Serial Killers

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Serial Killers Serial killers kill because of three patterns we see develop throughout their lives. These patterns are the development of youthful characteristics and habits, abusing events in their lives, and the final push. To be qualified as a serial killer one must murder more than three victims, one at a time, in a relatively short time period. The most common serial killers are white, heterosexual, sexually frustrated, young adult males with low self-esteem. Lester Ballard, the main character in Child of God, by Cormac McCarthy, displays these patterns as I have found it described in texts on serial killers. The earliest warning signs of serial killers can be traced back to their childhood. It is believed that the mind of a murderer is charged with a turbulence of emotions stored from early childhood (Abrahamsen 18). When these often repressed emotions are activated, the mind, particularly when aroused or frustrated, becomes violent, and so it is that a person who may appear quite normal and well adjusted on the surface, becomes possessed by a mind that murders (Abrahamsen 18). The study of 36 incarcerated killers by Robert Ressler, Ann Burgess, and John Douglas, which can be found in their book Sexual Homicide Patterns and Motives, found many common behavior indicators in their childhoods. These behaviors include daydreaming, compulsive masturbation, isolation, chronic lying, bed wetting, rebelliousness, nightmares, destroying property, fire setting stealing, cruelty to children, poor body image, temper tantrums, sleep problems, display assault toward adults, phobias, running away, cruelty to animals, accident prone, headaches, destroying possessions, eating problems, convulsions, and... ... middle of paper ... ...nd. New York: Harper and Row, 1973. Bardsley, Marilyn. Jeffrey Dahmer. Dark Horse Multimedia, 2000. Bell, Rachel. The Crime Library: Everything You Need to Know About Ted Bundy. Dark Horse Multimedia Inc, 2001. Mendoza, Antonio. Internet Crime Archives. 2000. McCarthy, Cormac. Child of God. New York: Vintage Books, 1973. Newton, Michael. Encyclopedia of Serial Killers. New York: Facts on File, 2000. Serial Killers Exposed. Serial Killers Info Polls. 2000. Winn, Steven. Ted Bundy, The Killer Next Door. New York: Buntam Books, 1979.

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