Profiling the Maddog Rules of Prey
...e location for a long period of time, does the killing in the same area, and disposes the bodies at the killing site or close to it. The geographically transientkiller moves frequently, kills in different locations to avoid apprehension by police, and disposes of bodies far from the site of the murders (Holmes and Holmes, 63). Though there are many classifications, the majority of serial killers possess similar characteristics.Most are white, male, between the ages of twenty-five and thirty-four, are intelligent or street-smart, charming and charismatic, and have had some dealings or interest in the police (Holmes and Holmes, 67). The Maddog in "Rules of Prey" is definitely a geographically stable serial killer. He lives in the same apartment throughout the book, kills people in the same city, Minneapolis, usually victims within walking distance of his abode, and leaves the bodies in the same place he kills them. The Maddog also fits the stereotypical serial killer. He is a white male, middle-age, intelligent, as evidenced by his profession as a lawyer, he is not particularly charming or charismatic, though he displays some degree of charm in his dealings with Jeannie Lewis the real estate agent. Lewis was the fourth woman he attacked. He met her a month before the attack in the courthouse and had a conversation with her in which he got her real estate business card. He phoned her a month later with the excuse of a house that he was interested in. She was very pleased to see him once she recognized him, as he had made a good impression the first time they had met. He was suave in talking to her and made her feel comfortable immediately before the victimization. This was unfortunate because he used his charisma to kill her, but this falls in line with the stereotype of serial killers as charming and charismatic. The Maddog also fits into the serial killer stereotype in the sense that he is a lawyer and deals directly with laws set up by the police and spends most of his time at the courthouse where law officials are abundant. In addition to general characteristics and broad classes, there are much more specific groups into which serial killers are divided. Holmes and Holmes discuss four types of serial killers. They are: visionary, missionary, hedonistic, and power/control. The Maddog is a combination of the hedonistic and power/control type of serial killer. The hedonistic serial killer has three distinctions. The first is the lust killer which is characterized by the association of sexual desires and murder. The lust killer is typically a thirty-two to thirty-six year old white male. The lust killer uses a knife or strangulation as their mode of killing because of the personal intimateness it entails. Rape of the victim usually occurs either before or after the murder. The lust killer usually leaves the body of the victim at the crime scene or close by, and usually lives close to the crime scene. Typically the lust killer comes from a small family where the mother was dominating and was sex-negative oriented, which means she projected a forbidden or sinful image of sex to the child. The lust killer usually lives alone and is single, possesses a steady job of blue collar work, and views killing in terms of process orientation rather than act orientation. He/she sees the killing in terms of sexual gratification derived in dealing with the helpless victim. The second sub-type of hedonistic killer is the thrill killer which kills for the excitement it brings, but not necessarily for sexual excitement. The final type is the comfort killer which kills for material gains. These types of killers are usually very mobile to avoid police detection and are usually hired to kill. The Maddog falls into the category of t...