Prior to discussing what serial killers do, we must identify and pinpoint what a serial killer is. We generally tend to attribute the same name for serial killers and mass murderers. This is incorrect because they are two independent and different types of killers. While both of these individuals may kill many people, the difference lies in the reason they kill and the period over which they kill their victims. An event or a build up of circumstance triggers mass murderers and causes them to act. This can be the result of a stressful situation or frustration either at work or in their private lives.
For whatever reason, they may choose to use a weapon and kill people that they feel are responsible for their problems. They may also kill total strangers in a bid to get even with whomever or whatever they feel wronged them. Whatever their reason is, they are usually cooperative and quite often docile if they survive the episode. It seems that this one-time outburst of violence, once enacted, puts an end to any future events of this type for that individual. While the mass killer may kill many people in one attack, when the attack is over, their mission is complete.
The mass killer’s victims may not be chosen for any other reason than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. A serial murder occurs when one or more individuals commit a second murder and/or subsequent murder; is relationship-less ; is at a different time and has no apparent connection to the initial murders ; and is usually committed in a different geographical location. Further, the motive is not for material gain and is believed to be for the murderers desire to have power over its victims.
Victims may have a symbolic value and are perceived as powerless given their situation in time, place or status within their immediate surroundings. Serial killers are a totally different and more dangerous threat to society. They may not kill many people at one time, but they may kill for many years without being detected. They are able to kill again and again without being caught because they are careful in their choices of victims. They typically pick victims who are vulnerable and unable to defend themselves such as children, the elderly or women.
They also pick victims who will not be missed by society, such as migrant workers, prostitutes, hitchhikers or homosexuals. They may even pick victims based on specifics such as physical build or hairstyle. The serial killer may plan his victims in advance and may case surroundings, or he takes advantage of opportunities that are presented to him at random. He may use deception to lure a victim or he may use force. A few characteristics of serial killers stand out ; the two main ones being their charisma or pleasant personalities, and the fact that they are psychopaths who feel no remorse for their actions.
Because of the fact that many serial killers may be mobile, similarities in crime scenes may go undetected by law enforcement agencies. The nation’s police departments often lack the modern equipment and technology needed to track and recognize connections between cases. It is generally accepted that many cases of serial murder have not been reported because of lack of evidence or the person murdered is never noticed to be missing. Canada hasnt had many occasions of serial killers since it is mostly of U. S popularity and because it is hard to pinpoint victims of serial killers.
Victims of mass murderers (4 murders or more) are easier to distinguish because of the time frame in which the killings took place. Of course, such names as Paul Bernardo (not too much of a killer), Marc Lpine and Clifford Olson come to mind. In Canada, there is such a thing as The faint hope clause (section 745 C. C. ) that can allow murderers to obtain a parole hearing before they would normally be allowed to by their sentence. Between 1960 and 1990, there were seventy-two cases that involved four or more victims in one incident. The seventy-two cases resulted in 359 victims, an average of almost five people per case.
Several cases involved between thirteen and forty-eight victims, and at least some included multiple killings by arson, a technique mostly used by members of the crime community to wreak havoc and revenge. The U. S. has had more than 150 documented cases of serial killers since 1800. Retired FBI analyst John Douglas believes that at any one time, there may be from 30 to 50 serial killers active in the U. S. Good locations for serial killers include any city or area large enough to support prostitution, drug cultures, runaway children or street people.
They can and do operate successfully in rural areas. Serial killers were once considered a rarity. Even though reports in Europe go back as far as the fifteenth century, only a few were written about prior to the mid twentieth century. One of the most widely written about was Jack the Ripper, who claimed only 5 victims in a three-month period. This would put him in the bottom of the class by today’s standards. During the past twenty years, serial killings have become more frequent. We have even seen up to a half dozen of their cases on the news simultaneously.
Cases such as San Francisco’s Zodiac Killer; New York City’s Son of Sam; Atlanta’s child murderer, Wayne Williams; Los Angeles’s Hillside Strangler; and Milwaukee’s own, Jeffrey Dahmer. Many times, they fit into a pattern, but sometimes there is no pattern. The phenomenon is world-wide, from England’s Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe’s killing of 13 women prior to 1981, to Russia’s Rostov Cannibal, Anderei Chikatilo, who slaughtered and partially consumed at least 53 men and women over a 12 year period prior to 1990. It is hard to predict whether a person will become a serial killer.
