Acquiring infamy as The Trailside Killer in and around the San Francisco, California, area from August 19, 1979 through May 2, 1981, David Joseph Carpenter, an unimposing father of three with a severe stutter and a long history of sexual misconduct, stalked hiking trails and took nine lives as he raped and murdered for the sake of his insatiable sex drive and need to dominate. Severe physical abuse as a child by his alcoholic father and domineering mother are thought to play highly contributing factors in shaping his strangely dichotomous adult personality.
—statmanjeff