Are You a Serial Killer? Is There A Serial Killer On ATS Right Now?

I have always found the science behind serial killers very interesting. The circumstances that made them who they are and the types of people they seek out as victims and the resons why. However one thing has always intrigued me.

If someone who were relatively sain, ie not traumatized by childhood issues decided to become a serial killer with the knowlege that the authorities would be trying to work on a model would he ever be caught?

Imagine someone without the desire to kill a certain age group or demographic and deliberately killed in a random manner, strangers without any connection. And someone without the desire to collect trophies, taunt the police, or seek to be caught.

Would this be so different to the normal profile that this person would never even be detected?

I've killed hundreds. I had the power of the sun on my side. I could cause total destruction. Those little ants never knew what a magnifying glass could do. Their corpses were smoldering in the sun and yet more ants would come like an endless army. The battle rages on. I used to have fun seeing how many ants would step into the light. Is this a serial killer profile now? Maybe it fits the childhood of your neighborhood exterminator. Those fire ants will eat you up if you give them a chance.
I even took pride when I put out some poison one year that killed all fire ants at my house and apparently lots of other areas near my house. Then the next year before they banned the product for home use I read it could cause fish kills and nerve damage to small pets and animals. I thought they have to ban all the good stuff for home use just because some people who were not wearing gloves had nerve damage. What would a serial killer do?

A few years back I took a forensic science class, and other than learning how to properly handle a crime scene and it's evidence, we spent a ton of time reading about and studying serial killers. One particular topic that stands out to me was the "Serial Killer Triangle" - being 3 traits that an abnormal number of serial killers have in common. The 3 are: harming small animals/bugs/etc in childhood, bed wetting past the age of 12, and gaining sexual satisfaction from fire.

If somebody seems unbalanced, unsocial, or otherwise emotionally disturbed and has 1 or more of the triangle characteristics, I suspect it'd be wise to keep an eye out.

reply to post by onequestion


A Serial killer is no different than a killer, don't try to spread hate.

Now you are trying to pick people out because it fits the dumb psychologist description of a serial killer.

You remind me of the US government.

Originally posted by oozyism

A Serial killer is no different than a killer, don't try to spread hate.

Serial killers are a bit different than just a killer - as they tend to do it a bit more often and for totally different reasons.

Originally posted by oozyism

Now you are trying to pick people out because it fits the dumb psychologist description of a serial killer.

You remind me of the US government.

Do what, huh?

Is it now politically incorrect to call serial killers "serial killers"??? OK... we could call them "happy bunnies" but they'd still be kind of grumpy and all serial killer-ish.

Damn US government talking the bad stuff about the serial killing happy bunnies....

~Heff

reply to post by oozyism
lol, hope that's sarcasm.

If its not, I'd have to say I disagree. To be a serial killer you have to have committed 3 separate instances of murder out of a desire/need to kill. An angry wife can commit murder and kill her husband, or a guy at a bar can lose his cool and smash some poor fellows brains across the floor, but neither of them go out with the deliberate intent to kill multiple people on separate occasions for arbitrary enough reasons like the color of their hair.

Originally posted by zelaar
reply to post by oozyism

 

lol, hope that's sarcasm.

If its not, I'd have to say I disagree. To be a serial killer you have to have committed 3 separate instances of murder out of a desire/need to kill. An angry wife can commit murder and kill her husband, or a guy at a bar can lose his cool and smash some poor fellows brains across the floor, but neither of them go out with the deliberate intent to kill multiple people on separate occasions for arbitrary enough reasons like the color of their hair.

When you kill Muslims because they are Muslims, does that make you a serial killer?

You just cannot pick out a Serial killer, so why try to describe them, as if all of them are the same, that is BS.

When you describe them, which 99.999% of them time people are not serial killers and fit those descriptions, what happens? Those people who are not serial killers and fit the description will be discriminated against.

That is like picking on Muslims, and discriminating against them because they are Muslims, because you tried to pick out terrorists and describe them.

Now Muslims are being spied on, there are laws which allows the government to lock them up indefinitely without any trial, worse they can be sent to secret camps for torture.

I hope you understand my point.

reply to post by oozyism
First of all, I don't think killing is ever okay. While I agree with parts of what you're trying to say, I don't really think its on topic or fits the definition of what it means to be a serial killer. If somebody goes around killing people who believe Islam for pleasure over an extended period of time, then yea, I'd say they're serial killers.

However, a serial killer does not apply to ALL people who kill more than one person. Its a specific subcategory of those who murder multiple people for psychological and often sexual gratification. It sounds like you might be confused as to what a serial killer actually is. There are multiple different types of killers that society views as greater or lesser evils depending on the types of crimes. That doesn't mean any of it is okay.

en.wikipedia.org...

