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Running Head: THE WHY OF SERIAL KILLING 1

Into the Psychopath’s Mind: The Why of Serial Murder

Linsey Hatch

Southern Utah University

THE WHY OF SERIAL MURDER 2

Abstract

Serial murder is a rare event that might be preventable if the underlying reasons for psychopathy

can be pin-pointed and treated. A variety of ways describe serial killing. Different authors focus

on different traits of serial killing to define serial murder. The factors leading to serial murder

vary and are difficult to define. Environmental factors include family life and mentors in

childhood. Family life contributes to the mental stability of children. Mothers and fathers, the

ultimate guidelines for children, influence how the child will act in similar situations.

Psychological traits like narcissism and empathy also indicate psychopathy. A lack of affective

empathy is seen as callousness. Callousness, defined as a lack of feeling towards the victim,

explains why the murderer can commit such terrible crimes. A correct method of prevention and

treatment of psychopathy proves to be difficult to discover. Early detection of psychopathy from

extreme school problems can be beneficial in the prevention of serial murder.

Keywords: Serial murder, psychopathy, empathy, narcissism, serial killer.


Into the Psychopath’s Mind: The Why of Serial Murder

Serial killing may be seen as something that is an inevitable part of society. However, if

there was a way to unlock the causes of serial murder, there might be a way to prevent such

horrific events from happening. The subjects discussed in this paper focus on learning the inner

workings of a psychopath’s mind. Instead of the darker, how did they do it, the focus will be on

how could they do it. Psychological, environmental, and biological factors are used to find the

underlying causes of serial murder. Learning about why the serial murderer kills could be a key

step to finding a solution for psychopathy. The main question that needs answering in today’s

society is why a serial killer becomes a killer.

Definition of Serial Murder

There are many different definitions to serial murder. Several authors have similar

definitions with minor differences. One of the differences is that there is a time between killings

called the cooling-off period. This time differs between definitions. The definition used here

states that the cooling-off period is noticeable and that at least three people must be killed for it

to be named serial. Serial murder is also put into categories depending on if the victims are

murdered at the same time (Myers, 2004). Three categories of serial murder as defined by Knight

(2006) include mass murder, spree murder, and serial killing. Mass murder is explained as

killing three or more people at one time and one place without a cooling-off period. Spree

murder is killing more than three people in thirty days. This type of murder usually happens

with petty crimes committed during the spree. Lastly, serial killing is described as killing three

or more people in more than thirty days with a noticeable cooling-off time in-between. Another

deciding factor is if the murderer is successful, meaning that they were never apprehended. Or

the serial killer can be put into the category of unsuccessful, meaning that they were tried and


found guilty in a court of law. These unsuccessful serial killers are able to be studied to learn the

reasons for psychopathy. The research from unsuccessful serial killers leads to figuring out and

capture of the more elusive killers. The successful murderers are the ones that need to be studied

so that society can learn how to prevent them (Yu & Raine, 2010).

Focusing on Knight’s (2006) definition, serial killers can be classified as either organized

or disorganized. Both of these types are thought to have some of the same basic identifiable

characteristics. The serial murderer might have had a history with animal cruelty, taken trophies,

had trouble with the law, became versed in manipulation, or planned the kill beforehand (Knight,

2006). Organized serial killers can also be classified as lust or thrill serial killers. These types of

murderers won’t stop until caught. The killers classified as lust usually stalk their victims and

plan their kills. Mutilation of the body is usually common in these types of killings. Lust killers

get more violent with each crime committed. On the other hand, thrill serial killers are separate

in that they derive their pleasure from the process of killing. They don’t usually dismember the

body because there is no thrill once the victim is dead (Knight, 2006). These definitions of

organized murderers are thought of when thinking of popular television shows such as Criminal

Minds or CSI. However, thrill and lust killers are not the only categories displayed on criminal

justice shows.

