Abstract Some serial murderers have been known to subject their victims to unimaginable pain and torture before eventually killing them. This they do for other reasons other than money, fame, or even love. They do it for fun. They derive intense pleasure from dehumanizing and torturing their victims. This text concerns itself with torture, its essence, and how information relating to torture can help detectives and investigators understand a killer's signature.
Psychology of Serial Killer Investigations
Most of the murders serial killers commit have an element of torture. In this case, torture could either be brutal or mild. But why exactly do serial killers torture their victims? Why do they drag their victims through a dehumanizing process of both physical and mental anguish? In this text, I will largely concern myself with the essence of torture and how information regarding torture helps in understanding a killer's signature.
The Essence of Torture
According to Keppel and Birnes (2008), there is a specific subgroup of serial killers who expose their victims to torture in an attempt to derive sexual arousal from such torture. As the authors further point out, the killer in this case tends to get stimulated by the victim's anguish, suffering, pain, and terror. Driven by fantasies that could be regarded highly specialized, such a killer in the words of Keppel and Birnes (2003) "selects the victim, male or female, and escalates violence through various acquired and learned incremental levels of ritualistic carnage." The killing process is what matters to the killer in this particular case. Inflicting maximum pain is more often than not the ultimate or primary objective of such a killer. Death in this case can therefore be regarded a consequence of the ultimate or primary objective. Indeed, the luxury of sadism in this case as Keppel and Birnes (2003) point out is found not in the death of the victim but in the killing process. Richard Cottingham, one of the most brutal serial killers in history, once told one of his would-be victims that he derived intense sexual enjoyment and satisfaction from punishing and torturing his victims (Keppel and Birnes, 2008). In addition to being savagely bitten, most of Cottingham's victims had cigarette burns on their breasts (Keppel and Birnes, 2008). Cottingham also exposed his victims to extreme sexual abuse and physical torture. Dennis Rader, notorious for the murder of ten people during his two-decade murderous spree, referred to his victims as "projects" (Vito, Maahs, and Holmes, 2006). He was widely known as the BTK killer, with the acronyms standing for Blind, Torture, Kill. As Vito, Maahs, and Holmes (2006) point out, Rader admitted that his actions enabled him to fulfill his sexual fantasies.
According to Smith and Zahn (1998) serial killers do not usually kill for money or love. They kill for the fun of it. In the words of the authors, "they delight in the thrill, the sexual satisfaction, or the dominance they achieve as they squeeze the last breath of life from their victims." Douglas Clark, another notorious serial killer, was fond of killing women during sexual intercourse (Barkan and Bryjak, 2011). According to the authors, this was his ultimate fantasy. Torture is also used by a killer as a dread enhancing instrument. Dread and degradation are two of what Keppel and Birnes (2008) refer to as "the three D's of a sadistic killer." The other two "D's" are degradation and dependency. While dread as the authors further point out has largely got to do with terrifying the victim with torture and pain, degradation involves the humiliation as well as abasement of the victim. Torture also satisfies a killer's desire to dominate his victims. In seeking to have full control of the situation via the incapacitation of victims, some killers according to Keppel and Birnes (2008) drug their victims. Some of the 'tools of trade' a killer could incorporate to torture his victims as he seeks to facilitate his perversion include but they are not limited to "leather slave collars, handcuffs, cigarette lighters, whips, and adhesive or duct tape" (Keppel and Birnes, 2008).
Information about Torture: Its Relevance in Understanding a Killer's Signature
Peter Sutcliffe, yet another brutal and sadistic serial killer, can be seen as a classic example of those who went far than it was necessary to kill their victims. In some cases, killers tend to engage in a variety of other actions beyond the actual crime. These actions could include but they are not limited to unnecessary stabbing and some kind of bondage or binding. Peter Sutcliffe for instance was popular for repeatedly stabbing and slashing his victims.
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