Serial Killers
...5 murders and in America one for every 30. Up to 1939 the ratios were 1:55 and 1:350," wrote crime correspondent Stewart Tendler. There are several key distinctions between serial killers, mass murderers, and regular murderers. These distinctions are what makes serial homicide unique in law enforcement experience. In "normal" murders, victim and killer(s) usually know each other. Police know the usual motives and the usual cues to look for. There's hackneyed wisdom that husbands kill their wives in the bedroom while wives kill their husbands in the kitchen, but I have no idea how accurate this homily is. Mass murderers do all their killings at once, usually in one place. They give little thought to escape or evading arrest, and usually solve themselves through suicide or being shot by police. Their victims may or may not be people they know. Serial killers individualize their murders, and tend to avoid detection for years. In recent years, they usually attack strangers. More chilling is that mass murderers are usually psychotic, but serial killers are usually sane. Retired FBI Special Agent John Douglas, formerly of the Behavioral Science Unit, reports at least two serial killers who were not only undergoing treatment by mental health professionals while they were committing murders, but who were also praised by their psychiatrists for the "progress" they were making at the time. Suave, cultured, Hannibal Lecter, from the 1991 Orion Pictures release, "Silence of the Lambs", has become the modern icon for serial killers. Almost forgotten is the real murderer of the film, the dirty, uneducated, Jame Gumb, nicknamed "Buffalo Bill." Given the two contrasting models, it's the unwashed Gumb who is closer to the reality than not. Most serial killers are not well educated, having attained a high school education or less, perhaps a year or two of college. Like Gumb, many serial killers travel a lot. Two of Gumb's habits are also directly taken from real-life killers: His ploy of posing as an injured man with broken arm was used by Ted Bundy, and; his goal of sewing together a woman's skin to wear is directly lifted from Wisconsin's own Ed Gein. (Gein told psychiatrists he wore women's body parts as he danced naked in the moonlight around his isolated farm.) Some studies indicate serial killers operate from violent, sexually-oriented control fantasies. Even killers who said they acted from financial gain got a thrill from the act of killing. Interestingly, the choice of victim showed clear gender-biases. The solo male serial killer preferred young women who were alone, or if he killed a family member it was usually his children. Female serial killers tended to target children, or if they went after family, it was usually their husbands. How a serial killer finds victims is an interesting question, and shows some biases in society. The media is quick to label female victims as prostitutes, which is not entirely inaccurate. Prostitutes, male or female, must isolate themselves with strangers by nature of their occupation, which makes them easy prey. However, studies show the male-dominated world of serial killers usually targets young women who are alone, including college students. Ted Bundy was notably adept in hunting within crowded parks or shopping malls. Serial killers often seem to take a curious pride in their murders. At least one was found to be writing to other convicted killers and asking for details of their murders, just so he could confess to some of these killings and bump up his body count. Serial killers focus on a variety of sexual acts. Killers have admitted to working on a victim just long enough to break the victim's will to live, and when the person surrendered, he or she is killed. One convicted murderer stated he got angry if a victim died "too soon." Many serial killers take 'trophies" from their victims, including clothing, hair, body parts, jewelry, and other personal items. They may have photographs, video tapes, or audio tapes of their killings. I was reading one of the few scholarly studies I could find on serial killers over lunch. I consider myself a reasonably hardened man of the world, and was savoring some tuna salad when I turned the page and ran face-first into a detailed interview with a serial killer. For a split second I choked, gagged, and then caught myself. I took a moment to calm down, and went on reading. Needless to say, when you read newspaper accounts of what a serial killer does to his victims, keep in mind they hugely understate the depravities involved. To say a serial killer mutilates a victim is like saying Custer suffered a career setback at Little Big Horn. Both Gumb and Lecter were guilty of mutilations and other acts. However, Gumb was curiously goal-oriented. Some serial killers have claimed to working to cleanse the world of evil people or of obeying "higher" orders. On the other hand, most just killed because they enjoyed it. The main inaccuracy of "Silence of the Lambs," as far as I can tell, is that it portrayed both Gumb and Lecter as insane. I suspect this was done to make the characters more palatable to a psychiatrically unsophisticated audience. Stepping back from the world of fiction, it's interesting to note the reaction to serial killers has not changed much over the years. One particularly famous case stereotypes the reactions of the news media, the police, and the public. The news media hangs a catchy nickname on the killer, reports unsubstantiated rumor, and hinders police investigations. The police flood the streets with manpower to provide an "increased presence." The public wildly panics and starts arming themselves. I'm referring, of course, to the Jack the Ripper killings in 1888. Serial killers are a difficult problem for law enforcement, now as before. "Normal" crimes have n...