1. Serial Killers
• Serial Killers have been a strange fascination with
some. Murderers have always highly publicised in the
media & and serve as a strange fascination for some.
The height of this media attention was in the seventies.
The seventies was a strange time for murderers, such as
Ted Bundy or John Wayne Gacy.

2. Psychology
• Serial Killers are often considered to be insane, but
insane would imply that they do not know what they are
doing. Most are not insane, they just do not understand
or care what death means.
– Most tortured small animals as a child. They would
also play out their own execution.
• Serial killers lack empathy or compassion.
– Most had a rough upbringing. You will find that
a most had a domineering mother, and a weak
or absent father.
» Calm in a crisis.

3. Traits
• -Awful childhood.
• -Domineering mother, Weak or absent father
• -Tortured animals, Dennis Rader was known to hang
stray cats as a child. Ted Bundy surrounded his sleeping
mother with knives at the age of three.
• -Abnormal Strength, serial killers such as Kemper or
Bianchi were known to have this trait.
• -Frequent alchohol and/or drug abuse.
• -Chronic Social Rejection. May have lack of success with
women or men.
• -Confusion Between violence & love.
• -Turned on by violence and fire.
• -Need for power and control.

4. Motives
• There are several motives for serial killers, some more clear than
others.
– The most common motive is sexual. Serial killers tend to be
aroused by violence and death. This is because killing gives a
sense of power and control.
– Some killers are Paranoid Schizophrenics & are delusional.
– Many have killed for attention to overcome
feelings of lonliness and isolation. Most of
these types send letters to police and news
outlets.
» Thrill seeking. Few find killing to be the
ultimate thrill of all.

5. Motives
• It is difficult to put one serial killer in one type. Different types may
share different traits.
– There are three main types of serial killers. Organized,
disorganized, and mixed.
• Organized killers usually have higher iq’s. They plan out the
murders and dispose of the body properly, unless they want
to display the body.
– With lower iq’s, the victims of disorganized
killers are simply in the wrong place at the
wrong time.
» Mixed killers inhibit traits of both organized
and disorganized. They may kill randomly,
but know what they are doing.

6. Famous Serial Killers
• Some of these killers are the most famous in the country, either because of the
number of victims, the nature of the killing, or simply media attention.
• -David Berkowitz aka “Son of Sam” & “.44 Caliber Killer”- 6 killed, 7 wounded
• -Ted Bundy - estimated 36 killed (Real death toll unknown)
• -Jeffrey Dahmer – 17 killed
• -John Wayne Gacy – estimated 33 killed
• -Henry Lee Lucas – 11 killed (claimed to have killed over 3,000 people, later
retracted)
• -Zodiac killer (Real identity unknown) – 5 killed 2 wounded (claimed to have killed 37)
• -Edmund Kemper – 11 killed
• -Kenneth Bianchi aka “Hillside Strangler” – 12 killed
• -Dennis Rader aka “BTK strangler” – 10 killed
• -Richard Ramirez aka “The Night Stalker” – 15 killed, six wounded, 12 sexually
assaulted
• -Richard Trenton Chase aka “Vampire of Sacramento” – 8 killed
• -Paul Bernardo aka “Schoolgirl Killer” aka “Scarborough Rapist” aka “Ken & Barbie
killers” – 3 killed
• -Karla Homolka aka “Ken & Barbie killers” – 3 killed