PHOENIX - Law enforcement officials announced Thursday that they'd arrested Cleophis Cooksey Jr. after linking him to nine killings in the Phoenix area late last year.
He's the latest in a long line of accused or convicted serial killers
At one point in 2005, there were two active serial killers in the Phoenix area operating at the same time: The Baselilne Killer and the Serial Shooters.
Experts said that's a very rare case. Since then, there have been at least five more serial murder arrests made in the Valley.
So we're verifying if Arizona is a hot spot for serial killers.
By the numbers
According to the FBI, there are up to 50 serial killers active in the U.S. at any given time.
However, some experts now believe that number to be extremely low.
The Murder Accountability Project created a database of unsolved murders and the methods of murder. Researchers with the project believe there are 2,000 serial killers active at any one time.
Florida Gulf Coast University has tracked every known serial killer and their victims since 1900. According to those numbers, Arizona is ranked No. 26 with 132 people killed by serial killers since 1900.
The study used the FBI's definition of "serial killer" as someone who has killed at least three people.
Using those numbers, we can verify that Arizona is not a serial killer hot spot, even though there have been some high-profile serial killer arrests.