Facial recognition software may be able to link serial killer victims based on similarities in their faces.

Murdoch University Sarah Hackett has published the results of a project that was inspired by a recent Ted Bundy movie.

Senior Lecturers in Forensics and Criminology Brendan Chapman says “Ted Bundy’s victims had a number of physical similarities about them, which I thought seemed common to the way that the rest of us, non-psychopaths have similarities between sexual partners such as ex-boyfriends and ex-girlfriends”.

“Many of us have probably been told that they seem attracted a particular ‘type’, so what if sexually motivated serial killers are the same?

“From there, the team utilised the same techniques used in facial biometrics like digital passports and for unlocking mobile devices to identify trends in the features of Bundy’s victims.

“We found that a number of Bundy’s victims had more similar facial geometries than those of randomly chosen faces from a public database providing the first demonstration of what we’re calling Facial Similarity Linkage of serial killer victims.”

Mr Chapman said the potential applications of the research are far reaching, offering an additional intelligence tool to law enforcement working on unsolved and cold cases.

While more research is being done to validate the model, Mr Chapman sees the potential for this to help associate victims that may have previously been unattributed to a serial killer.

“In a situation where we have, say, 10 known victims of a sexually motivated serial killer, we might be able to look back over unsolved cases and find victims that could be considered as possibly the 11th victim,” he said.

The study is accessible here.