Some time ago when my children where young they, like all other children, worried about Monsters. I did the obligatory "under the bed check" and I even had a "magic flashlight which "poofed" monsters. At that time I had been immersed in the study of serial murders and forensic science for several years and dearly wish the magic flashlight existed.
One of the middle children was extremely independent and tended to wander off with her younger brother in pursuit. There were several episodes where I found myself running frantically through my neighborhood in tears searching for the two youngest. I eventually found them playing at a stone bridge near our house. In an attempt to prevent them from wandering off to play at the bridge I told them a monster lived under the bridge. The only thing that could protect them was me. They both remember this story and the youngest still asks if there really was a monster under the bridge. "There could have been." I think to myself. I say "no I just told you that so you would not come down here to play by yourself." I will have to tell him about the real monsters soon.
All mothers and most parents in general know the feeling of panic when your child disappears even briefly. None ever wish to endure this feeling for more than a few minutes. I cannot imagine the torture for parents who have to endure it for months or years. The subject of the next few articles will be criminal profiling. In particular, profiling of serial killers who prey on there victims for sexual or psychological pleasure.
A serial killer is defined as someone who kills and then has a cooling off period followed by one or more subsequent murders. This would include psycho/sexual murderers, hired assassins, many political leaders and so on. For this series of articles we will look at those "lone wolf" killers who seem to be motivated by sexual or psychological gratification.
This instinctive fear that someone has spirited away our child is not new. It is reflected in literature such as Grim's fairy tales and other children's stories which warn of the dangers of wandering to far from home or speaking to strangers. These stories exist in almost every culture and are directed at children and young women as there audience. Stories such as Bluebeard and the Dracula legend also indicate that serial murder may not be purely a modern phenomenon. Both of these stories are based on historical figures who were serial killers.
In past many people were born and lived there whole lives in the same village. Strangers were easily identifiable and probably treated with some caution. In modern times, the rise of large cities affords the individual a certain degree of anonymity. Virtually most of the people you will see in any public place will be strangers. This situation heightens the sense of fear and the possibility that somewhere in that crowd is lurking a killer. The problem is you can't tell by looking at them or even talking to them. The expression "a wolf in sheep's clothing" applies aptly to our modern problem with serial murderers in that they can hide in the crowd undetected until it is too late.
The dangers for children and young women are not as new as some writers believe. Many such as Dr. Elliot Leyton author of Hunting Humans and Men of Blood see serial murder as having increased dramatically over the last century particularly in the United States. Leyton believes that the rise of the modern serial killer is a cultural phenomenon. Others like John Douglas and Mark Olshaker, both founders of the F.B.I. behavioral science unit, believe that it is a phenomenon which has existed for quite a long period but was not recognized as a unique form of criminal behavior(Douglas and Olshaker, 1991).
Throughout time and various cultures mankind has been a hunter. The genetic selection would have been in favor of those men will strong hunting skills and instincts. A man with strong hunting skills is better able to provide for his offspring and they tend to survive in larger numbers than children who are deprived of food. The hunter's genes are passed on to the next generation and so on down through time. Those instincts are still present in modern humans. Some become soldiers or police officers where the hunt is modified by cars and "capture only" rules apply but it is still a hunt. A wolf pack will chase its prey until it is exhausted and then herd it into an inescapable area for the "take down". During a police chase, of any kind, the same thing occurs.
Others join sports which satisfy the hunting instincts. Unfortunately for us the rise of the modern large city has deprived some of us of the ability to satisfy the instinct to hunt. At some point in their lives-usually early- serial killers loose the ability to control the instinct to hunt.
Animals used in experiments which test overcrowding will kill each other and exhibit inappropriate sexual behavior in response to stress (Leyton, 1986). Whether the inability to control this instinct is triggered by cultural factors are physical and mental abuse I am not sure. It could be either in combination with a genetic predisposition for a strong hunting instinct. Since serial killers come from all different backgrounds I suspect it is sometimes one or both which trigger the inability to control the hunting instinct.
In some killers the kill is linked to sexual pleasure and is more likely a product of similar abuse experienced by the killer. Some seem to enjoy the game of "catch me if you can" and the notoriety it brings. Others are truly mentally unable to judge right for wrong. I will discuss the motives for murder a little later in this series.
There are probably hundreds of ways to make a chocolate cake each using standard ingredients in varying amounts. A person can not point to "flour" and say "that is what will result in a chocolate cake if I bake it." The cake is a combination of many ingredients. The amounts of each ingredient used determine the type of chocolate cake. So it is with serial killers. They are not created by one action or factor but by a mix of genetics, cultural encouragement of violence, physical and mental stress factors such as abuse and childhood linking of sexual pleasure with pain, violence or fear.
