Between July 30th and August 7th, three women have been sexually assaulted and murdered, in three separate states, and whilst all of the victims share a seemingly similar demographic (professional women aged between 27 and 31), there seems to be little else to link/associate these murders (the modus operandi of the killer in each case was different), other than the fact that they were all jogging at the time when they were assaulted. Whilst there is a remote possibility that all of the victims share a common killer, it is more likely that this isn’t the case – it may be that two of the murders were copycat ones, or that the motives are specific to each case and the timing is coincidental. However, what the three incidents do demonstrate are the threats and vulnerabilities that exist when running alone. In this article, I will look at the various steps and precautions that can be taken, when jogging/running alone, and how these can be used to upset a predatory individual’s plan(s).
The first thing to understand about violent crimes such as sexual assault (and murder), is that it is a premeditated assault, that has a level of planning and preparation to it, which will follow a certain process, dependent on two situational components: location and relationship. When a violent crime is committed by a stranger, the location where it happens is the driving factor; when it is committed by somebody you know, or who knows you, the location becomes less important, and the relationship you have with your assailant becomes more important. In a “stranger crime”, the attacker chooses a location first and then selects a victim, when the attacker is somebody you know, they will select the victim first, and then the location. One of the commonalities in the three sexual assaults/murders that are in the news of late, is that all of the victims were keen users of social media, and it is likely as runners, shared posts and information about this pass-time. It may be that they wrote about routes, paths and trails they ran on, sharing this information with “friends” on social media. It is believed in the case of Ally Brueger, the 31-year old, who was shot in Michigan while running, that she knew her killer. If she’d shared details of her runs on social media, her killer may well have been able to work out her “location” on that particular day, and simply waited for her. The information we share about ourselves publicly can be used against us, by those who mean us harm; checking in at locations on Facebook, publishing trail routes, announcing that we have just got back from a particular run, and publishing the times of that run, all provide information about where we have been, and where we might be, at particular times.
Predatory individuals like predictable individuals, and unfortunately, people like to be predictable. Most criminals, after selecting a victim and a location (or a location and then a victim), carry out some form of surveillance. In one of our free women’s self-defense classes, we once had a teenage girl, who had been the target of an attempted sexual assault whilst out running – fortunately a passer-by had heard her screams and came to her assistance. She had run the same route at the same time, every Saturday afternoon, and her movements had come to the attention of a sexual predator who was looking for potential victims. When he was caught by the police, he admitted that he’d watched her run that route for about 4 weeks before making his assault. This had given him ample time to plan and prepare for the actual assault. Simply changing the days and the times when you run a particular route, so you don’t fall into a regular pattern, can limit the surveillance a predatory individual can conduct on you, and make you an unattractive victim. Sexual assailants fantasize and mentally rehearse their assaults, so by reducing the number of times they potentially see you, and get to feed that fantasy, the more remote it can become (compared to someone they are able to frequently observe). If your movements are unpredictable, it will be difficult for them to plan and rehearse their assault.
You should also understand that certain things you do to “increase” your safety, may not actually do so. Much is talked about in the running community of not running with headphones/earbuds. Whilst I agree with this advice, it should be noted that if you’re simply not wearing headphones, you won’t automatically become safer. In one sense, it doesn’t matter if you run through a dangerous neighborhood with your earbuds in or not, you are still exposing yourself to the same dangers and threats. If you don’t look around yourself when you run, it’s unlikely you’ll notice somebody who may be conducting surveillance on you, whether you’re listening to music or not. Not wearing headphones should be part of your overall awareness, not just a token gesture to it. If you run along a route where there are plenty of places for somebody to conceal themselves, headphones on or not, it is unlikely you will spot somebody synchronizing their movement to yours, and positioning themselves for an assault. For this reason, you may want to change your running routes according to the seasons; in winter, when the trees don’t have leaves on them, you might have clear sight lines of anybody else who is in the environment, whilst in spring and summer, these sight-lines may be obscured. Choose your routes based on visibility – make sure other people can see you along your route (if you run along a busy road, there are plenty of eyes on you, and less of a risk of being assaulted, etc. -you can also find less “toxic” routes to run along that enjoy good natural surveillance), and make sure you can see other people.
For an attacker (whether a stranger or somebody familiar to you) to cause you harm, they must synchronize their movement to yours e.g. follow you, wait for you, intercept you, etc. For this to happen, they need to know where you will be at a particular time and/or have a way to disguise their movement. By changing your routes and times, by selecting routes with good visibility, and by taking the time to look around you as you run, you will reduce a predator’s opportunity to do these things. Don’t think that just because you take your headphones off you have become safer - without taking active steps to increase your safety, you won’t have. Whilst it would be easy to become paranoid due to the way the media is reporting on these sexual assaults/murders, we should remember that by taking a few simple steps we can greatly reduce the risk of appearing on a predator’s radar.