The Editors of Time-Life - TIME-LIFE The Most Notorious Serial Killers: Ruthless, Twisted Murderers Whose Crimes Chilled the Nation

THE MOST NOTORIOUS

SERIAL KILLERS

RUTHLESS, TWISTED MURDERERS WHOSE CRIMES CHILLED THE NATION

TIME INC. BOOKS

Publisher Margot Schupf

Associate Publisher Allison Devlin

Vice President, Finance Terri Lombardi

Vice President, Marketing Jeremy Biloon

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Editorial Director Kostya Kennedy

Creative Director Gary Stewart

Director of Photography Christina Lieberman

Editorial Operations Director Jamie Roth Major

Senior Editor Alyssa Smith

Project Editor Eileen Daspin

Associate Art Director Allie Adams

Assistant Art Director Anne-Michelle Gallero

Copy Chief Rina Bander

Assistant Managing Editor Gina Scauzillo

Assistant Editor Courtney Mifsud

Special thanks: Brad Beatson, Nicole Fisher, Kristina Jutzi, Seniqua Koger, Simon Keeble, Kate Roncinske, Kristen Zwicker

Previous edition produced by The Stonesong Press, LLC

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eISBN: 978-1-68330-028-1

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Monsters Among Us

Real-life serial killers may be rare, but theyve been the subject of countless articles, books, movies, and television shows, and are part of our collective nightmares. Over the years, the media has assembled an almost generic profile for such murderers: Theyre white male outcasts. Theyre evil geniuses and sexual predators who target women and children. They keep trophies, or souvenirs, from their kills. Yet the reality is more complicated and nuanced.

As defined by the FBI, serial murder is the unlawful killing of two or more victims by the same offender(s), in separate events. Criminals who fit this description are racially diverse; according to the agency, the distribution of ethnicities basically matches the American population. Far from being loners, these people are often contributing members of society who appear normal. Their motives can include anger, hatred of a specific category of people or of society in general, financial gain, and a desire for fame. A killers rationale can change or evolve over time.

Certainly, sexual satisfaction is a common motive. Serial killers tend to choose victims who are available and vulnerable, and more than half of the 25 most ferocious modern serial killers huntedor are still huntingwomen and children.

A variety of other traits are also seen repeatedly among serial muderers. The predator who targets women and children is usually male and tends to come from an abusive background. His father may have been sadistic or overly strict; his mother may have been promiscuous or smothering. In murder, the killer is believed to be retreating from the pain of his boyhood into a world in which he is in control. He is seeking gratification in the violent domination of others, especially of the people who symbolize those who abused him. A serial murderer who targets women may be trying to destroy someone who represents his cruel mother; a child-slayer may be going after those who embody what he despises in himself, especially cracks in his own masculinity.

Photo Credits

The numbers in this section reference the page numbers of the print version of this text.

Front Cover

COVER, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Theodore Bundy, David Berkowitz, Aileen Wuornos, Jeffrey Dahmer

(clockwise from top left) Bettmann/Corbis via Getty Images; AP; Florida DOC/Getty Images; AP

Title

Contents

Foreword

Jo McRyan/Getty Images

My Devils Made Me Do It

(upper right) AP (lower from left) Kenn Bisio/The Denver Post via Getty Images; Time Life Pictures/DMI/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images; Mark Lennihan/AP; Lionel Cironneau/AP

Targeting Women and Children

(from left) Steven Senne/AP; AP

The Lethal Female

(clockwise from left) NYPD/AP; Sygma/Corbis via Getty Images; NYPD via Getty Images

Mass Murderers

Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Cults and Cannibals

(from top) AP; Taro Yamasaki/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images

A Long Gruesome History

BL/Robana/Age Fotostock

Chris Collins/Corbis via Getty Images

My Devils Made Me Do It

Whether they are committed in the heat of the moment, spontaneously, or just for the money, certain crimes seem to personify the basest human instincts.

Shattered minds and broken lives: The reasons for some of the most horrific crimes still escape our understanding.

Psychopath vs. Sociopath

Two conditions with very different causes can produce equally lethal personalities.

Mass murderer Ed Gein stored severed body parts in his Wisconsin kitchen.

Who Knew?

Experts estimate that between 0.5 and 5 percent of Americans are psychopaths or sociopaths. Thats 1.515 million people.

When describing violent criminals who have no sense of remorse, a lot of people, including many doctors and law-enforcement professionals, use the words psychopath and sociopath interchangeably. Scientists tend to agree that both terms describe the victims of a mental disease called Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD), and that each group is the product of both genetic and social factors. Indeed, psychopaths and sociopaths have a lot in common, but psychopaths are controlled more by their genes, and sociopaths more by their life circumstances. When they tip over into criminal insanity, they use different methods to gratify their brutal madness.

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders used by psychiatrists, psychopaths and sociopaths share a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others. Although alienated from the mainstream, many, if not most, appear normal. They know how to act around other people and can even be well-liked, generally by faking normal behavior. These wolves in sheeps clothing are especially dangerous because they are harder to discern than those who are noticeably off.