John Douglas, former Chief of the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit, provides a conservative estimate of 35 to 50 active serial killers on the loose in the United States at any given time.  Other estimates put the number of killers close to 500.  According to a 1984 FBI Behavioral Unit study of serial murder, serial killing had climbed to “an almost epidemic proportion.” It is believed that presently there are up to 6,000 people a year dying at the hands of a serial killer.

In 2004, the FBI setup the Highway Serial Killings Initiative. The bureau reveals it has a matrix of more than 600 victims and potential suspects in excess of 275.

The below map shows the more than 500 cases in our Highway Serial Killings Initiative database; the red dots mark where bodies or remains have been found along highways over the past 30 years.

View the links for more information on the Texas Killing Fields

July 7, 2012 – CBS News The real-life mystery of Texas’ killing fields

November 7, 2012 – Texas Observer, Highway Injustice

July 7, 2012 – CBS News, The real-life mystery of Texas’ killing fields

July 8, 2012 – Mail Online, The mystery of the Texas Killing Fields… And how one man may hold the answer to the 30 young women found murdered there

November 6, 2011 – Houston Chronicle Online, Hopes rise for new breaks in old ‘killing fields’ cases

Nobember 18, 1999 – BBC News, Police baffled by Texas I-45 murders 

October 27, 2011 – ColdCaseUSA.com, TEXAS KILLING FIELDS: REAL STORY OF THE I-45 KILLER