A set of childhood characteristics believed by many to be symptoms of violent behavior has been named the “McDonald Triad”. Named after psychiatrist John M. McDonald, it speculates that three factors in a person’s childhood may determine violent behavior. These three factors presumably linked to homicidal behavior are bedwetting, pyromania, and torture of small animals. There is evidence that many serial killers have some or all of these factors in their past. The fact remains, there are many people with symptoms of the McDonald Triad who do not become serial killers; unfortunately some do.
One of the Hillside Stranglers, Kenneth Bianci, had a bedwetting problem and had killed a cat before as a prank. The Son of Sam, David Berkowitz, had set many fires, kept a diary and even nicknamed himself the “Phantom Fireman”. Alaska’s Robert Hansen, murderer of at least 17 women, was convicted of arson as a youth. An important fact is the “McDonald Triad” is not believed to be a cause of violence, but only a set of symptoms. Serial killers also tend to have something that we refer to as Mask of Sanity, the title of a classic study made in 1976 on psychopathic personality.
It refers to the ability of a serial killer to appear perfectly normal ; to conceal his cold-blooded nature beneath a normal faade. Not all psychopaths are criminals. Some are highly successful people. After all, they are masters of manipulation. They can make you believe that they are the most caring, sensitive, charming people in the world. But its all a show. Under the surface, theyre hollow to the corecomplete egocentrics who care about nothing except their own greedy desires. The serial killer is absolutely the most frightening person of all psychopaths. It has no basic human emotions, which are empathy, conscience and remorse.
For several decades, Albert Fish was travelling through the country, going in and out of jail for petty crimes and public nudity, but the officials never thought of him as being a serial killer. They also tend to have a trademark. For Albert Fish, it was to write letters detailing his crimes. Heres one that he mailed to the mother of Grace Budd, a 12-year-old victim. My dear Mrs. Budd, In 1894 a friend of mine shipped as a deck hand on the Steamer Tacoma, Capt. John Davis. They sailed from San Francisco for Hong Kong China. On arriving there he and two others went ashore and got drunk. When they returned the boat was gone.
At that time, there was a famine inn China. Meat of any kind what from $1-3 Dollars a pound. So great was the suffering among the very poor that all children under 12 were sold to the Butchers to be cut up and sold for food in order to keep others from starving. A boy or a girl under 14 was not safe in the street. You could go to any shop and ask for steak-chops-or stew meat. Part of the naked body of a boy or a girl would be brought out and just what you wanted cut from it. A boy or girls behind which is the sweetest part of the body and sold as veal cutlets brought the highest price.
John said there so long he said he acquired a taste for human flesh. On his return to N. Y. he stole two boys on 7 and one 11. Took them to his home stripped them naked tied them in a closet. Then burned everything they had on. Several times every day and night he spanked them-tortured them-to make their meat good and tender. First he killed the 11 yr. old boy, because he had the fattest ass and of course the most meat on it. Every part of his body was Cooked and eaten except head-bones and guts. He was Roasted in the oven (all of his ass), boiled, broiled, fried, stewed.
The little boy was next, went the same way. At that time, I was living at 409 E. 100 St. near-right side. He told me so often how good Human flesh was I made up my mind to taste it. On Sunday June the 3-1928 I called on you at 406 W 15 St. Brought you pot cheese-strawberries. We had lunch. Grace sat in my lap and kissed me. I made up my mind to eat her. On the pretense of taking her to a party. You said Yes she could go. I took her to an empty house in Westchester I had already picked out. When we got there, I told her to remain outside. She picked wildflowers. I went upstairs and stripped all my clothes off.
I knew if I did not I would get her blood on them. When all was ready I went to the window and Called her. Then I hid in a closet until she was in the room. When she saw me all naked she began to cry and tried to run down stairs. I grabbed her and she said she would tell her mamma. First I stripped her naked. How did she kick-bite and scratch. I choked her to death, then cut her in small pieces so I could take my meat to my rooms, Cook and eat it. How sweet and tender her little ass was roasted in the oven. It took me 9 days to eat her entire body. I did not fuck her tho I could have had I wished. She died a virgin.
