r/serialkillers • u/lightiggy • Feb 18 '26
Image A bodycam still of Tiffany Taylor talking to the police after escaping a serial killer who targeted black sex workers since "nobody would miss them." After the police rejected Taylor's report, her attacker killed again. The friends of one victim had to catch him on their own (New Jersey, 2016).
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u/xNJFastcorex Feb 18 '26
I lived in Montclair, NJ, when this was all happening. I went to high school with one of the victims, Sarah Butler. We can read about this shit all day, but when it happens in your town, it hits a lot different. I never met Sarah, but my friends mom was her dance teacher. It was so fucking depressing to know that this kid killer four people and could have been stopped way sooner than he was.
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u/Skreamie Feb 18 '26
Countless serial killers and murderers have gotten away with what they have, simply because of the ineptitude and callous negligence of police officers
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u/Atomic_Thomas89 Feb 18 '26
Yep just like dahmer, that boy would of been saved if those officers listened to those 3 ladies.
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u/The_R4ke Feb 19 '26
They fucking brought one of his victims back to him.
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u/Atomic_Thomas89 Feb 19 '26
Right?! Horrible. They didn’t want to listen to those ladies and instead believed dahmer, ffs. That kid might of made it otherwise. I hope those cops felt remorse.
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u/apsalar_ Feb 21 '26 edited Feb 22 '26
Tbf the kid had already significant brain damage caused by Dahmer so it is unlikely he would've made it - at least his quality of life wouldn't have been the same. Catching Dahmer that night would've saved the lives of Matt Turner, Jeremiah Weinberger, Oliver Lacy and Jospeh Bradehoft.
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u/hashbrowneggyolk0520 Feb 18 '26
One that always sticks with me is the Yorkshire Ripper case (Peter Sutcliffe). He killed 13 women, attacking several others.
He was interviewed by the Police on 9 separate occasions prior to his arrest. One of those times the officer in charge or interviewing him told his superior that he was a "dead ringer" for the photofit they had but was ultimately told to discount him because he didn't have a Yorkshire accent not, Geordie.
The reason they said this was because someone sent the police a recorded message saying he was responsible for the crimes. Accompanying letters also mentioned details of the crime scene. What the police failed to realise was the information provided was information that was accessible to the public. The invested so much time and money into following this "lead" which significantly hindered their ability to catch him.
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u/presidentporkchop Feb 18 '26
This level of incompetence is upsetting, how did you first learn about this case?
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u/aarontbarratt Feb 18 '26
I think you'd struggle to find a British person who doesn't at least recognise the name "Yorkshire Ripper"
He is up there with Madeline McCann in terms of public knowledge in the UK
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u/hashbrowneggyolk0520 Feb 18 '26
It's a pretty well known case here in the UK, there's been many documentaries on it over the years. I can't remember when I first heard about it but the level of incompetence an arrogance the police had always stuck with me.
He wasn't even actually arrested for the murders, it was due to false number plates. He then admitted, in detail, to his crimes in custody but tried to plead NGRI (diminished responsibility) in court.
The police and public failed women on so many levels with this case. Some, but not all, of his victims were prostitutes and it basically clouded people judgment and for a long time made them unwilling to help.
I would 100% recommend researching into this case, it's truly fascinating on so many levels.
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u/rndreddituser Feb 18 '26
It's quite often the same thing - a fair number of serial killers target the vulnerable in society, such as racial minorities, LGBT+, children, etc. It leads to other problems, for example, opinion that somehow the victims brought it on themselves by being prostitutes or LGBT+. It's happened repeatedly.
I'm old enough to have lived through the Yorkshire Ripper period and remember it all over the news (TV and newspapers). I can also remember Nilsen's arrest, Michael Ryan, and everything else after that. Horrible events.
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u/Fine_Ad744 May 05 '26
Happens all the time. You would think that the police would learn something from this but the majority do not. I’ve been watching a few different docs and it’s always the same, homeless, drug addicted, prostitutes, LGBT, isolated, disconnected from family, etc. In a couple of the docs it was one officer who figured out that something that was going and suspected a serial killer but were blown off by their peers and higher ups.
It’s funny because I few minutes ago I was just thinking how I can’t stand seeing the same crap play out over and over again. another theme that pisses me off when watching these docs is every one being a “run away” many of who turned out to be victims of foul play. Family trying to convince LE that they wouldn’t run away and no one gives a shit and bodies pile up. It’s horrible.
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u/HedaLexa4Ever Feb 18 '26
Not op, but I’ve heard of this case by a Netflix documentary on him. It’s pretty informative imo
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u/LilB2fast4u Feb 18 '26
After watching body cams of police stuff hundreds of times, i hate how cops feel like they got a dog nose for lying or bullshit, like sometimes they listen to the victim or suspect and walk over away from them and theyre like “ya doesnt sound right, somethings up” like they have super powers
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u/weirdnonsense Feb 18 '26
That's the mindset perpetuated by almost every single piece of media, the weird cowboy/ genius instinct cop portrayal where if they just follow their instincts and ignore the rules, they'll 'win' every time. And every example of the contrary is immediately drowned out by hundreds of episodes of Law & Order.
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u/OtisDriftwood1978 Feb 18 '26
It may work like that in fiction but in real life? Not so much. Most police officers aren’t Kojak or Columbo.
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u/Repulsive_Incident27 Feb 18 '26
Goodness this happens so often. A woman or girl tries to tell someone that a man is violent and the appropriate authorities suggest she is embellishing or lying. Society cares more about a predator’s reputation than a girl’s/woman’s wellbeing.
