Kelly Clay, a writer at Forbes, explains the occupation nurse has one of the lowest chances of being a psychopath in the occupation, however, looks can be deceiving (2013). Nurses that choose to kill their patients are known as an “angel of death.” Although “angels of death” may not be common occurrences, in 1985 at Alpine Manor Nursing Home there were two “angels of death” loose. Two serial killers, Gwendolyn Graham and her lesbian lover, Catherine Wood, who smothered elderly females, and experienced a great amount of passion after each kill; the investigation proves that Graham and Wood were responsible for numerous deaths, and trials convicted the lovers of a lifetime without parole and many years in prison. Murderpedia explains Gwendolyn …show more content…
Both women were divorced and were said to have minimal friends. Catherine Wood was promoted to supervisor of the nurse aides at Alpine Nursing Home in July 1985, and soon became acquainted with Gwendolyn Graham, an employed nurse aide. According to Michael Newton, the author of The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers, by 1986 the two females had already “pledged their undying love for each other.” In October 1986, Graham began to talk about murdering patients, although Wood stated later, “I thought we were just playing” (2006). An article from the source Murderpedia explains that Graham would tie Wood down while having sex and choke her or cover her face with a pillow until Wood was on the verge of being unconscious. If Wood had any complaints about that game, she kept them to herself (2015). Graham and Wood had a toxic relationship that was built on the amount of passion that arose after each …show more content…
Murderpedia, explains that the couple found so much enjoyment out of the murders that afterward they would often find an unoccupied room to have sex (2015). The source “Two Held in Deaths at Nursing Home,” implies that the couple sought to spell out “MURDER” with the victim’s first name initials, as a joke on the police. However, after attempts of murdering patients and failing because of the patients struggle which made it too difficult on the couple to successfully kill. The couple then decided to go after “weaker” patients. The “weaker” patients were mainly Alzheimer’s patients who were females (1988).The article from Murderpedia explains that the couple soon began to call this fiasco “the murder game” (2015). Once the murder game started, the couple became addicted to the feeling and the passion that seemed to be growing between them. “The Murder Game” targeted elderly female patients that could not or would not fight back. Wood was the watchman and Graham would smother the victims with a washcloth, explains Murderpedia (2015). The article from Murderpedia describes how Graham would take souvenirs, such as dentures, jewelry, or handkerchief to relive the killing (2015). The article from Murderpedia states that the couple victims were: 60-year-old Marguerite Chambers, 89-year-old Edith Cole, 95-year-old Myrtle Luce, 79-year-old Mae Mason, and 74-year-old Belle
Ruth Fowler is Matt’s wife of many years and the mother of their three children: Steve, Cathleen and the now murdered Frank. Ruth cannot come to terms with Frank’s death and is haunted at all times of the day, whether at home or out in the town running errands, “She was at Sunnyhurst today getting cigarettes and aspirin, and there he was. She can’t even go out for cigarettes and aspirin. It’s killing her” (108). This quote is a symbolism of her mental state. The anguish of just seeing her son’s killer on the streets with freedom is more than Ruth can mentally comprehend. Ruth continually applies emotional pressure to her husband with comments and allusions to why the killer is still able to roam freely while their son cannot, “And at nights in bed she would hold Matt and cry, or sometimes she was silent and Matt would touch her tightening arm, her clinched fist” (112).
We can all agree that serial killers are unpredictable scary people but when it comes to why they kill, everyone has a different view. In my research paper I will get into the mind of a serial killer and try to figure out what exactly sets them into uncontrollable rage.
Karla Homolka is a Canadian convicted serial killer. In May of 1993, after working out a plea bargain with the Crown, she was sentenced to 12 years with 2 counts of manslaughter, to which she pleaded guilty in exchange for testifying against her husband and partner in crime, Paul Bernardo. Without her testimony, there would not have been enough evidence to convict him. In 1991, Homolka took part in the rape-murder of 14 year old Leslie Mahaffy and then the rape-murder of 15 year old Kristen French in 1992. Bernardo was convicted on 2 charges each of kidnapping, unlawful confinement, aggravated sexual assault and first degree murders and then on one count of dismemberment. He was also found to be the Scarborough Rapist, who sexually assaulted and raped more than the 11 known girls in the Scarborough area from 1987-1990. Bernardo was sentenced to life imprisonment.
A serial killer is a person who murders three or more people over a period of more than 30 days, with a "cooling off" period between each murder, and whose motivation for killing is largely based on psychological gratification. Most people do not understand what can make a person want to kill multiple people for no reason other than own satisfactional gain. In actuality serial killers have been studied for over hundreds of years, and the information that has been documented continues to grow. The research that I have gathered about serial killers focuses on their childhood development, the differences and similarities between men and female serial kills, and finally general information on how their brains operate and their motives for committing such harmful acts.