The typical serial killer is a white male in his late 20s or 30s and murders his victims by beating or strangulation. He may appear cold, show no remorse for his actions and might deny responsibility for his crimes, but psychosis or severe mental illness is rarely present. Only an estimated 10 to 15 percent of serial killers are women. Males are much more likely to use extreme violence such as bludgeoning, beating, strangling, or torture. Women on the other hand favored poisoning or smothering their victims. Where men would normally stalk their victims, the female serial killer would lure her victim to their death.
Researchers Anne Moir and David Jessel believe that serial killers lack the voice of conscience that prevents most of us in doing things we should not. Their research made them to believe that serial killers usually have a sexual motive and an inability to appreciate the feelings of others. They only survive because they are able to conceal their identities and appear to be normal. Dr. Donald Lunde, a psychiatrist who studied 42 murderers over a 5-year period, determined that there are two types of mentalities involved with these types of crimes.
The first of these is paranoid schizophrenia which may be characterized by an aggressive, suspicious demeanor, hallucinations, (usually hearing voices in their minds), or delusions of grandeur or persecution. The second type is sexual sadism, which is distinguished by killing, torturing, or mutilating victims for achieving their own sexual arousal. These killers view their victims as objects or life-size dolls or enemies of normal people. A good example of the paranoid schizophrenic murderer is David Berkowitz, otherwise known as the Son of Sam.
He said he killed because a man named “Sam” told him to through demonically possessed dogs. A look, growl, or bark from the dog would tell him who and where to attack. During one instance, the signal was a sign of crossed dog feces on the ground that set him off. He left notes for the police and even corresponded with a newspaper, raving that he was the “Duke of Death. ” Some believe Berkowitz is only making excuses for his behavior and we may never know the whole truth. For whatever reason, he held one of the most powerful cities in the world, New York City, in a state of fear.
Even the heads of several organized crime families were reported to have sent out their soldiers to find him. His rampage ended in August of 1977 and left six dead and nine wounded. The classic example of the sexual sadist type of killer is the six foot nine inch, 280 pound, Edmund Kemper. At the age of fifteen, he shot and killed both of his grandparents resulting in his being committed to a maximum-security hospital for four years. This was only the beginning for Kemper, and upon his release he shot, stabbed and strangled to death six coeds as they hitchhiked from college.
He also severed their heads and limbs, attempted to have sex with the corpses, and devoured their flesh. He kept their heads preserved so that he could use them for his sexual fulfillment. He later murdered his own mother and her good friend. He then decapitated his mother, tore out her larynx, and threw it down the garbage disposal. That way, in his opinion, she could never gripe and yell at him again. From childhood, he had displayed signs of psychological disorders. Kemper was fascinated by weapons and had cut the head and hands from one of his sister’s dolls.
He also tortured and killed the familys cat, which he beheaded and cut into pieces. He often fantasized about killing girls and later explained, “if I killed them, you know, they couldn’t reject me as a man. ” It is highly likely that the rise in reported serial killings is due to the increasing law enforcement ability to recognize the patterns. There has also been a real increase in the rate of serial murders, and this may be due to a decline in law enforcement’s ability to capture the murderers. This makes solving the murders difficult because often the motive is missing or not obvious.
It is accepted that many serial killers were probably caught early in their careers, before their becoming experts. Between 1795 and 1988, there were 203 reported serial offenders inn the U. S. It is not an unknown phenomenon in Canada, but our numbers dont compare to the one of our neighbour. We can identify 4 cases of mass/serial murder between 1958 and 1989 ; In 1958, Peter Manuel killed nine victims; in 1980 to 1981, Clifford Olson killed eleven or more victims ; between 1974 and 1981, James Odo killed three or more victims ; and in 1989, Marc Lpine killed fourteen women as well as himself.
