Running Head: THE WHY OF SERIAL KILLING
Into the Psychopath’s Mind: The Why of Serial Murder
Linsey Hatch
Southern Utah University
1
THE WHY OF SERIAL MURDER
2
Abstract
Serial murder is a rare event that might be preventable if the underlying reasons for psychopathy
can be pin-pointed and treated. A variety of ways describe serial killing. Different authors focus
on different traits of serial killing to define serial murder. The factors leading to serial murder
vary and are difficult to define. Environmental factors include family life and mentors in
childhood. Family life contributes to the mental stability of children. Mothers and fathers, the
ultimate guidelines for children, influence how the child will act in similar situations.
Psychological traits like narcissism and empathy also indicate psychopathy. A lack of affective
empathy is seen as callousness. Callousness, defined as a lack of feeling towards the victim,
explains why the murderer can commit such terrible crimes. A correct method of prevention and
treatment of psychopathy proves to be difficult to discover. Early detection of psychopathy from
extreme school problems can be beneficial in the prevention of serial murder.
Keywords: Serial murder, psychopathy, empathy, narcissism, serial killer.
THE WHY OF SERIAL MURDER
3
Into the Psychopath’s Mind: The Why of Serial Murder
Serial killing may be seen as something that is an inevitable part of society. However, if
there was a way to unlock the causes of serial murder, there might be a way to prevent such
horrific events from happening. The subjects discussed in this paper focus on learning the inner
workings of a psychopath’s mind. Instead of the darker, how did they do it, the focus will be on
how could they do it. Psychological, environmental, and biological factors are used to find the
underlying causes of serial murder. Learning about why the serial murderer kills could be a key
step to finding a solution for psychopathy. The main question that needs answering in today’s
society is why a serial killer becomes a killer.
Definition of Serial Murder
There are many different definitions to serial murder. Several authors have similar
definitions with minor differences. One of the differences is that there is a time between killings
called the cooling-off period. This time differs between definitions. The definition used here
states that the cooling-off period is noticeable and that at least three people must be killed for it
to be named serial. Serial murder is also put into categories depending on if the victims are
murdered at the same time (Myers, 2004). Three categories of serial murder as defined by Knight
(2006) include mass murder, spree murder, and serial killing. Mass murder is explained as
killing three or more people at one time and one place without a cooling-off period. Spree
murder is killing more than three people in thirty days. This type of murder usually happens
with petty crimes committed during the spree. Lastly, serial killing is described as killing three
or more people in more than thirty days with a noticeable cooling-off time in-between. Another
deciding factor is if the murderer is successful, meaning that they were never apprehended. Or
the serial killer can be put into the category of unsuccessful, meaning that they were tried and
THE WHY OF SERIAL MURDER
4
found guilty in a court of law. These unsuccessful serial killers are able to be studied to learn the
reasons for psychopathy. The research from unsuccessful serial killers leads to figuring out and
capture of the more elusive killers. The successful murderers are the ones that need to be studied
so that society can learn how to prevent them (Yu & Raine, 2010).
Focusing on Knight’s (2006) definition, serial killers can be classified as either organized
or disorganized. Both of these types are thought to have some of the same basic identifiable
characteristics. The serial murderer might have had a history with animal cruelty, taken trophies,
had trouble with the law, became versed in manipulation, or planned the kill beforehand (Knight,
2006). Organized serial killers can also be classified as lust or thrill serial killers. These types of
murderers won’t stop until caught. The killers classified as lust usually stalk their victims and
plan their kills. Mutilation of the body is usually common in these types of killings. Lust killers
get more violent with each crime committed. On the other hand, thrill serial killers are separate
in that they derive their pleasure from the process of killing. They don’t usually dismember the
body because there is no thrill once the victim is dead (Knight, 2006). These definitions of
organized murderers are thought of when thinking of popular television shows such as Criminal
Minds or CSI. However, thrill and lust killers are not the only categories displayed on criminal
justice shows.
