Serial Killers

Serial killers are not Jekyll and Hyde characters, normal one minute and raving beasts the next. Their development happens over time and usually starts in childhood and escalates.

Not all serial killers are geniuses from broken homes and poverty, although many come from one sort of dysfunctional family or another and have suffered severe emotional abuse as children and find themselves unable to have a mature sexual relationship with another adult. They resent this state of affairs, which leads to even more aggression.

Their fantasies become obsessions that need to be acted upon. Once is not enough and after one wish is fulfilled their minds are consumed with bigger, better and more violent fantasies. This cycle is worsened because the killer's reality never lives up to the fantasy.

The majority of serial killers are white males. They usually kill within their own ethnic group. Most are in their late 20's to 30's and they are usually loners with vivid fantasy lives, which usually involves the complete domination of another person.

Unpunished deviant behaviour adds to the fantasy killing cycle, the dehumanising of people, which possibly stems from neglect and abuse in childhood builds. Serial killers don't appear to know or understand how to have what we would class as a normal relationship, because they have never seen or been taught what that is.

The above are a few general traits of serial killers based on research and the art of profiling which can help narrow the list of suspects when a murder is committed. It is not an exact science and has taken years get even this far, but certain traits re-occur time and time again and three main groups of killer has emerged.

• Organised
• Disorganised and
• Mixed

Organised serial killers are basically methodical; they stalk their victims and take care not to leave clues. They usually hide the bodies and plan the murders, they have probably fantasised about it for years just waiting for the right victim. Most of the victims are strangers of a certain type. Perhaps people of a certain age or with a certain appearance.

Control is usually important and they can appear sociable. They're intelligent enough to lure victims into a situation where they can be overcome and taken. This type of killer is able to see people as individuals before the murder, at least enough to talk to and manipulate them. They adapt their behaviour during the crime and learn from their mistakes. They get better at killing.

Organised killers often have their own kits, tools and things like restraints that they might be need and they often use vehicles. Sometimes they will manipulate the evidence at a crime scene to confuse police. They often take mementoes of the victim.

Organised killers are more openly aggressive and externalise emotions. They like crowds and are often classed as bullies and roublemakers, they feel superior to people and like to follow news coverage of their crimes.

Often sexually proficient they are unable to sustain long-term relationships and have huge a amount of anger towards women and anger in general at a society they feel has mistreated them. This type of killer is the most prevalent type.

Disorganised killers are more frenzied and are usually mentally ill. There is no logic to the choice of victim and they have no interest in them as a person. Victims are often knocked out or their faces covered as quickly as possible.

There isn't much of a pattern to follow when trying to work out a reason or method of killing. Disorganised killers can be panicky and less adaptable and although they probably have a reason for the crimes they commit it is unlikely that anyone else will be able to see it.

They don't care about physical evidence such as fingerprints and rarely use vehicles. They more often opt for public transport or walk to the crime scene, usually finding the weapon on site too.

This type of killer is not capable of staging a crime scene and more often than not kills quickly in a spontaneous frenzy.

They lack verbal skills and the ability to express their emotions properly and probably have a poor self-image and are or were very quiet.

They have no interest in collecting news about their crimes and rarely move bodies or take trophies such as jewellery to remember their victims by. They are more likely to take a body part or some of the clothing.

Mixed serial killers are of course any mixture of the other two categories.

As I have stated there are no hard and fast rules to help us understand the killers among us, the above traits are generalities and not cast in stone. People can suffer terrible abuse and not turn into serial killers.

Will there ever come a time when we fully understand what creates human beings capable of such atrocities? Let's hope so for all our sakes because the phenomenon of the serial killer is on the increase and he could be living next door to you!

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