There are no reported incidents of wives killing their husbands. Males are the sole perpetrators in 90 percent of the cases. Recently, between 1987 and the 1990s, there has been an increase in the rate of mass/serial murders, an average of one or two cases reported each year. The U. S. nationwide rate of cleared homicides before 1966 was 92 per cent. This rate hit 64 per cent in 1992, meaning that unsolved homicides increased to about 8,400, which is almost as many as the total number of murders in 1965. This is further explained by the fact that more and more murders are being committed by and against strangers.
In the past most violent crimes and murders were easy for police to solve. They usually involved or resulted from greed, anger, jealously, profit, or revenge. The serial killer differs in that he does not stop until he is caught. He gets better at his crime each time he performs it and continually perfects his style. Psychiatrists, along with the FBI crime analysts in the U. S have taken the lead in getting into the minds of serial killers. Psychiatrist Shervert Frazier interviewed 42 murderers, including seven serial killers that had killed 3 to 13 victims each.
They also interviewed families, teachers, friends, police, and probation authorities. Most of the serial killers were cooperative. Frazier found that many of them had been subjected to brutal treatment as children. Many were beaten repeatedly or sexually abused as children. They became more confused as adolescents and adults, suffering from gender confusion, cross-dressing, and abnormal sexual behavior. They suffered from hostile and murderous emotions, but were also organized enough to plan and execute several murders. The life of a Serial Killer
Ed Gein was born in La Crosse, Wisconsin on August 21, 1906. His father later moved the family to Plainfield, Wisconsin . Gein had one brother named Henry. Their father was an alcoholic and their mother was a strict believer in God and doing the right thing. Their mother impressed on them the importance of marriage before sex. In 1940, Ed’s father died. Even though he was thirty-four, Gein was still living on the farm with his mother and brother. In 1944, Henry Gein asked Ed to help him do some controlled burning on a marsh on the family’s property.
Ed had taken care of his part of the burning and went looking for his brother, but could not find him. Ed organized a search party, but they found nothing. On his way back to the house, Ed found Henry lying on a brush pile, dead. Ed attributed the death to heart attack or smoke inhalation, and the idea of an accident was accepted by all. No autopsy was performed. Some people believe that this may have been the beginning of Ed’s killing spree. The next year, 1945, Ed’s mother suffered a stroke. Ed says it was because of the way his neighbors constantly argued and how much it upset his mother.
Ed was in charge of taking care of his mother. He took care of her for a period at the farm but could not handle it and was forced to put her into a hospital. Soon after, she had a second stoke and died. This left Ed alone. He began reading books about the female anatomy and became very interested in adventure stories involving headhunter and cannibals. At one point, a well-meaning person brought him back two shrunken heads from the Philippines. Ed found them very interesting and showed them off to many people in the community.
As time went on he also became interested in the preservation of the human body after death and read books on the subject. In 1947, Ed began robbing graves in three local cemeteries. Sometimes he would take the whole body and sometimes just parts. His favorite part was usually the head of the dead person. He would cut it from the body in the cemetery and take it back to his house. When there, he would make a death mask. He would remove the skin from the bone and stuff the skin with tissue paper and sawdust. When the police searched his house, they found approximately ten of these masks scattered around the home of Ed Gein.
In 1954, Ed committed the first murder he admits to. Mary Hogan, the owner and operator of a local tavern was killed. She was shot and her head was possibly cut off at the scene. At the scene, the police found a large pool of blood but no drag marks. Therefore Mary Hogan had been carried from the bar. After Gein had been caught, the police realized he was too small too carry the large stature of Mary Hogan from the scene and believed he may have had an accomplice for this murder and the grave robbings, but Gein constantly denied this. Ed Gein had few close friends.
However, after he was caught a man who was believed to be Gein’s best friend became violently mentally ill and was committed to a mental hospital. He died in the hospital a short time later. The police think he may have been Gein’s accomplice in the murder of Mary Hogan. Ed Gein’s final victim was a local shop owner named Bernice Worden. The killing took place on November 16, 1957. It was opening day of deer season so very few men or women were around town. Gein came into the store to buy anti-freeze for his car. He also wanted to buy a new . 22 caliber gun.
