(DailyVantage.com) – It may seem like the stuff of horror films, but there’s evidence that serial killers could be working as long-haul truckers in the United States. In fact, the FBI launched its Highway Serial Killings Initiative back in 2009 after spotting a disturbing trend. Across highways in Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, and Mississippi, women—often living transient lives affected by drug use or prostitution—were turning up dead, their bodies dumped near Interstate 40.
The FBI began using a national database, the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program, to compile information on murders, assaults, and missing persons nationwide. What they found was chilling: hundreds of victims murdered along highways across the country, with many of the top suspects being long-haul truck drivers.
Frank Figliuzzi, a former FBI assistant director, explored this grim reality in his book Long Haul: Hunting the Highway Serial Killers. He reports that since 1980, around 850 people have been murdered along highways in the U.S., and approximately 200 of those cases remain unsolved. Vulnerable individuals, particularly sex workers at truck stops, are easy prey for predators who can pick up, murder, and quickly dump bodies with little fear of being caught.
As Dominique Roe-Sepowitz, head of Arizona State University’s Office of Sex Trafficking Intervention Research, points out, these women are often invisible to society—detached from families, struggling with addiction, and easy to lure into dangerous situations. They are also less likely to be reported missing, making it easier for a killer to target them without raising immediate suspicion.
While most of America’s 300,000 to 500,000 truckers are hardworking people keeping the economy moving, the very nature of their jobs—constantly crossing state lines—can make it difficult to connect crimes. Serial killers operating as truckers can disappear into the vast web of highways, leaving authorities with little to go on.
The FBI’s program helped catch some of these criminals, and there are currently at least 25 long-haul truckers in prison for multiple murders. Yet, as of last week, the program has been shut down. Roe-Sepowitz argues that this is a major blow to efforts to protect vulnerable women, as no one else is looking for patterns in these kinds of crimes.
Fortunately, not all truckers are part of the problem. Organizations like Truckers Against Trafficking have trained hundreds of thousands of drivers to help fight human trafficking and be a positive force on the roads. However, without more support and continued attention, the dangers remain very real.
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