Serial killers are generally described as those individuals who have involved in the murder of three or more people within a span of one month and in between they take what is known as cooling off period in between the murders to at least get away from the investigation heat. It has been established that serial killers have psychological conditions and what motivates them to involve in these murders is usually to get psychological gratification. Further, serial can as well in a series of two or more murders but of which are committed in two separate events. The killers in often times act alone and to establish that murder is an act of a serial killer, there have to be some vital characteristics linking two or more murder cases with shared similarities. In most cases, a sexual element is involved in the killings but according to the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), the main motive of a serial killer is a thrill, anger, attention seeking or financial gains (Myers, Husted, Safarik, & O'toole, 2006). Power and control seeking serial killers have common characteristics whereby the murders therein are attempted or completed in almost similar fashion with the victims having shared similarities such as race, occupation, age group, sex or appearance. However, the main motive of power and control seeking serial killers is sex, power gains and satisfaction of having complete control.
The general fact is that all serial killers have the compulsion to kill but their motives do vary. Serial killers who seek power and control have the drive to dominate their victims. Research studies indicate that these killers tend to enjoy the process of murder in the sense that they find thrill in stalking their victim, the capture and the eventual torture which leads to the victim’s death. In addition, these killers find this process sexually arousing but the final act of murder is the most satisfying and rewarding (Miller, 2014). They find this final stage of the process an expression of their dominance over the victim and a form of expression of their power and control over the victims. Such type of serial killers are always patient and further slow the killing process with the aim of prolonging their sadistic pleasure.
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Psychological studies into the behaviors of these killers outline that acting in this manner gives the killers empowerment in the sense that they have the authority to decide when, how and under what circumstances the victims in question will die. This can be seen in the story of Dennis Rader aka Bind Torture Kill or BTK who for decades terrorized residents of Wichita between 1974 and 1991. Dennis would Bind, Torture and finally kill his victims in cold blood. It is assumed that Dennis had a twisted mind in that he could prolong the torture of his victims and finally kill them (Knoll & Hazelwood, 2009). It is through this process that he would quench his evidently insatiable need for power and control.
The psychology behind the behavior of power and control serial killers is quite incredible. For the case of Dennis, he murdered at least ten people in Wichita, Kansas prior to his arrest in the year 2005. Dennis pled guilty and was sentenced to ten consecutive life sentences. What makes his story interesting is that before his arrest, he was a family man married for thirty-four years and blessed with two children. In addition, Dennis was the president of his church congregation.
Dennis was a stone-cold killer who lived a remarkably normal life from the outside but he sought domination, control, and power over his victims. It is the process of torture which gave him gratification and strangling the life out of these victims in a way made him feel like a god. This according to psychologists is an act of alter ego. Throughout the time when he committed these murders, nobody would suspect him because he was the pillar of his community. It has been established that inwardly, Dennis secretly satisfied his sexual desires and thus delayed his compulsions to kill for months or years. This he achieved through autoerotic fantasies and in addition, masturbation. He also collected trophies from his victims.
Power and control serial killers are always stone cold psychopaths. The Federal Bureau of Investigations classifies this group of individuals as organized predators and this is because they are patient, unflappable and meticulous planners. These types of serial killers from the outlook and their normal lives are intelligent, charismatic and charming.
The power and control serial killers do assault their victims sexually but unlike their hedonistic lust killers, they do not sexually assault as a result of lust. These killers rape their victims as another way through which they can exert power, dominance, and control over their victims. Further, the power and control seeking serial killers sometimes do not lose interest after their victims have died unlike their thrill killers such as zodiac serial killers. In some cases, the power and control seeking serial killers come around to have sex with the decomposing corpse of their victims long after the murder which an aim of perpetuating their dominance and control over the deceased.
Psychologists further point out that necrophilia, which the control and power serial killers involved in, eliminates all the possibilities of unwanted rejection, these power and control killers do return to violate their victims whenever they please (Myers et al., 2006). In essence, the psychopathic serial killers are accorded a significant sense of empowerment while at the same time shielding them from the possible disturbing prospect of disappointment and rejection by the living individuals.
