More handpicked essays just for you.
Essays on the psychology of serial killers
Essays on the psychology of serial killers
Essays on the psychology of serial killers
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Ted Bundy is the number one killer in the United States. Ted Bundy was born on November 24th, 1989. As a young child, he was shy, quiet, and lacked social skills throughout his childhood. Even at a young age he became interested in knives and macabre, which is a disturbing and terrifying involvement in death and injury’s. Bund’s teenage years, he grew into an intelligent, attractive young man who was studying law at University of Washington. This is when Bundy started his killing career after his first love broke up with him. Bundy was miserable when his first love who had everything left him, which eventually lead him to lure women who looked almost exactly like his ex-girlfriend. No one really knows how many women he has killed but police …show more content…
have estimated around thirty six victims. In the article “Ted Bundy”, by Rachael Bell and Marilyn Bardsley writes “The devil knows when to look attractive. And Ted Bundy was handsome and cultured and charming. Until he was strangling and multiplating victims, displaying their lopped-off heads in his apartment and sleeping with their courses until putrefaction made it unbearable.” Bundy was good at finding ways to lure his victims and during his multiple arrests, he was able to get away from most of his sentencing; although he got death row, he tried to revoke the sentences many times. Jeffery Dahmer was the second most famous killer in the United States. Dahmer was born May 21st, 1960 and he was good until his teenage years. When he was thirteen years old, he killed his first victim. Dahmer had a drinking problem which was one of the reason he started killing. African American men was his target when he began killing and he promise each victims sex and money until he killed them then dispose the body’s by eating them or pouring chemicals on their bodies. As he grew older he would have sex with the corpuses and would keep their head or their genitals as “Prizes.” Jeffery Dahmer was sentenced to prison for 957 years and was murdered November, 28th 1984 by an African American. John Wayne Gacy was considered a “psychopath” and the third top killer of America.
In the article, “John Wayne Gacy”, by Rachael Bell and Marilyn Bardsley writes “People who knew Gacy thought of him as a generous, friendly and hard-working man, devoted to his family and community; However there was another side to Gacy that few had ever witnessed.” Gacy was well known man but what most do not know was he had an abusive childhood and had conflicts with his sexuality. His MO was raping men and putting his victims in the garage or under his house. Gacy was sentences 10 years for sexual assault and then was accused of murder; therefore he was given a life sentence. John Wayne Gacy had heart conditions and was injected by lethal drugs in 1994. Zodiac Killer has been unknown for many years but is the fourth top murdered in history. The Zodiac Killer was known to kill at least five people and send coded messages to the police and FBI to play with them. The Killer once said “I like killing people because it is so much fun.” Miachael Butterfield writes in “Zodiac Killer: A Case Summary” says that the Zodiac story began near Benicia California on the night of December 20th, 1968, when a motorist discovered the lifeless bodies of two teenagers at “Lover’ Lane” spotted along Lake Herman Road.” The Zodiac Killer is still unknown and currently …show more content…
alive. The fifth murdered in America is Richard Ramirez and also known as “Night Stalker” or “Valley Intruder.” He was born on February, 28th 1960 and his MO was breaking into homes, tortured the victims, and then raped them. The Night Stalker started out with petty crimes, but then he started to become more dangerous. The Night Stalker had a total of twenty five victims over a course of two years but only killed thirteen people. The total number of people he killed and raped were twenty five people and after twenty three years of death row, he died of natural cases on June, 7th 2013. H.H Holmes is number six on the top ten murders in the United States.
