvered and out smarted task forces and veteran homicide detectives for months or years or sometimes even decades. In truth, the so-called intellectual murderers, the “Hannibal Lectors,” are rare exceptions to the rule.
The truth is that the vast majority of degenerates who commit serial murder are not smart or cunning or the least bit clever. They are predatory douche-bags reacting to targets of opportunity. And in south-central Ohio, nothing affords monsters more targets of opportunity than the American opioid crisis.
“There were 16,425 murders in the US in 2019. That same year, 70,630 people died of drug overdoses, and 49,860 of those overdoses were opioid-related.”
And it gets worse.
“In the twelve months ending May 2020, eighty-one thousand people [in the U.S.] died of drug overdoses… Two hundred and twenty-one deaths every day.”
The bottom line is that opioids create more addicts. Addicts tend to gravitate toward more ‘hard-core’ substances (like heroin). More ‘hard-core’ addicts means more targets of opportunity for hustlers, dope peddlers, and sadistic slime-bags.
The question is, if most serial killers are morons why are the ones preying on Ohio’s opium addicts so hard for law enforcement to catch? Three primary reasons: (perceived) public indifference, police corruption and law enforcement incompetence.
“They said in a news release that the circumstances were suspicious. No shit—her body was found in a trash bag.”
Take, for example, the case of serial killer Anthony Sowell - the Cleveland Police had ample opportunity to put him away and chose not to:
On December 8, 2008, Sowell forced a woman named Gladys Wade into his house and assaulted her. Incredibly, she fought her way outside and managed to flag down a passing patrol car.
“The officers saw droplets of Glady’s blood in the snow outside Sowell’s house. They saw the scratch marks on her neck. They knew that Sowell was a registered sex offender…”
Sowell was arrested on a charge of robbery but incredibly, for whatever reason, they let him go.
“…they decided not to charge him at all. Once free, Sowell went on to murder Nancy Cobbs, Telacia Fortson, Amelda Hunter, Le’Shanda Long, Diane Turner, and Janice Webb.”
It wasn’t until much, much later that the Cleveland PD paid any more attention to Anthony Sowell. When they finally did (only after a naked woman fell out of his window) they found the remains of eleven women inside his home.
“If the Ohio police couldn’t catch a serial killer when he was seemingly caught red-handed, how the hell were they going to catch a killer who was more careful…?”
Billy Jensen writes True Crime as well as anyone I have ever read. I cannot put his books down. And it’s not just his writing; he has a drive to solve the unsolvable—a task at which he is often surprisingly successful. I highly recommend both Killers Amidst Killers and his previous book, Chase Darkness With Me.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4423605850