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Criminal Profiling and Serial Murders: The Theory Behind Investigations

Chris Carter, author of The Crucifix Killer and The Executioner, looks at the psychological make-up of the serial killer.

Multiple murderers are usually divided into three basic categories: serial, mass, and spree killers. For this piece I’ll keep the emphasis on the serial killers, mainly because they feature heavily in the books I write.

According to the FBI, a serial killer is defined as someone who has murdered on at least three separate occasions with so-called emotional cooling-off periods between each incident, whereas a mass murderer kills four or more victims in one location, in one incident and the killings are all part of the same emotional experience. Finally, a spree killer is defined as someone who murders at two or more locations with no emotional cooling-off period between the homicides.

Along with manipulation, domination and control (the basic motivation for the crimes), a significant motivator for many serial killers is sexual, even if the crimes themselves are not overtly so. In theory, a serial killer commits the killings because they emotionally fulfill him. The longer the killer “succeeds” at it, the more confident and better at it he becomes. Usually he’ll also tend to develop a sense of superiority over the police and investigative authorities who so far cannot catch him, and this empowers him even further. By his actions, he attempts to gain control and power over his own life and that of his victims. Most of the time he’s looking for that feeling of success, often for the first time ever in his life.

History has shown that many serial killers will be following the media coverage, and will probably keep a journal where he writes about his crimes and collects all the newspaper articles relating to them. The offender is also likely to mentally relive his killings, often with the help of “trophies”, such as a bracelet or a body part he took from his victims, or by visiting his victim’s graves, which has become a cliché.

Sometimes, later in his “killing career”, the offender may realize that the reality of killing does not live up to his many fantasies and that he lacks the emotional fulfillment he desperately searches for. At this point it is possible that he turns himself in to the authorities or gets sloppy so he can be caught. Unfortunately, many continue to be “compelled” to kill and are eventually caught, or suddenly stop – if, for example, they were arrested for another, smaller crime, or have committed suicide.

But how did they become predators?

Typically, a significant part of the developmental process of persons showing very violent, antisocial tendencies is the so-called homicidal triad, consisting of enuresis – or bed-wetting – at an inappropriate age, cruelty to small children and/or animals, and fire starting, which suggest an underlying frustration with lack of control. For example, David Berkowitz, the self-proclaimed Son of Sam, set more than two thousand fires throughout New York City before he evolved into a serial killer.

Other serial murderers have started their careers as stalkers, escalating into burglary, fetish theft, rape, and eventually murder. By the time the first serious crimes occur, they are generally in their early to mid-twenties.

Another typical denominator among future serial killers is low self-esteem and the habit of blaming the rest of the world for their situation. They will usually already have some sort of criminal record. The majority will also have an abusive or dysfunctional background.

As soon as several offenses, such as fires, stalking, or murder, are linked and attributed by the police to one and the same unknown suspect, it is crucial to look at his early crimes to determine where the suspect might live. In most cases, the offender starts out in his “comfort zone”, which means close to where he lives or works, or where he feels emotionally comfortable, for example around his family or friends – that’s why it’s crucial to start with the early crimes of a suspect. As the self-confidence and obsession with his own “power” grows, so does his activity radius, making an arrest more difficult. Furthermore, in multiple homicides, the killer is usually of the same race as his victim. In most cases, there is a triggering trauma leading to the escalation. The two most common precipitating stressors are loss of work or loss of love; but any type of hardship, particularly an economic one, can trigger the violent outburst. The stability that provided a certain pattern of life is suddenly taken away and nothing is holding him back from acting out his fantasies any longer.

Controversial scientific studies suggest, from a medical point of view, that serial murderers may share a significant number of common medical/psychological patterns. Those include evidence of soft and hard signs of brain damage resulting from injuries or other physical trauma, severe chemical imbalances brought about by chronic malnutrition and substance abuse, a possible genetic defect, the absence of a sense of self, which is the result of often consistently negative parenting, non-parenting, or sexual abuse. The subject will commonly have an almost hair-trigger violent response to external stimuli with no regard for the physical or social consequences.

Furthermore, one of the most significant common psychological behavior patterns in violent offenders seems to be a failure to perceive punishment as a deterrent to their actions, and a fascination with police procedures and the officers who are pursuing them. Such factors should be taken into consideration when suspect backgrounds are researched. However, it is important to state that not every individual showing several of the above characteristics will automatically become a criminal. In combination with other factors or evidence, however, they may provide a useful clue.

Born in Brazil of Italian origin, Chris Carter studied psychology and criminal behaviour at the University of Michigan. As a member of the Michigan State District Attorney’s Criminal Psychology team, he interviewed and studied many criminals, including serial and multiple homicide offenders with life imprisonment convictions. Having departed for Los Angeles in the early 1990s, Chris spent ten years as a guitarist for numerous bands before leaving the music business to write full-time. He now lives in London.

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