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Michigan Serial Killer Is 'Learning How to Kill'
(Aug. 6) -- A knife-wielding slasher who Michigan police believe is responsible for the stabbing deaths of five African-American men since mid-May is still "learning how to kill," an expert says.
"He's honing his craft," former FBI agent Harold Copus told AOL News. "Soon, he'll take it [to] another level and you'll see more violence."
The slayings and attacks on eight other men have have occurred in Burton, Flint, Flint Township and Genesee Township, police say.
Michigan State Police / AP
This composite sketch provided by the Michigan State Police shows a suspect in a string of stabbing deaths in the Flint area.The latest victim was Arnold Minor, 49. He was found stabbed to death on Flint's south side Monday. Police say the location was not far from where several of the other attacks took place.
"When they found him, he wasn't far from home," Minor's sister, Stephanie Ward, told The Detroit News. "He bled to death on the street. You don't know what goes through somebody's mind to do something like that."
On July 30, Frank Kellybrew, 60, was killed. That slaying took place in Flint Township, not far from Kellybrew's home, police say.
Investigators have declined to identify the other victims and will only say the crimes date back to mid-May.
The killer, an unknown white male, typically selects older victims who are more vulnerable to his attacks, investigators say. Among the 13 attacks the killer is believed to have committed, only one of the victims was white, police say.
Flint Police Chief Alvern Lock said the killer does not rob his victims. A motive in the case remains unclear.
"We are still trying to nail that down in particular, but we are trying to be responsive to the community and warn the community while we are still gathering that information and putting it together," Lock told AOL News.
In an interview with The Detroit News, Frances Gilcreast, the president of the Flint branch of the NAACP, expressed concern over the handling of the case and found it alarming that the attacks had not been made public until now.
"Why didn't we know about it?" Gilcreast asked the newspaper. "We didn't know there was anybody out there stabbing black folk. If it had been in another community, and it had been vice versa, they would have alerted them."
Lock declined to comment on whether the killer is purposely targeting a specific race and will only say his department has characterized the victims as "vulnerable citizens."
According to Copus, the type of the victims the killer is selecting is much more telling than their race.
"He is going after individuals who are less able to protect themselves," said Copus, head of Copus Security Consultants in Atlanta. "Race has nothing to do with it. A major factor is most likely the areas where he is doing his hunting."
The fact that the killer uses a knife as his weapon of choice is also very significant, Copus says.
"A gun is highly impersonal," Copus said. "I could shoot you from a distance and it is almost meaningless, but when I use a knife, it is personal. I am going to show you I can dominate you and I can take your life. There is a certain amount of thrill I can get by thrusting that knife in right in front of you. I'm taking your life and you're dying."
Copus added: "This guy enjoys seeing the blood and everything else, and that is the reason he is using the knife."
Another interesting aspect of the crimes is the fact that there is not much of a "cooling off" period between the killings, something Copus says is typical of serial killers.
"This is highly unusual and very risky," Copus said. "My reaction is he is practicing. He has a mental issue and he can't suppress it. He is like that lion or that tiger that is eating flesh -- once you got the taste, you can't get away from it. You just better pray that he hasn't mastered the killing phase because once he does, he'll be harder to catch."
Lock says that despite all the unknowns in the case, he is hopeful the slayings will be solved "real soon." In the meantime, he is asking residents to take extra precautions to protect themselves.
"We just ask them to be careful. ... When they are out by themselves at night and someone wants some help or some information from them, [to] be wary of those individuals and try not to be by themselves," Lock said.
The suspect is described as a white male, approximately 5 feet 11 inches to 6 feet, 2 inches tall, with a muscular build and light-colored hair. Anyone with information is asked to call Flint police at 810-237-6800 or Crime Stoppers at 800-422-JAIL.
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