Research Brief · Nihilistic Violent Extremism (NVE)
True Crime and Gore Networks in NVE Incidents
An Analysis of 214 NVE-coded incidents in PERIL's NVE Tracker, 2014–2026.
Nihilistic violent extremism does not have a single, unifying ideology, but its perpetrators are often part of distinct online subcultures. Two of those subcultures appear across incidents in the NVE Tracker: the fringe parts of the true crime community (TCC), which venerates mass killers, and communities dedicated to gore and snuff content, which desensitize participants to violence. Two-thirds of all NVE incidents in the tracker have links to one or both. Crucially, while only 10% of incidents in the tracker are coded for TCC and Gore, events coded for both have been responsible for a disproportionate number of deaths from NVE attacks.
A large online subculture centered on real-world crimes, criminal cases, and perpetrators, encompassing podcasts, documentaries, Reddit threads, YouTube channels, and social media accounts. The mainstream TCC is oriented toward analysis, victim advocacy, and morbid curiosity.
Its fringe components blur the line between examining violence and celebrating it. Killers are treated as celebrities and objects of fascination. TCC fandoms often produce fan art of notorious mass killers, while romanticizing their attacks. The fringe TCC shares similarities with militant accelerationism's saints culture, which venerates the perpetrators of mass violence and uses them to inspire future attacks.
Graphic imagery or video depicting real-world death, injury, or extreme violence, including content staged to simulate killing (snuff). In NVE networks, gore content serves as a mechanism of status signaling, recruitment, and coercion, and it normalizes violence as entertainment.
Producing, sharing, and consuming gore content is a common feature of sadistic exploitation networks, like 764 and The COM, and it can help perpetrators achieve status in those communities. The prolonged consumption of gore content erodes the psychological barriers to real-world violence. Recruiters use gore content to desensitize their victims to violence, maintain control over them, and increase their demands for extreme acts.
Every NVE-coded incident falls in exactly one category; the four sum to 214. 146 incidents (68%) are coded for at least one subculture.
| Share of incidents with… | TCC | Gore | Neither |
|---|---|---|---|
| A school target | 64% | 18% | 24% |
| Sextortion | 13% | 52% | 12% |
| Coerced self-harm | 9% | 54% | 7% |
| Coerced animal cruelty | 0% | 22% | 0% |
| Physical assault or threats | 11% | 28% | 15% |
| A juvenile perpetrator | 53% | 50% | 25% |
Percentages are within each subculture's incident set (TCC n = 47, Gore n = 120, neither n = 68). The TCC and Gore columns overlap on the 21 dual-coded incidents.
TCC-linked incidents predominantly involve attacks or attempted attacks rather than sadistic exploitation. Of 47 incidents linked to the TCC, 19 were foiled or failed plots and 16 were completed attacks; only 8 involved child exploitation.
A signature of TCC-linked events is common target selection. 64% of TCC-linked incidents targeted a school, versus 26% across the tracker as a whole (30 of the 55 school-targeted NVE incidents on record had a TCC link). These incidents often involved public imitation: manifestos, “saint” iconography, and the explicit emulation of prior attackers.
Group affiliation is uncommon. The most common group attribution for TCC-linked incidents is Unaffiliated (25), followed by the incel movement (11). 764 appears in only 8.
Incidents are multi-coded, so categories sum to more than 47.
Glenwillard, Pennsylvania. Aidan Harding wrote on Instagram in 2019 that he had a “plan” for a high-kill-count attack, describing the Columbine attackers as having “kickstart[ed] a revolution” that he was going to finish. He was later charged with possession of material involving the sexual exploitation of a minor.
Greenbrier, Arkansas. Abilene Almanza was arrested after threatening to commit a mass shooting at an elementary school. She reportedly told investigators that she idolizes past mass shooters and considers them to be her “best friends.”
Sources: NVE Tracker records #1484 and #1711.
Gore-linked incidents overwhelmingly involve sadistic exploitation. 78 of 120 involve child exploitation or CSAM. The production of videos and images of coerced self-harm appears in 54% of the incidents, versus 33% across the tracker. 27 of the incidents involved the production of gore content depicting coerced animal cruelty.
Affiliation with 764 is present in 94 of the 120 incidents, followed by Maniac Murder Cult (12) and Order of Nine Angles (11). Where the true crime pathway is predominated by unaffiliated actors, gore content is closely associated with known exploitation networks.
Incidents are multi-coded, so categories sum to more than 120.
764's origin. Bradley Cadenhead was introduced to “The Gore,” an online community built around violent videos, by another boy while in juvenile detention. After his release he reconnected with it on Snapchat, was invited into a server, and went on to found 764 on Discord in January 2021.
Albany, New York. Aaron Corey, who went by the online alias “Baggeth,” was arrested on charges related to the receipt of child sexual abuse material. During a review of his electronic devices, it was discovered that he was active on a Telegram channel dedicated to the distribution of self-harm imagery and related gore content. While in prison awaiting trial on the charges, Corey was charged a second time for allegedly attempting to hire a hitman to kill two FBI special agents and a federal prosecutor assigned to his case. He reportedly directed the hitman to record the killings and sell the videos on gore sites.
Sources: 764 Relational Network node profiles (Cadenhead); NVE Tracker records #1573, #1701.
| Subculture | Incidents | Killed | Injured | Attacks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Both | 21 | 19 | 85 | 43% |
| True crime only | 26 | 10 | 17 | 27% |
| Gore only | 99 | 5 | 175 | 13% |
| Neither | 68 | 33 | 62 | 19% |
“Attacks” is the share of each subculture coded as a successful attack. The 21 incidents coded as TCC and gore are only 10% of NVE events in the tracker but account for 28% of victim deaths and 25% of injuries.
Evergreen, Colorado. A 16-year-old student at Evergreen High School opened fire on his classmates, wounding two before taking his own life. Analysts discovered that the student had been active on a popular gore site prior to the attack and that he had developed a fascination with previous mass shooters, including the Columbine attackers and the perpetrator of the 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks. The student reportedly acquired tactical gear to use in the attack that would allow him to emulate past mass killers.
Sources: NVE Tracker record #1557.
2026 is a partial year (through 21 August 2026).
2026 is a partial year (through 21 August 2026).
Of 47 true-crime-linked incidents, 43 occurred in 2021 or later; of 120 gore-linked incidents, 119 took place in 2021 or later.