Snap, Crackle & BTK

Until very recently I thought that the zodiac guy, the BTK dude and all those criminals on SVU were "cereal killers." It turns out they are actually serial killers, as in a person who attacks and kills victims one by one in a series of incidents. I was always a little confused as to why a common breakfast food would have anything to do with murder but I guess I never stopped to think about it for too long. Whenever I thought 'cereal killer' I just pictured
some twisted mug shot pasted to the side of a Rice Krispies box, like a mix between those missing children's pictures they print on the sides of milk cartons and "wanted" posters in a wild west saloon.

Now obviously there are several things wrong with this picture. To begin with, this isn't Oklahoma in 1860. If we know what the serial killer looks like/who he is, chances are we aren't going to wait for a concerned civilian to identify him in a grocery store, only to turn up as the dude's next victim. Not to mention that cereal is a very family-friendly thing. I'd imagine that Kellogg's stock would significantly drop if they started posting frightening pictures of rapists and murderers on a product targeted mainly at children. Oh, here is a maze, a picture of some cute little elves and the bind, torture, kill guy. Have you seen him, Jimmy? I have never seen a mug shot on the side of a box of Frosted Mini Wheats or Coco Puffs and yet to this day when I hear the words "serial killer" I still picture something along the lines of this:

Go figure.