Spotting a Serial Killer Through Past Killers' Known Behavior

Victims in horror movies have it pretty easy - avoid the guy with the human skin worn like Prada and wielding a chainsaw and you're more or less good. Unfortunately, the rules are not necessarily so simple in real life, as the likes of Ted Bundy and Albert Fish have taught us. Serial killers in the real world do not advertise themselves because, by all accounts, they're outsiders in a world of normality and are on a "hunt". The hunt is not necessarily violent at first - it's a hunt to fulfill a kind of need. Their actions, to them, are compulsive, reports Criminal Psychology author Shirley Lynn Scott. She cites Edmund Kemper, who said,

"It was an urge. ... A strong urge, and the longer I let it go the stronger it got, to where I was taking risks to go out and kill people - risks that normally, according to my little rules of operation, I wouldn't take because they could lead to arrest."

There's no true consistency as to what drives these people to the most callous forms of murder and torture - the only common factor being a need to fulfill some sort of urge as Edmund Kemper stated. Although this makes them frightening predators - it does give those who they see as prey a particular advantage. These killers see themselves as outsiders, they're "beyond" the norm of human culture. Jeffery Dahmer, the renown cannibal who was beat to death with a broom, stated he believed he was born with a "par missing", for example. He did not see himself as "in" with everyone else.

Ted Bundy states that he believes that pornography drove him to murder - but the affable and strategic liar is of questionable credibility for his self diagnosis. He played a large part, however, in internally analyzing his own urges and was even called in to assist police in discovering local serial killers.

What can an individual do to avoid these "hunters" however? They have struck in a variety of ways that all seemed innocuous in nature - ranging from John Wayne Gacey's kidnapping of a man off the side of the road to the infamous kidnappings of Bundy himself. How do you protect yourself?

First and foremost, you should understand the immediate warning signs. What types of things can be considered "early alert" systems?

The Crime Library, a nationally recognized source of information on crime and serial killers warns that the most important thing to keep an eye on is just how "perfect" the person is. Have you met someone in the subway who has absolutely no flaws? He is charming, happy, handsome, clean, knows all the right things to say? Does he have no visible flaws? Like a wolf in sheep's clothing, this person should be considered warily/

Everyone has flaws - even this clever, charming disguise. In the person's zealous attempts to hide their flaws in the fear of turning their quarry away, they display an obvious mask, covering all of their inequities in such an exaggeration that this should be a warning that they are after "something". This is a general rule for most scenarios, but especially true with the case of serial killers.

Be careful, likewise, of certain trademark give aways in a person's basic personality types. Propensity for destruction, bizarre sexual appetites, a remarkable lack of confidence with a propensity to find release in violence, or a macabre humor that leads the person to appear drawn to the most despicable parts of films. None of these by themselves are necessarily signs - but in conjunction with one another, or when incorporated with a fascination with the dead, the desecration of graveyards, or especially the mutilation of animals or insects.

At the risk of stereotyping - likewise most serial killers are white males, often times middle-aged and either extremely good looking or overweight with a lack of confidence that they try to compensate for, often times violently.

Serial killers are rare - but there is no reason to let your guard down.

Sources:

http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/notorious/tick/victims_1.html
http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/predators/kemper/edmund_1.html
http://www.crimelibrary.com/about/authors/scott/index.html
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/11/prwebxml175873.php
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/npd/95690