One more sick, serial killer, but the written trail later discovered does add an interesting dimension.
Investigators discovered that Kohlhepp had left clues online – posting a five-star review on a folding shovel for sale on Amazon and writing: “Keep in the car for when you have to hide the bodies.”
Another post on Amazon was more explicitly bloodthirsty. In a review for a knife, written in September 2014, he said: “Haven’t stabbed anyone yet… yet…but I am keeping the dream alive and when I do, it will be with a quality tool like this.”
And according to complaints from some frightened Facebook users, his social media posts advertised his taste for violence and revenge.
All of which begs a few different, intriguing questions. Do staff at Amazon at least scan every post that goes up, looking to edit out obscenities or dramatically inappropriate content? Might they notice such powerful hints at violence, and if so, do they kick the post up to a second level of review? If the NSA essentially hears and reads everything, then can they flag a huge bread crumb of criminality like this? What’s the point of all of this surveillance, of having Big Brother listen in on almost anything and everything, and not have the snoopes catch a serial killer who’s wearing his violence on his T-shirt?
And questions of criminal psychology are teased as well. The old discussion on whether killers “really want to be caught” has been around a long time, but here’s a case of a guy telling the whole world he’s a criminal psychopath. Yet it’s not noticed for years. What’s up with that?
It’s debatable of course that most killers want to be caught, but when they practically carry the message on their foreheads, it seems we should look in to that. A review of how we missed it seems justified. This is one of those stories that ends… To Be Continued.