History Main / NotTheFirstVictim

** "The Killings At Badgers Drift" in the very first episode whilst investigating a series of murders in the village, its established that the wealthy Henry Trace's first wife Bella died in a HuntingAccident two years previously. We're led to believe that she was killed by Phyllis Cadwell, who was besotted with Henry in a moment of desperation. However, at the climax, Inspector Tom Barnaby concludes that Phyllis's attempt failed, and Bella was actually murdered by the episode's killer, who had their eye on Henry's money.

** "Death and Dreams" sees Inspector Barnaby investigating a series of stranglings that appear to tie to a respected local psychiatrist who provides support for ex-criminals. [[spoiler: It is eventually revealed the murders were committed by her three children as the individuals were taking away their mothers' attention. It at first seems they were motivated by the death of their father, only for it turn out they murdered him as well for the same reason]].

* ''Series/InTheHeatOfTheNight'': Following Athena Tipps being assaulted and raped in "Rape", after reviewing the crime scene Chief Gillespie becomes convinced that this wasn't the assailants first attack as the particulars of the crime scene suggest a level of experience. Sure enough by tracking the suspect Steven Ainslee's movements, Gillespie discovers he raped at least two other women in the previous towns he worked in.

* ''FIlm/TheCreep'': After [[spoiler: killing Aaron]] it's revealed that "Josef" has been hiring videographers to come out to his house for a ''very'' long time. He's revealed to have dozens of tapes in his closet cataloguing his deeds and they all have the names of the associated unfortunate interviewer.

* ''Series/{{Whitechapel}}'': Early in the first season, becoming convinced the murder he's investigating is the start of the works of a very dedicated and meticulous [[JackTheRipoff Jack the Ripper copycat]] Detective Chandler discovers from local Ripperologist Edward Buchan that outside of the agreed five Ripper victims many experts believe that the murder of Martha Tabram was Jack's first kill. Unable to find any other murders in the right time scale, Chandler instead looks into attacks which quickly leads him to discover another woman who was left in a coma, that had been attacked in the exact same manner as Tabram on the anniversary of her death.

* ''VisualNovel/SuperDanganronpaAnother2'': After solving the murder of Setsuka Chiebukuro in Chapter 3, which was both [[LudicrousGibs brutal even by Danganronpa standards]] and [[MarathonLevel incredibly difficult to piece together]], the culprit, Kanade Otonokoji, smugly admits to having killed upwards of sixty people (including [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals her dog]] and even [[SelfMadeOrphan her own parents]]) before she is executed.

This is a common way to up the stakes. If a person has killed before, it's taken for granted that they're willing to do it again. On the other hand, we often don't know these first victims very well, if at all, and are not encouraged to sympathize with them; they only matter insofar as they're important to the current victim at hand. It's a common form of AscendedFridgeHorror if some focus is paid to the initial victims and the [[PoliceAreUseless failures of the police.]] Plus, now your audience ''really'' wants to catch this bad guy, because KarmaHoudiniWarranty is overdue, with some added ParanoiaFuel.

Closely related to NeverOneMurder, where murder itself is portrayed as unusually common and unusually committed by multiple people (whereas this trope refers only to the tendency to up the heinousness of a villain or VillainProtagonist by giving them multiple victims). If we see this unraveling from a villain or AntiHero's perspective, it will usually be CrimeAfterCrime instead. Also related to MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot, except in this context, it's more like a major crime reveals multiple other crimes. It's also closely related to GreaterScopeVillain, except it isn't a question of a greater motivational scope, but of a wider area of destruction. Compare ViciousCycle and EternalRecurrence, where the events themselves happen over and over on a grand scale.

This is TruthInTelevision considering that {{serial killer}}s do prey on vulnerable populations in real life and so, by their very existence, serial killers are almost never caught on their first victim (unless they are caught and then freed). However, '''no real-life examples, please!''' This trope refers solely to its use as a plot twist, relies on audience perspective, and is therefore not possible in real life.