Psychopathy is another word that is often used to describe serial killing. It is a word to

describe the actual disease that serial killers have. Instead of being a more pathological disease,

psychopathy is more of a mind disorder. Psychopathy also has many different definitions, but

there are specifically three personality types that lead to serial killing. The first, Farrington

(2005) insists, is an arrogant, deceitful interpersonal personality (ADI). This includes

manipulating others, superficial charm, and an overactive sense of self-centeredness. The next


personality type is deficient affective experience (DAE). The traits of which are low empathy

and a failure to take responsibility for one’s actions. The third personality is

impulsive/irresponsible behavioral style (IIB). This is shown by seeking excitement, failing to

think before acting, and having to live off of others (Farrington, 2005). These three personality

traits of psychopathy include behaviors found in most serial killers. The classifications of these

characteristics and of serial murder will be used throughout the essay.

Factors that Lead to Psychopathy

The why of serial murder is unclear and many experts have debated the reasons behind

the violent event. Many authors believe that serial killing happens because of a range of

environmental, biological, sociological, and psychological traits (Myers, 2004). One of the

environmental traits Knight (2006) describes is factors in infancy that could lead to serial killing.

Knight (2006) debates, if a child is not shown affection of some kind by the mother or doesn’t

have a father figure to emulate, then the child doesn’t have a person to mirror or figure out the

basic working of self-esteem and psychological behavior. These children show aggressive

patterns, usually come from homes with some sort of abuse, and these behaviors usually increase

in adolescence (Knight, 2006). This means that the environment of early childhood can be an

element in the making of a serial killer. If the environment is unfriendly, the child can start to

withdraw and break from reality. It is not certain at this point whether or not a tendency for

psychological problems is noticed prior to the child being in the environment.

Lending support to Knight’s (2006) theory, there was found to be ten major factors that

were seen in most adolescent serial murders. Among these are: impaired capacity to feel guilt, a

history of child abuse, early childhood family dysfunction, sadistic fantasies, serious problems in

school, and even prior personality disorders. The offenders in the study done by Myers (2004)


often were found to have had prior arrests for burglary or similar crimes before being convicted

as murderers (Myers, 2004). This supports the information found by Knight (2006) that children

with a history of family problems and prior arrests are more likely to become serial killers.

William Heirens was a prime example of a serial killer that also committed several petty

crimes. William Heirens was not known to have any sadistic behavior or exceptional behavior

until he was in the seventh grade (Myers, 2004). William didn’t have many family problems in

his childhood. There was no evidence of abuse in the home or otherwise. However, he did start

burglarizing houses around age twelve. By age thirteen he confessed to committing eleven

burglaries. William continued his burglaries through college at the exceptional age of sixteen.

Then he murdered for the first time after his victim walked in on his burglary. When asked why

he committed two murders he replied that he usually had the urge to kill someone when he

burglarized, but this time the urge was stronger so he had to kill them (Myers, 2004). Small

crimes usually lead to more serious crimes in the future (Knight, 2006). This makes a tendency

for serial killers to have already committed crimes. Heirens was apprehended for burglary when

it was discovered that he was also responsible for three unsolved murders. His burglaries led to

his arrest for murder. These types of patterns can assist in the capture of serial killers.

Psychological Factors

Knight’s (2006) article connects another factor, narcissism, to serial murder. Narcissism

is a term used to describe the outward love of others turned towards the self. A narcissist uses

compensations of grand illusions to focus attention off of their complete lack of self-esteem.

Self-esteem is something a person is born with and gradually grows as the person becomes more

mature. Infants use the perception of others’ care for them as a way to build their self esteem. To

see the mother’s face light up causes the infant to know that for that moment they are perfect in


someone else’s eyes. Therefore the caretaker has shown the infant how to better organize their

psyche. This is called mirroring. The child sees the mother’s love as love for themselves

(Knight, 2006). This way the child can normally develop psychologically.

