Bees Help Detectives Catch Serial Killers

Hugh Pickens writes "The way bumblebees search for food could help detectives hunt down serial killers — because just as bees forage some distance away from their hives, so murderers avoid killing near their homes, says a University of London research team. The researchers' analysis describes how bees create a 'buffer zone' around their hive where they will not forage, to reduce the risk of predators and parasites locating the nest. This behavior pattern is similar to the geographic profile of criminals stalking their victims. 'Most murders happen close to the killer's home, but not in the area directly surrounding a criminal's house, where crimes are less likely to be committed because of the fear of getting caught by someone they know,' says Dr. Nigel Raine. Criminologists will fold this insight into their models using details about crime scenes, robbery locations, abandoned cars, even dead bodies, to hone the search for a suspect."

Comments

dont shit where you eat

[timmarhy]

we've known this for a long time sherlock...

Re:dont shit where you eat

[sgt_doom]

WOW!! Sort of like...instead of attacking or nuking nearby Canada....invade Iraq and maybe nuke Iran.......

Those darn serial killers!!!

Re:dont shit where you eat

[DarkOx]

True but unless you are dealing with the really really insane murder tends to be a crime of passion. You are generally not all that passionate about people you dont know. The majority of murder victims do have a relationship to the killer.

Just because you know something about the pattern of where the real nut jobs select their victims does not mean you have control over where yours is. So the information is not helpful to most would be killers. The real wack jobs who could use the information are pretty hard to catch anyway and probably already knew this, if only in an intuative way. Its still ture any way you don't want kill someone to close to you because someone who knows you might figure it out. You proably can't kill someone to far out side your buffer zone becuase of travel time, you are going to need better alibi to explain longer absenses. Its much harder to wack someone, clean up all the evidence, and be at the office the next morning if you have to drive an hour each way to do it on top of that. I have never tried but sitting here I can't think of any quick ways to dispose of a body that wont have it found pretty fast. You need to burry it deep, burn it completely, or sink it and make sure it stays sunk for a good long time otherwise modern technology / dogs are going to find it and its going to still contain enough evidence to lead back to the killer.

To the killer they catch...

[dreamchaser]

...it would really sting knowing that they were caught because of a bee.

DAMN IT.

[Anonymous Coward]

I was honestly hoping they discovered a way to manipulate bees to hunt down serial killers and "catch" them.

oh well, back to my plans for the beezooka.

Re:Two ways?

[drmofe]

Yes. 1. Find a known serial killer. 2. Commit crimes around their home. 3. ??? 4. Profit.

Detective work

[jovius]

Is this what they call a sting operation?

I'd go see that movie...

[Nymz]

...because it sounds more original that the typical movie formula:

1) Get a paper map of the city
2) Mark the location of each crime scene
3) Draw lines connecting the dots
4) Search for serial killer in the center of the inverted pentagram

Re:I'd go see that movie...

[Kingrames]

Dude you just gave me a great idea for a CSI episode.

Re:Two ways?

[Oktober Sunset]

slight flaw, known serial killers' homes are generaly maximum security prison.

Re:Bees don't help detectives

[OriginalArlen]

The buzz I've heard is that they're setting up a sting operation. Using a honey-pot.

Thanks, mine's the white boilersuit with the veil and hat on the next peg.

Re:Easy way to handle that

[Hektor_Troy]

But that way you always end up with someone in the middle of the phonebook.

"Look at this - everyone in these unsolved cases have last names starting with L, M and N. Think he's using a phonebook?"

Re:The killers home?

[Dogtanian]

If you know where the killer's house is in order to draw this donut around it, why not just go there and arrest them? If you're arguing that the killing is in a donut, there are an infinite number of donuts that a killing could belong to, so I don't see how that helps you find the killer's house if you have any less than 3-4 body(ies) in different location(s) that are actually arranged in a donut around a central location.

Mmm..... donuts.

OMG!!!!! Homer Simpson is our serial killer!

Re:Two ways?

[Bloke down the pub]

From my extensive knowledge gained by watching "Diagnosis Murder" and "Murder She Wrote", there's always a false lead; the obvious suspect at the 20 minute mark is never ever the real culprit.

So that would be a yes.

Re:Two ways?

[chunk08]

braked in to prison

What happened? Did the master cylinder leak?