History
For many centuries physicians and scholars have sought to determine what causes the behavior of certain individuals and whether types of behavioral tendencies can be predicted. As far back as the second century A.D. a Roman doctor named Galen developed theories as to how the brain operated. He believed that the brain was made up of two parts. One part controlled the external senses while the other part regulated internal feels such as judgment (Innes, 2003). If this sounds vaguely familiar it is. Sigmund Freud would develop a very similar theory. Galen's theories were not popular at the time. The idea that the brain is responsible for regulation of behavior would not be popular until Sigmund Freud proposed the idea of the Id, Ego and Superego.
For a large part of the time period between Galen's original theory and the sixteenth century criminal behavior was explained in terms of demonic possession or bewitchment. In the 16th century a technique called "Physiognomy" became popular. This technique used the measurements of a person's forehead, eyes, mouth etc. to try to predict personality traits including criminal behavior (Innes, 2003).
During the 17th century the term 'Psychology" began to appear in the literature as philosophers and medical practitioners began to recognize the effects of the brain on behavior (Innes, 2003)
"Phrenology" was a philosophy which combined physiognomy and psychology. Francis Gall and J.K. Spurzham developed a theory that the brain was made up of 37 parts each controlling a specific function. These parts of the brain could be located and analyzed by feeling the bumps on a person's skull (Innes, 2003) (Lane, 1992) (Owen, 2000). Although the theory was rejected in their native Austria it became popular in other parts of Europe and in the United States (Innes, 2003).
Physiognomy re-emerged as a popular technique in the 19th century when Cesare Lombroso, an army surgeon and Professor of mental disease, heard that a German Pathologist had found structures in the brains of criminals which appeared "primitive" in nature. Lambroso began studying the physical appearance of criminals. He published descriptions of various body types and the crimes associated with each (Innes, 2003). The descriptions were vastly oversimplified. They were associated with body type and the type of criminal associated with each.
In opposition to Lambroso was a professor of forensic medicine in France named Alexandre Lacassage. Lacassage believe that criminals were a product of society and its values and not born that criminals (Innes, 2003) This debate is still raging today as to whether criminals are born or made by their circumstances is life.
An off shoot of Lambroso's work was a system of classification developed by Alphonse Bertillon called Anthropometry. This system used various measurements of the head and body to identify criminal rather than predict behavior. Bertillon had some success in the beginning with using this system to identify criminals who where using false names (Lane, 1992) (Innes, 2003).
In the end anthropometry gave way to fingerprinting as a form of identification but Bertillon's system of photographing criminals from the side and front still remains in use today(Innes, 2003) (Lane, 1992)
At the beginning of the 20th century the idea of body type as a predictor of criminality started to give way to the ideas of modern psychology. The work of Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud contributed to the idea that criminal behavior was related to the lack of internal control by the brain.
An English sociologist, Dr. Goring, developed the idea that criminals were men who felt isolated and rejected by society and chose to make his own rules. This concept of a switch from non-criminal behavior to criminal behavior is the basis of modern psychological assessment of criminal behavior (Innes, 2003). The idea of rehabilitation is based on this concept as well.
Modern Criminal Profiling
Modern criminal profiling is generally thought to have begun with the Jack the Ripper Case in England. In August 31, 1888 a man know first as "leather apron" and finally as "Jack the Ripper" struck his first victim. The first victim was a middle aged prostitute who was found with her throat slashed to the point of near decapitation. She had been repeatedly stabbed in the stomach.
The second victim, attacked 8 days later on August 8th, also a prostitute in middle age was found with her throat slashed. The internal organs had been removed.
The third victim was a middle aged prostitute found with her throat slashed. The attacker was interrupted attempting to remove her ear. She was killed on September 30, 1888.
The fourth victim was a middle aged prostitute also killed on September 30, 1888. Her throat had been slashed and one of her kidneys had been removed. It was later sent to the chairman of the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee with a note from Jack the Ripper.
All of the first four killings occurred out doors in the darkened alleys of London's East End and involved women living in extreme poverty.
The fifth and final victim was a significantly younger woman at the age of 25. She was killed indoors giving the killer more time and privacy to complete his "work". The final victim was horrifically mutilated. Her throat was slashed and her internal organs removed. Most of her skin was removed and place on a table next to her. Her breasts had been removed. One breast, an ovary and a kidney were found under her head. Her liver was placed between her feet. Almost all of the flesh had been removed from the thighs. One hand had been inserted into the abdominal cavity (Owen, 2000).
In response to the extensive mutilation of the fifth victim a police surgeon named Dr. Bond was brought in to assist in the autopsy and offer an opinion as to the level of surgical skill the killer possessed. He went one step further and, based on the extent of the mutilation and the communication by "the Ripper" with police and newspapers, developed a profile of the killer. No one will ever know if it was accurate because the killer was never caught. Dr. Bond's profile represented one of the first times an investigator tried to profile a criminal based on there actions and the evidence left at a crime scene. Dr. Bond's profile is similar to one later developed by the F.B.I.
