In many ways, terrifying serial killers are as much a part of the legacy of the 1970s as disco, Watergate, and the oil crisis. Their nicknames have become part of the cultural record of the decade: the Zodiac Killer, Son of Sam, the Hillside Strangler, the Dating Game Killer.
As one of the first of four titles in the newly launched Profiles in Crime series, Serial Killers of the 70s will contain 20 to 30 medium-length profiles of the well- and lesser-known serial killers from the 1970s. Beyond Bundy and Berkowitz, there are more obscure murderers like Carl Eugene Watts, known as "The Sunday Morning Slasher," who killed 80 women, and Richard Chase, the "Vampire of Sacramento," and Rodney Alcala, who is believed to have killed between 50 and 130 people between 1971-1979.