The term Serial Killer is widely believed to have been coined either by FBI agent Robert Ressler or by Dr. Robert D. Keppel in the 1970s. The popular phrase emerged largely in part due to the well-publicized crimes of Ted Bundy and David Berkowitz in the middle years of that decade. Many noted serial killers come from dysfunctional backgrounds. Frequently they were physically, sexually, or psychologically abused as children and there is often a correlation between their childhood abuse and their crimes. Serial killers are specifically motivated by a variety of psychological urges, primarily power and sexual compulsion.
Medical and FBI Expert Profilers define a serial killer as a person who kills three or more people in three or more separate events. There is an emotional cooling-off period in between the homicides that can stretch over a period of time. This cooling-off period may last days, weeks, months, or even years. It is believed that many serial killers suffer from antisocial personality disorders and not psychosis, and they appear to be quite normal and often charming. According to Doctor Hervey Cleckley, this is a state of adaptation called the "mask of sanity." There is sometimes a sexual element to the murders. The murders may have been completed/attempted in a similar fashion and the victims may have had something in common, for example occupation, race, sex, etc.
They often have feelings of inadequacy and worthlessness, sometimes owing to humiliation and abuse in childhood and/or the pressures of poverty and low socioeconomic status in adulthood, and their crimes compensate for this and provide a sense of potency and often revenge, by giving them a feeling of power, both at the time of the actual killing and afterwards. The knowledge that their actions terrify entire communities and often baffle police adds to this sense of power. This motivational aspect separates them from contract killers and other multiple murderers who are motivated by profit. For example, in Scotland during the 1820s, William Burke and William Hare murdered people in what became known as the "Case of the Body Snatchers." They would not count as serial killers by most criminologists' definitions, however, because their motive was primarily economic.
Another recent theory about the compulsion of serial killer propounded by Helen Morrison state that serial killers are not a result of sexual abuse, inadequacy or socioeconomic status but are rather the result of retarded emotional development. Serial Killers can be gauged at having the emotional development of an infant of less than 100 days, of course, this varies between individuals. The low level of emotional development, arguably, causes serial killers to have fractured or disparate personalities - that is they are not a whole person. Low emotional development also explains some common traits among serial killers such as enjoying holding soft materials against their mouths (being the primary sensory organ of infants) which was observed in Robert Macek, John Wayne Gacy and others - the material often being women’s panties because of the materials softness.
The Helen Morrison theory also suggests that a serial killer has not developed basic levels of emotional control and that, as a result, a serial killer does not have "feelings of inadequacy and worthlessness, sometimes owing to humiliation and abuse" which draw them to killing, rather, the act of killing is actually a kind of experimentation which is uninhibited due to the subjects low or non-existent level of sympathy/empathy with the victims. It is arguable that serial killers are in fact trying to understand their own existence by inflicting pain, killing and experimenting with victims’ dead bodies. This also explains some of the macabre practices of serial killers such as Ed Gein, John Wayne Gacy, Jeffrey Dahmer and others.
The element of fantasy in a serial killer's development is extremely important. They often begin fantasizing about murder during or even before adolescence. Their fantasy lives are very rich and they daydream compulsively about domination, submission, and murder, usually with very specific elements to the fantasy that will eventually be apparent in their real crimes. Others enjoy reading stories or seeing photographs in magazines featuring rape, torture and murder. In some cases, however, these traits are not present. Some serial killers display one or more of what are known as the "MacDonald triad" of warning signs in childhood. These are:
· Fire starting, or arson invariably for the thrill of destroying things, for gaining attention, or for making the perpetrator feel more powerful.
· Cruelty to animals, Many children may be cruel to animals, such as pulling the legs off spiders, but future serial killers often kill larger animals, like dogs and cats, and frequently for their solitary enjoyment rather than to impress peers.
· Bed wetting beyond the age when children normally grow out of such behavior.
When caught and tried in a court of law in the United States, some serial killers will plead not guilty by reason of insanity. In most U.S. jurisdictions, the legal definition of insanity is still generally based upon the classic common law "right or wrong" test delineated by an English court in the 1843 M'Naghten case. The M'Naghten rule, as it is generally known in the legal profession, hinges upon whether the defendant knows the difference between right and wrong at the time of the offense. With some serial killers, extensive premeditation, combined with lack of any obvious delusions or hallucinations that would hinder the defendant's ability to elude detection after committing multiple murders, make this defense extremely difficult and almost uniformly unsuccessful in achieving a not guilty verdict. However, it does allow the defense to introduce evidence about the killer's background that would normally be deemed inadmissible (for example, a history of having been abused as a child), in hopes that some sympathy from the jury will spare the client a death sentence.
