John Walsh Wrong on Serial Killers and Missing Children

In "Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters" a new Penguin books history of serial homicide, author Peter Vronsky argues that John Walsh the host of Americas Most Wanted TV show, used exaggerated statistics in his statement to Congress on the issue of missing and murdered children. Children are most frequently killed not by serial killers and strangers, as Walsh claimed, but by their own parents and relatives, according to Vronskys just published book. "Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters."

(PRWEB) December 5, 2004 -- In "Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters" a new history of serial murder by Peter Vronsky, the story behind the serial killer epidemic" of the 1980s is explored. According to the book, John Walsh, the current host of the TV program Americas Most Wanted, used inaccurate statistics when testifying before Congress in the 1980s. Relying on information, perhaps traced to the then Rhode Island Senator Claiborne Pell's claims, Walsh stated that 205 children go missing every hour: a total of 1.8 million children a year. (See: www.petervronsky.com)

While most of the reported missing children are later found, Walsh said, The unbelievable and unaccounted for figure of fifty thousand children disappear annually and are abducted for reasons of foul play... this country is littered with mutilated, decapitated, raped, and strangled children." Walsh suggested that serial killers are responsible for these abduction-murders. Walshs own son, Adam had just been abducted and murdered in Florida by a stranger, who might have been notorious serial killer Ottis Toole, Henry Lee Lucass partner.

But where were the actual reports of 50,000 unsolved disappearances: nearly a thousand children a week? According to Vronskys book, several studies were initiated in the wake of Walshs claims. A study of 1,498 child murders in California between 1981 and 1990 determined that the predominant killers of children were not strangers and serial killers, but the childrens own parents! Strangers murdered only 14.6 percent of children between the ages of five and nine, while relatives and parents murdered 44.8 percent of those child victims. Another 30.2 percent were murdered by acquaintances. Women comprised 36.4 percent of all killers of children between the ages of five and nine.

A later study by the National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Throwaway Children (NISMART) determined that between 1976 and 1988, an average of 43 to 147 children a year were actually abducted by strangers-and not all murdered. A far cry from the claimed 50,000 figure.

Despite this rare occurrence of stranger abduction, the national fear triggered by the exaggerated reports of the 1980s persists today. While stranger abductions like the tragic case of Polly Klaas and the resolved case of Elizabeth Smart are extremely rare, Vronsky writes, Of course, this fact is of no consolation to the parents of the 43 to 147 children who on average every year are abducted by strangers."

"Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters" is a 430-page book covering the historical, cultural, psychological and investigative aspects of serial homicide from ancient times of the Roman Empire to the most recent cases today and includes many never before seen illustrations.

Peter Vronsky is currently completing his doctorate in history at the University of Toronto and is a former international investigative documentary producer.

For more information or to contact the author: www.petervronsky.com

Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters

Peter Vronsky

New York: Berkley Publishing Group, 2004.

432 Pages, Illustrated

ISBN: 0425196402

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