There are plenty of serial killers that were born in or later traveled to Saint Louis to commit their crimes. There was a large rise of active serial killers in the 70s-90s, highlighted by the amount of killers covered that were active during this period. Many serial killers traveled to Missouri later in their life, as Missouri is near the center of the country. It borders the most states and has several key highways.

In most cases, the killers were active for years without any recognition. It was only when their cooldown period lessened that police were able to recognize that a serial killer was at large, and some suspects had killed individuals that were not even on the police's radar yet. It was fairly easy to operate, partially because some traveled to another state and partially because their killings were not getting attention from the police. In lots of cases, many of these men were serial rapists who got repeatedly released from prison.

Most of the killers had at least one absent or dead parent, with some patterns of abuse. Interestingly enough, some killers had normal lives before their crimes started. Early warning signs typically were criminal activities and arrests taking place in adolescence.

Most victims in this were women with sexual or racial motives behind the kills, with a few instances in which this was not the case.