The Case of the Drowning Men (22 page)

• one or more offenders

• two or more victims

•
distinctly
separate events at different times

•
a
cooling off period between
incident
s

T
he FBI
itself identifies s
erial
murder
as ”t
he unlawful killing of two or more victims by the same offender(s), in separate events
.
”
What’s more,
in order to be
officially
considered a
full-fledged
serial
murderer
by the Bureau
, one
would have
to
commit at least
three
such homicides
with
in a thirty-day period.

There is more than ample
indication
that serial killers have existed throughout time, but h
istorians
generally
agree it was LAPD detective Pierce Brooks who first coined the term in the 1970’s
. That being said,
al
though serial killing
appears a
popular
activity
these days
when viewed through the Hollywood
blockbuster
lens
, a
ccording to the FBI and
other
crime experts
,
serialized slayings
do
n
o
t
amount to
even
one percent of all homicides
committed
annually
.

What
FBI
statistics
can
unequivocally
confirm
, however,
is
the popular notion
that
serial killers are mainly young men—
over 90%
are
males
from
25 to 35 years of age
.
But i
t
i
s
fast becoming
pure
myth
that these are
exclusively
Caucasian
s
,
as
many
experts
are
now
suggesting
that
other races are
simply
being under-reported because they are perceived by a
biased public and
press
as “not smart enough” to plan and perpetrate serial murder
s
successfully.
Adding to
th
is
widespread
misperception
,
authorities
say,
is
the
over-sensationalizing of
white
male
serial murder
er
s
in
the
media
because
the
ir
victims
are
, almost without exception, young and attractive females.

Regardless of race
,
ethnic
ity
or sex
,
The FBI's Crime Classification Manual
divides
serial killers into three
basic
categories: organized, disorganized and mixed
, the latter
classification
reserved
for those
who exhibit
a blend of
both
organized and disorganized characteristics
.
(
For example, s
ome
organized
killers
gradually
descend into disorganized
killings
as the
y
amass more
and more
victims.)

Hollywood’s penchant for portraying these
offenders
as possessing devious brilliance in all aspects of their existence
, and the public’s
willing
belief in the same,
is also
perpetuating
a fallacy
.
W
ith
only
a mean IQ of 113
for the “organized” brand of serial killer, that’s
just
slightly above
an
average
intelligence
,
not
by any means
the kind of wiles
considered
to be
at
a
genius
level
of
, say,
the Hannibal Lect
e
r variety
.

Organized serial murder
er
s
do
plot
their crimes
intelligently
,
though
,
skillfully
killing
i
n one place and
then
dumping
the body
in another.
Clever p
loys like
Bundy
’s
crutche
s
, leg casts
,
and arm sling
s
are
also
fairly typical means of luring a victim
too
,
but
th
is
type
of killer
proves
just
as
opportunistic
as any other criminal
when on the prowl
,
select
ing
the most vulnerable members
of
society
to
murder
,
such as
drifters
or
the homeless
or
prostitutes
,
when
ever
their
ideal
target escapes their
gr
i
p
s
.

But,
whether
it’s an
u
nsuspecting
young
wom
a
n or
a
luckless
down-and-out,
who
m
ever they
ultimately
choose
,
c
ontrol
is the key
word
for individuals who fall under
th
is
particular
classification
.
That is
at
the root of their deranged behavior—the desire to power.

In
that
same
vein,
it’s not unusual for
organized killers
to
acquire a
replete
understanding
of forensic science
and procedures so
,
once
they’ve finished the grisly job
they set out to
accomplish
,
they
can
competently
manipulate
the
crime
scene
and the corpse
to hide
their
own
tracks
,
eluding law enforcement
officers
while
at the same time
operating
in plain sight
of them
.

Despite
such
painstaking efforts
to
avoid
get
ting
captured
, t
he
s
e
organized types
are
also
the kind
who
take a
great deal
of pride in their “
handi
work”
and therefore
crav
e
a
n
d court
attention
to it
with
taunting
notes and graffiti
, some
even
boldly
arranging
victims
’ bodies
in
certain
poses
as a
sort of recognizable
signature
.
Strange as that may sound,
many
such a
killer ha
s
overtly
sought glory in this way, perhaps
,
in sending
their
gloating
messages
to
reporters and
the
police
,
paying homage to
,
and
mimicking
,
a
much more famous
predecessor
:

“Dear Boss
,
I keep on hearing the police have caught me but they wont fix me just yet. I have laughed when they look so clever and talk about being on the right track. That joke about Leather Apron gave me real fits. I am down on whores and I shant quit ripping them till I do get buckled. Grand work the last job was. I gave the lady no time to squeal. How can they catch me now. I love my work and want to start again. You will soon hear of me with my funny little games. I saved some of the proper red stuff in a ginger beer bottle over the last job to write with but it went thick like glue and I cant use it. Red ink is fit enough I hope ha. ha. The next job I do I shall clip the ladys ears off and send to the police officers just for jolly wouldn’t you. Keep this letter back till I do a bit more work, then give it out straight. My knife’s so nice and sharp I want to get to work right awa
y if I get a chance. Good luck.
–
Yours truly, Jack the Ripper
”

Not quite as
anti
social as
his
more disorganized
counterparts,
a
n organized
serial
slayer
,
when finally
identified and
brought to justice
,
almost
always
manage
s
to
shock the neighbor
hood
he
reside
s
in
,
as well as
his
loved ones
, colleagues
,
and
close
st
friends
.
N
one of
whom
c
ould
have
ever guessed in a million years
that
such a “
nice
”
guy
wo
uld
be capable of
perform
ing
such
atrocities
.

Disorganized serial killers, on the other hand
,
don’t
tend to
generate
that
big a surprise
once they’re
actually
apprehended
. Having
a mean IQ of
only
92.5
which
,
on the intelligence spectrum
,
rates
somewhat
below average
, these
are usually
s
ocial misfits
who
display
far
more palpable
warning
signs of mental
aberrations
.
This category of serial murder kills
impulsively
as
the
urge and
opportunity
strikes
,
and
do
es
so
in a characteristically brutal manner
with whatever
weapon
is available
to them
at the time.
Extreme s
exual violence, necrophilia, cannibalism
,
and
in some cases
skinning their victims
(
as with
the
Ed Gein
murders
, aka
the
“Texas Chainsaw Massacre”
)
,
these
bizarre
acts are
the norm
and
not the exception
for this
particular
class
of offender
.