Psychopathy is another word that is often used to describe serial killing. It is a word to
describe the actual disease that serial killers have. Instead of being a more pathological disease,
psychopathy is more of a mind disorder. Psychopathy also has many different definitions, but
there are specifically three personality types that lead to serial killing. The first, Farrington
(2005) insists, is an arrogant, deceitful interpersonal personality (ADI). This includes
manipulating others, superficial charm, and an overactive sense of self-centeredness. The next
THE WHY OF SERIAL MURDER
5
personality type is deficient affective experience (DAE). The traits of which are low empathy
and a failure to take responsibility for one’s actions. The third personality is
impulsive/irresponsible behavioral style (IIB). This is shown by seeking excitement, failing to
think before acting, and having to live off of others (Farrington, 2005). These three personality
traits of psychopathy include behaviors found in most serial killers. The classifications of these
characteristics and of serial murder will be used throughout the essay.
Factors that Lead to Psychopathy
The why of serial murder is unclear and many experts have debated the reasons behind
the violent event. Many authors believe that serial killing happens because of a range of
environmental, biological, sociological, and psychological traits (Myers, 2004). One of the
environmental traits Knight (2006) describes is factors in infancy that could lead to serial killing.
Knight (2006) debates, if a child is not shown affection of some kind by the mother or doesn’t
have a father figure to emulate, then the child doesn’t have a person to mirror or figure out the
basic working of self-esteem and psychological behavior. These children show aggressive
patterns, usually come from homes with some sort of abuse, and these behaviors usually increase
in adolescence (Knight, 2006). This means that the environment of early childhood can be an
element in the making of a serial killer. If the environment is unfriendly, the child can start to
withdraw and break from reality. It is not certain at this point whether or not a tendency for
psychological problems is noticed prior to the child being in the environment.
Lending support to Knight’s (2006) theory, there was found to be ten major factors that
were seen in most adolescent serial murders. Among these are: impaired capacity to feel guilt, a
history of child abuse, early childhood family dysfunction, sadistic fantasies, serious problems in
school, and even prior personality disorders. The offenders in the study done by Myers (2004)
THE WHY OF SERIAL MURDER
6
often were found to have had prior arrests for burglary or similar crimes before being convicted
as murderers (Myers, 2004). This supports the information found by Knight (2006) that children
with a history of family problems and prior arrests are more likely to become serial killers.
William Heirens was a prime example of a serial killer that also committed several petty
crimes. William Heirens was not known to have any sadistic behavior or exceptional behavior
until he was in the seventh grade (Myers, 2004). William didn’t have many family problems in
his childhood. There was no evidence of abuse in the home or otherwise. However, he did start
burglarizing houses around age twelve. By age thirteen he confessed to committing eleven
burglaries. William continued his burglaries through college at the exceptional age of sixteen.
Then he murdered for the first time after his victim walked in on his burglary. When asked why
he committed two murders he replied that he usually had the urge to kill someone when he
burglarized, but this time the urge was stronger so he had to kill them (Myers, 2004). Small
crimes usually lead to more serious crimes in the future (Knight, 2006). This makes a tendency
for serial killers to have already committed crimes. Heirens was apprehended for burglary when
it was discovered that he was also responsible for three unsolved murders. His burglaries led to
his arrest for murder. These types of patterns can assist in the capture of serial killers.
Psychological Factors
Knight’s (2006) article connects another factor, narcissism, to serial murder. Narcissism
is a term used to describe the outward love of others turned towards the self. A narcissist uses
compensations of grand illusions to focus attention off of their complete lack of self-esteem.
Self-esteem is something a person is born with and gradually grows as the person becomes more
mature. Infants use the perception of others’ care for them as a way to build their self esteem. To
see the mother’s face light up causes the infant to know that for that moment they are perfect in
THE WHY OF SERIAL MURDER
7
someone else’s eyes. Therefore the caretaker has shown the infant how to better organize their
psyche. This is called mirroring. The child sees the mother’s love as love for themselves
(Knight, 2006). This way the child can normally develop psychologically.
