Her body was found in the woods near Daytona Beach, Florida, shot with a 22 caliber rifle. “She ended up shooting him six times with a .22 caliber” ( McDuff 202). This is just one of the many disasters committed by a serial killer. Serial killers are a problem in the United States, killing an average of 2,000 people each year (Indiana University np). “In fact, serial killings in the United States alone account for more than three-quarters of the estimated global total” (Innes 5). Although female serial killers are not very common, they still have a huge impact on the number of innocent victims. In order to understand how serial killers operate, it is important to understand their motivations, the different classifications of female killers, society's response, and the consequences they face for their actions. There are many differences between the traits of male and female serial killers. . A serial killer is defined as “a person who commits a series of murders” (Farlex np). When male serial killers are studied, the general motives for their killing are sex, power, manipulation, domination and control. Serial killers who are female have many other reasons for killing, such as revenge, elimination, jealousy, personal gain, lust, and thrill. The woman's desire to kill often refers to her past. “Women almost always kill someone with whom they already have some sort of relationship; with women, killing is usually an extremely personal thing” (Castleden 563). Serial killers are usually motivated by rage against a specific aspect of society or against their own lives. One of the most common things that female serial killers have in common is that they were not raised in a loving or stable home. In some cases, like Ann...... middle of paper ......ww.lsu.edu/faculty/jpullia/femaleserialkillers.htm>.Greig, Charlotte. Evil Serial Killers: In the minds of monsters. New York: Barnes & Noble, 2006. Print. Innes, Brian. Serial killers. London: Quercus, 2006. Print. Kerns, Jeanne Marie. “Female Serial Killers and Their Motivations.” Related content from Yahoo! April 24, 2007. The web. May 4, 2011. Kerr, Gordon. Professional killers. London: Futura, 2008. Print. McDuff, Anne. She Devils: true stories of the world's most notorious female serial killers. London: John Blake, 2009. Print. Schurman-Kauflin, Deborah. The new predator: women who kill: profiles of female serial killers. New York: Algora Pub., 2000. “Serial Killer” print. The free dictionary. Internet. May 4 2011. .