H.H Holmes was born on May, 16th 1861. Holmes was an intelligence and very interested in medicine. Holmes would practice on animals until he grew older and practiced on people. He would steal dead bodies and eventually he started to married women that were already married, then kill their husbands. H.H Holmes MO was to tortured, kill, and burned over twenty seven people but police estimated he killed over twenty to one hundred people. New Hampshire called H.H Holmes “Beast of Chicago” and Later named “Murder castle.” H.H Holmes died on May 7th, 1896 by being hanged in
Philadelphia. David Berkowitz was born on June 1st, 1953 and is number seven on the killer’s list. Berkowitz is also called “Son of Sam” and murdered six people in New York City. Berkowitz started his first kills by shooting two teenagers and left many wounded. Every psychological evaluations, he would passed and he was sentenced to twenty five year life sentence. David Berkowitz case will be revised again in 2016. In the letter “Son of Sam” written by Marilyn Bardsley wrote that David had said “I am utterly convinced that something satanic had entered into my mind and that, looking back at all that happened, I realize that I had been slowly deceived. I did not know that bad things were going to result from all this. Yet over the months the things that were wicked no longer seemed to be such. I was headed down the road to destruction and I did not know it. Maybe I was at a point where I just didn't care anymore.” He knew he was crazy and he found God in prison which led him to ask for forgiveness for his horrible sins he had committed. Ed Gein is the number eight killer in America and was born on August 27th, 1906. Ed Gein is also known as “Mad Butcher”, who was a grave robber that stole bodies. Gein would keep the bodies of humans he had duged up as “Prizes.” During his time he would experiment with humans and practice Necrophilia, and taxidermy. The police found two unknown women that Ed Gein had murdered and when he was put on trial, Gein was guilty of murder and insanity. The “Mad Butcher” died on July 26th, 1984 from cancer. The ninth killer of the United States is Dennis Rader. Rader was born March 9th, 1945 and was known as the “BTK” Killer. “BTK” means blind, torture, and kill. Rader lived a double life for most of his time until he was caught. Rader love seeking fame for his murders he committed and playing the authorities. Dennis Rader escaped the death penalty because the death penalty was not put into law before he was committed. Rader wrote “It’s hard to control myself.” People were shocked by what Rader did and scared that they had lived by what they thought was a normal person. Rader is still continuing his ten year sentence at the Kanas prison. The final killer in the top ten killer’s is Gary Ridgeway. Known as the “Green River Killer”, who was born February 18th, 1949. Ridgeway killed over sixty women on Route 99 and along the river. His MO was to bring young runaways and prostitutes to his home, killed them and then buried them in the woods, normally behind his house. Gary Ridgeway was caught in 2001 by a DNA match from one of the victims. Ridgeway was charged in December 2003 on forty eight counts of first degree murder and still serving his sentence. Conclusion
David Berkowitz unleashed his random malicious scats during the summer of 1976. He is known today as one of New York’s most notorious serial killers. Berkowitz was born on June 1st, 1953 in New York, New York. He was adopted by the Berkowitz couple a few days after his birth. When Berkowitz was 18 the joined the U.S. Army. After the army, he got a job as a security officer and moved into an apartment in New York. No one even noticed the danger that slept next door.
Throughout John Wayne Gacy’s double life as a rapist and murderer, he exhibits the traits of a
Throughout John Wayne Gacy’s double life as a rapist and murderer, he exhibits the traits of a
Throughout history, America has been the home of serial killers, with more than 2,000 throughout history. In this country, America has encountered many different kinds of these sick people. One of the most infamous serial killers throughout American History was Theodore Robert Bundy, also known as Ted Bundy. On November 24, 1946, in Burlington, Vermont, Theodore Robert Bundy was born. When people think of serial killers, they usually see a dirty, insane looking person that would stand out from the average person. In Bundy’s case it was very different. Ted was a very smart individual who had attended 5 different colleges throughout the United States, studying law and eventually getting his degree in psychology at the University of Washington. Bundy was a very handsome and charming man, unlike most other serial killers. Looking helpless and using his good looks, Bundy was able to lure his victims and would knock them unconscious with an object such as a crowbar or a pipe, then would handcuff them inside his car. Once the victims were under his control he would then proceed in kidnapping, raping, sodomizing, and eventually killing them in very harsh ways. Throughout the 70’s, he raped and murdered young women all across the country. Bundy was said to be connected to at least 36 murders, and suspected to have committed one hundred or more.
Ted Bundy was a brutal serial killer. He was also very charming and handsome to
Ted Bundy was a monster who refused to accept his crimes and tried to delay his execution many times. He confessed that he committed gruesome acts of butchery and necrophilia many crimes and left behind an unparallel number of victims to an investigator. Bundy’s delaying tactics finally came to an end on 24th January, 1989, and he was executed at 7 am. His body was cremated and spread over the same Washington State Mountain area that served as his dumping ground for the bodies of his victims.