The second way a caretaker shows the child that they have value is through the emulation
of a father figure. The emulation is a process called idealization. This shows the child that they
are loved and that they are a part of something. Normal children then replace their caretaker
figures with their own self-esteem. However, serial killers don’t have this normal reaction. These
children believe that they are of no worth. Since these children have had no affection from their
parents or care givers, they come to believe that no one will ever show them affection. This
misconception becomes a basic fault in their make-up. Mirroring and idealization are key
elements in the development of children (Knight, 2006). Without an example to show them the
difference between reality and fantasy, the child can’t organize their mind correctly. This gives
way for violent fantasies later on in life. Idealization shows the child that they are of worth and
sets the stage for empathy. If a caregiver is absent then the child is not shown those key elements
to making up his way of thinking for the rest of his life. Early relations to people are forever
marred for serial killers with those kinds of encounters.
Starting as infants serial killers would try to attach themselves to any relationship even if
it is a harmful one. This leaves them vulnerable to bad influences. Serial killers also tend to take
care of their own needs before others which are the opposite of their childhood experiences.
Usually as a child, the serial killer would take care of everyone else’s needs first in hope of some
affection or connection from a person (Knight, 2006). Some serial killers make shallow
relationships with others to finally gain the attention they never got as children. Others become
reclusive and shy away from anything that will bring back emotional pain. Serial killers gain a
THE WHY OF SERIAL MURDER
8
sense of powerlessness and rejection in their childhood and take that out on others in violent
ways. Usually a caregiver could offer support to prevent this, but oftentimes the abuser in the
environment is the caregiver and so the child has no one to help them. This might explain why
serial killers murder to receive an immense sense of power over others since they could not
control their own experiences.
The first relationship a child usually has is with the mother. The way a mother acts in the
child’s life is a big factor of psychopathy. The mothers of serial killers play integral roles in their
lives. The maternal figures of serial murderers usually have extreme personalities whether it is
rejection or smothering. With the mother’s domineering personality, the child doesn’t have a
good sense of reality. For serial killers who were rejected as children this might explain the
reason why thrill killers need their victims to remain conscious to “see” them. They need to see
that they are in control. This makes them feel as if they are finally getting the motherly attention
that they were denied. There is no mutilation of the body after death because of mirroring. Once
the victim is dead the killer can no longer see themselves reflected in the victim’s eyes. Another
strange characteristic of thrill serial killers is that they attach themselves to the idea that their
victim is their “perfect” self and so cannibalism is not uncommon as they try to “take in their
perfect self”. Knight (2006) theorizes that thrill serial killers are trying to make up for a lack of
mirroring experiences in childhood, while lust serial killers are compensating for idealization
experiences.
There is a theory that because of the impact of mothers on the serial killer, the fantasy the
killer is playing out might be that of killing their own mother when they inflict pain on others
(Knight, 2006). According to Farrington (2005), “If a child suffered a prolonged period of
maternal deprivation during the first 5 years of life, this would have irreversible negative effects,
THE WHY OF SERIAL MURDER
9
including becoming a cold ‘affectionless character’ (DAE) and a delinquent (493).” The mother
plays such an important role in children’s lives that if they are left without one, children lose a
part of their warm and loving nature. Killings of this type are classified as displaced matricide.
Seemingly random women are usually seen as the mother object. Killing the mother figure takes
out some of the anger that has built up against them over the years.
Other killings might be from anger against the father figure. The serial murderer might
see other men as the father who rejected them. This rejection stops the development of the
idealization of moral values which may explain the reason for such sadistic behaviors. It might
also explain the lack of remorse shown by the serial killer. In the case of Jesse Pomeroy, he was
physically abused as a child by his father. His father was a butcher so Pomeroy was exposed to
the killing of large animals in his youth. It was reported that Jesse Pomeroy had many sudden
mood swings. He was unpopular as a child because of his cruelness. He was a magnificent liar.
