Dr. Michael Arter spent 18 years in law enforcement. Now, as an associate professor of criminal justice at Penn State Altoona, he uses his police background to gain insight into criminals’ minds.
“A serial criminal: various factors go into it, as far as why someone would be a serial criminal,” said Dr. Arter.
Several motives for any serial criminal include financial gain, revenge, covering up another crime, vandalism or mental illness.
“The one who has the least predictability, I’d say, would be either the individual going for revenge or the individual with mental illness,” said Dr. Arter.
In order to catch a serial murderer, rapist or arsonist, Dr. Arter said police look for a motive, witnesses or wait for the suspects to slip up.
He added that the problem with arson investigations, including the string of a dozen arsons at Cherry Lane Estates in Somerset Borough, Somerset County, is that most local police departments don’t have enough resources.
“Most police agencies don’t have someone who specializes in arson,” he said.
According to the state’s Uniform Crime Report, there were 1833 arsons in 2016, yet only 433 arrests. Dr. Arter said the most common motives for serial arsonists are financial gain and vandalism.
“The vandals and the mentally ill would get that thrill from the fire itself,” Dr. Arter said.
Somerset Borough Police Chief Randy Cox said investigators are examining all possible motives for the arsons at Cherry Lane Estates, including financial gain. The property was recently put up for auction and the owners owe more than $67,000 in unpaid taxes.
“We’re not ruling [financial gain] out,” Chief Cox said. “It’s an issue that has been under examination.”
Dr. Arter added that police struggling with an arson investigation will typically call in backup from state and federal agencies, however the problem is when that doesn’t work.
“The longer they go undetected, the more brazen they’re going to get, obviously.”
As with any serial criminal investigation, Dr. Arter said as time passes without any arrests, the threat lingers and the chances of catching a suspect drop.
“The longer you go where it’s unsolved and there’s no similar cases to that,” said Dr. Arter “The less likely you are to solve that case, the longer it goes cold.”
