Baby Steps: Part III, Finding the way to serial killers©

Baby Steps: Part III, Finding the way to serial killers©

by Janet E. McClellan, Ph.D.

2/1/2019

Preface

When I was a young police officer, I took a job in the state of Washington and upon my arrival became involved in the investigation of one of a series of murders that was believed to be linked to, as they said then, “some guy whose name might be Ted”. Ultimately, I became part of what were then the Inter-Agency State Task Force efforts into investigating abductions, missing persons, and homicides believed to be committed by “that guy” who was later identified as Theodore Bundy. So it my lifelong journey into the investigation of, education associated with, and research into homicide and violent sexualized homicide investigations that would include serial murder and serial murderers.

The books, articles, and blog I write are part of that life and career long investigation and curiosity of those who internationally and/or nationally who commit the heinous crimes against persons.

In this third part of my five-part series of “How Do We Profile? Let Me Count the Ways©”, I have chosen to do this discussion rather than list the definitions previously mentioned. We will get back to those.

In this part, I will present and discuss the profile typologies developed by leading research-theorists. These researchers have provided the typologies (classifications, categorizations, or taxonomies) of the crimes, crime scene forensics, behaviors, and victim targeting that are the most customarily used by investigators (whether they realize it or not) when they are faced with what may appear to be serial killers. I mention them but do not herein provide a full review, I leave that investigation to the readers. Please note, those theories and theorists are historically relevant, although some of their profiles are lacking in rigor and contemporary applicability.

Depicting Typologies of Serial Murder

In its earliest stages and in current investigative pursuits the research available in criminology, psychology, sociology, and forensics investigation provided a basis for the examination of the activities, motivation, and behavior of serial murderers. Those studies into those subject matters provided the early stages of understanding and potential tools for the investigator for the identification and apprehension of the perpetrators of serial murder.

One of the earlier attempts to categorize and explain sexual homicide behavior through a depiction of offender actions and personality traits was proposed by Ressler et al. (1985), later advanced by Burgess et al. (1986), and formalized by Burgess et al. (1992) in the Crime Classification Manual (Personally, based on extensive research, I do not recommend the Manual as its classification system is highly and demonstrably flawed.)

Although a significant amount of research has occurred since 1986 and much of the research enumerated the depiction of offender actions and personality traits, no typology or characterization has presented the information in an organized fashion utilizing the categorical features of profile, crime scene behavior, forensic findings, and victimology. Simply stated, one has to wander through several mountain ranges of literature and the sometimes scattered depictions of those features (categorical features of profile, crime scene behavior, forensic findings, and victimology) with the researchers sometimes meandering materials to detect those characteristics and their associated relevance to their value in profiling or framing of the characteristics relationships to one another.

In my book A Study of African American Serial Killers in the U.S.(C) (2018), I developed an informational organizational model through which one can more easily examine and compare the descriptive typologies, classification, and profile categories presented by various theorists, for example, those available in the books and research publications of Godwin (2001), Holmes & Holmes (2002), Keppel & Walter (1999), and Kocsis, Cooksey, and Irwin (2002) cataloging of serial murder types. Those named persons have provided, historically, the best examples of serial offender typologies.

The importance of an informational organizational model of typologies cannot be understated. Although much of the historical and contemporary research presents interesting descriptive discussions of offender behaviors, statistical examinations and summaries of that behavior, little of it is easily accessible or informative to the investigator. Long complicated descriptive discussions with assortments of outlying offense styles are not easily understood. The creation of my modified Douglas and Munn (1992) table resolved the inaccessibility of research outcomes to the application of investigative processes by organizing the information in a logical structure.

Therefore, by creating a table format as suggested by Douglas and Munn (1992) with the descriptive discussion highlights from the research of serial murder theorists, I developed a four-part table that can be used to more clearly show the characteristics and qualities of serial murder data. As I have found using the table format, any other research presenting facts regarding known sex offenders, rapists, sexualized murder offenders, and serial murderers is useful. Moreover, in crime and criminal analysis, using the model provides a visual aid/check-list for the investigator(s).

Several sample tables from my book A Study of African American Serial Killers in the U.S.(C) (2018) are provided,

Table 1. Burgess et al., (1992)©

Category

Characteristics

Offender profile disorganized

-IQ below average, subject range from 80-95; high school dropout and little academic achievement

-Drives an older poorly maintained vehicle: limited mobility

-Night time habits (occupation, recreation)

-Poor personal hygiene; inadequate or poor living and environment

-More likely to be introverted and/or inept (socially and sexually)

-Socially inadequate

-Lives alone or with parents

Crime scene behavior

-More likely to employ “blitz” attack; little planning

-Returns to crime scene; disposes of victim at site

Forensic finding

-Hands on

-Mutilates and overkill

-Wounds to face, head, genitals, breasts

-Slashing, stabbing, biting

-May take souvenirs of body parts or Scene for later event recall

-Insertional necrophilia

Victim

-Low-risk or high risk victim selection: offender as significant opportunist

-Acquaintance or stranger

Compared to…

McClellan Typology Tables

Comprehensive Profile Assessment Table 18: Predator©

(CPAT-18-Predator)

Category

Characteristics

Offender Profile

· Offender begins criminal history of violence and sexualized violence while still under 21-years-of-age

· Criminal history may include breaking & entering, burglary and other property

· crimes linked to invasion of other’s personal space

· Juvenile convictions for rape, murder, kidnapping

· Academic underachiever (IQ 100 to low normal 85+)

