‘Society needs monsters’: why are Americans so obsessed with the idea of serial killers?

Experts say there has been an 80% drop-off since serial killing peaked in the US in the 1970s - but that hasn't stopped social media speculation

For the past two years, rumors of a serial killer have preoccupied residents of Austin, Texas, and beyond as body upon body kept turning up at a lake in the city. The killer was even given a name: the Rainey Street Ripper.

But authorities now say some 36 drownings in the lake, near Rainey Street neighborhood, were probably related to alcohol and drug consumption and the reservoir's proximity to the city's famous bar scene.