About mass murder

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'CSI' alters reality of mass murders like Brunswick killings

These types of slayings require specific theories and approaches to investigate, experts say.
By Deirdre Conner Story updated at 1:11 AM on Sunday, Sep. 13, 2009

A little more than a week after the New Hope slayings, details of one of the biggest family killings in U.S. history are scant. What is known: Guy Heinze, Jr., 22, was charged Friday in connection with the murders of his father, six other family members and a family friend in the trailer where they all lived. A ninth victim, a 3-year-old boy, remains hospitalized from the Aug. 29 attack…
Mass murder is a relatively new field of academic study, but experts have made strides in learning about it…

What is mass murder?

Unlike serial murders, where the killer has periods of rest between victims, and spree murders, where a person kills numerous people over a period of time with no rest, mass murders take place all in one event, Rasche said.
In the past, she said, mass murders have typically fallen into a few broader categories based on where they take place: school, workplace and domestic. The New Hope slayings are clearly domestic because they took place in the family's trailer.
Most people are accustomed to the typical pattern of familicide, where a member of the family - mostly the male leader, but sometimes a child or mother - takes out the whole family and sometimes kills him or herself. Often such actions are taken as payback for perceived injustice, Fox said, where there is one key target but others are killed as a further way to get even with that person.

"In situations with children who commit family annihilation," Fox said, "one parent might be the target."
What is true is that the vast majority of people in the United States are killed by a family member or acquaintance. And when it comes to cases of family annihilation, more often than not the perpetrator is within the family…

Why does it seem like there are so many mass murders these days?

Because of cable news and the Internet, it may seem like there are more. But experts believe that the number of mass murders are not rising dramatically - it's just that 50 years ago, we didn't hear about events like these unless they were in our own area.
"We always have had some of these types of events but they haven't been as accessible to the general population," Blomberg said. "With CNN, all the news coverage, it's just hard to escape the realities."

And there's a downside to being glued to crime news all the time: Research shows it makes people more fearful, Rasche said.

http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2009-09-07/story/csi_alters_reality_of_mass_murders_like_brunswick_killings