Serial killers: comparative analysis and contrasting characteristics

Strangulation and Serial Murder

The public and the media have long had a morbid fascination with serial killers. While it is unknown what exact characteristics determine an individual's predilection towards serial killing and mass murder, there have been studies conducted by analysts at the Federal Bureau of Investigations that attempt to identify warning signs among individuals prone to violence. Of the most violent and sadistic serial murders, strangulation may be considered the most personal.

In the Anatomy of Evil, Michael Stone (2009) argues there are several "gradations of evil" of which serial killing is the most severe. The gradations of evil include killing in self-defense or justified homicide, persons with few or no psychopathic traits, murders in which there is malice aforethought and psychopathic features are marked, spree or multiple murders in which psychopathy is apparent, and the most severe, serial killers, torturers and sadists. In most, if not all, of serial homicides, a significant motivating factor, along with manipulation, domination and control, is sexual desire and gratification. Serial murders commit homicide because the murders "make them feel fulfilled, and [the murderers] will continue doing them as long as they can" (Douglas & Olshaker, 1999, p. 191). The definition of a serial killer is quite distinct from that of a spree killer and of a mass murderer. While a spree killer kills a number of victims at different locations in a short period of time and a mass murderer will play an endgame strategy in which he or she does not expect to survive, a serial killer will hunt humans for the sexual thrill that is derived, repeatedly killing with the belief that he or she can outwit the police. Serial killers operate under the belief that they will not be caught (Douglas Olshaker, 1999). It is seldom that law enforcement personnel and behavioral scientists get a first-hand glimpse into the predatory world of a serial killer at the time of their attacks (Arrigo, 2006). Furthermore, a serial killer is an individual that has committed murder on at least three separate and distinct occasions with an emotional cooling off period between each incident. The cooling off period may be days, weeks, months, or even years (1999).

Serial killers may be further subdivided into three categories. These categories include the serial homicides of patients by nurses and doctors, the murders of random strangers over long periods of time, and men committing serial sexual homicide (Stone, 2009). Stone (2009) has identified several factors that may influence serial killers; factors are presented in a nature vs. nurture argument with occasional factors of unknown and/or mixed origin. The factors that Stone considers to be influenced by an individual's natural environment include mental illness with psychosis, schizophrenia, manic-depression, autism and Asperger's Syndrome. Also included in the natural environment are psychiatric conditions without psychosis such as ADD and ADHD, alcoholism, epilepsy and inordinate sexual drive. Personality disorders are also considered inherently part of an individual's personality and include being antisocial, psychopathic, schizoid, sadistic, paranoid, and impulsive-aggressive (2009). Factors falling under the "nurture" category are parental physical abuse, parental abandonment or neglect, parental verbal abuse and humiliation, the death of a parent, the absence of a father, the separation and divorce of parental units before the child is 16, being adopted, parental sexual abuse and seduction, and brain disease or damage (2009). Factors of unknown or mixed origin are paraphilia, juvenile delinquency, substance abuse, alcoholism, a conduct disorder in childhood, animal torture and arson, and rape or other sexual offenses that are committed in adolescence (2009). According to the FBI, "42% of serial killers have suffered severe physical abuse as children, 43% were sexually molested, and a full 74% were subjected to ongoing psychological torture (Schechter & Everitt, 1999, p. 293). It is important to note that fire-starting/arson, sadistic activity including animal torture, and enuresis beyond the age of 10 compose what is known as the Triad, a set of characteristics present among most, if not all, serial killers (1999).

