Over my many years of prosecuting and defending criminal, I’ve represented a few serial killers in my days.  No matter how much everyone in the system tries to treat these cases as “just another crime” and not put undue attention on them, they are different.  The killers are a different type of criminal.

I’m certainly not a psychiatrist, but I can tell you about a few things I learned from being the same jail cell while interviewing these criminals and representing them in court.

1.  Most of them I’ve worked with do plan their crimes.  They know the outcome will be murder, so they are careful to not get caught.  I don’t think they plan in great detail, but here’s an example.  One serial killer stopped often at a Perkins restaurant late at night.  He talked to a young female waitress occasionally and decided she would become his victim.  After several weeks of watching her, he struck.  She left work after her shift and the killer grabbed her from the parking lot.

2.  Who do they pick?  I think it’s pretty common to avoid stronger people.  People who might fight back harder than usual, may yell or have a network to draw on for help.  When the serial killers I’ve worked with met any resistance, they usually dropped the chase.  I’m not advocating that women carry weapons—research has shown that too often under the stress of the moment, they don’t use them anyway.  I know that fighting back, resisting, and yelling for help have caused the serial killers I worked with to stop and run.

Photo courtesy of Marin at Freedigitalphotos.net

3.  Do they get enjoyment out of killing?  I’m not a shrink, but I don’t think you could say serial killers enjoy what they do.  I suspect it’s like a headache that they want to go away.  Most serial killers are angry, hurt people themselves.  They get a sense of power and success by forcing other people to do what they want.

4.  Is sex often a part of the motive for serial killing?  Sometimes, but research has shown that they engage in sex not for the enjoyment of the sexual act, but rather to have power over another person, to humiliate them, or to prove to the serial killer that he is capable of getting people to do what he wants.  One of the serial killers I represented (in another case—not mine) kidnapped a woman, took her to an isolated woods, stabbed her to death with a buck knife in the chest—and then had sex with the dead body.

5.  Have any of the serial killers shown remorse?  No.  The only remorse they have is for themselves at getting caught.  The psychological term for these people is sociopath—someone who lacks any conscience.  Therefore, the serial killers I’ve worked have shown no remorse.