I know a kid, he used to be the sweetest boy until his dad remarried and and his new step mom decided that a boy behaving like a boy must mean he has ADHD. She took him to a psychiatrist when they diagnosed him as bi-polar, and thats when he changed. At first he was just angry and uncontrollable (from what I hear, I personally never saw him that way) then he started hurting animals, then it was arson. I haven't heard from the family in a long time but last I knew he was consistently doped up and in trouble for something.
If he does end up as a serial killer, which wouldn't surprise me, I will personally blame the psychiatrist that decided to diagnose a 4 yr old as bi-polar and dope him up on meds that screwed up his brain.

reply to post by calstorm
HERE HERE. I'm highly involved and active in the world of psychiatric medicine, and honestly people have gone off the deep end with diagnosing serious mental disorders. The way I figure, is if you can function in day to day life and aren't a danger to yourself or others you are okay. Its really horrible because the people that actually need help don't get it, and people that really shouldn't be put on drugs that seriously alter how the brain functions are doped up to high heaven. I'm really sorry to hear about that kid, and hope that somehow he sorts things out.

Ahhh, yes, the profiling for thought crimes begins. You must feel so special being the one to rid the internet of the preconceived "maybes".

When will the madness stop? I consider many "do gooders" today more dangerous than any serial killer could ever hope of being.

reply to post by zelaar


It makes me wonder how many other kids just like him are out there. Are we creating serial killers with pharmaceuticals?

reply to post by calstorm
The pharmaceuticals aren't the problem, its the people and companies supporting their use in inappropriate situations. When used properly drugs change and save the lives of people with debilitating mental illnesses. But that's the keyword - debilitating. To some people it may sound extreme, but its like any other powerful object, like guns even. It by itself is not dangerous. A gun sitting on a rock isn't going to hurt anyone by its own accord. Its only once a person picks it up and pulls the trigger against another human being that somebody gets hurt.

One of the foundational ideas of developmental psychology is that people are a combination of both nature (eg. genetics, chemical balances, dna) and nurture (how they are raised, their environment, what they're taught, how they're treated). We don't create serial killers, but if you take a sensitive kid with a chemical/biological predisposition towards violent behavior OR take a perfectly normal kid and modify their brain chemistry with drugs so that they are prone to violence and combine that with an environment detrimental to their mental well being, you only have yourself to blame if you're surprised when the kid lashes out.

With consider to both nature and nurture as the ingredients of what makes a given individual tick, one could argue that all serial killers, at some level, are, at some level, partly the product of their environment.

I am most fascinated with this person......

Originally posted by HermitShip
Ahhh, yes, the profiling for thought crimes begins. You must feel so special being the one to rid the internet of the preconceived "maybes".

When will the madness stop? I consider many "do gooders" today more dangerous than any serial killer could ever hope of being.

That is the word I was looking for, profiling, I completely failed to explain properly what I meant in the previous two posts.

You can't profile a serial killer, nor a terrorist.

And when you do, the consequences can be seen.

You describe a serial killer as a loner, but there are thousands of loners in the world, you gonna discriminate against them because they have the Characteristics of a serial killer?>

That is exactly like the notion, "not all Muslim are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims".

The discrimination against Muslim is clear to be seen for all, are we gonna learn from it, or just forget and act arrogant.

Not to mention, it was profiling that got Jews in to concentration camps zzzz

Thanks for the clarification.

oz

reply to post by oozyism


Not profiling could be as bad as, profiling to a point. I am sure there is balance to be found in the equation, where is it and how do we find it?

Ridiculous.

Since I was a child, I have lived an exciting, epic lif inside of my own mind.

it is called imagination, and when it is on fire I call it my muse.

My hobby since I was 8 is writing, and that requires a lot of fantasy and thinking, inside my own mind. Sometimes I contemplate scenerios for my stories for hours, speaking out dialogue to a recorder, or just musing on a blanket in the park, hands under my head, mind in the clouds.

I thought a better indication of serial killer was the trifecta: bedwetting, cruelty to animals, pyromania.

Originally posted by onequestion
reply to post by oozyism

 

Not profiling could be as bad as, profiling to a point. I am sure there is balance to be found in the equation, where is it and how do we find it?

How can you profile a serial killer?

Is it even possible?

Are you suggesting every serial killer has the same characteristics, if true then profiling makes sense, if not, then leave it alone please.

The American soldiers killing Afghans for sports can be regarded as serial killers, but I bet they didn't have a lonely childhood. Or are the psychologists creating an illusionary definition for serial killers? To say they are all the same, therefore can be tracked.

Sorry, this is not CSI..

reply to post by oozyism


Hi Oozy,

After reading your two posts here, for the first time I understand some of your other posts. I kept seeing contradictions and now I know I was misunderstanding your intent, which is noble. For that I apologize. You make a great point and I just wanted to point that out. It is even somewhat relevant to this topic as we often avoid people we deem as dangerous from their behavior when they are not dangerous at all. It's even worse when people are from different cultures and neither side trusts the other.

These Serial Killers and Profiling of them is quite different however as someone explained before. In this case it is studying the psychological characteristics of their behavior after the fact to learn what alarm bells to watch out for. If you can predict by a persons behavior they may become a danger to themselves and others, they can be often helped before something inside them snaps. This is entirely different than Profiling a person based on skin color or Ethnicity.

reply to post by Blaine91555


You hit the nail on the head. Thanks for that.