The Zodiac Killer is an unidentified man who is presumed to be a serial killer that operated in Northern California in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Murdering at least five people, but the Zodiac claims to have killed upwards of 37 people in total. In 1969 the Zodiac Killer began sending letters to the Bay Area newspapers, taking credit for the five killings and threatening further violence. The Zodiac Killer would call and send cryptic letters to the law enforcement agencies in Northern California, taunting them since they were unable to bring him to justice. The police had suspects but none that they could ever charge for the murders, due to lack of evidence, so this mystery still remains unsolved. The cultural impact that the Zodiac Killer has had on tv, movies and the media is still around today and has had many shows and movies remade after what this killer did. The cultural impact as well as for the families of the victims still remains today with still no closure, for those families who live in Northern California still there is the fear that crosses the minds on how such an awful criminal was once a part of their society, someone they may
Now this man killed allot of people so this paragraph isn’t for the faint of heart. The first victim will be Paul Lee Stein. He worked as a cab driver in the late 1960s 1968 to be exact. The zodiac hopped in the car of steins cab… A normal customer is all steins must have thought but boy was he wrong…. He asked to get taken across town. About a block before arrival he shot stein in the head with a 9mm. pistol. After he took his wallet keys and a piece of his shirt for proof. Now onto Darlene Elizabeth Ferrin the next victim on the list. She sat in her car with her boyfriend who survived the attack… he must have been devastated by the fact that he couldn’t help what is possibly the love of his life…. When the zodiacs car parked behind them. He got out and shot both multiple times with a 9mm. luger pistol. Later, Ferrin, had a medical professional pronounce her dead. The final victim will be Cecelia Ann Shepard. The zodiac pulled up his car by a couple having a picnic he then said he had just escaped from prison he held tied them up while holding a 45. He stabbed both of them but only Shepard died. As it can see he could be known as a very evil man and killed at weird times as the saying goes expect it when it’s least expect
Ted Bundy Ted Bundy's Trail of Terror From the Beginning of Taking Life Until The End of His Life. Serial killers tend to be white heterosexual males in their twenties and thirties. While it is impossible to predict who will become a serial killer, there are traits that appear to be similar in all killers. These behaviors include cruelty to animals, bedwetting, lying, drug and alcohol abuse, and a history of violence. According to Robert Ressler et al., "serial homicide involves the murder of separate victims with time breaks between victims, as minimal as two days to weeks or months.
Ted Bundy was one of the most vicious serial killers in American history. He confessed to 28 grotesque murders in the 1970’s but the actual number of his victims remains
In California, December 20, 1968, Zodiac attacked Betty Lou Jenson and David Faraday. This was his first significant criminal act. In a matter of 2 or 3 minutes, the attack was finished and he drove casually away from the scene. He showed no signs of remorse and seemed very calm about all of his actions. After the attack of these two people-murdering the female-Zodiac would have read about his actions in local newspapers, listened to it on a radio report, or watched it on a local news report on the tv. Seven months later he attacked Darlene Ferrin and Micheal Mageau on July 4, 1969, killing the woman of course. Afterward he phoned the Vallejo Police departement to brag about what he did. He also wrote to three newspapers to brag.
The Zodiac Killer was a serial killer from the late 60’s and early 70’s. The zodiac killer identification was never known. The Zodiac Killer was most famous for killing couples in their car at night. He started his killing spree on October 30, 1966 in San Francisco with his first victim, eighteen-year-old Cheri Jo Bates. Cheri’s throat was cut so deep it almost decapitated her. On November 29, 1966, the Riverside police received a copy of an anonymous letter in the mail. This letter taunted the police about the murder of Cheri Jo Bates and how she will not be the last. (Wilbur R. Miller, 2012) This was his way of being in control and getting his voice heard. Just a few months later he kept to his promise that there will be more death. The Zodiac killer murdered a young couple, David Faraday and Betty Jensen, in Vallejo, California. David was killed by one shot to the head and Betty was shot five times ten feet away from the car. The police suspected Arthur Leigh Allen, a child molester, who fit the description of the Zodiac Killer almost to a T, but there was no incriminating evidence, so he was never charged. The Zodiac Killer was suspected of killing 2,500 people throughout his killing spree, and was never caught. The Zodiac Killer’s reason for killing was that once he killed his victims they would be his slaves in the afterlife. He thought of himself as a “God”, all powerful and all knowing. (Wilbur R.
Attention Getter: Jeffrey Dahmer, The Zodiac Killer, Donald Henry Gaskins, Tsutomu Miyazaki, Ted Bundy, Jack the Ripper, Amelia Dyer, Jane Toppan, these are the names of some of the most notorious serial killers the world has ever come to see, and there are many more where that came from.
The crime spree murders of the Zodiac killer is one of the greatest unsolved murdered cases of all time. The Zodiac’s murders took place from later 1960s, through to about 1972. Most of The Zodiac’s murders took place in Northern California. Some main areas where murders took place are Benicia, Vallejo, Lake Berryessa, and San Francisco, California. Two out of the four men that were attacked lived and three women out of the three were killed. The ages of the victims goes from 16 up to about 29 years of age. The Zodiac claimed he murdered 37 people in the letters he sent to the local newspaper.
Serial killers have been around for decades but According To Jack Levin, 'seven of the ten largest mass killings in American history have taken place in the last decade (Douglas, p. 137). One of the most popular and well-known serial killers in history was Ted Bundy. He was convicted of killing three women but is suspected of killing thirty-six other women (Douglas, p. 137).