Lust Killers

            Lust serial killers kill for the erotic satisfaction. They gain sexual arousal with the death of their victims. It is one of the most common types of motives among serial killers. Usually the victim is someone the killer is sexually attracted to. Most lust killers are male, although a rare occasion of female lust killers appears.

            In Portland, Oregon between 1968 and 1969 a man named Jerry Brudos would stalk, rape, and torture women. He was known as “The Lust Killer” and “The Shoe Fetish Slayer.” His first crime on record was at the age of 17 when he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital in Oregon for trapping a girl in a hole he dug holding the girl at knife-point. The purpose of the hole was to make her his sex slave. He went on to force her to pose nude while he took pictures. He was eventually released after only 9 months. However, it was clear that Brudos felt he had the need to act violently towards women. It was discovered that is strong violence towards women was from his hatred of his mother. Brudos attacked many women, although some were able to escape giving the police the information they needed to catch him. Police searched Brudos’s house and uncovered the evidence needed to convict him. He was charged with three of the four murders. Brudos had a collection of body parts and women’s underwear stored in his home. Brudos was found dead in the Oregon State Penitentiary on March 28^th, 2006. He was 67 years old and it was determined he died of natural causes.

            Jane Toppan, born Honora Kelley, was of the few female American serial killers. Born in 1857, she confessed to 31 murders in 1901. Her ambition was “to have killed more people-helpless people-than any other man or woman who ever lived…” In 1885, Toppan began her training as a nurse at Cambridge Hospital. She would use her patients in experiments with morphine and atropine. She was interested it the effect this had on their nervous system. She spent countless hours with her patients, medicating them until they were unconscious and then eventually getting into bed with them. It is still unknown whether sexual acts occurred, but when Toppan was asked after her arrest, she explained that she developed a sexual thrill from her patients being near death, coming back to life and then dying again. Once her patients were drugged, she would lay close to them until they died. She is one of the rarest forms of serial killers due to the fact that most female serial killers murder for material gain. In 1902, Toppan confessed to 11 murders. On June 23, she was found not guilty by reason of insanity and was therefore committed to life in the Taunton Insane Hospital. It was soon revealed by the New York Journal that Toppan confessed to her lawyer of killing more than 31 people. She was hoping to eventually be released, but remained in the hospital for the rest of her life.

Charles Montaldo, About.com Guide, http://crime.about/od/serial/a/jerry_brudos.htm

http://www/answers.com/topic/lust-murder

http://www.answers.com/topic/jane-toppan

Hedonistic Serial Killers

            Hedonistic serial killers kill because they enjoy the act of killing and in some cases they become sexually aroused while committing the murder. Also known as the Comfort Killer.

            Between 1978 and 1991, 17 men and boys were murdered by a hedonistic serial killer by the name of Jeffrey Dahmer. Born Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer on May 21^st, 1960, he grew up as an abandoned child.  His father was the first to leave, followed by his mother and brother. As a child he was molested by their neighbor. His first steps into the life a serial killer began at a young age when he would impale the heads of animals on stakes in his yard. Dahmer would then have necrophilia desires.  As a teen he had fantasies of killing and mutilating men. In 1978, Dahmer committed his first murder in Ohio at age 18. The victim was a young hitchhiker.  Most of Dahmer’s victims were minorities and all were male. Dahmer was in search for a compliant sex partner and necrophilia.  He was prosecuted on February 17^th, 1992 after his insanity plea was rejected. Dahmer received fifteen consecutive life sentences. However, on May 16, 1992 he added another life sentence for a 1978 murder. Dahmer was eventually murdered in prison on November 28^th, 1994 by another inmate.

            An infamous hedonistic serial killer is Albert Fish. Born May 19^th, 1870 in Washington D.C., he is known for being one of the most vile killers and pedophiles of all time. He admitted to molesting over 400 children and the torturing and killing of several others. He would lure young children into his home and then unleashed his terror on them. Fish admits his crimes began in 1890 when he relocated to New York City.  Once lured inside his home he would torture the children in many ways including a paddle laced with sharp nails. Then he would continue to rape them. As he progressed in these acts he eventually murdered and cannibalized his victims.  He was also known for writing letters to his victims’ families explaining in great detail the torture he put their children through, and also how he cannibalized them.  On March 11^th, 1935 Fish went on trial. His insanity plea was thrown out and in just 10 days he was sentenced to death by electrocution. January 16^th, 1936 Albert Fish was electrocuted at Sing Sing prison. He felt that electrocution was the “ultimate sex thrill.” Arguably this was dismissed as a rumor.

Charles Montado. http://crime.about.com/od/serial/a/killer_types.htm. http://crime.about.com/od/serial/p/albertfish.htm

http://karisable.com/skadahmer.htm

Missionary Serial Killers

            Missionary serial killers believe it is their duty to kill what they believe is an unwanted element. For example, they believe homosexuals, prostitutes, and people of different religions and ethnicities deserve to be killed to rid society of an unwanted element.

            One hundred and fifteen years ago, a missionary serial killer terrorized the East End of London killing between four to nine prostitutes arguably. It is mostly accepted that there was five victims. He was only known as Jack The Ripper. His identity was never figured out; however the individual claiming the murders would leave the name Jack The Ripper. Although thirteen people were murdered in the timeframe between December 1887 and April 1891, most agreed that not all were The Rippers victims. The names of his victims were unknown until the 1960s when their photos were finally recovered. This has arguably been considered the most famous unsolved crime in history.

            In May of 1998 a missionary serial killer was sentenced to life in prison. His name was Ted Kacyznski a.k.a. the “Unabomber”. Born on May 22^nd 1942 in Evergreen Park Illinois, he was an anti-technology terrorist. In 1978 Kazynski began a random series of bombing across the United States.  His primary targets were universities and airlines. The first was in May at the University of Chicago. He sent a package to a professor which in turn exploded and injured a university police officer. Kazynski was originally known as the “junkyard bomber” due to his explosives being crude and primitive. Over time however, his bombs became more advanced and fatal. His identity was hidden for a length of time with only a sketch of a man wearing sunglasses and a hood. In 1994 Kazynski demanded is “Manifesto”, a 35,000 word document showing his distaste in technology. The mainstream media met this request. He was eventually arrested in April of 1996 when he was found in his one room shack just outside of Lincoln, Montana where he was living reclusively since 1971.

Yona Williams. 12/16/10. http://crime.about.com/od/history/a/ripper040721.htm

http://answers.com/topic/unabomber