Why Do People Become Serial Killers?
What causes people to become so
psychotic that they must hunt down other human beings for
pleasure? There are many different theories as to why
serial killers become the way they are, but none can singly explain their behavior. Some of these
theories include severe child abuse,
genetics,
chemical imbalances,
brain injuries, and perceived
societal injustices. While none of these theories will necessarily produce a serial killer, one can examine them, and try to piece together what makes these monsters real.
Many serial killers were violently abused when they were young, either
sexually,
physically, or
mentally. The
"Boston Strangler," Albert DeSalvo, was actually sold into slavery by his abusive alcoholic father. This harsh method of
parenting can create a lack of love between the parent and child and leave the child with no one to trust during his childhood years and later on in life. This can lead to isolation, where intense violent fantasies become the primary source of
gratification. When the children grow up, they do not develop
compassion toward other human beings and look at others as flattened-out
symbols upon which they should enact their violence. In looking to the parents for an explanation, the blame usually falls on the
mother, who is either too controlling, too distant, too sexually expressive or too sexually repressed. Ed Gein's mother was a
fanatical Catholic who mentally abused her son and claimed that women were carriers of
disease and
sin.
Gein twisted this around to justify his
sadistic practices of literally making women into
vessals, using their
skulls and bodies to make bowls and other household items.
Ed Kemper's mother was notorious for locking him in the
closet when he was younger; when he grew up, he
beheaded her, shoved her
vocal cords down the
garbage disposal, and raped her headless body.
Bobby Jo Long's mother had frequent
sex with men in the same room that Bobby Jo slept in, usually in the same bed. According to him, the victims he chose were "whores, sluts, anyone that reminds me of her."
Another theory on the makeup of serial killers is that they are just born bad, or have something genetically wrong with them. As
Carl Panzram wrote: "All of my family are as the average human beings are. They are honest and hard-working people. All except myself. I have been a human-animile (sic.) ever since I was born. When I was very young at 5 or 6 years of age I was a thief and a lier (sic.) and a mean despisable (sic.) one at that. The older I got the meaner I got." Since many abused children grow up to be law-abiding citizens, a common belief is that there are certain
genes that make them killers. Yet we do not see whole families that turn to such
violent tendancies. Some ways to explain why certain people become violent may be high levels of
testosterone, combined with low levels of
serotonin, high trace levels of
toxic heavy metals, such as manganese, lead, cadmium, and copper, and brain defects of the
hypothalamus, the
temporal lobe, and/or the
limbic system, all of which control
hormones and
emotional balance. If these systems are damaged in any way, they can lead to
highly aggressive behavior and can be connected with
lust murders (where the killers murder because it gives them a sexual thrill).
Another theory as to why abused or mentally unstable people turn to murder is that something will push them over the edge, causing them to kill again and again. These stressors, or personal problems, include
financial problems, marital problems, conflict with a
parent,
legal matters, physical injury, or conflict with
females. However, these stressors can be mere covers for the real underlying hatred that causes a
crime. For example,
Ted Bundy killed only
college-aged women with long brown hair-- the same characteristics of his girlfriend who had refused his
marriage proposal. Joel Norris, a
clinical psychologist, describes this process: "The killer is simply acting out a
ritualistic fantasy... but, once sacrificed, the victim's identity within the murderer's own fantasy is lost. The victim no longer represents what the killer thought he or she represented. The image of a fiancee who rejected the killer,
the echo of the voice of the hated mother, or the taunting of a distant father; all remain vividly in the killer's mind after the crime." Since this memory is not erased, it causes the killer to go back and kill again, thinking that each time will erase his past. Unfortunately, this is not the case.
So what makes a serial killer what he is? There are many different theories, but no one
behavioral factor can create a serial killer. The best assumption is that they are the
black holes of humanity. Before they are caught, they are so quiet, so
invisible to the rest of society, that they terrify us when they ARE caught, with their ability to imitate normal life in such a
cold-hearted manner. Many killers themselves say that they have a piece missing,
something dead inside, or just a
big empty void. Killing others is not a way to fill the void within, but to spread it, and make others into the
lifeless object that the killer perceives as himself. Whereas we might never know what REALLY drives these killers to such cold-hearted tendancies, we can study their behavior, and hope that we know enough to spot a serial killer and stop them before they
murder again.