The Key to Raising a Perfect Serial Killer

Serial killers are known for being inhumane, notorious, horrifying individuals who kill purely because it brings them a certain sense of, well, do we really know what type of feeling a murderer gets after they committed arguably the worst crime? Different serial killers have different motives and senses of comfort they get when they are taking the life of another person, and many do not know or understand the four different types of murderers, or where their motives come from. A lot of it starts from when they were young, and how they were raised. A lot of different traumas and haunting personal experiences can drive someone to become a certain type of serial killer. There are perfect childhoods that can raise a perfect type of serial killer.

The first and most popular type of murderer would be serial killer for power and control. The article “Serial homicide for Power and Control” by Scott A. Bonn, describes why these types of murderers are driven to take the lives of others. The primary motivation for a power and control murderer is simply the joy they get from the entire process of the murder; these murderers choose to prolong the process for their own pleasure. They find it sexually arousing to stalk, capture, and torture their victim, but find it most satisfying when they finish the homicide, because it helps show an expression in the power, they hold over their chosen prey. Murderers find this final step so powerful because they are able to choose under which circumstances, they can torture and kill their victim. To assert their power in a different way, they also tend to rape their victims. Not because of the sexual arousing’s mentioned before, but because this gives them another outlet to feel a certain sense of control and dominance. Lastly, these types of murderers tend to keep souvenirs from their crimes to remind themselves of the achievement they accomplished. The memorabilia they keep helps fuel the killers’ fantasies, and they often give their memorabilia to family members or a partner to display their trophy in a non-cholent, yet public way. As an example, the famous serial killer Ted Bundy once took a necklace from a victim and gave it to his wife. He also took pictures of his victims after he murdered them. When asked why he did such a thing, he responded with: “When you work hard to do something right, you don’t want to forget it.” The FBI classified these types of killers as to have stone-cold psychopathic tendencies, because they are meticulous planners and tend to be charming, charismatic and intelligent. Ted Bundy grew up shy, which led him to become a severe target for bullying while he was in grade school. Explaining why he wanted to assert his power over others. He went on to create normal relationships in college, and was very favored amongst the ladies because of his flirtatious and endearing personality. Yet confessed to 28 murders, but is assumed to have been responsible for hundreds of deaths.

The second type of murderer is called a visionary murderer. Scott A. Bonn states in his article “Visionary Serial Killers Are Driven By Inner Demons” that these killers commit murders because of imagined internal or external voices that are perceived to be real. These killers are mainly suffering from a mental illness, most commonly being schizophrenia. These murderers usually experience some sort of psychotic break that leads them to go crazy and commit such a crime. In many other cases with the other types of murderers, they more commonly have a specific demographic that they like to murder. An example of this would be blonde, short, females. But visionary murderers have their agendas synchronized to whatever their mind is telling them to do at that specific moment. Visionary killers are classified as “disorganized” by the FBI because of their impulsive tendencies, there is almost always no pattern to their killing. Many murderers that fall under this category have claimed that another entity has taken over their body when the murders were committed, usually being “God mandated” or “demon mandated.” David Berkowitz is known as a classic example of a visionary serial killer. Berkowitz shot thirteen people in New York City ranging between 1967-1977, also known as his reign of terror. After his murders and prior to his arrest, he wrote letters to the local police station that stated Satan was ordering him to kill. In the article titled “David Berkowitz” found on Wikipedia, it is found that Berkowitz had a troubled childhood. He was above average in intelligence but was known to be difficult, spoiled, and a harsh bully. He was also associated with petty larceny and arson in his younger years. Berkowitz was also put up for adoption at birth, and never knew who his birth mother was until he was 17. When he was able to connect with his birth mother and speak to her for the first time, forensic anthropologists called that his “primary crisis” and believed it shattered his sense of identity. This shattered sense of identity led researchers to believe this is why Berkowitz committed murder.

The second to last killer is titled a pragmatic mission killer. In the article “Understanding Pragmatic Mission Killers” by Scott A. Bonn, it is stated that these murderers have a diabolical purpose. They believe that their killing is mission oriented and by committing this crime they are improving the world based off of their standards. These murderers usually target large specific groups that do not fit what the killer believes, this can include people of a certain religion, ethnicity or sexual orientation. Missionary murderers are classified as clinically insane and they’re murders are planned out, quick and concise. They truly believe that each victim is selected for them to kill, and that the victims are grateful to have been selected to get their lives taken. One example of a missionary killer is Joseph P. Franklin, a former member of the Ku Klux Klan. Franklin was convicted of homicides that included two black men who had been jogging with a white woman, and an interracial couple. Franklin explained his wrongful doing by saying this statement to the press, “Race mixing is a sin against God and nature… I feel it is my duty as a servant of God to protect white womanhood from injury or degradation.” As we can see, the targeted group of people in this case was men of color with a goal to protect white women, and his reasoning was that it was a sin against his God and his religion.

The fourth and final kind of killer would be considered the hedonist lust killer. With the other types of murderers, sex is a motive for half of all serial killers. But a hedonist lust murderer is the only exception, sex is their primary and only motivation to their killing sprees, whether their victims or dead or alive. For this type of murderer, sex and killing is not the only thing that can solve the need for these murders. Some may actually drink their victim’s blood or resort to cannibalism. One example of a hedonist murderer is the well-known killer, Jeffery Dahmer. Dahmer fantasized greatly over the perfect lover. He wanted them to be beautiful, submissive and eternal. Whilst trying to find the perfect partner, it led him to murder and cannibalize 17 males between the years 1978 and 1991.  Dahmer’s murders started strictly off of sexual stimulation, but the more he murdered, the more he experimented with. Leading him to then partake in experimenting with cannibalism as well as drugs. It is said that he ingested human flesh of the victims he believed he was in love with, so that he can keep his secret lover forever. When Dahmer experimented with drugs, his purpose was to try and make his victims into living zombies with drilling a hole inside of the victim’s head and pouring acid and other chemicals into their brain. In the article “Hedonist Lust Killers Must Feed Their Insatiable Hunger” by author Scott A. Bonn, Dahmer is quoted when he talks about his own motivations as a hedonist lust killer. Dahmer himself claimed the following: “I wanted to see if it was possible to make—again, it sounds really gross—uh, zombies, people that would not have a will of their own, but would follow my instructions without resistance.” He also stated that lust and control in sexual situations were his main drive when murdering someone. When growing up, Dahmer always had a desire for killing. Since 13 years old he had been having thoughts about killing men and having sex with their corpses, these thoughts took up two-thirds of his day. He used to dissect roadkill with his father and put the animals he murdered up on display in the woods by a propped up wooden stick.  But Dahmer’s main motivation was sexual arousing’s, not making it surprising when he was diagnosed with the personality disorder called necrophilia; the sexual attraction to corpses. Dahmer was also severely bullied in school. In the article “Did Jeffery Dahmer Have Seizures, Did He Have Aids?” by author Shraman Mitra, it is stated that Dahmer got bullied in school and only had a handful of friends. He was starved of attention at home and also in school, which gave him the idea to fake seizures to get others to notice his presence.