The second way a caretaker shows the child that they have value is through the emulation

of a father figure. The emulation is a process called idealization. This shows the child that they

are loved and that they are a part of something. Normal children then replace their caretaker

figures with their own self-esteem. However, serial killers don’t have this normal reaction. These

children believe that they are of no worth. Since these children have had no affection from their

parents or care givers, they come to believe that no one will ever show them affection. This

misconception becomes a basic fault in their make-up. Mirroring and idealization are key

elements in the development of children (Knight, 2006). Without an example to show them the

difference between reality and fantasy, the child can’t organize their mind correctly. This gives

way for violent fantasies later on in life. Idealization shows the child that they are of worth and

sets the stage for empathy. If a caregiver is absent then the child is not shown those key elements

to making up his way of thinking for the rest of his life. Early relations to people are forever

marred for serial killers with those kinds of encounters.

Starting as infants serial killers would try to attach themselves to any relationship even if

it is a harmful one. This leaves them vulnerable to bad influences. Serial killers also tend to take

care of their own needs before others which are the opposite of their childhood experiences.

Usually as a child, the serial killer would take care of everyone else’s needs first in hope of some

affection or connection from a person (Knight, 2006). Some serial killers make shallow

relationships with others to finally gain the attention they never got as children. Others become

reclusive and shy away from anything that will bring back emotional pain. Serial killers gain a


sense of powerlessness and rejection in their childhood and take that out on others in violent

ways. Usually a caregiver could offer support to prevent this, but oftentimes the abuser in the

environment is the caregiver and so the child has no one to help them. This might explain why

serial killers murder to receive an immense sense of power over others since they could not

control their own experiences.

The first relationship a child usually has is with the mother. The way a mother acts in the

child’s life is a big factor of psychopathy. The mothers of serial killers play integral roles in their

lives. The maternal figures of serial murderers usually have extreme personalities whether it is

rejection or smothering. With the mother’s domineering personality, the child doesn’t have a

good sense of reality. For serial killers who were rejected as children this might explain the

reason why thrill killers need their victims to remain conscious to “see” them. They need to see

that they are in control. This makes them feel as if they are finally getting the motherly attention

that they were denied. There is no mutilation of the body after death because of mirroring. Once

the victim is dead the killer can no longer see themselves reflected in the victim’s eyes. Another

strange characteristic of thrill serial killers is that they attach themselves to the idea that their

victim is their “perfect” self and so cannibalism is not uncommon as they try to “take in their

perfect self”. Knight (2006) theorizes that thrill serial killers are trying to make up for a lack of

mirroring experiences in childhood, while lust serial killers are compensating for idealization

experiences.

There is a theory that because of the impact of mothers on the serial killer, the fantasy the

killer is playing out might be that of killing their own mother when they inflict pain on others

(Knight, 2006). According to Farrington (2005), “If a child suffered a prolonged period of

maternal deprivation during the first 5 years of life, this would have irreversible negative effects,


including becoming a cold ‘affectionless character’ (DAE) and a delinquent (493).” The mother

plays such an important role in children’s lives that if they are left without one, children lose a

part of their warm and loving nature. Killings of this type are classified as displaced matricide.

Seemingly random women are usually seen as the mother object. Killing the mother figure takes

out some of the anger that has built up against them over the years.

Other killings might be from anger against the father figure. The serial murderer might

see other men as the father who rejected them. This rejection stops the development of the

idealization of moral values which may explain the reason for such sadistic behaviors. It might

also explain the lack of remorse shown by the serial killer. In the case of Jesse Pomeroy, he was

physically abused as a child by his father. His father was a butcher so Pomeroy was exposed to

the killing of large animals in his youth. It was reported that Jesse Pomeroy had many sudden

mood swings. He was unpopular as a child because of his cruelness. He was a magnificent liar.

