The frequent absence of a documented history of sexual assault/rape in the prior research on serial sexual murderers is curious. In order to address several methodological problems in prior research, a closed-case archival review of a nonrandom national sample of 53 serial sexual homicide cases was conducted which identified 14 offenders with a history of sexual assault/rape for an overall prevalence rate of 26.4%. Of the 14 offenders with a prior known history of sexual assault/rape, 11 (78.6%) sexually penetrated at least one of their homicide victims at the crime scene. Implications for investigation of serial sexual homicide as well as for further understanding of this exceptionally rare crime are presented.
Keywords: behavioral science; criminal history; investigation; serial sexual homicide; sexual assault/rape; sexual crime.
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