Serial killers often develop a pattern under which they operate, a modus operandi, that appears in all of their victims. It is unusual for a serial killer to completely change their modus operandi (MO), though there is evidence that killers will alter their MO to better suit their needs. A modus operandi is defined as "repeated patterns of behaviors which are unnecessary to the commission of the crime; provide psychosexual arousal and gratification; and compliment the motive" (Arrigo, 2006). Serial killers can be identified by their MO, as were Albert DeSalvo, Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono, and Gary Leon Ridgeway, respectively known as the Boston Strangler, Hillside Strangler(s), and the Green River Killer. The sexually sadistic tendencies of these serial killers were exemplified through the strangulation of their victims. D.T. Lunde (2006) defined sexual sadism as "a deviation characterized by torture and/or killing and mutilation of other persons in order to achieve sexual gratification (Bell, 2011). Strangulation is the most personal and intimate of murders in which the killer literally holds their victim's life in their hands. Strangulation gives the killer a sense of control over the situation (Geberth, 1995).

Three of the United States' most notorious serial killers are DeSalvo, Bianchi and Buono, and Ridgeway, who were known for sexually assaulting and strangling their victims. Albert DeSalvo, dubbed the Boston Strangler, committed his crimes during a two-year period lasting from June 14, 1962 to January 4, 1964. He was accused of killing 13 women, aged 19 to 85, in Boston, Massachusetts and the New England region. DeSalvo was also known as the "Measuring Man" and the "Green Man." DeSalvo earned the nickname the "Measuring Man" due to his habit of impersonating a talent scout for a modeling agency and measuring/fondling women. Subsequently, he earned the nickname the "Green Man" because he used to wear green work clothes during a two-year assault spree in New England in the 1960s (Schechter & Everitt, 1997). As the Boston Strangler, DeSalvo would gain entry into women's homes through the impersonation of a maintenance man, deliveryman, or other service provider. Police believe that his victims recognized him or were unaware of his intentions as there is no evidence of forced entry into his victims' homes. His victims were found to have been raped and strangled with a nylon stocking; two of his victims were found to have been stabbed and beaten to death (1997). The murders of these women occurred in several cities throughout New England and made law enforcement jurisdiction difficult to determine. Ironically, DeSalvo was not arrested for his crimes committed as the Boston Strangler, rather he was arrested for crimes committed as the "Green Man." It was only after he was in custody that he began to boast of the strangulations and police realized that they had the Boston Strangler in custody. DeSalvo was stabbed to death in prison in November of 1973 (1997).

A couple of years after DeSalvo's brutal death, two serial killing cousins were terrorizing the Los Angeles landscape. Much like DeSalvo, Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono, murdered their victims through strangulation, though their sadism was the most severe of the three strangulation serial killers analyzed. Bianchi and Buono became known as the "Hillside Strangler" as they were known to dump their victim's bodies on Los Angeles hillsides. It was unknown early in the cousin's murderous rampage that two individuals committed the crimes. Bianchi and Buono's killing spree lasted from October 16, 1977 to February 16, 1978. Bianchi and Buono were accused of killing 12 victims, aged 12 to 28. Whereas many serial killers demonstrate discrimination when choosing victims, such as DeSalvo is shown to have targeted mainly older women, and Ridgeway targeted prostitutes, Bianchi and Buono attacked students, waitresses, and prostitutes (Schechter & Everitt, 1997). All their victims were evidenced to have been sexually violated, strangled, and tortured. Torture methods included burning their victims with an electric cord, injecting them with cleaning solution, and strangling them to the point of unconsciousness only to revive them and strangle them to death (1997). It is known if the cousin's individual killer instincts would have manifested if they had not lived together. Bianchi was a small time con artist who moved in with Buono after relocating from Rochester, New York. Buono, on the other hand, was the owner of an auto upholstery business who moonlighted as a sadistic pimp and had a known history of violent behavior against women (1997). The duo would have gotten away with their crimes had Bianchi not been arrested for the rape and strangulation of two women in Bellingham, Washington. Bianchi was apprehended on January 12, 1979. As part of his plea agreement, Bianchi agreed to plead guilty to the rape and strangulation of the two Bellingham victims and testify against Buono. Buono was apprehended on October 22, 1979 (1997). The two were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.