Serial killers have been featured in many novels, movies, songs, comic books, true crime, video games, and other media. Films such as The Silence of the Lambs, Psycho, and the Halloween series, have featured serial killers as villains, antiheroes, and even protagonists. Fictional serial killers such as Hannibal Lecter, Norman Bates, Michael Myers, and Dexter Morgan have become some of the most famous, popular characters in modern popular culture. Serial killer memorabilia and serial killer lore is a subculture revolving around the legacies of various infamous and notorious serial killers. While memorabilia is generally confined to the paintings, writings, and poems of infamous killers, a market has expanded in recent years with serial killer encyclopedias, trading cards, and action figures. Some of the best known articles of serial killer memorabilia include the clown paintings of John Wayne Gacy and the poetry of Jack Unterweger.
TYPES OF SERIAL KILLERS
A significant number of serial killers will show certain aspects of both organized and disorganized types, although usually the characteristics of one type will dominate. Some killers descend from being organized into disorganized behavior as their killings continue. They will carry out careful and methodical murders at the start, but become careless and impulsive as their compulsion takes over their lives. Regardless, the FBI generally categorizes serial killers into the two different types.
Organized types are usually of high intelligence, have an above average IQ (105-120 range), and plan their crimes quite methodically, usually abducting victims, killing them in one place and disposing of them in another. They will often lure the victims with ploys appealing to their sense of sympathy. For example, Ted Bundy would put his arm in a fake plaster cast and ask women to help him carry something to his car, where he would beat them unconscious with a metal bar (ie. a crowbar), and spirit them away. Others specifically target prostitutes, who are likely to voluntarily go with a serial killer posing as a customer. They maintain a high degree of control over the crime scene, and usually have a solid knowledge of forensic science that enables them to cover their tracks, such as by burying the body or weighting it down and sinking it in a river. They follow their crimes in the media carefully and often take pride in their actions, as if it were a grand project.
The organized killer is usually socially adequate and has friends and lovers, often even a spouse and children. They are the type who, when captured, are most likely to be described by acquaintances as kind and unlikely to hurt anyone. Some serial killers go to lengths to make their crimes difficult to discover, such as falsifying suicide notes, setting up others to take the blame for their crimes, and faking gang warfare. The case of Harold Shipman, an English family doctor, is slightly unusual in that his social position and occupation was such that he was able to portray victims as having died of natural causes; between 1971 and 1998 he killed at least 250, and possibly well over 400, of his own mostly elderly patients – and until very near the end of his killings it was not even suspected that any crimes had been committed.
Disorganized types are often of low intelligence, have a below average IQ (80-95), and commit their crimes impulsively. Whereas the organized killer will specifically set out to hunt a victim, the disorganized will murder someone when the opportunity arises, rarely bothering to dispose of the body but instead just leaving it at the same place in which they found the victim. They usually carry out "blitz" attacks, leaping out and attacking their victims without warning, and will typically perform whatever rituals they feel compelled to carry out (e.g., necrophilia, mutilation, cannibalism, etc.) once the victim is dead. They rarely bother to cover their tracks but may still evade capture for some time because of a level of cunning that compels them to keep on the move.
They are often socially inadequate with few friends, and they may have a history of mental problems and be regarded by acquaintances as eccentric or even "a bit creepy." They have little insight into their crimes and may even block out memories of committing the murders. Arguably the medical profession attracts the most serial killers: doctors are the prevailing group, closely followed by nurses.
They are often socially inadequate with few friends, and they may have a history of mental problems and be regarded by acquaintances as eccentric or even "a bit creepy." They have little insight into their crimes and may even block out memories of committing the murders. Arguably the medical profession attracts the most serial killers: doctors are the prevailing group, closely followed by nurses.
Visionary --- Contrary to popular opinion, serial killers are rarely insane or motivated by hallucinations and/or voices in their heads. Many claim to be, usually as a way of trying to get acquitted by reason of insanity. There are, however, a few genuine cases of serial killers that were compelled by such delusions. Herbert Mullin killed 13 people after voices told him that murder was necessary to prevent California from suffering an earthquake. Mullin went to great pains to point out that California did indeed avoid an earthquake during his murder spree. Ed Gein claimed that by eating the corpses of women who looked like his deceased mother, he could preserve his mother's soul inside his body.
