Serial killer profile: case study analysis and behavioral patterns

Criminal Justice - Profiling

SERIAL KILLER CRIMINAL PROFILE: TERRY BLAIR

Behavioral Evidence:

The six victims in this series of crimes are all black females between the ages of 25 and 45. All victims had prior arrests, criminal charges, and/or convictions and lived a high-risk lifestyle that included illicit drug use and solicitation for prostitution. All six victims were killed by strangulation and all but one victim also suffered a broken neck.

At least one victim was sexually assaulted in conjunction with her murder. All six victims were discovered in relatively close proximity, within the same local area and were approximately similar in physical dimensions.

Behavioral Hypotheses:

The fact that the victims were all discovered in the same general area suggests that the perpetrator is either from that area or well-acquainted with that neighborhood.

The fact that all the victims had previous encounters with the criminal justice system suggests that the perpetrator also has a prior criminal record. Since the victims were all career street criminals and/or prostitutes, it is probable that the perpetrator is capable of blending into the high-crime area and interact with potential victims in a manner that does not arouse suspicions.

The shared characteristics as to gender, race, and age suggests that the perpetrator may have significant psychological issues with women that relate in some way to maternal relationships. According to some schools of thought, the common race of the victims suggests that the perpetrator is of similar racial background; however, other schools of thought favor the assumption that the perpetrator of such a series of homicides is more likely to be a white male, nevertheless.

The combination of these characteristics of the victims, locale, and the extreme violence of the manner in which they were strangled strongly suggests that the perpetrator has a history of domestic violence and that prior contacts with the criminal justice system involve domestic violence and/or other crimes of violence against female victims in the same general area.

The perpetrator may even have a documented prior criminal history involving physical or sexual assaults of victims with some of the same characteristics as the current series of victims. More likely than not, the perpetrator is a product of a home in which children witnessed physical abuse of their mother and/or experienced physical abuse themselves.