He showed sadistic behavior when he was eleven years old and was later convicted of two brutal
murders when he was fourteen (Myers, 2004). The case of Jesse Pomeroy shows the importance
of fathers to the developmental process. Pomeroy was not shown much love from his father and
was exposed to horrible experiences in life. He took out his frustrations in the only way he knew
how. Violence was the realm he lived in and so he would kill any small animals he could find.
He tortured his younger classmates for a sense of power in his own life (Myers, 2004). Serial
killers might start out harming small animals, but this quickly escalates to cruel torture of human
beings. Their addictive behavior hides the rejection and pain felt inside. Because most people can
have horrible abusive environments and do not become killers, Knight (2006) believes that
narcissism might be the fatal combination to the circumstances people are exposed to.
THE WHY OF SERIAL MURDER
10
Besides narcissism, empathy also has an impact on psychopathy. Or more correctly, the
lack of empathy has a definite impact. There are two types of empathy. The first being affective
empathy which is actually feeling something for the other person. The second being cognitive
empathy which is understanding why someone feels the way they do. A sign of psychopathy is
callousness, so if a person has very little empathy they are showing a sign of psychopathy
(Dadds et al., 2009). A serial murderer lacks affective empathy. This means that they don’t
actually feel empathy for another person, but they can understand what they are supposed to feel
and portray that. In this the murderer is a wonderful actor, going through the motions of emotion.
Environmental Factors
Recent studies on the reasons for psychopathy have suggested that biological and
environmental factors have the most influence on the disease. Some of these environmental
factors start in the home. When children show symptoms of psychopathic behavior that might
cause parents more stress. Then the parents take that stress out on the child which just makes
them act out more. If a parent is frazzled, they are less likely to have good parenting skills when
being around their children (Fite, Greening, & Stoppelbein, 2008). Likelihood of psychopathic
behavior increases as the level of parenting decreases. This means that the worse the parent’s
action, the higher the probability is that the child will have psychopathic tendencies.
Socialization is also a factor. Since girls are usually pushed to be more social than boys
by their mothers, there might be a biological and psychological connection (Myers, 2004).
Because girls are pushed to social, they might be able to better connect with other human beings.
Boys don’t always have the social interaction and so are not forced to have any relationships
other than their family. Parents and children with difficulties forming attachments also showed
signs of psychopathic characteristics. If children do not have a close relationship with their
THE WHY OF SERIAL MURDER
11
parent or guardian, they are more likely to have problems in school and may have trouble with
the law in adolescence (Fite et al., 2008). Another biological factor includes the likelihood of
addictions and prior mental instability in the family. Serial killers have often been found to be
addicts who have frequent mood swings (Knight, 2006). This inclination makes serial killers all
the more unstable. Mental instability just makes the murderer much more dangerous. There is no
telling what can set them off.
Prevention
Because serious school problems can be confused with traits of psychopathy, this can
sometimes lead to early detection. When a child commits serious school crimes, professionals
are often called in to talk to the child. This leads to finding the reasons behind the problem
which are sometimes found to be traits of psychopathy. Likewise the traits that affect parenting
stress might be able to help predict cases where psychopathy could be a possibility (Fite et al.,
2008). Early home-visiting programs have been helpful in the treatment and prevention of
psychopathy. If a professional comes into the home at an early stage of childhood to give advice,
it has been found beneficial to the prevention of psychopathic tendencies (Farrington, 2005).
However, psychopaths have lying and deceitful behaviors which make them difficult to treat.
Such was the case with Mary Bell. Mary is a rare case who was found guilty of murdering two
small children at a young age herself. Mary inserted herself in the investigations and avoided
suspicion while still bragging to schoolmates about being a murderer (Myers, 2004). Children
and adults like Mary are very hard to detect. Any tests for psychopathy in childhood as well as
adulthood are not always correct because the participants don’t always admit their true
tendencies in a situation. One feeble hope to treat psychopathy hasn’t lived up to expectations.
THE WHY OF SERIAL MURDER
12
Interventions have been found as a minimal help for treatment (Farrington, 2005). However, the
search for a way to diagnose serial murderers has brought some gains.
