Murdstone posted:

So was BTK. It's why he eventually got caught—he tried to start communicating again because he was unhappy about an anniversary story in the local paper or something. He asked the cops if he sent them a floppy if they could trace it back to him NO LYING YOU HAVE TO TELL ME and they said "Naw that's OK we can't do that" so he sent one and they immediately did.

ONS did apparently communicate with authorities some too.

I did always assume with Zodiac that he eventually wanted everyone to know who he was because it would show how smart and great he was, and he would have set things up for that to somehow happen after he died, but the more time that passes the less likely I think that is.

Anyways, since those two were very public and very active and were caught fairly recently after having stopped killing altogether for so long I'm not so sure it can be taken as given anymore that serial killers kill until they die or are stopped.