Serial Killers: Driven by Different Motives - Essay Sample

Introduction

Serial killers existed in the past and still exist today. The contemporary reasons for killing are based on obsession, paranoia, ritualistic, or impersonation, among others. According to Bonn (2019), serial killing is driven by different motives, the most basic being the satisfaction of the killing act. Serial killers have a chronic need for murder, a factor that distinguishes them from one-time murder individuals because it comes with varied crime interests. Dahmer state that most of the serial killers have a childhood rejection problem which grows into fear, therefore, they kill in fear of rejection. In this case, the killer is interested in women, who have almost similar crime scenes. The women might have been murdered for the same or different reasons by the same or different person. In this paper, we analyze the forensic case in terms of victims and three crime scenes, congruencies, and incongruences between the murder and hypothesis and deductive arguments available in the case.

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Victims, Crime Scenes and Reason for the Murder

The first victim was Anna Slessers, 55. The crime scene indicated that she was naked on the floor of her bathroom, her legs were apart and face up. She had her bathrobe cord around her neck, sexually assaulted with an unknown object and although nothing missing, her apartment was scattered. The second victim was Nina Nichols, 68. Her legs were as well spread apart with clothes pulled up to her waist. Two nylon stockings that were used to strangle her were tied around her neck. Also, her anus and vagina were torn from sexual assault and as well nothing was missing from her ransacked apartment. Helen Blake, 65 was the other victim. She was found naked on her bed, legs wide apart and been strangled with nylon. A brassiere was tied around her neck in a bow and two diamond rings were taken from her fingers.

Ida Irga, 75 was also found dead lying in her back with her dress torn, showing her nudity. Her legs were five feet wide apart and each leg put on a separate chair in an obstetrical position. Pillowcases were tied on her neck while the pillow sat under her buttocks. Irga was facing right at the entrance of her door. Jane Sullivan 67 was the other victim. She had died ten days ago, might have been sexually assaulted but her body had decomposed. She was found lying face down on a bathtub. Her head faucet and her feet were at the end of the tub. Blood was found in the kitchen or hallway, where she might have been strangled with nylons. All the above women might have been killed for revenge after they rejected the killer. The fact that they were all sexually assaulted, strangled, and no case of forced entry may mean that the killer was a lover who had been rejected. Also, the killer wanted to mock them by leaving them uncovered with their legs wide apart.

Sophie Clark followed suite where the 21 years old was found dead in her living room. Her neck was tied with nylons and legs apart. Clark Was also sexually assaulted and semen was found in the rug. Patricia Bissette, 23 was also found dead in her apartment, strangled with a blouse and several stockings interwoven. She was covered up to her chin, had signs of sexual intercourse and her rectum was destroyed. Mary Brown, 68 was another victim who was beaten to death, raped and strangled. Another victim was Beverly Samans, also 23 who was found on the couch with her hands tied at the back, a handkerchief around her neck, gagged with a cloth and strangled with nylons and her legs wide apart. She also had four stabs on her neck and 18 others in the shape of a bull's eye on her left breast. 85 old Evelyn Corbin was the other victim found dead strangled with two nylons with an underpants as her gag. There were sperms in her mouth and tissues with lipsticks and semen.

Joan Graf was the second last victim who was strangled with two stockings in an elaborate bow. Her vagina was lacerated with blood and her breast had teeth marks. The last victim was as usual strangled with a stocking. A colorful scarf was on her neck as a bow. She was leaning on her bed board while sited. Her breast was bare while she drooled semen-like liquid. She was sexually assaulted with a broom handle and at her feet was a happy New Year card from the killer. These victims might have been murdered for rejection revenge. However, they might not have entered into a relationship yet. This is because the witnesses of at least two victims said the killer was not sure of the victims' houses. Also, the killer might have hated these victims most because he made sure that he put them through pain before strangling them.

Congruencies and Incongruences Between the Murders

There are several consistencies amongst the 13 murders. The most common congruence is strangling. The women were either strangled with stocking or nylon. All women were sexually assaulted. Another common thing amongst all women is that they were all killed by their apartments. Another congruency is that the murder was a crime of passion. All victims were murdered in different areas within their apartments. The first six women had their nudity exposed and their legs wide apart. Also, most of the victims had their necks tied with a cloth in a bow. Bissette and Samans were both 23 years old. In 12 cases, nothing was reported missing in the house. Nichols and Bissette had their anus destroyed. Nichols, the last victim, Slessers, and Graf had their vagina lacerated. Corbin and the last victim crime scenes included the killer's semen or sperms. Clark and Graf's cases had witnessed. Samans and Corbin had both been gaged.

