January

SERIAL KILLERS—AN OVERVIEW

13, 2009
BY JILL POGUE
An Enigmatic Personality: Case Report of a Serial Killer
Richard T. Kraus
This case report describes a man with aggressive and anti-social behaviours, a 47, XYY karyotype, abnormally
elevated urinary kryptopyrroles and multiple brain injuries who is now serving a 250 year sentence for the serial
murders of 11 women. These multiple abnormal findings have relevance as identifiable precursors for potential
violence in such individuals with a history of behavioural disturbance and are discussed on a background of his case
history and review of the literature.

What Makes a Serial Killer-

– Almost always a male killer and a female victim

– Victim is the same race as the killer
– Killer’s age is somewhere between 25 & 35.
– No geographic variation in sites
– Victims have a similar status
– Stranger-to-stranger relationship between the victim and the killer
– They are often very intelligent, with IQs in the "bright normal" range.
– Despite their high IQs, they do poorly in school, have trouble holding down jobs, and often work menial
jobs.
– They tend to come from unstable families.
– As children, they are typically abandoned by their fathers and raised by domineering mothers.
– Their families often have criminal, psychiatric and alcoholic histories.
– They often are mistrustful of their parents.
– It is common to find that as children, they were abused—psychologically, physically and/or sexually—by a
family member.
– Many spend time in institutions as children and have records of early psychiatric problems.
– They have high rates of suicide attempts.
– From an early age, many are intensely interested in voyeurism, fetishism, and sadomasochistic
pornography.
– More than 60 percent wet their beds beyond the age of 12.
– Many are fascinated with fire starting.
– They are involved in sadistic activity or tormenting small creatures.
–

Although, these traits are not always true about serial killers.

Some serial killers are known to have disorders—one that is found to be most common is OCD, which is known as
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder—which can lead to obsessions.

Most serial killers are known to have things that set them apart from the rest—certain things that they do to each and
every one of their victims. For example, a notorious serial killer noted as Jack the Ripper, slit the throats of his
victims, then mutilated their bodies.
 January
SERIAL KILLERS—AN OVERVIEW
13, 2009
BY JILL POGUE
Female serial killers are more likely to get away with murder than male serial killers are. Murderesses can kill for
years without getting caught because they're driven by different motivations; murderers tend to get caught before too
much time has passed. Female killers have different psychological disorders, which may affect their motivation and
modus operandi. Their motives are why female serial killers kill - and why they don't get caught right away.
Why female serial killers kill
We don't hear of many female serial killers, and that may be partly because women aren't as prone to commit any
type of crime as men. Men are more aggressive and violent than women are which is why female serial killers are
less common. Women account for 14% of violent offenders (men are 6 times more likely to commit violent crimes).
Because women don't kill for the same reasons as men, forensic psychologists find the term "female serial killer"
controversial. This term is defined by sexual motivation and the desire for power over victims, which are
characteristics that murderesses don't usually display. Female serial killers kill for other reasons.
Following are the significant differences between male and female serial killers.
Characteristics of female serial killers:

• Female serial killers have long killing sprees, lasting up to 8 years (males' sprees almost never last longer than 4
years and usually end after several months).
• Female serial killers kill more quietly and less "violently", with poison or other less undetectable methods, like
suffocation. Males tend to batter, strangle, stab, and shoot.
• Female serial killers kill for profit most of the time, while male serial killers kill for sexual reasons about half the
time.
• Female serial killers generally kill people close to them, such as husbands, family members, or people
dependent on them. Males kill strangers more often.
There are three similarities between male and female serial killers:
1. They look, act, and sound normal – which makes people trust them.
2. They are psychopaths, but they're not insane.
3. Neither male nor female serial killers have a conscience.
Female serial killers are divided into nine categories: black widows, angels of death, sexual predators, revenge
killers, profit killers, team killers, killers whose sanity is in question, killers whose motives defy explanation, and
unsolved crimes.
Past abuse, struggles with depression, feelings of anxiety may all contribute to female crimes and violence, but the
overriding psychopathology goes beyond these "normal" struggles that we all face.

• The USA has 76% of the worlds serial killers.

• Europe in second, has 17%. England has produced 28% of the European total; Germany produces 27%,
and France produces 13%.

• California leads in the US with the most Serial Homicide cases that have occurred. Texas, New York,
Illinois, and Florida follow shortly behind.

• Maine has the lowest occurrence of serial murders - none. Hawaii, Montana, North Dakota, Delaware, and
Vermont each have had only one case of a serial murder.
• 84% of American killers are Caucasian.
• 16% are black.
• Men make up at least 90% of the world wide total of serial killers.
 January
SERIAL KILLERS—AN OVERVIEW
13, 2009
BY JILL POGUE
• 65% of victims are female.
• 89% of victims are white.
• 44% of all killers start in their twenties.
• 26% start in their teens.

• 24% start in their thirties.

• Out of all the killers, 86% are heterosexual.