He killed two women who bore passing resemblance to his mother, eating one and being apprehended while in the process of preparing the second woman's body for consumption. He also used the flesh of exhumed female corpses to fashion a "woman suit" (as well as various other household adornments, such as curtains and lampshades) for himself so that he could "become" his mother. After his arrest he was placed in a mental institution for the rest of his life. David Berkowitz claimed that his neighbor's dog had forced him to kill after it had been possessed by a demon.
Missionary --- So-called missionary killers believe that their acts are justified on the basis that they are getting rid of a certain type of person (often prostitutes or members of a certain ethnicity), and thus doing society a favor. Gary Ridgway and Aileen Wuornos are often described as missionary killers. In Wuornos' case, the victims were not prostitutes, but their patrons. John Bodkin Adams, meanwhile, was a British fundamentalist Christian and a member of the Plymouth Brethren. His rich, non-Christian victims were killed partly in order to redistribute their wealth to people Adams considered more “deserving.” Missionary killers differ from other types of serial killer in that their motive is generally non-sexual
Hedonistic --- This type kills for the sheer pleasure of it, although what aspect they enjoy varies. Yang Xinhai's post-capture statement is typical of such killers' attitudes: "When I killed people I had a desire sexual excitement. This inspired me to kill more. I don't care whether they deserve to live or not. It is none of my concern.” Some killers may enjoy the actual "chase" of hunting down a victim more than anything, while others may be primarily motivated by the act of torturing and abusing the victim while they are alive. Yet others, like Jeffrey Dahmer, may kill the victim quickly, and then indulge in necrophilia or cannibalism with the body. Usually there is a strong sexual aspect to the crimes, even if it may not be immediately obvious; some killers obtain a surge of excitement that is not necessarily sexual, such as David Berkowitz, who got a thrill out of shooting young couples in cars at random and then running away without ever physically touching the victims.
Gain Motivated --- Most criminals who commit multiple murders for material ends (such as Mafia hit men) are not classed as serial killers, because they are motivated by economic gain rather than psychopathological compulsion. There is a fine line separating such killers, however. For example, Marcel Petiot, who operated in Nazi-occupied France, could be classified as a serial killer. He posed as a member of the French Resistance and lured wealthy Jewish people to his home, claiming he could smuggle them out of the country. Instead he murdered them and stole their belongings, killing 63 people before he was finally caught. Although Petiot's primary motivation was materialistic, few would deny that a man willing to kill dozens of people simply to acquire a few dozen suitcases of clothes and jewelry was a violent sociopath.
Power and Control --- This is the most common serial killer. Their main objective for killing is to gain and exert power over their victim. Such killers are sometimes abused as children, leaving them with feelings of powerlessness and inadequacy as adults. Often they indulge in rituals that are linked, often very specifically, to forms of abuse they suffered themselves. Many power/control-motivated killers sexually abuse their victims, but they differ from hedonistic killers in that rape is not motivated by lust but as simply another form of dominating the victim.
Whatever the trait or genetic gene that may pre-disposes a person to become a serial killer it is clear that there is no social, economic, sexual orientation or moral discrimination in this group. These killers are from every walk of life right down to teenagers. This book will portray some of the lessor known and or publicized serial killers and their victims. Nonetheless, their acts against other human beings is no less tragic or horrendous then of those more notorious killers like the Ted Bundy’s or Jeffrey Dahmer’s of the world…
MASS MURDERER
Whereas serial murder involves the killing of several victims over a period of time, MASS MURDER involves the killing of several victims at one time and in one place. A typical mass murder would involve someone going into a restaurant and shooting to death everyone in the store. Mass murder should also be distinguished from spree murder, which involves several victims but not all in one place. In either case, the usual number of victims to meet the definition should be at least three.