The following are incongruences or inconsistencies between the murders. The first indifference is the time and season when all the women were murdered. Among the thirteen women, none of them had been killed at a similar hour with another. Out of the 13 cases, eleven of the women were of different years ranging from 21 as the youngest to 85 as the eldest. Another incongruence is that amongst all the cases, only Helen Blake's two diamond rings were reported missing. Ida Irga obstetrical positioning was unique whereby her legs were each raised on separate chairs and was facing the entrance. Brown is the only victim who was stabbed severally. Graf had teeth marks around her breast. Only the last case had a message, a New Year card. Also, the last victim alone had been assaulted using a broom.

Five Hypothesis and Deductive Arguments in the Case

The first hypothesis is that the murders were a crime of passion. We are all susceptible to crimes of passion (Samenow, 2014). Everybody is capable of committing a crime of passion especially if they were severely hurt by their partners. From the forensic case, it is evident that all the victims knew their killers or at least were not afraid of him. This is because there were no signs of forced entry, meaning that the victims willingly opened their doors for the criminal. Dressler (1982) states that most victims of a crime of passion have familiarity or have a tendency of their counterpart criminals. Some of the reasons why one would kill their lovers is cheating, jealous and insecurity, paranoia or even break up (Schmideberg, 1947). Therefore, even though the killer is all cases did not use to visit their victims, they might have had a relationship.

The second hypothesis is rejection. Catalano et al (2009) state that at least 70% of serial killers have been rejected during their childhood. Therefore, the killers could kill could murder out of fear of rejection. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2018), most women homicides are done by men who have rejection fears. In this case, at least 10 cases were classified as a homicide. Besides, they had a very similar process of killing. These women might have been killed because they either rejected the advances of the killer, they rejected him while in the relationship or the killer feared their rejection.

Another hypothesis is that the serial killers were two. The killer of the first ten women was different from the killer of the last three women. This is because, according to Gaertner, Luzzini, and O'Mara (2008), serial killers have consistency in their murder. In this case, in the first ten cases, the killer never left traces that could lead back to him while the last three cases had shreds of evidence from semen to DNA from teeth bite. A serial killer often needs control (Mueller, 2010). In the last three cases, two cases showed that the women had been tied to either chair or their hands to the back. This shows that the killer wanted to have control while in those other cases, the killer did not need control.

The fourth hypothesis is that the single killer of all the victims picked women randomly. Most serial killers kill for different reasons but the most common is to satisfy the need for killing (Zeigler & Kurtz, n.d). One evidence that the killing was random is that the killer almost murdered Clark's murder witness. The woman rejected his advances and he was angry. However, he left when the witness informed him that her husband was sleeping in the next room.

The last hypothesis is that the killer of all victims had anger issues. According to Malizia (2017), serial killers have anger issues. From the case, it is evident that the killer of Clark was enraged when the witness rejected his complements. Consequently, the killer could have visited the victims for other reasons but between their conversations, they disagreed thus causing the killer's rage. Also, people with anger issues would do outrageous things without thinking including killing.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the killer could have been one or two all depending on various arguments and assumptions. Also, it could have been a crime of passion due to sexual assaults involved. It could have been a serial killer with an anger issue, fear of rejection or even paranoia. The many congruencies indicate that the killer could have been one and when he started leaving the evidence, he wanted to be caught. Many hypotheses could be drawn from this case based on many deductive arguments and pieces of evidence. My last remarks are that the murder was done by one paranoia who after ten killings was mad that the police had not caught him, therefore he started leaving traces for his recognition.

References

Bonn, S. A. (2019, September 15). Understanding what drives serial killers. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/wicked-deeds/201909/understanding-what-drives-serial-killers

Catalano, S., Smith, E., Snyder, H., & Rand, M. (2009). Female Victims of Violence. https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/fvv.pdf

Dahmer, J. (n.d.). The term. Web.LeMoyne.Edu. https://web.lemoyne.edu/~Freemams/index_files/psych_serial.htm

Dressler, J. (1982). Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 73(2), 1-51. https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6302&context=jclc

Gaertner, L., Iuzzini, J., & O'Mara, E. M. (2008). When rejection by one fosters aggression against many: Multiple-victim aggression as a consequence of social rejection and perceived groupness. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44(4), 958-970. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2008.02.004

Malizia, N. (2017). Serial Killer: The Mechanism from Imagination to the Murder Phases. https://www.scirp.org/pdf/sm_2017031716480041.pdf

Mueller, R. S. (2010, May 21). Serial murder. Federal Bureau of Investigation. https://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/serial-murder

Samenow, S. E. (2014, August 19). Are we all susceptible to crimes of passion? Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/inside-the-criminal-mind/201408/are-we-all-susceptible-crimes-passion

Schmideberg, M. (1947). Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. https://scholarlycommo...