Editing Serial killer (section)

====Comfort (profit)====
Material gain and a comfortable lifestyle are the primary motives of comfort killers.<ref name="BartolBartol2012">{{cite book|author1=Curt R. Bartol|author2=Anne M. Bartol|title=Criminal & Behavioral Profiling|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SYcgAQAAQBAJ&pg=PT197|year=2012|publisher=Sage Publications|isbn=978-1-4522-8908-3|pages=197–199|access-date=September 1, 2020|archive-date=January 20, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210120053022/https://books.google.com/books?id=SYcgAQAAQBAJ&pg=PT197|url-status=live}}</ref> Usually, the victims are family members and close acquaintances.<ref name="BartolBartol2008"/> After a murder, a comfort killer will usually wait for a period of time before killing again to allow any suspicions by family or authorities to subside. They often use poison, most notably [[arsenic]], to kill their victims. Female serial killers are often comfort killers, although not all comfort killers are female.<ref>{{harvnb|Bartol|Bartol|2004|p=146}}, {{harvnb|Schlesinger|2000|p=276}}, {{harvnb|Holmes|Holmes|2000|p=41}}</ref>

[[Dorothea Puente]] killed her tenants for their [[Social Security (United States)|Social Security]] checks and buried them in the backyard of her home.{{sfn|Holmes|Holmes|2000|p=44}} [[H. H. Holmes]] killed for insurance and business profits.{{sfn|Holmes|Holmes|2000|p=43}} Puente and Holmes had previous records of crimes such as theft, fraud, [[debt|non-payment of debts]], [[embezzlement]] and others of a similar nature. Dorothea Puente was finally arrested on a parole violation, having been on parole for a previous fraud conviction.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/women/puente/9.html |title=Dorothea Puente, Killing for Profit – Easy Money  |publisher=Trutv.com |access-date=July 29, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100114083906/http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/women/puente/9.html |archive-date=January 14, 2010 }}</ref> [[Contract killing|Contract killers]] ("hitmen") may exhibit similar characteristics of serial killers, but are generally not classified as such because of third-party killing objectives and detached financial and emotional incentives.<ref name="Madjd-Sadjadi2013">{{cite book|author=Zagros Madjd-Sadjadi|title=The Economics of Crime|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dd7XAQAAQBAJ&pg=PT162|year=2013|publisher=Business Expert Press|isbn=978-1-60649-583-4|page=162|access-date=August 30, 2020|archive-date=January 20, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210120053041/https://books.google.com/books?id=Dd7XAQAAQBAJ&pg=PT162|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Holmes|Holmes|1998|p=7}}<ref name="WilsonYardley2015">{{cite book|author1=David Wilson|author2=Elizabeth Yardley|author3=Adam Lynes|title=Serial Killers and the Phenomenon of Serial Murder: A Student Textbook|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iXg7CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA43|year=2015|publisher=Waterside Press – Drew University|isbn=978-1-909976-21-4|page=43|access-date=August 30, 2020|archive-date=January 20, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210120053040/https://books.google.com/books?id=iXg7CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA43|url-status=live}}</ref> Nevertheless, there are occasionally individuals that are labeled as both a hitman and a serial killer.<ref name="WilsonYardley2015a">{{cite book|author1=David Wilson|author2=Elizabeth Yardley|author3=Adam Lynes|title=Serial Killers and the Phenomenon of Serial Murder: A Student Textbook|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iXg7CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA43|year=2015|publisher=Waterside Press|isbn=978-1-909976-21-4|page=43|access-date=August 30, 2020|archive-date=January 20, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210120053026/https://books.google.com/books?id=iXg7CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA43|url-status=live}}</ref>