SERIAL MURDER VS. MASS MURDER

What's the difference? Mass murder is defined as a single horrific incident in which a killer annihilates a number of victims. Mass murderers are people like Richard Speck, who killed seven nurses in Chicago, Illinois on July 13, 1966, or James Oliver Huberty who walked into a McDonald's Restaurant in San Ysidro, California and killed twenty patrons before turning a gun on himself. Serial murder was originally described in 1980 as "lust murder". The term first came into general usage around 1982-83. Unlike traditional mass murderers, who suddenly crack under pressure and kill everybody in sight, serial murderers kill and kill and kill, often for "years on end" (most recently apprehended "BTK"). The general definition of serial murder, as defined by Prof. Steven Egger in his text THE KILLERS AMONG US, is when "one or more individuals commit a second murder and/or subsequent murders. There is generally no prior relationship between victim and attacker, and subsequent murders occur at different times and have no apparent connection to the initial murder. Subsequent murders are usually committed in different geographical locations. The motive is not for material gain; it is the murderers desire to have power or dominance over his victims. Victims may have symbolic value for the murderer, and may be perceived as being unable to defend themselves or alert others to their plight, and to be powerless at the time".