He showed sadistic behavior when he was eleven years old and was later convicted of two brutal

murders when he was fourteen (Myers, 2004). The case of Jesse Pomeroy shows the importance

of fathers to the developmental process. Pomeroy was not shown much love from his father and

was exposed to horrible experiences in life. He took out his frustrations in the only way he knew

how. Violence was the realm he lived in and so he would kill any small animals he could find.

He tortured his younger classmates for a sense of power in his own life (Myers, 2004). Serial

killers might start out harming small animals, but this quickly escalates to cruel torture of human

beings. Their addictive behavior hides the rejection and pain felt inside. Because most people can

have horrible abusive environments and do not become killers, Knight (2006) believes that

narcissism might be the fatal combination to the circumstances people are exposed to.


Besides narcissism, empathy also has an impact on psychopathy. Or more correctly, the

lack of empathy has a definite impact. There are two types of empathy. The first being affective

empathy which is actually feeling something for the other person. The second being cognitive

empathy which is understanding why someone feels the way they do. A sign of psychopathy is

callousness, so if a person has very little empathy they are showing a sign of psychopathy

(Dadds et al., 2009). A serial murderer lacks affective empathy. This means that they don’t

actually feel empathy for another person, but they can understand what they are supposed to feel

and portray that. In this the murderer is a wonderful actor, going through the motions of emotion.

Environmental Factors

Recent studies on the reasons for psychopathy have suggested that biological and

environmental factors have the most influence on the disease. Some of these environmental

factors start in the home. When children show symptoms of psychopathic behavior that might

cause parents more stress. Then the parents take that stress out on the child which just makes

them act out more. If a parent is frazzled, they are less likely to have good parenting skills when

being around their children (Fite, Greening, & Stoppelbein, 2008). Likelihood of psychopathic

behavior increases as the level of parenting decreases. This means that the worse the parent’s

action, the higher the probability is that the child will have psychopathic tendencies.

Socialization is also a factor. Since girls are usually pushed to be more social than boys

by their mothers, there might be a biological and psychological connection (Myers, 2004).

Because girls are pushed to social, they might be able to better connect with other human beings.

Boys don’t always have the social interaction and so are not forced to have any relationships

other than their family. Parents and children with difficulties forming attachments also showed

signs of psychopathic characteristics. If children do not have a close relationship with their


parent or guardian, they are more likely to have problems in school and may have trouble with

the law in adolescence (Fite et al., 2008). Another biological factor includes the likelihood of

addictions and prior mental instability in the family. Serial killers have often been found to be

addicts who have frequent mood swings (Knight, 2006). This inclination makes serial killers all

the more unstable. Mental instability just makes the murderer much more dangerous. There is no

telling what can set them off.

Prevention

Because serious school problems can be confused with traits of psychopathy, this can

sometimes lead to early detection. When a child commits serious school crimes, professionals

are often called in to talk to the child. This leads to finding the reasons behind the problem

which are sometimes found to be traits of psychopathy. Likewise the traits that affect parenting

stress might be able to help predict cases where psychopathy could be a possibility (Fite et al.,

2008). Early home-visiting programs have been helpful in the treatment and prevention of

psychopathy. If a professional comes into the home at an early stage of childhood to give advice,

it has been found beneficial to the prevention of psychopathic tendencies (Farrington, 2005).

However, psychopaths have lying and deceitful behaviors which make them difficult to treat.

Such was the case with Mary Bell. Mary is a rare case who was found guilty of murdering two

small children at a young age herself. Mary inserted herself in the investigations and avoided

suspicion while still bragging to schoolmates about being a murderer (Myers, 2004). Children

and adults like Mary are very hard to detect. Any tests for psychopathy in childhood as well as

adulthood are not always correct because the participants don’t always admit their true

tendencies in a situation. One feeble hope to treat psychopathy hasn’t lived up to expectations.


Interventions have been found as a minimal help for treatment (Farrington, 2005). However, the

search for a way to diagnose serial murderers has brought some gains.

