By Michael Yoder, Retired FBI Criminal Profiler
Last month, I talked about murder as the result of extreme emotions such as anger, hatred, revenge, jealousy or even love. Or, it could be due to a desire to conceal a different crime (self-preservation) or to gain something (greed). Understanding Victimology helps investigators uncover possible suspects and motives. But, what happens when there does not appear to be a motive? In addition to extreme emotions, there are two notable exceptions — an offender with psychopathic traits and an offender that has an altered perception of reality. These killers have an internal motive that are not apparent to an outsider.
Psychopathy is a personality disorder that involves manipulation, antisocial behavior and a lack of empathy. Many serial killers and serial rapists possess traits of psychopathy and can hurt and kill others with no rational reason or motive. They murder due to an internal desire to kill and can choose their victims indiscriminately and randomly. They are predators. Just as a lion may track and kill a gazelle to feed, a person with psychopathic traits can kill another person to “feed” their internal wants and needs. They do not think beyond the immediate need, just as a lion doesn’t dwell on the life of the gazelle.
The other type of offender has an altered perception of reality. This can be due to mental illness, drug use/alcohol abuse or brainwashing by gangs, terrorist groups, or dominating personalities. Mental illnesses that might result in extreme behaviors include people diagnosed (or not yet diagnosed) with paranoia, schizoital/schizotypal personality disorders, and antisocial personality disorders. People with mental illness may take in normal stimuli and re-interpret the information as potentially harmful or dangerous to themselves or to others. They then act on this skewed information, sometimes with deadly results.
People who use psychotropic drugs or who abuse alcohol may temporarily or permanently damage their cognitive abilities and become violent as a result. Most people have a natural ability to protect themselves and to protect others. But, the violent drug user has diminished cognitive abilities to make the right choices. They may be in a situation (real or imagined) where they feel threatened or sense danger around them, and in a panicked or heightened state, commit murder.
Joining a gang or terrorist group ties the follower to a dominant force. Recruits willingly adopt the principles of the higher group and will do anything to maintain their membership. For terrorists, it is ideological or political and the members do the bidding of the leaders. For gangs, the culture of the gang and the peer pressure to conform adds an extra incentive to obey. If the order from the leader is to kill, they will kill. If the order is to strap on a suicide vest and go to a crowded area and set off the bomb, they will do so with full conviction that they are fulfilling a higher purpose. Many mass killers are indoctrinated by other forces to kill. The size of the group does not matter. The 2002 DC Sniper case in Virginia comes to mind with the older, dominant John Mohammed planning the kills and the younger, submissive Lee Malvo pulling the trigger as they randomly killed people they never met. In all, 17 people were killed and 10 wounded in the 10-month spree.
It is a critical step in solving both active and cold cases that the investigator consider both the victimology as well as the internal motives of the killer. When there does not appear to be an obvious motive in a horrendous crime such as murder, savvy investigators look for the exceptions to move the investigation along.
If you have an interest in true crime and want to know how to become a sleuth, please join our Facebook page at Destin True Crime Club. We meet once a month to discuss our ongoing research of an actual cold case we chose and brainstorm ways to continue our research. This is a serious, but fun, group of people who have the passion to solve cases. You can always email me at myoder0361@gmail.com for questions about our club or to request I speak to a group on a variety of violent crime issues.
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