Typologies OF Serial Killers PDF

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TYPOLOGIES OF SERIAL KILLERS Serial killers are defined as individuals who murder at least 3 people at separate times with a grace period of a month or more between killings and can be categorized into four typologies. First, there is the Hedonistic Serial Killer who kills for the thrill and pleasure of seeing people die. Forensic Psychologists have determined 3 subtypes of this typology which are: a) Lust: These serial killers do it for the sexual gratification. Their motivation is to kill according to their sexual fantasy which often includes having sex with the body post-mortem. There is a lot of planning, torture, post-mortem injuries and even overkill. Lust killers usually fantasize about murdering somebody for very long periods of time before they actually follow through with it. Since they want close contact with the victim, strangulation or stabbing or bludgeoning are preferred over automatic weapons.

Edward Kemper (The Co-Ed Killer) is an

example of this type of serial killer who would go back to the crime scene of his victims to have sex with their decomposed bodies. Cannibalism including drinking the victim’s blood is common behaviour for hedonistic lust killers. b) Thrill: This involves thorough planning such as finding a destination which will be a safe place with no time restrictions to torture and degrade the victim without having to worry about being caught in the act. However, they usually dispose of the body at a different location from the area of the crime scene. The victims are usually strangers who are sometimes stalked prior to the killing as the thrill killer likes to hunt their prey before abduction. The thrill killer often attempts to outsmart law enforcement by taunting them through letters, phone calls, etc. They feel like the ultimate power. Gary Ridgway, known as the Green River Serial Killer, classifies as a thrill hedonistic killer.

c) Comfort: This subtype kills for monetary gain and usually uses poison as method of killing. It could be a husband taking his wife on a hike and taking a selfie on the edge of a cliff where his wife slips and falls to her death. Her husband would then collect on her life insurance policy. Usually their victims are likely to be family members or people that they are in close association with. Dorothea Puente murdered elderly people with disabilities who lived at her boarding house in Sacramento. Once she killed them, she would bury their bodies in her backyard and cash their Social Security Cheques. The Visionary Serial Killers differ from hedonistic as they are under psychosis often compelling them to think they are someone else. They have delusions and/or hallucinations urging them to kill as these are internal or external voices that are often believed to be god or a demon convincing them they have to murder an individual for a greater cause. This is usually a subtype with FBI’s disorganized crime scenes as they suffer from mental illness. Often, the killer is not seeking a certain type of victim as they are driven by impulsivity but are “act focused” meaning they are focused mainly on their goal which is to conduct the murder causing them to be more likely to overlook any mistakes caused while the offence is committed. The Mission Serial Killers have a need for killing a group or person that he/she perceives as undeserving of living in this world. They believe that his/her contribution is making society a better place for all. Many examples of this type of classification can be derived from movies. For instance, in “The Lovely Bones”, we had a pedophile serial killer who murdered multiple children. The father to one of the children began to develop a bit of this mission mentality when his daughter was murdered and attempted to murder the serial killer. It’s interpreted that this was done for the better of the town that they lived in, and also for the

father’s peace. Bullying is another example as the victims often become fed up and believe it to be a mission to remove the bullies from the school. The Power/Control Serial Killers demand complete domination. The primary motivation of these serial killers is to dominate their victims through life and death. They conduct their murders by stalking, capturing and torturing their prey. They find the process sexually arousing. These killers rejoice as their victims scream and beg for mercy as they find it empowering that the fate of the victim is sealed by them. They often sexually assault their victims not for lust but instead, as a means for asserting domination and will sometimes perform necrophilia in order to continue domination. Dennis Rader (aka “Bind, Torture, Kill” or BTK) used to manipulate prolonged torture and killings to facilitate his insatiable thirst for power and control. The Victim Selection Method of serial killers are obtained by their personal experiences and judgements along with potential risk factors such as possibility of eye witnesses or security cameras in order to select a location for their abductions. The escape route is an essential factor in selection as the goal is to abduct someone without increasing their risk of getting caught. Apart from location, there are three other factors: availability, vulnerability and desirability. Availability is based on the victim’s lifestyle presenting countless opportunities to get abducted by someone in situations like walking alone late, waiting at bus stop alone, working as a prostitute on dark streets or homeless transients or runaways whose absence may be overlooked. Vulnerability of the victim is also appealing such as victims texting while walking alone or jogging with headphones in their ears. The killer wants to catch their victims off guard because they would be easier to abduct by surprise reducing the likelihood of the victim getting

away and going to authorities with a description of the killer or the vehicle. Desirability is a factor which is unique to the attacker and not always sexually motivated. Some criteria may include the victim’s gender, hair colour, ethnic background, or even attraction. Victim Attack Methods vary between serial killers. Those that can be described as the actual bird of prey are known as the raptor. Their attacks take place in an immediate fashion like a kidnapping. The stalker, however, follows their victim obsessively, without their knowledge, and often cleverly indulge in their relationships, job and family. This is the stalker and expertise they gain of daily activities helps facilitate finding the perfect opportunity to attack. (Miller, 2014) Lastly, there is the ambusher who lured the victims to a location where they intend to commit the crime. Serial Killer Behavior can be segregated into organized and disorganized killers based on their behaviour. The organized serial murderers plan their actions in advance. Their normal social skills enable them to lure the potential victims, who exhibit common features (e.g., gender, socio-economic status). Often, they bring their weapons to the crime scene with plan of how to hide or dispose it along with other forensic evidence. Jeffrey Dahmer was an organized serial killer as he would purposefully lure his victims into pubs and invite them up to his apartment for a “final drink,” literally and kill them with tools he had prepared prior to victim selection. He would also often store organs to remember his victims by. The disorganized serial killers are diametrically opposed to the organized killer. They suffer from a lack of social skills, which makes it difficult for them to lure victims and they lack advanced planning forcing them to improvise a weapon at the location of the crime itself. The attack is instantaneous and not to fulfill a fantasy. Herbert William Mullin was a disorganized serial killer. He operated without any advanced planning and never attempted to

cover his tracks. His first murder, for instance, was committed when he was aimlessly traveling on a rural road and encountered an elderly man seeking roadside assistance. After beating the man to death, Mullin left the body at the side of the road without even attempting to remove any possible forensic evidence. The Geographical Profile of serial killers is to typically attack victims within a certain range of distance from a specific point. They do so by picking an anchor point often their residence, the residence of a relative or their work based on their comfort zones around which they find their victims as it is rare for them to travel to seek victims. Only 14% of serial killers travel interstate to find their casualties and even the ones that do, mostly travel due to their jobs, not for the purpose of finding victims. This makes geographic profiling a valuable asset as the results are astoundingly accurate. There are four types of serial killer typologies based on geographical location. The trapper is a killer who enjoys the thrill of enticing their victims to come to them. However, the hunter often seeks their victims within the area of their residence or their neighborhood consistently. They are geographically stable as they use an anchor point for familiarity. The poachers are the offenders who specifically search for a victim from a familiar site other than home or who commutes great distances away from their neighborhoods to find the perfect victim. Lastly, the troller is the killer that does not seek victims rather, selects them with a random pattern based on encounters between the two while conducting other activities. In the United States of America, although 21.8 percent of convicted serial killers are African American, there is a myth that all serial killers are Caucasian. It has also been observed that serial killers tend to kill victims who are the same race as them. Often the origin of the victim causes law enforcement officers to think that they are just a casualty to simpler fatality

causes no consideration of possible serial killers. This due to the racial disparity in the law enforcement agencies as they prioritize Caucasian victims over other ethnic groups as there is a bias and cases from high crime or poverty-stricken neighborhoods are overlooked....