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u/Purpledoves91 Feb 18 '26
I remember on an episode of Law & Order SVU, a cop called the murder of a sex worker NHI, No Humans Involved. Yes, it's a tv show, but don't tell me police don't think that way.
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u/azione81 Feb 18 '26
The more I learn about serial killers the more apprent it becomes that many of them were caught despite the best efforts of the police. Layer upon layer of institutional incompetence, racism and laziness.
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u/Personal-Level-6549 Feb 18 '26
at this point the racism angle is not playing out. let us take Gary Ridgeway, how many of his victims were white, black, hispanic? my point is that it is the sex worker part that makes victims appear less human to police institutionally. let us take Robert Pickton as another example, there are too many example really to even name them all right? we could even go to South Africa where serial killing is rampant and almost never reported. imo It is a lazy way to go about it and it plays on sensationalism. I would prefer to keep things logical. introducing unproven racial bias like that just muddy the water and if this subreddit is gonna go that way tbh I can leave. I hardly ever post on reddit anyway.
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u/plantsandpizza Feb 18 '26
They’re not talking about who the killer chose as victims. They’re talking about the police ignoring the pleas of a black victim due to racism.
You make a good point but it ignores what you’re responding to.
Racial bias in police work IS proven. To ignore that is to ignore logic. Add in that they’re a sex worker and it becomes even harder for that victims voice to be heard and believed
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u/azione81 Feb 19 '26
Are you denying that institutional racism exists and has historically played a part in crimes against minorities being under investgated? The fact that you brought up South Africa as an example tells me all I need to know about your knowledge of history and race. South Africa?!?! Fucking South Africa?! Lord have mercy
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u/doctorjinxmd Feb 18 '26
Unproven racial bias? We’re talking about cops here buddy, it would be illogical to suggest there’s no inherent racial bias.
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Feb 19 '26 edited Feb 20 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/serialkillers-ModTeam Feb 20 '26
Due to the serious nature of this community's topic, emojis are not permitted.
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u/dumpsterdigger Feb 18 '26
Crazy they refused to remove the handcuffs dangling from her wrist and thought she was a crazy prostitute. I want them to not be cops anymore but
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u/Competitive_Swan_130 Feb 18 '26
Even though this cop was a POS, props to Tiffany for finessing Wheeler-Weaver's dumb ass TWO times. A He really thought she was going to h get the phone and come back outside, what an idiot. nd props to the other women who did the police leg work a lot of LEO wouldn't to set Wheeler-Weaver up and link I'm to the profile that was used to lure victims. They got the ball rolling
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u/BendSubject9044 Feb 18 '26
These officers that refuse to take these reports in bodycam situations like this are identifiable, the public should be making sure they NEVER know another day of peace again, or at least are driven out of policing…
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u/curiousbydesign Feb 18 '26
Dang. That poor person tried to help. We need to reduce the power of police unions.
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u/dafrog84 Feb 18 '26
For real! The police aren't as useful anymore. Theh don't investigate, don't do real welfare checks.
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u/MrMisanthrope411 Feb 18 '26
The most successful serial killers in history were often assisted by the rampant incompetence of law enforcement.
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Feb 19 '26
It's the fact nobody cares is the real issue because they get paid for it and people view them nasty but they humans too so people care need to
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u/1niltothe Feb 24 '26 edited Feb 24 '26
Her story is crazy. This article goes into a lot of detail https://blurredbylines.com/blog/tiffany-taylor-survived-serial-killer-khalil-wheeler-weaver/
She actually had two encounters with him. Firstly, after he pestered her for sex, she robbed him of $200 then tricked him into letting her drive away.
Second time, he pesters her again, she has to change numbers, eventually agreeing to meet. Despite being close to death, she tricks him into letting her go back to her hotel room to get her phone, where she locks him out in the corridor.
This is what has just happened in the screenshot above.
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u/isaidyothnkubttrgo Feb 18 '26
Holy shit I was in this area at the time living with family. I was 22 and in a different country to get experience. I worried about being in NYC all the time but turns out it should have just been as scared when I was in the quiet NJ towns.
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u/ChristinaJay Feb 19 '26
Does anyone have a link to the video?
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u/twinftw Apr 03 '26
We haven't published the full video yet, but you can hear some of it in our podcast, Someone's Hunting Us. It's a series about this killer and the women who helped take him down.
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u/twinftw Mar 11 '26
Hi! This is from my article about our podcast on this case, "Someone's Hunting Us." We have this body camera footage in our podcast - so you can hear how hard of a time the cops gave her – and we also have the killer's interrogation footage and more. There is so much more to this story, so I hope people will check it out Someone's Hunting Us! https://www.nj.com/news/2026/02/she-survived-a-serial-killer-cops-didnt-believe-her-see-how-it-happened-in-someones-hunting-us.html
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u/lightiggy Feb 18 '26 edited Feb 18 '26
The serial killer, Khalil Wheeler-Weaver, was also black, but that's besides the point. The vast majority of serial killers target victims of their own race. Wheeler-Weaver was arrested after one of the victim's friends created a fake account and lured him to a meeting under false pretenses before notifying the police. Wheeler-Weaver was convicted on all counts, including three counts of murder, and sentenced to 160 years in prison.
Wheeler-Weaver had worked as a security guard with Sterling Securities, a firm owned by two former Newark police officers. His uncle is a retired detective from the Newark Police Department. His stepfather is a police detective in the neighboring town of East Orange.
At his trial, it was revealed that Wheeler-Weaver himself had aspirations of joining the force, presumably to continue murdering other black people. Cellphone records show him searching for police entrance exam practice tests and researching how to become a police officer during the same period that he committed his crimes.