Further, the power and control serial killers tend to keep trophies or souvenirs from the victims and crimes. These elements serve the purpose of sustaining these psychopathic serial killers and in addition fuel their sexual and violent fantasies. Ted Bundy, another power and control serial killer behaved in a quite peculiar way. He could take Polaroid photos of his victims and when asked why he did this, his argument was that, when one works so hard to do the right thing, they would not want to forget the experiences therein. In this way, the photos were somehow a reward and a trophy for his perceived hard work.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation explains the reason why serial killers would want to keep mementos from their victims arguing that things like jewelry, hair locks or a clip of newspaper outlining the crime serve to nourish and prolong the killers’ secret fantasies (Myers et al., 2006). To add on, therein between the murders and in the process of targeting their next victims, these serial killers in oftentimes take out their trophies from previous crimes to help with the relief of their past murders through fantasy. The trophies these serial killers collect, for example, the case of a prolific serial killer Ted Bundy, help them recall their victims and the thrill they had committing these crimes. In a similar manner, Dennis Rader kept a chest of trophies at the basement of his home. These would prolong and heighten his autoerotic life of fantasy because he would recall each and every one of his victims vividly through the help of these trophies.
To add on, power and control serial killers in some cases collect trophies and give the same items such as jewelry to their intimate partners or family members. It has been established that the recipient of these souvenirs could be a wife or girlfriend who at the time the crime was being committed were causing the killer some sort of psychological pain (Miller, 2014). Ted Bundy, for example, would collect the items and give to a significant woman in his life at that time. He would present the item to his partner claiming he found it on the streets. Later when he sees them wearing these, say jewelry, that becomes part of his little secret game. Looking at the jewelry, the serial killer would fantasize about the victims they raped and eventually murdered before they acquired the jewelry. Ted Bundy in this context would regard himself in much delight.
Generally, the Federal Bureau of Investigation makes an estimate that in the United States, there are between twenty-five to thirty active serial killers at any given time. This information would make one wonder who the serial killers are and many more unanswered questions. In as much as the serial killers have different characteristics, lifestyles, motives and even backgrounds, there are some common denominators pointing out why they act in such a manner (Miller, 2014). These include sadistic childhood behaviors such as torturing animals, fascination with the setting of fire, mental illness or psychopathy, necrophilia, fetishism, partialism and in some cases they are victims of physical, emotional or sexual abuse. It should be noted that when one has any of these traits, they are not automatically serial killers but they should consider seeking professional help.
In essence, there is no established formula or equation for the creation of a serial killer but always there is a rough idea on how they tick. It is on the basis of their motivations such as visionary, power/control, hedonistic and mission-oriented that serial killers are made lethal. In some cases, there are overlaps in the motivation of these killers and this also depends on the serial killer. It is hard to say but theories suggest that murderous tendencies could be a result of damages to the frontal lobe of the brain which is actually responsible for decision making, planning, and motivation. Childhood development and trauma is actually the most common denominator for all the serial killers. Some of these individuals come from broken homes resulting from separation, divorce, indiscipline or absentee parents. There is no better way of curbing the cases of serial killers than having better-organized families for the sake of the development of children therein. As such, psychologists warn that parents risk creating a generation of serial killers through their acts of negligence and irresponsible parenting behaviors.
References
Knoll, J. L., & Hazelwood, R. R. (2009). Becoming the victim: Beyond sadism in serial sexual murderers. Aggression and Violent Behavior , 14 (2), 106-114.
Miller, L. (2014). Serial killers: I. Subtypes, patterns, and motives. Aggression and Violent Behavior , 19 (1), 1-11.
Myers, W. C., Husted, D. S., Safarik, M. E., & O'toole, M. E. (2006). The motivation behind serial sexual homicide: Is it sex, power, and control, or anger?. Journal of Forensic Sciences , 51 (4), 900-907.
