SERIAL KILLER MIND

  Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 H 60 A STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES SECOND EDITION   She lay under her covers up to her chin this time, she had signs of recent intercourse, and there was damage to her rectum. In early March, Mary Brown, age sixty-eight, was found in Lawrence beaten to death, strangled, and raped.

  Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 H 59 A STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES SECOND EDITION   This took place about ten minutes before Clark’s death, and she was able to describe him as a twenty-five to thirty-year-old man of average height and light hair, with dark pants and jacket. Later that month, twenty-three-year-old Patricia Bissette was found in her Back Bay apartment, with several stockings interwoven with a blouse strangling her.

  Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 H 58 A STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES SECOND EDITION   This was the first younger woman to be killed by the Strangler. Another woman in the building had seen a strange man there to check her paint, and when he complimented her on her figure, she silenced him, which enraged him, but he left hurriedly when she said her husband was sleeping in the next room.

  Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 H 57 A STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES SECOND EDITION In December, again in the Back Bay, twenty-one-year-old, African American Sophie Clark was found by her roommates on the living room floor, legs spread, with nylons and her slip tied around her neck. There was evidence of assault, and for the first time, semen was found on the rug.

  Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 H 56 A STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES SECOND EDITION   She had been strangled by her nylons in the kitchen or hallway, where her blood was found. There may have been sexual assault, but her body had decomposed too much to tell. This killing was followed by a three-month break, where all detectives could do was rule out possible suspects.

  Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 H 55 A STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES SECOND EDITION   She was facing the front door, so that her body would be seen immediately when someone entered. The next day, Jane Sullivan, a sixty-seven-year-old Dorchester resident, was found after being dead for ten days. She was found face down, nude in her bathtub, with her head under the faucet and her feet draped over the other end of the tub.

  Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 H 54 A STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES SECOND EDITION   In mid-August of that year, Ida Irga, age seventy-five, of Boston’s West End was found on her back, nightdress torn, exposing her body. In a grotesque parody of an obstetrical position, her legs were spread about five feet, each raised on a separate chair, with a pillow under her buttocks, and the pillowcase knotted tightly around her neck.

    Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 H 53 A STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES SECOND EDITION   The police commissioner notified women to lock their doors and be wary of all strangers. The police began to investigate sex offenders and violent former mental patients. They were on the lookout for a man who sought older women in order to take out his hatred for his mother.

  Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 H 52 A STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES SECOND EDITION   Again her apartment was a mess, but nothing was missing. That same day in Lynn, sixty-five-year-old Helen Blake was killed at about 8:00 A.M. She was found face down nude on her bed with her legs spread. She too had been strangled by a nylon, and there was also a brassiere tied around her neck in a bow. Two diamond rings were removed from her fingers, the first instance of robbery.

  Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 H 51 A STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES SECOND EDITION   Two weeks later Nina Nichols, age sixty-eight, of Brighton, was found with her legs spread and her housecoat and slip pulled up to her waist. She had been strangled by her two nylon stockings, which had been tied in a bow around her neck. She too had been sexually abused, and her vagina and anus were lacerated.

  Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 H 50 A STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES SECOND EDITION   She had been sexually assaulted by an unknown object. Her apartment had been ran- sacked, with objects and drawers everywhere in attempt to make it look like a burglary, but nothing was missing.

  Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 H 49 A STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES SECOND EDITION Victimology Six of the eleven were between the ages of fifty-five and seventy-five, and the other five ranged in age from nineteen to twenty-three. The other two possibilities were aged sixty-nine and eighty-five. On June 14, 1962, fifty- five-year-old Back Bay resident Anna Slesers was found by her son at about 7:00 P.M. She was lying nude on her bathroom floor, face up, with her legs spread apart, and the chord from her bathrobe tied around her neck.

  Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 H 48 A STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES SECOND EDITION   In 1965, Albert DeSalvo confessed to all of the eleven Boston Strangler murders, in addition to two more deaths. At the time, people who knew him contended he could not be responsible of such crimes, and the argument for his innocence can still be made today.

  Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 H 47 A STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES SECOND EDITION   At the time, it was determined that at least eleven of the homicides were the work of one man. All of the women were killed in their apartment, had been sexually assaulted, and were strangled with an article of their own clothing. In each instance, there were no signs of forced entry, meaning the perpetrator was either known to them or let in voluntarily.

  Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 H 46 A STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES SECOND EDITION CASE STUDY: 135: ELDER FEMALE SEXUAL HOMICIDE Case Contributed by Kevin Faherty Between June 14, 1962, and January 4, 1964, thirteen single women in the Boston area were victims of a brutal death by strangulation. The question lingers today as to whether it was the work of one serial killer or several killers.

  Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 H 45 A STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES SECOND EDITION   Interviewing arrested offenders should focus on the financial gain aspect of the crime and avoid (at least initially) the sexual assault component. The interviews should be one-on-one, avoiding multiple interviewers. The inter- viewer should take a soft and empathetic approach despite the heinous nature of the homicide.  

  Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 H 44 A STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES SECOND EDITION   Studies have shown that as the degree of injury severity increases, the offender age generally decreases, and he is likely to live closer to rather than farther from the victim. Juvenile offenders are more likely to be violent, live closer, engage in postmortem mutilation and foreign object insertion, and target women seventy-five years of age and older. They are less likely to leave semen.

  Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 H 43 A STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES SECOND EDITION   Most take cash, jewelry, or other small items of value. The theft of these items is for financial gain and is not taken to serve as mementos of the event for later fantasy enhancement.

  Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 H 42 A STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES SECOND EDITION   The majority are drug users and abusers. Because the majority are unemployed, they typically re- side with someone on whom they are financially dependent. Nearly three- quarters are unmarried, and nearly half live with family members. Their average is twenty-seven.  

  Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 H 41 A STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES SECOND EDITION   Most have a criminal history, with burglary the most observed. Their criminal activities are populated by misdemeanor-type offenses rather than serious felonies, including sexual offenses. This indicates that the offender is less likely to reside in a registered sex offender database.

  Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 H 40 A STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES SECOND EDITION   The neighborhood investigation should be thorough and focus on persons in the area who evidence many of the personality, lifestyle, and behavioral characteristics highlighted here. Overall, they can be described as socially inadequate, undereducated, unemployed, or if employed it is in unskilled physical labor.

  Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 H 39 A STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES SECOND EDITION   With that typology as a base of personality and behavioral characteristics and the empirical data revealing how close many of these offenders live to their victims, the neighborhood investigation becomes the key to identifying the perpetrators. Despite age and race considerations, the offenders are a homogeneous group from a lifestyle and behavioral perspective.

  Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 H 38 A STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES SECOND EDITION   Investigative Considerations Hazelwood and Douglas’s work (1980), which offers a categorization of sexual murderers on a continuum from organized to disorganized, may have significance. Applying this typology, these offenders are found to be overwhelmingly consistent with the disorganized typology.

  Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 H 37 A STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES SECOND EDITION   Most activity engaged in by the offender, including the sexual interaction, occurs postmortem. Strangulation either as a single cause of death or in combination with blunt-force trauma or stabbing is the most prevalent cause of death. The level of injury noted in these cases is excessive and is an attribute believed to be distinct from other violent crimes.

  Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 H 36 A STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES SECOND EDITION   Fingerprints and trace evidence, including hairs and fibers, are commonly found on and around the victim. A number of offenders leave per- sonal items at the scene—for example, hats, bandannas, underwear, and per- sonal identification.

  Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 H 35 A STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES SECOND EDITION Common Forensic Findings. These offenders are not evidence conscious and inadvertently tend to leave significant forensic evidence at their crime scenes. Semen may be identified vaginally, anally, and orally, as well as on the body and on clothing items near the body. The breasts should be swabbed for saliva.

  Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 H 34 A STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES SECOND EDITION   These offenders are not removing items described by law enforcement as trophies or souvenirs. They typically take cash and small items such as jewelry. These items are generally taken from the immediate vicinity of the victim or are located on the pathway out of the scene.

    Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 H 33 A STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES SECOND EDITION   These offenders generally have simple fantasies and can be described as concrete thinkers, rarely planning their crimes but instead acting impulsively. Although the majority remove property from the scene, the motive for their removal is financial gain.

  Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 H 32 A STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES SECOND EDITION   Offenders are neither acquaintances nor complete strangers to their victims, but instead fall somewhere in between. This does not imply that a prior relationship existed between the offender and victim but rather that the offender was aware of where the victim lived prior to the crime and perceived her to be alone and vulnerable.

  Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 H 31 A STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES SECOND EDITION   Torture, more commonly found in organized offenders, is rarely seen with these offenders. Since the majority of offenders use a blitz approach, the sexual assault and interaction with the victim often occur during or subsequent to the victim’s death.

  Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 H 30 A STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES SECOND EDITION   Semen was identified in fewer than half of the cases, with no differences noted for race or age. Sexual activity without the presence of semen was noted in the remaining cases. This sexual activity included fondling the sexual areas of the body, foreign object insertion, and posing the victim to expose the sexual areas of the body.

  Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 H 29 A STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES SECOND EDITION   Overall, the offenders inserted foreign objects into the victim’s body 22 percent of the time, with white offenders responsible for more than half of those cases. In addition, offenders younger than twenty-four years of age were responsible for more than half of all foreign object insertion.

  Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 H 28 A STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES SECOND EDITION   Nearly three-fourths of the offenders killed their victims between 8:00 P.M. and 4:00 A.M., with most of those occurring after midnight. Offenders were found to have sexually assaulted their victims both vaginally and anally, with vaginal assault occurring three to four times as often.

  Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 H 27 A STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES SECOND EDITION   When assessing where the offender lives in relationship to the victim, empirical evidence supports the observation that the more severe the injuries are, the closer the offender lives to the victim.

  Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 H 26 A STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES SECOND EDITION   The severity of injury inflicted by the offender has been found to be predictive of both age and how close that offender lives to his victim. With respect to age, it is an inverse relation- ship: the more injury related to the victim’s cause of death, the younger is the offender.

  Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 H 25 A STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES SECOND EDITION   Safarik and Jarvis (2005) developed the Homicide Injury Scale as a metric to assess the level of injury and provide quantitative evidence to support the differentiation of levels of homicidal injury.

  Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 H 24 A STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES SECOND EDITION   The approach used by most of the offenders was a blitz attack: the immediate and overwhelming use of injurious force to incapacitate the victim. Because offenders use the blitz approach, the use of restraints is rarely noted.

  Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 H 23 A STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES SECOND EDITION   Ligatures used to strangle, blunt-force objects, and knives are often found near the victim and subsequently left at the scene. Most offenders gain access to the victims through unlocked doors and windows or by using a ruse or con. The balance use force to gain access.

  Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 H 22 A STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES SECOND EDITION Crime Scene Indicators Frequently Noted. Multiple crime scenes are rare. The initial encounter, assault, homicide, and subsequent postmortem activity usually occur at one location. Weapons are rarely brought to the scene. If the offender uses a weapon, he usually obtains it from the scene.

  Crime Classification Manual Part II Chapter 6 H 21 A STANDARD SYSTEM FOR INVESTIGATING AND CLASSIFYING VIOLENT CRIMES SECOND EDITION   Finally, nearly half of the offenders confessed to the crime subsequent to their arrest, while another 19 percent made some kind of an admission relative to the crime yet continued to deny responsibility for the homicide. In terms of racial differences, whites were observed to have confessed nearly twice as often as blacks.