Motivations - Compulsion

Brandon Christopher Risner was convicted of murdering his longtime friend, 21-year-old Aaron William Davis, in Rome, Georgia, on November 11, 2022. Davis had travelled to Risner's home while on his way to visit his girlfriend in Alabama. Risner stabbed Davis repeatedly before dismembering his body and attempting to conceal the killing. He pleaded guilty to 12 charges, including malice murder, and was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole in July 2024.

Brian Steven Smith is a South African-born convicted murderer who was found guilty of killing two Alaska Native women, Kathleen Jo Henry and Veronica Abouchuk, in Anchorage, Alaska. The case became known as the “Memory Card Murders” after a sex worker stole Smith's cellphone and discovered footage of Henry being tortured and killed. She copied the footage to an SD memory card and gave it to police, providing the breakthrough that connected Smith to the murders. Smith was convicted of all 14 charges against him in February 2024 and sentenced to 226 years in prison.

Clifford Robert Olson Jr., known as the "Beast of British Columbia," was a Canadian serial killer who murdered 11 children and teenagers in British Columbia between November 1980 and July 1981. His victims, eight girls and three boys, ranged from nine to 17 years old and were abducted from communities around Vancouver and the Lower Mainland. Olson was arrested in August 1981 after police surveillance caught him attempting to pick up two young hitchhikers. He pleaded guilty to 11 counts of first-degree murder in January 1982 and received 11 concurrent life sentences with no parole eligibility for 25 years. He remained imprisoned until his death from cancer in September 2011.

Arthur Frederick Goode III was an American serial killer and child molester who was convicted of murdering three boys in Florida during the 1970s and 1980s. His confirmed victims were 11-year-old Richard Belcher, 10-year-old Richard Hunsperger and 10-year-old David Oakes, all of whom were abducted, sexually assaulted and murdered. Goode was also investigated in connection with additional child disappearances and killings, but he was never convicted of those cases. He received death sentences for multiple murders and was executed in Florida's electric chair at Florida State Prison on April 5, 1987.

Tommy Lynn Sells became one of America's most infamous serial killers after murdering victims across numerous states over nearly two decades. Nicknamed the "Coast-to-Coast Killer," Sells confessed to dozens of murders, although investigators have verified only a portion of his claims. He was convicted of the 1999 murder of 13-year-old Kaylene Harris in Texas and sentenced to death. Sells was executed in 2014.

Roy Lewis Norris became one of America's most infamous serial killers after murdering five teenage girls alongside accomplice Lawrence Bittaker during a five-month killing spree across Southern California in 1979. Working together in a customized van known as the "Murder Mac," the pair abducted vulnerable teenage girls before murdering them and disposing of their bodies in remote locations. After his arrest, Norris agreed to testify against Bittaker in exchange for avoiding the death penalty and was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Lawrence Sigmund Bittaker became one of the most infamous serial killers in American history after murdering five teenage girls alongside accomplice Roy Lewis Norris during a five-month period in Southern California in 1979. Operating from a customized van that became known as the "Murder Mac," the pair targeted runaway and hitchhiking teenagers before killing them and disposing of their bodies in remote mountain areas. Bittaker was convicted of five murders and sentenced to death, remaining on California's death row until his death in prison in 2019.

Joel David Rifkin became one of the most infamous serial killers in American history after murdering at least 17 women in New York between 1989 and 1993. Most of his victims were women involved in sex work or struggling with substance abuse, many of whom initially disappeared without attracting widespread attention. Rifkin's crimes ended following a routine traffic stop that led police to discover the body of his final victim in his vehicle. He was later convicted of multiple murders and sentenced to more than 200 years in prison.