Which criminal(s) do you recall as being the most intelligent on the show? State why to make your case.
Mine is the originalnightstalker in Calif. This individual has been able to get away with 70+ rapes and at least 10 murders.
A couple of reasons why:
1.His victims-they all couples except for 2 where the male left very shortly before the crime who were hard targets in low crime areas.
2.His MO-This person would case/break into a house take something of nominal value then wait to see if the people noticed, if not he would then go ahead with the assault/murder. That's his 1st stage of the crime, once in the house(he was an accomplished cat burglar he would surprise the sleeping couple with a flashlight in their face. Then the female would tie the male, to which chinaware was placed on the males back with the threat that if it moved he was dead.
3.The murder weapon would be one taken used from the scene of the crime, NOT his own, also he would take great pains not getting evidence on himself by covering the victims with their blankets, then murdering them.
4.He brings a dog to the crime scenes under the guise of taking the dog for a walk.
5.His signature-the victims would be tied up with a Chinese decorative knot, which very few people know and almost impossible to get out, not to mention it takes at least 15 min. to make the knot.

The Night Stalker was SICK, not smart.

You have to be smart to plan every detail in advance the crime which this criminal did. The criminal profiler for his cases agrees the perpertrator is smart. BTW..this killer is classified as a organized killer, which requires detailed planning in advance. You cannot have limited intelligence to commit these types of crimes.
An example of a sick killer would be Richard Chase, the sacremento killer.

When was the Original Night Stalker case on UM? I don't remember ever seeing the segment.

You can be both sick and intelligent at the same time. The Original Night Stalker committed dozens of rapes in the Sacramento(?) area before he started murdering and has never been caught (at least not in connection to those crimes). He followed his investigation very closely in the press and varied his MO in order to evade detection (e.g., after the "chinese knot" detail was released to the public, he stopped using it). At a town hall meeting, an area man expressed doubt that the rapist (not yet known as ONS) would attack his wife if he were at home. Unbeknownst to him, the ONS was at the town hall meeting, found out where the guy lived, and raped his wife while he watched. Sick? Very. Cunning? Most definitely.

When was the Original Night Stalker case on UM? I don't remember ever seeing the segment.


The segment (which doesn't refer to the killer as the "Original Night Stalker")was seen exclusively on Lifetime. It originally aired on July 22, 2002. Check the following link:

http://www.unsolved.com/0225-Serialkiller.html

That clears it up. Thanks, Kane.

Which criminal(s) do you recall as being the most intelligent on the show? State why to make your case.

The Zodiac Killer
He neve got caught.

The plates on the victims is pure genius.

The Zodiac Killer
He neve got caught.

Good one, I wouldn't have thought of that!

I was talking about sick as in the medical term. For example Richard Chase was schizophrenic, the authorities later found out and was not taking medication when he commited the crimes. The original nightstalker isn't sick because his crimes were atrocious.

The bank robber who glued the alarm buttons so the tellers couldn't contact the police, but he was eventually killed, was that on a update? And the bank robbers that built a tunnel under the bank.

Yeah those tunnel bank robbers were smart. There measurements were dead on.

The smartest killer ever was this white guy who killed 9 people across the midwest. He would take his victims to a room, blow their brains out and walk away. He spared one black man who came across the crime for some reason. He has never been caught. He would even do these murders in broad daylight. Unsolved Mysteries mentioned this case once. I'm surprised he was never caught. I'm surprised this guy isn't famous. He killed 9 people and has never been caught. He would make the Zodiac killer proud.

the zodiac killer once again gets a vote here. who ever this person was -was
too slick to be caught, always covered his trail......leaving police baffled.
here's another one-the circleville letter writer. amazing just thru his letter this person caused so much havac, leaving not one once of evidence whom this could have been. i have a sneaky suspicion there's people out there who know who it is, yet for reasons unknown (poss afraid off or even maybe had an ax to grind against someone) yet dont care to come forward.

the zodiac killer once again gets a vote here. who ever this person was -was
too slick to be caught, always covered his trail......leaving police baffled.
here's another one-the circleville letter writer. amazing just thru his letter this person caused so much havac, leaving not one once of evidence whom this could have been. i have a sneaky suspicion there's people out there who know who it is, yet for reasons unknown (poss afraid off or even maybe had an ax to grind against someone) yet dont care to come forward.


I vote for these two as well.