Mass murder has, in fact, been around longer historically and in more societies than serial murder. Little is known about it, however, since in comparison to serial killers who are usually apprehended, sent to prison, and can be interviewed, the mass murderer usually ends up taking their own life or is killed by police ("suicide by cop"). About the only way to study mass murder is by conducting "psychological autopsies" or speculating about similarities between cases. Community reaction is also different. As opposed to serial killers that instill lingering horror and lasting interest, society tends to get briefly shocked by mass murder and then returns to normal. In addition, victim selection elements are usually absent in mass murder (distinguishing it from genocide). Victims just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Workplace violence has some of the characteristics of mass murder in that the offender is usually seen as some crazy, disgruntled employee ("snapping"; "going postal"). In many cases, the grudge is against the organization or bureaucracy.
Disciple --- This type follows the commands of a charismatic leader, like the followers of Charles Manson. They fall under the "spell" of the leader, and desire nothing more than to please their leader. Victim selection is usually random or has some symbolic meaning known only to the leader. Spatial mobility is a possibility, but usually the murders are committed fairly near the location of the leader. Weapons of choice are usually hand weapons, but poison, nerve gas, biologicals, and other weapons of mass destruction are also possible. Rarely is the disciple dispatched on a suicide mission, as the whole point is to live to strike again. Gang initiation and cult loyalty killings fall into this category.
Annihilator ---This type exhibits the most mental problems and typically launches into a burst of violence against those who share his home. Usually, it's the oldest male child in the family who exhibits some early warning signs of bizarre behavior. They then kill everyone in the family at one time, even the family pet. They often commit suicide afterwards or are shot to death once police arrive. They may lie in wait for when more family members are expected to visit, or they may travel some distance to kill relatives who live away. Strangers are usually spared as victims of this attacker. Whatever reasons they have for their behavior is unknown.
Disgruntled Employee --- This type is often a former employee or someone about to lose their job. They are sometimes on medical or mental disability leave. They appear to enter and move around the workplace with a target in mind, but they almost always kill randomly and indiscriminately as they wander about. Often, this type has been a long-term employee, but it can be a new employee too. It's believed they are lashing out at some perceived unfairness, although lax management can be just as much involved as strict management.
Pseudocommando ---This type is usually a stockpiler of guns, assault rifles, grenades, and other exotic weapons. Their attack is usually the result of careful planning and a desire to lash out against the world which is "not right" in some way. Victims are usually selected at random, and this type of offender may be quite geographically mobile. It's believed that something about the social world these offenders inhabit may be criminogenic, but gun collecting in itself is not to be construed as any warning sign.
Set And Run Killer --- This type appears to be motivated by a desire to "go down in infamy" because they will, for example, claim to have a bomb or explosive device attached to themselves and blow themselves up and as many people with them in a crowded location. They are called set-and-run killers because it has been discovered that their true intent, most of the time, is not suicide, but to set or plant the device somewhere on a timer and then be removed (run) from the scene when the explosion goes off. They have some similarities to the serial arsonist in this regard. Another variation is product tampering. This type of offender may inject or insert poison into products on the shelves of grocery stores, although the motivation in this case could be a grudge against some company's product.
There's not much that can be done to protect society completely from mass murder. Many of the motivations are unclear, and there's tremendous controversy over what constitutes the proper "warning signs". Prevention as well as police response tactics are areas and issues that deserve greater consideration. More often than not, mass murderers tend to target particular victims to avenge perceived injustices. There are also, of course, random and indiscriminate patterns. In almost all cases, innocent bystanders get caught in the crossfire. The more random the pattern, the more likely the perceived injustice is small and insignificant.
The following information compiled on each individual murderer is derived from researching of media, court and other records available in the public domain. In most cases, the details and reasoning behind their acts of savagery are far more bizarre then even the cases of infamous killers such as Ted Bundy, Charles Manson and even Jeffrey Dahmer. At the same time, while reading about the men, women and children in these chapters and the brutality of their acts, we must also remember the victims who were killed. And the pain and suffering that all of the victims have endured.
Research, development and storyline was only made possible through True TV's Crime Library, Serial Killer Central, Crime-library.com, Wikipedia, FBI records and numerous news media and police agencies files across the United States. Thanks to everyone!!....
Jack Swint, Copyright 2011
West Virginia News
E-Mail: WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com
Website: http://WVNewsOnline.com
Blog: http://WestVirginiaNews.blogspot.com
Twitter: @WVNewsOnline
West Virginia News
E-Mail: WestVirginiaNews@gmail.com
Website: http://WVNewsOnline.com
Blog: http://WestVirginiaNews.blogspot.com
Twitter: @WVNewsOnline