Gein had a . 22 shell in his coat pocket. He loaded it into the gun and shot Worden once. He then either cut off her head or slit her throat, making a large pool of blood in the store. Gein then dragged her out the back of the store and put her in the hardware store truck. Gein drove out to a secluded area and parked the truck. He then walked back to the store and got his own truck and transferred the body from one to the other. Now it was time for Ed to do his work. Once the body had arrived at the Gein farm Ed put it into a farm shed and butchered it.
He cut a hole above the Achilles tendon on each leg and then inserted a stick trough the hole then tied the legs near the ankles to the end of the stick. Then he tied her hands together at the wrists and tied these to the stick also. Gein then disemboweled Worden. This is described by Dr. Eigenberger in the autopsy report. “The body was opened by median incision from the manubrium sterni and extending in the midline to the area just above the mons veneris. Here the cut circled around the external genitalia for the complete removal of the vulva, lower vagina, and the anus with the lowest portion of the rectum.
To accomplish this, the symhysis pubis had been split and the pubic bone widely separated”. Gein was found at his house having just finished supper. He was taken into custody. Now the search of Ed’s collection would soon begin. The Gein house was without electricity, so before the search could begin, the authorities were forced to bring in many generators and flashlights. As they searched the house occasionally officers left and became violently ill because of what they saw inside. In combination with the newly killed body of Bernice Worden, the police found Ed’s collection of masks.
Also, it appeared Ed had removed the genitals of some of his other victims, either ones he killed or ones he exhumed from the cemetery. Also they found Ed’s bed. It was a standard bed except on all four posts sat the skull of a human. The police found two chairs that had been upholstered with the skin of human beings along with a lampshade made of human skin. In the kitchen the men found containers made of the skullcaps of the humans which Gein used as bowls or glasses for eating. Most disturbing of all the things found was the suit Gein had made. It was the full torso of a woman.
The skin had been tanned. Gein admitted to putting it on at night and dancing around in his backyard. Also at night, he would put on the death masks he had made of people. They also found a belt made of the nipples of the women he had killed. Even with all the female body parts and other things Gein sternly denied necrophilia. He said he would never do that because of the repulsive smell the dead people had. As the trial came around, the judge thought it fit to first have a sanity hearing. In this case four psychiatrists were consulted to decide if Ed knew the difference between right and wrong.
Three out of four found him insane. Gein reported times of memory lapses and other things that led to the decision. One of the doctors E. F. Schubert was quoted in court as saying, “It is considered opinion of the staff of Central State Hospital that Mr. Gein is legally insane. He felt he had no real choice in the matter (Mrs. Worden’s death). This was something that was to happen and he was the agent that carried it out… We reached the conclusion that this is an illness that has been going on for a number of years, probably for at least twelve years, and his is a chronic mental disorder”“.
The one person who found him mentally sane was Dr. Edward M. Burns. He said, “Mr. Gein is not feebleminded or mentally deficient, but he is chronically mentally ill… he however can cooperate with his counsel and therefore is legally sane”. Judge Herbert A. Bunde declared Gein legally insane and sent to Central State Hospital at Waupaun for an indeterminate stay. On January 16, 1968, Edward Gein was tried again for murder and found guilty. He was sent back to Central State. Gein remained in Central State until his death in 1985. During his stay he had the occasion to be interviewed again.
His ideas on the murder had not changed since the trial in 1957 and the trial in 1968. One of the questions that still remains is how many people Gein really killed. When the police were searching the house, they found the remains of two females that were approximately the age of 15. There were no women in this age range buried in the cemetery so many people believe he may have killed these two girls. Some also believe his motive for murdering people was money. He is also believed to have killed two hunters from Chicago that were brandishing large amounts of money.
One evening in a bar, patrons say Gein offered to be their hunting guide and they were never seen again. Some also believe he killed his brother so that he would get the entire inheritance when his mother died. The story of Ed Gein is riddled with mystery and suspicion. How could he have dug up the graves himself? Did he have an accomplice? Was Gein a cannibal? This is obviously a very odd case. Three movies, Psycho, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Silence of the Lambs, were based on Gein’s case. This case is the most bizarre base of serial murder in the history of America, if not the World.
