Serial killers are a lot different from regular murderers. Most people who commit murder do so out of passion and anger. When homicide cops investigate, they usually look at family members as suspects first. There are, of course, people who plan a murder for financial or other gain, but murder is most often a crime of passion. Serial killers are much different; they kill many people, almost all of whom are usually strangers, over a period of time, and usually with some sort of cooling-off period between killings.
According to the FBI, a serial killer is someone who has killed a minimum of three people. We agree that this generally is a true definition, but we would also put firmly into the serial killer category those killers who were stopped from murdering before they reached three victims because they were caught or otherwise incapacitated, but who, because of the way they committed their crimes, would have killed at least three— maybe many more.
The Canadian Paul Bernardo and his masochistic lover Karla Homolka are prime examples of this: They killed three people, but as one of the murders was legally categorized as manslaughter, they aren’t “official” serial killers because only two of their killings are considered first degree murder. But a close look at the murderous drive inside the two—a drive that facilitated the rape and murder of young girls, including Karla’s younger sister—reveals that there was no way they would have stopped killing had they not been caught. (More on Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka in Chapter 25.)
The Answer Is Found in Childhood
So, then, what creates a serial killer? Why this compulsion—and it is a compulsion—to kill multiple times?
Some people think that the compulsion to kill may be the result of trauma to the brain. This is what the Tampa, Florida, serial killer Bobby Joe Long thought drove him to rape and murder women; he claimed that, before a motorcycle accident that caused severe head trauma, he never thought about killing women.
Some psychiatrists think it’s genetic, that an aberration of some sort occurs and puts people on a homicidal path. Another potential reason is that something dreadful happens to the human psyche when a child is shipped to an orphanage, or given up to a foster care system. Author John Bowlby says in his book The Making and Breaking of Affectional Bonds (1979), “In psychopaths the incidence of illegitimacy and the shunting of the child from one home to another is high. It is no accident that Ian Brady of the Moors murders was such a one.”
Most psychiatrists are usually vague about exactly what compels someone to kill people, and it’s true that there is no definitive answer. However, most doctors believe that serial killers are programmed in their childhoods to be killers—and it’s not just doctors who feel that way. Most investigators who are close to these crimes and criminals agree, people like the FBI’s John Douglas and Robert Ressler, premier profilers and investigators who have been investigating serial killers since the term was coined in the 1970s.
We believe that to understand the why of serial killers, one has to first accept the existence of the unconscious mind: that things are going on it constantly and that it is capable of controlling behavior. When a child is abused in one way or another by parents, the anger and terror he or she feels is hidden in the unconscious, which becomes like a seething cauldron, and the child starts looking for ways to deal with the terrifying feelings emerging from it. Someone in the family, usually the mother or father, has clearly shown the child that he or she has no value except perhaps as a sex object or someone to hurt. A terrible fear builds up in the child’s unconscious that results from feeling constantly under threat, so the child starts to formulate fantasies of being all-powerful, controlling, and able to handle whatever comes his or her way. Then, the child creates symbolic scenarios in which he or she is dominant or acts out, first by showing mastery over animals by abusing them, and sometimes over structures while burning them down. This manifests in adulthood as a powerful sex drive and the abuse of the women or children in the person’s life.
While all of us are subject to some stress in our childhoods from our parents, the stress we are talking about here is horrendous, and the reaction of the child is equally so. Indeed, this book is full of horrendous things that happened to children who went on to become serial murderers: Ken Bianchi’s mother, a prostitute, held his hand over a stove flame to punish him. Edmund Kemper’s parents made him kill his pet chicken and forced him to eat it, tears streaming down his face, for dinner.
At some point in serial killers’ development—usually when they’re in their twenties—the fantasies or the cruelty to animals is no longer enough to satisfy their murderous rages, and their compulsion is satisfied by nothing less than killing people. We believe that serial killers are unconsciously terrified of and furious with people because of their own childhoods, and that they kill to temporarily alleviate that terror.
As with all murderers, there are more male serial killers than female ones. While it may appear on the surface that some women kill for financial gain—those characterized as “black widows,” who benefit from killing family or friends— it’s likely that the real reasons they kill are the same as they are for men: to take control, to gain power, and to temporarily conquer the terror inside them. And “temporarily” is a key consideration. At the risk of redundancy, the act of dominance, of killing, must be done over and over again to support the serial killer’s delusion that he or she is all-powerful, to reassert superiority.
And like all insecure people, serial killers are egotists. They want to be known and feted for their achievements as killing machines. And this, as some of the stories in this book will show, sometimes gets them caught.
The Birth of a Killer
Serial killers, as detailed earlier, do not emerge suddenly—they develop, and there may well be indications that a young person is heading that way. Years ago, psychiatrists established that a serial murderer will have exhibited one or more specific behaviors in childhood: cruelty to animals, setting fires, and wetting the bed. If you know a child who exhibits two of these symptoms, you should consult with a psychiatrist. In particular, cruelty to animals and setting fires are indicative of someone on a power trip: The person lords it over the tortured animals and the houses burned to the ground, and the behavior reassures the person of his or her power. Bed-wetting is likely a reaction to the chaotic nature of dreams and is often a symptom of serious abuse—it’s maybe the symptom least associated with violence, but coupled with the others, it could indicate mental instability.
While the most common type of serial killer is the person who operates individually, there are also killers who act together as a team. In this instance, one is usually dominant and the other person wants to do anything to please the dominant person. A striking example of this is the Hillside Strangler, who was actually two people: Ken Bianchi, who was trying to please his dominant cousin Angelo Buono Jr. (read more about this killer team in Chapter 13). But while there are two instead of one, they are both sick—although one might be more violent than the other, that does not make the submissive partner innocent or healthy—and just as deadly as any solo killer.
Q&A
Q. Do serial killers kill only members of their own race?
A. The victims of a serial killer do generally belong to the same race as the killer, but not always.
Q. Who was America’s first serial killer?
A. H. H. Holmes has been said to be the first serial killer in American history—he confessed to the murders of 27 people in his Chicago hotel during the 1893 World’s Fair.
Q. How many victims must a murderer have before he is considered a serial killer?
A. At least three, according to the FBI (most serial killers reach that benchmark with ease).
Q. How many serial murderers are out there?
A. There have been conflicting reports as to the extent of serial murder, but according to the FBI, there may be roughly seventy to one hundred serial killers operating at any given time.
Q. From what profession do the most serial murderers come?
A. The medical profession has produced the most serial killers—primarily doctors but nurses closely follow.
Q. Who is the most famous serial killer of all time?
A. Hands down, Jack the Ripper. This infamous killer slaughtered five prostitutes in the Whitechapel district of London, starting on August 31, 1888, and was never apprehended. To this day—though there are many theories—no one knows his true identity.