· Substance abuser, mild to significant

· Sporadic and sketchy work history in youth, poor job performance

· Immature, lives alone, with parents or

· has a string of failed and semi-failed relationships

· Sexual fetishes

· Psychopathic or sociopathic character disorder

Crime Scene

· Zone of comfort: neighborhood, work location and/or travel routes, leisure-time activities location

· Weapons usually hands on

· Crime scene where murder occurred

· may be chaotic with indications of the

· use of a sharp-edged weapon or blunt

· force instrument to subdue and control victim

· Ligature

· Binding apparent on victim, near victim or at crime scene of assault site if body dumped

Forensics

· Body of victims transported to dumping site

· Has made connection to sex and violence

· Use of weapons of torture

· Penile and object penetration likely

· Killing point of offense, sex secondary

· Victim’s cloth removed and/or scattered

Victim

· Strangers

· High-risk victims with hunting

· Identified type preference

· Opportunistic in selection of victims w/ preferred victim type

Serial murder tactics and tendencies are to target victims and/or have a victim preference (prefer and wait for the opportunity to acquire: opportunistic predators) further identifies serial murderers as a unique set of homicide offenders. As previously noted, serial murderers use their targeted victim(s) as vehicles of instrumental violence to satisfy their intrapersonal motives, to drive their fantasies and to achieve their goals of violence and abuse. To reiterate the propensity for violence associated with the inclinations of the serial murderer, “The initial stance of the violent prone person makes violence probable; his first moves increase the probability of violence; the reaction of the victim converts probability to certainty” (Toch, 1969, p. 184). Therefore, the serial murderer essentially resides in a constant state of preparedness for the next victim of design or opportunity; the acquisition of the victim and the type of violence they prefer after acquiring a victim.

Core Relationships

Core relationships refers to the principal offense themes inherent in lust murder activities by an offender, questions to be answered by the investigator and details and/or evidentiary elements linking the activities to a potential pool of suspects. In a series of offenses characteristics, distinctive generalities and qualities of the victim(s) may provide an indication of the Victim Preference and motive base of the offender.

Victim Preference as a core relationship concept should include such inquiries as regarding a victim to include the investigative fundamentals of

a. Routine(s)… work, relations, hobbies, habits, frequencies of contacts

b. Habits… indicated by residence, friends, and information from intimates

c. Risk-Lifestyle… social, financial, living environment, economic, occupation, substances of abuse, range of activities, age, associations, etc.

d. Data bases and criminal activities… criminal and civil histories associates… all types

e. Links to scene … what routine or activity associated, if any, to scene(s)

f. Physical appearance… and associated demographics (identifiers)

g. How controlled by offender… weapon, ruse, bindings, …other

h. Personality… psychological, physiological, emotional predispositions, official reports (medical/psych)

i. Precursor incidents … assaults, threats, burglaries, robberies, injuries, other victimizations or witness to other offenses, etc.

j. Relationships… intimates, friends, associates, co-workers, habits

k. Preference-selection … based on victimology what would have made this person an “attractive target”

l. Last known 48 -72 hours of activities of victim… what related to known routines/routes

Beauregard and Proulx (2004) research found that violent and highly sadistic crime scenes of serial murderers were “. . . planned and repetitive, show increasing offender sophistication over the offending series, and escalating levels of violent conduct with each new homicide” (p. 396). Woodworth and Porter (2002) found that homicides committed by psychopathic offenders were “. . . cold-blooded in nature and therefore associated with premeditation more often murders committed by nonpsychopaths” (p. 436).

Psychopaths were found to be capable of being less reactive under provocation, they control their impulses, plan violent offenses and to anticipate victim acquisition opportunities that reduced the likelihood of their detection or apprehension. Patterning and consistency in the planning of serial murder, and therefore serial murder, is a significant feature associated with serial offenses and was further supported by Goodwill and Alison (2005) and Lundrigan and Canter (2001a, 2001b). Specifically, Lundrigan and Canter (2001a) found that criminal activities of serial murderers tended to be around a home base of the offender.

serial offenders is the psychological importance of the target . . . [specifically, the] greater dispersion in rapists and murderers than burglars may indicate that in these crimes the victim selection is an important element of the crime and the offence patterns simply reflect a more determined search pattern. (Goodwill and Alison, 2005, p. 175)

Counter to the original expectations of some researchers, the practice of mutilation, torture, and other violent behavior does not diminish the offender’s predatory skills over time. Other researchers have found that the behaviors of violent homicide offenders were not random actions or events but were instead a presentation of the profound psychological mechanisms that indicated symbolic representations of an offender’s psychological disposition. Santtila et al. (2001) further underscored the fact that a crime scene and the activities of the perpetrator were the signals of the offender’s psychological inclinations that were visible and available for interpretable by investigators, familiar with such offenses and therefore aids in the possibility of more successfully identifying a suspect pool or primary suspect.

Consequently, that which distinguishes a serial murder from other homicides are actions, activities, and behaviors that exceed the basic elements of a murderous wounding found in the commission of ordinary homicide. In serial murder, the peri and post mortem actions of the offender significantly exceed those required for the acquisition, containment, and murder of the victim.

Forde, D. R., & Kennedy, L. W. (1997). Risky lifestyles, routine activities, and the general theory of crime. Justice Quarterly, 14, 265−294.