There is a syndrome pronounced by Claus and Lidberg (1999) that gives somewhat
clinical symptoms for psychopathy. The first step is called omnipotence. The murderer kills for
the first time and is not arrested. They start to feel all powerful from evading the police. At this
stage they are not yet classified as psychopathic because their actions are so primitive. The
second stage is having a sadistic fantasy which is a key trait to being a serial killer. In the third
stage of Schahriar syndrome, the kills become a ritual and take on a pattern. This in similitude of
a signature for that serial killer. The fourth stage is defined as when the victim is seen as a toy in
their fantasy and is no longer a human. The final stage includes merging themselves with the
victim. The five stages in the Schahriar syndrome may be able to diagnose serial murderer once
it has been suspected.
Although many experts disagree on the specifics of what makes a murderer a serial killer,
they can all agree that a serial killer is a murderer who has a cooling-off period in between kills
(Knight, 2006). They also agree that to be considered serial, the person must have killed at least
three people. Serial murder is a rare event that results from a number of environmental,
psychological, and biological problems. Psychopathy can take many different forms, including
specific classifications such as special personality types. Factors in infancy such as mirroring
and idealization can also influence psychopathy. Parenting skills might be an important factor in
the nature of serial killing (Fite et al., 2008). The more upset a parent becomes, the worse their
parenting and the more the child acts out. Mothers have an important role in the upbringing of
children. If a mother or father is too extreme it can have a lasting impact on the children (Knight,
2006). The serial killers mind is a complex machine. It is usually in childhood that the serial
THE WHY OF SERIAL MURDER
13
killer breaks from reality and focuses on their fantasies. Serial murderers don’t always have the
same emotions as others. The murderers can’t always feel empathy so they become cold and
without feeling (Dadds et al., 2009). Due to the sinister nature of serial killing, there is no sure
way to prevent psychopathy once it has been found. Since serial killers usually are very well
versed in deception and the appearance of normalcy, they are difficult to detect and test (Knight,
2006). Serial killing may not yet be preventable or treatable, but if the reasons behind serial
murder are unearthed there is still a hope that one day there will be no such disease of the mind
like psychopathy.
THE WHY OF SERIAL MURDER
14
References
Claus, C., & Lidberg, L. (1999). Serial murder as a 'Schahriar syndrome'. Journal Of Forensic
Psychiatry, 10(2), 427.
Dadds, M. R., Hawes, D. J., Frost, A. J., Vassallo, S., Bunn, P., Hunter, K., & Merz, S. (2009).
Learning to ‘talk the talk’: the relationship of psychopathic traits to deficits in empathy
across childhood. Journal Of Child Psychology & Psychiatry, 50(5), 599-606.
doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2008.02058.x
Farrington, D. (2005). The importance of child and adolescent psychopathy. Journal Of
Abnormal Child Psychology, 33(4), 489-497. doi:10.1007/s10802-005-5729-8
Fite, P. J., Greening, L., & Stoppelbein, L. (2008). Relation between parenting stress and
psychopathic traits among children. Behavioral Sciences & The Law, 26(2), 239-248.
doi:10.1002/bsl.803
Knight, Z. G. (2006). Some thoughts on the psychological roots of the behavior of serial killers
as narcissists: an object relations perspective. Social Behavior & Personality: An
International Journal, 34(10), 1189-1206.
Myers, W. C. (2004). Serial murder by children and adolescents. Behavioral Sciences & The
Law, 22(3), 357-374. doi:10.1002/bsl.590
Yu, G., & Raine, A. (2010). Successful and unsuccessful psychopaths: A neurobiological model.
Behavioral Sciences & The Law, 28(2), 194-210. doi:10.1002/bsl.924
THE WHY OF SERIAL MURDER
15
Acknowledgements
My gratitude goes to all those that helped in the making of this paper. I’d like to thank
David Reeves and Grant Oxenrider for their constructive criticism. I would like to thank the
writing center for helping me to perfect my writing style. And I especially have to thank Dr.
Combs for pushing me to be better than just average in my writing.