There is a syndrome pronounced by Claus and Lidberg (1999) that gives somewhat

clinical symptoms for psychopathy. The first step is called omnipotence. The murderer kills for

the first time and is not arrested. They start to feel all powerful from evading the police. At this

stage they are not yet classified as psychopathic because their actions are so primitive. The

second stage is having a sadistic fantasy which is a key trait to being a serial killer. In the third

stage of Schahriar syndrome, the kills become a ritual and take on a pattern. This in similitude of

a signature for that serial killer. The fourth stage is defined as when the victim is seen as a toy in

their fantasy and is no longer a human. The final stage includes merging themselves with the

victim. The five stages in the Schahriar syndrome may be able to diagnose serial murderer once

it has been suspected.

Although many experts disagree on the specifics of what makes a murderer a serial killer,

they can all agree that a serial killer is a murderer who has a cooling-off period in between kills

(Knight, 2006). They also agree that to be considered serial, the person must have killed at least

three people. Serial murder is a rare event that results from a number of environmental,

psychological, and biological problems. Psychopathy can take many different forms, including

specific classifications such as special personality types. Factors in infancy such as mirroring

and idealization can also influence psychopathy. Parenting skills might be an important factor in

the nature of serial killing (Fite et al., 2008). The more upset a parent becomes, the worse their

parenting and the more the child acts out. Mothers have an important role in the upbringing of

children. If a mother or father is too extreme it can have a lasting impact on the children (Knight,

2006). The serial killers mind is a complex machine. It is usually in childhood that the serial


killer breaks from reality and focuses on their fantasies. Serial murderers don’t always have the

same emotions as others. The murderers can’t always feel empathy so they become cold and

without feeling (Dadds et al., 2009). Due to the sinister nature of serial killing, there is no sure

way to prevent psychopathy once it has been found. Since serial killers usually are very well

versed in deception and the appearance of normalcy, they are difficult to detect and test (Knight,

2006). Serial killing may not yet be preventable or treatable, but if the reasons behind serial

murder are unearthed there is still a hope that one day there will be no such disease of the mind

like psychopathy.


References

Claus, C., & Lidberg, L. (1999). Serial murder as a 'Schahriar syndrome'. Journal Of Forensic

Psychiatry, 10(2), 427.

Dadds, M. R., Hawes, D. J., Frost, A. J., Vassallo, S., Bunn, P., Hunter, K., & Merz, S. (2009).

Learning to ‘talk the talk’: the relationship of psychopathic traits to deficits in empathy

across childhood. Journal Of Child Psychology & Psychiatry, 50(5), 599-606.

doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2008.02058.x

Farrington, D. (2005). The importance of child and adolescent psychopathy. Journal Of

Abnormal Child Psychology, 33(4), 489-497. doi:10.1007/s10802-005-5729-8

Fite, P. J., Greening, L., & Stoppelbein, L. (2008). Relation between parenting stress and

psychopathic traits among children. Behavioral Sciences & The Law, 26(2), 239-248.

doi:10.1002/bsl.803

Knight, Z. G. (2006). Some thoughts on the psychological roots of the behavior of serial killers

as narcissists: an object relations perspective. Social Behavior & Personality: An

International Journal, 34(10), 1189-1206.

Myers, W. C. (2004). Serial murder by children and adolescents. Behavioral Sciences & The

Law, 22(3), 357-374. doi:10.1002/bsl.590

Yu, G., & Raine, A. (2010). Successful and unsuccessful psychopaths: A neurobiological model.

Behavioral Sciences & The Law, 28(2), 194-210. doi:10.1002/bsl.924


Acknowledgements

My gratitude goes to all those that helped in the making of this paper. I’d like to thank

David Reeves and Grant Oxenrider for their constructive criticism. I would like to thank the

writing center for helping me to perfect my writing style. And I especially have to thank Dr.

Combs for pushing me to be better than just average in my writing.

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