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Serial Murders

Phenomenology and Serial Murder

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STUDYING SERIAL MURDER : THE NEED FOR ANOTHER APPROACH

How we look at the problem of serial murder will determine what we find. The conscience of humanity demands that the taking of one human life by another be explained. Human beings are distinguished from other life forms in terms of their ability to develop culture. Implicit in this notion is our sociability. Human beings have, at once, the capacity to behave in prosocial and antisocial ways two dimensions that are not mutually exclusive. Indeed, it may be the result of protective or humanitarian motives that prompt one individual to kill another. The act of taking another’s life may thus be understandable and acceptable in terms of its apparent utility Killing does not always involve criminal, violent, aggressive, or intentional acts. Killing someone in self-defense or in the context of war are examples of comprehensible killing. There are, however, other kinds of killing for ...

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Reach Report | Spatial Patterns Of Serial Murder: An Analysis of Disposal Site Location Choice

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Abstract

Although the murders committed by serial killers may not be considered rational, there is growing evidence that the locations in which they commit their crimes may be guided by an implicit, if limited rationality.

The hypothesized logic of disposal site choice of serial killers led to predictions that (a) their criminal domains would be around their home base and relate to familiar travel distances, (b) they would have a size that was characteristic of each offender, (c) the distribution would be biased towards other non‐criminal activities, and (d) the size of the domains would increase over time.

Examination of the geographical distribution of the sites at which 126 US and 29 UK serial killers disposed of their victims' bodies supported all four hypotheses. It was found that rational choice and routine activity models of criminal behavior could explain the spatial choices of serial murderers. It was concluded that the locations at which serial killers dispose of their victims' bodies

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Serial Murder: A Forensic Psychiatric Perspective

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When law enforcement apprehends a serial murderer, the event is consistently the focus of unswerving media coverage. For local communities, the ordeal can be particularly shocking and upsetting. Residents living in a community that is exposed to serial murder may even experience posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms for varying periods of time (Herkov and Beirnat, 1997). Over the past three decades, our society has become fascinated by the phenomenon of serial murder as evidenced by the numerous books, movies and television shows on the subject. Yet, despite the high level of interest, there is no current theory that adequately explains the etiology of serial murder (Holmes et al., 2002). This Is primarily due to the fact that serial murder is an event with an extremely low base rate and therefore is difficult to study via rigorous scientific methods (Dietz, 1986). While serial murder is a universally terrifying concept, it is an extraordinarily rare event. In a study of the frequency of serial sexual homicide

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Serial Murderers’ Spatial Decisions: Factors that Influence Crime Location Choice

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Abstract

The outcome of German serial murderer spatial decision making was measured as the straight-line distance (km) between murderer home locations and each crime location (i.e. body recovery location). Geographic and series development data, as well as information on age, intelligence, motive, marital status, employment status, and mode of transportation of 53 German serial murderers was collected from police and prosecution service files and judicial verdict records. Potential effects of the aforementioned factors on spatial decisions were assessed. Results showed that 63% of the murderers lived within 10 km of their crime locations. Home-to-crime distance was negatively correlated with murderer age and positively correlated with murderer IQ score. Results also showed that the mode of transportation used by murderers had an effect on their spatial decisions. Results are discussed in terms of understanding serial murderer spatial decision-making and implications for police investigations.

INTRODUCTION

A limited amount of information is available regarding serial murderers’ spatial decisions. Existing research on this topic has been based primarily on American serial murderers,...

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Prostitute Found Dead Near Ny Serial Killer’s Dumping Ground Possibly Murdered, Says Famed Coroner

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AMITYVILLE, N.Y. –  The remains of a New York-area escort whose body was found in 2011 near a mass grave of prostitutes were buried Thursday, four days after a renowned coroner told Fox News she may have been murdered a development that could be a break in the hunt for a Long Island serial killer.

Shannan Gilbert, 23, of Jersey City, N.J., disappeared May 1, 2010, after visiting a client in the gated community of Oak Beach on a barrier island off Long Island's south shore. A months-long search for her first led to the bodies of four other prostitutes, each strangled and stuffed in burlap bags along Ocean Parkway, a 15-mile road that spans Jones Beach, roughly a mile from where they would later find Gilbert's body, in December 2011.

It's extremely rare for a young woman to die of drowning yards away from where four young women have clearly been murdered. The statistics don't go along with that."...

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The Missing Missing Toward a Quantification of Serial Murder Victimization in the United States

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Early attempts to estimate the annual number of serial murder victims in the United States greatly varied (Fox & Levin, 1985; Holmes & DeBurger, 1988; Kiger, 1990). Kiger (1990) noted that the most extreme estimates of the number of serial murder victims were as high as 6,000 victims a year with claims of as many as 500 active annual killers during the mid to late 1980s. By 1990, scholars suggested that the incidence of serial murder was overestimated and that the United States was spending an extraordinary amount of money and attention on what may have constituted as little as 1% of total annual homicides (Kiger, 1990). Jenkins (2005) suggested the exaggerated magnitude of serial murders in the United States resulted from several factors. When apprehended, serial killers (e.g., Henry Lee Lucas) claimed to have hundreds of victims when in fact they had far fewer (Egger, 2002; Fox & Levin, 2005).1 There was also confusion about differences...

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The Dracula Killer: A Psychobiographical Illustration Of The Schahriar Syndrome Model For Serial Murder

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Abstract

This psychobiographical study of Richard Trenton Chase (1950–1980), a serial murderer, has the aim to uncover the psychic mechanisms characteristic of his functioning. The study included primary and secondary data sources. All materials collected and analysed, were published and publically available. The Schahriar syndrome model served as the conceptual framework for data framing and interpretation. Findings suggest that Chase exhibited five primitive psychic mechanisms namely: omnipotence, sadistic fantasies, ritualised performance, dehumanisation and symbiotic merger. The Schahriar syndrome model has utility to explain the psychological functioning of a serial murderer...

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