The case which is always quoted as the one which brought criminal profiling into the public eye is the "Mad Bomber". In 1940 an unexploded pipe bomb was found at the Con Edison building in New York. Con Edison is the electrical supplier for the City of New York. Over the next sixteen years bombers were found all over New York. The bomber communicated with various newspapers and the police by letter and several phone calls. The letters all called for the Con Edison Company to be held accountable for some unknown crime. Many of the early bombs were meticulously made. They seemed to have been made with the intent that they didn't detonate (Innes, 2000).
By 1955 the bombs were becoming more destructive and in 1956 a bomb placed in a movie theatre injured six people three seriously. In an unusual move Inspector Finney of the New York Police crime laboratory consulted psychiatrist Dr. James Brussel. Dr. Brussel provided the following assessment.
The Bomber was single male approximately 40-50 years of age of Slavic descent. This makes sense considering how long the bombings had gone on. As well the bomber had stopped making and distributing bombs for the duration of WW2 in a show of patriotism. This to me is something indicative of an older more mature man.
Dr. Brussel believed the bomber to be suffering from paranoia. He felt that the bomber was near insanity and was very careful and meticulous in an effort to hid this. He felt this condition developed after the age of thirty. This is what he based his estimation of age.
Dr. Brussel believed the bomber was 'skilled mechanically, neat with tools, contemptuous of other people and. resentful of criticism of his work. The bomber was not social and not interested in women. He might flare up violently when his work is criticized. He was a high school graduate and an expert in military or civil ordnance. He was moral, honest and religious. He would live alone or with an older female relative (Innes, 2000).
Dr. Brussel also felt that the motive for the bombings was resentment over the loss of a job or a reprimand. He felt that the bomber probably worked or had worked for Con Edison.
His final prediction is the one people found most stunning. Dr. Brussel predicted that when the bomber was caught he would be wearing a double breasted suit.
The police made public Dr. Brussel's findings and within a few days received a letter from the bomber stating that he had be injured working for Con Edison. He also provided the date of his injury essentially giving himself up. When the police arrived to arrest him he was in pajamas but changed into a double breasted suit in order to go to the police station (Innes, 2000)(Owen, 2000).
Most of what Dr. Brussel suggested about the bomber could have been gleaned from the period of time over which the bombings occurred and the skills needed to build these bombs. His prediction that the bomber was of Eastern European descent could have been assumed by the fact that all of the letters from the bomber were post marked from a neighborhood which was largely Polish.
His level of education could also have been guessed at by examining the letters and by noting that the bomber followed his own case in the newspapers. The prediction that he would be unmarried or living with an older female relative might be just as straight forward as examining the freedom in which he operated. Wives tend to tell if their husbands are building bombs. Older female relatives are likely dependant on the suspect and are less likely to tell and less likely to notice what is going on in the garage.
What about the thing with the double breasted suit. Double breasted suits were popular in the 1930's and early 1940's. The bomber in this case had been obsessed with his mission of revenge for 16 years essentially his life was on hold. He also was predicted to be neat and meticulous hence the double breasted suit. Finally he was able to plant bombs all over New York without anyone noticing anything suspicious. A well dressed man in a suit does not fit the profile of what people imagine a "Mad Bomber" to look like.
The fact that the summary including the double breasted suit business was published and read by the bomber has always intrigued me. Did the bomber read Dr. Brussel's summary and impressed with it decide to play along? No one may ever know but Dr. Brussel's profiling skills became quite famous. Profiling the criminal mind by use of crime scene evidence was coming to the forefront of criminal investigation as a new and useful technique.
By 1970 F.B.I. agent Howard Teten was giving lectures at the F.B.I. headquarters in Washington in which he tried to develop profiles from unsolved cases. As the program gained popularity agent Pat Mullany joined him. In 1972 the newly expanded F.B.I. training centre in Quantico, Virginia opened the Behavioral Science Unit. Several years later Tetan and Mullany where joined by Roy Hazelwood, Robert Ressler and Dick Ault. Roy Ressler began a series of interviews with convicted killers. Before this the profilers had worked with unsolved cases or with information from newspapers and television reports (Innes, 2003).
Robert Ressler and John Douglas traveled to California where they interviewed seven killers thereby adding to the information about the behavior, backgrounds and motives of these killers. The ground was being laid for the most highly developed criminal profiling system in existence.
This is part one of a series of articles on criminal profiling and the serial killer. Now that you know some of the history we can explore some of the cases and the valuable information they reveal. Chances are that most of us will never meet a serial killer. Your chances of being a murder victim are low and a victim of a serial killer even lower. That said they are out there. In future articles I will follow Dr. Elliot Leyton's lead and refrain from using the names of living killers when at all possible. I do not wish to contribute to the immortally and celebrity status many of them enjoy and crave.
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