In a Google search of “serial killer memorabilia”, approximately 135,000 results would appear. While the U.S. produces over eighty-five percent of the world’s serial killers (“Why do Americans Idolize Serial Killers?” 11), Americans still tend to treat these murderers as icons and celebrities. As defined by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a serial killer is expressed as the unlawful killing of two or more victims by the same offender(s), in separate events. While it is no secret that serial killers have a different mindset than that of a normal person, do these murderers have genetically different minds? Although there is no exact answer as to what causes certain people to have the urge to kill, studies from the “Minnesota Study of Twins
Mass Murderers and Serial Killers are nothing new to today’s society. These vicious killers are all violent, brutal monsters and have an abnormal urge to kill. What gives people these urges to kill? What motivates them to keep killing? Do these killers get satisfaction from killing? Is there a difference between mass murderers and serial killers or are they the same. How do they choose their victims and what are some of their characteristics? These questions and many more are reasons why I was eager to write my paper on mass murderers and serial killers. However, the most interesting and sought after questions are the ones that have always been controversial. One example is; what goes on inside the mind of a killer? In this paper I will try to develop a better understanding of these driven killers and their motives.
Primarily, “Killings” concerns a crime and its consequences. The lead character, Matt Fowler goes one step too far and identifies with the evil that tragically marred his life-the murder of his son. Matt and his friend Willis Trottier executed Richard Strout, the man who killed his son. This murder was more of a private revenge than of protection but the character’s act was partially motivated by his wish to protect his wife who suffered every time she encounters their son’s murderer ( & , 2000, ). As Dubus wrote, “Ruth can’t even go out for cigarettes and aspirin....She sees him all the time. It makes her cry” ( ). While it is obviously too late to protect his son, Fowler experiences his son’s murder as an assault on his fatherhood and on his wish to protect his children. Matt could no longer tolerate watching his wife deteriorate before his eyes simply because she cannot cope with the loss of their son. Finally, he decided to bring grief resolution to both of them by killing Strout.
She figured the guys could see from themselves then that he could be as vulnerable as the next man. He couldn’t continue in his hero roll if he was sitting in the day room all the time in a shock stupor”(Kesey 291). As smart of a patient McMurphy was he let his fear of failure cloud his better judgement and turn into, for lack of a better word, raging lunatic who causes destruction to the fundamental dynamic of the ward. His unwillingness to accept being mediocre and not winning against this nurse brought down the mental health of everyone. The opposing partner is Nurse Ratched with the power-struggle dynamic between her and McMurphy, though The Nurse has been taking over the ward with a sense of entitlement way before McMurphy was even in the picture.
Each of the teenagers in the group plays an archetypal role that can found in many of the horror films of the last thirty years. Jules plays the role of ‘The Whore’, Curt ‘The Athlete’, Holden ‘The Scholar’, Marty ‘The Fool’, and Dana ‘The Virgin’. The remaining two in the third act of the film, Marty and Dana, discover that the order in which they group dies can be flexible, as long as ‘The Whore’ dies first and ‘The Virgin’ lives or is the last to perish. This revelation for the characters partly acts as a critique of the moralistic view of sex as resulting in death in the traditional slasher movie. For example in films that established the slasher in the horror genre like John Carpenter’s ‘Halloween’ (1978), all of the characters that engage
Ruth Fowler is Matt’s wife of many years and the mother of Matt’s three children: Steve, Cathleen and the now murdered Frank. Ruth can’t come to terms with Frank’s death and is haunted at all times of the day, whether at home or out in the town shopping and running errands, “She was at Sunnyhurst today getting cigarettes and aspirin, and there he was. She can’t even go out for cigarettes and aspirin. It’s killing her” (108). This quote is a symbolism of her mental state. The anguish of just seeing her son’s killer on the streets with freedom is more than Ruth can mentally comprehend. Ruth continually applies emotional pressure to her husband with comments and allusions to why the killer is sti...
A serial killer is traditional defined as the separate killings of three or more people by an individual over a certain period of time, usually with breaks between the murders. (Angela Pilson, p. 2, 2011) This definition has been accepted by both the police and academics and therefore provides a useful frame of reference (Kevin Haggerty, p.1, 2009). The paper will seek to provide the readers with an explanation of how serial killers came to be and how they are portrayed in the media.
Although heterogeneity is most likely to characterize most psychological and criminological categories, researchers conceptualized some shared characteristics between serial killers. Although heterogeneity exists within any psychological or criminological category, certain common characteristics are found among serial killers. Demographic and descriptive features Serial murderers are typically white males in their twenties to forties, yet those whose crimes go undetected for many years are likely to be older when caught.
G. (2016, September 4). Serial killer statistics. Retrieved November 11, 2017, from http://maamodt.asp.radford.edu/serial killer information center/project
... the nurses had to give her a shot to calm her down. In the end, she was able to recognize him, and they believed their love was so strong that they could leave that place together, and they did. They died together, holding hands. It is said that some elderly couples die within minutes, hours, days, weeks, or months of each other. I believe it to be a sort of spiritual thing, a connection that can not be broken, even by death.
Serial killers have captivated the attention of scientists from the first signs of their existence to modern day. Interested by these killers’ inhumane actions, researchers set out to determine the cause of such graphic, horrific crimes. The brain has been brought into question regarding the motivation of these cold blooded killers. After extensive research, abnormalities of both the chemical composition and material makeup have been identified within the brains of numerous serial killers. These differences are more than mere coincidence, they are evidence that killers do not think in the same way. The killers’ drives and motives are irregular, just as their brains are. Not only are these variations interesting, but they are also crucial to the justice system in regards to the punishment of past, future, and present sequential murderers. It is important that as a society we learn the differences in the mind of a killer, and also recognize and understand them. A serial killer’s brain greatly differs in function from the average citizen’s brain due to physical variations in the brain and a different chemical makeup.