Click on the photo for serial killings around the globe. Perhaps no crime is more frightening than serial murder. The targets seem almost random, and the crimes most brutal. But in reality, while there is no doubting the brutality of the slayings, the victims are often far from random. People who can be overpowered quickly and easily.
Children are a particularly common target.
Last month in Colombia, police apprehended Luis Alfredo Garavito, who claims to have killed 140 children, usually raping them first, then slitting their throats and beheading them. Although he is believed to have been killing children since at least 1992, a manhunt was not launched until last year, when a mass grave containing the bodies of 25 children was found. Sadly, their stories are not unique. Investigators say Lopez and Garavito are particularly noteworthy for their high body counts in roughly the same geographical area. Children are more or less defenseless if you catch them alone.