Own slip-ups often trip up killers

WASHINGTON — In 1985, police suspected Richard Ramirez of being the "Night Stalker," the man responsible for a string of nocturnal killings that terrorized Southern California in the mid-1980s. They knew his name, had found a partial fingerprint and had released his picture to the public.

But it wasn't old-fashioned, shoe-leather detective work that led police to capture Ramirez. He was nabbed and beaten by angry residents while trying to steal a car in East Los Angeles.

Sometimes, slip-ups trip up the killers.

Washington-area police hope a similar break will lead them to whoever is responsible for the sniper shootings that have killed eight people and injured two since Oct. 2. Police last night confirmed that a fatal shooting yesterday morning at a Virginia gas station was linked to the gunman.

Mike Rustigan, a San Francisco State University criminologist, said serial killers eventually make mistakes because the longer they get away with their crimes, the more invincible they feel.

"It's kind of like pride goeth before the fall," he said. "They get cocky. They get full of pride about how easy it is to beat the cops. The attitude, of course, is 'Catch me, if you can.' "

'It's the little things'

Criminals do stupid things, said Tod Burke, a Radford University criminal-justice professor.

"It's the little things that snowball that could be the case-breaker," he said.

The annals of mass-murder history are filled with killers tripped up by their mistakes.

A $25 parking ticket led New York detectives to David Berkowitz, the self-described "Son of Sam" who killed six people and wounded seven in the 1970s with a .44-caliber revolver. Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh drove too fast during his getaway. The man who rented the Ryder truck used in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing was nabbed when he tried to retrieve his $400 deposit.

A Brooklyn woman walking her dog the night of one of Berkowitz's killings told police she saw a car being ticketed in front of a fire hydrant and the owner carrying something in his outstretched right hand. She heard four gunshots in succession as she raced home in fear but didn't immediately call police.

When she did, they traced all summonses issued in the area that night and came up with Berkowitz's name. He is serving six consecutive 25-years-to-life sentences and was denied parole this year.

"Here's this guy that was taunting the police with letters and everything else, and how does he get picked up? Through a parking violation," Burke said.

Rustigan said Unabomber Ted Kaczynski "would have been bombing into old age," but his mistake was demanding that The New York Times and The Washington Post publish his manifesto.

Police zeroed in after his brother, David, saw the 35,000-word anti-technology treatise, suspected it was his sibling's work and notified authorities. Kaczynski is serving a life sentence in federal prison for a series of mail bombings that killed three people and injured 23 between 1978 and 1995.

Mohammed Salameh's downfall came when he tried to retrieve his $400 deposit for the Ryder rental truck that was loaded with explosives and destroyed in the 1993 bombing in an underground garage at the World Trade Center. Six people were killed, and Salameh was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

Investigators were waiting

By the time Salameh went back to the Ryder dealership in Jersey City, N.J., investigators had found vehicle fragments with an identification number matching his van. His involvement was confirmed after his rental papers tested positive for chemical nitrates, common to many explosives.

Asked why Salameh would have rented a truck in his name, reported to police and the dealership that it had been stolen and returned twice seeking a refund of his $400 deposit, a senior law-enforcement official at the time said: "Who knows? Just because he's a terrorist doesn't mean he's a brain surgeon."

Driving too fast, without a license or in a stolen car has led to other high-profile captures.

Ramirez, the Los Angeles transient convicted of killing 14 people during break-ins between 1984 and 1985, was felled during an attempted carjacking. He is on death row in California.

After the bombing of the Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City, McVeigh was pulled over on an interstate highway north of the city for speeding in his yellow Mercury and driving without a license plate. Weapons charges, for a pistol strapped to his shoulder in a holster, were added later.

His connection to the bombing that killed 168 people wasn't discovered until hours later, when he was matched to a police sketch of "John Doe No. 1," the suspected bomber.

McVeigh was executed last year.

The stolen car that serial killer Ted Bundy was driving led to his arrest. He confessed to more than 30 murders, including that of a 12-year-old girl, and was executed in Florida in 1989.

Other serial killers

1997-1999: Angel Maturino Reséndiz was convicted of murdering a Houston woman and was linked by confessions and evidence to at least 12 other killings nationwide. He's on death row in Texas.

1996-1998: Robert Yates Jr. was convicted of two murders but admitted to 15. He's on death row in Washington state.

1990-1993: Heriberto Seda, aka "the Zodiac Killer," killed three people and wounded four in New York and is serving a 235-year sentence.

1989-1990: Aileen Wuornos, a rare female serial killer, was convicted of murdering six men while working as a prostitute along highways in central Florida. She was executed Wednesday.

1984-1985: Charles Ng and Leonard Lake were convicted of murdering 11 people. Ng is on death row in California; Lake committed suicide.

1984-1985: Richard Ramirez was convicted of killing 14 people during break-ins in the Los Angeles area. He is on California's death row.

1983: Henry Lee Lucas was arrested on murder charges and told police he had killed as many as 600 people. He later recanted. Lucas had 13 murder convictions and was sentenced to at least 10 life terms, then was sentenced to death in Texas for the murder of a hitchhiker known as "Orange Socks." Then-Gov. George W. Bush commuted that to life in prison, his only commutation as governor. Lucas died in prison in Huntsville, Texas, in March 2001.

1979-1981: Wayne B. Williams was convicted and sentenced to two life terms for killing two boys, but police believed he may have been responsible for up to 28 deaths in the Atlanta area.

1978-1995: Theodore Kaczynski, aka "the Unabomber," carried out a series of mail bombings that killed three people and injured 23. He is serving a life sentence at a federal prison in Colorado.

1978-1992: Jeffrey Dahmer was sentenced to 16 consecutive life terms for killing 17 men and boys, most in Milwaukee. He was killed in prison in 1994.

1977-1978: Ted Bundy was convicted of three Florida slayings, including that of a 12-year-old girl. He confessed to more than 30, starting in Washington state, and was executed in 1989.

1977-1978: Angelo Buono Jr. was convicted of murdering nine young California women in the "Hillside Strangler" case and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Ken Bianchi pleaded guilty to five of the murders, as well as the slayings of two Western Washington University students, agreeing to testify against his cousin in return for being spared a possible death sentence. He was sentenced to five concurrent life terms in prison.

1976-1977: David Berkowitz, aka "Son of Sam," killed six people and wounded seven others in New York. He is serving six consecutive 25-years-to-life sentences.

1972-1978: John Wayne Gacy, of suburban Chicago, killed 33 young men and boys. He was executed in 1994.

1971: Juan Corona was convicted of killing 25 farm workers whose bodies were found buried near Yuba City, Calif. He is serving a life sentence.

— AP