The jury for the trial consisted of 4 women and 9 men. The trial went on for five days from 9 in the morning to 9 in the evening. On September 22nd the jury convicted Hatcher on charges of first degree murder of Michelle Steele.
In September 1984, the court convicted Hatcher for capital murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment. The Jury took less than 60 minutes to decide on Hatcher’s fate. They gave him 50 years imprisonment without parole or probation.
On November 1984, Holtslag met Hatcher for a final time in the interview room of the penitentiary.
Hatcher stayed in prison until a motion for new trial on the murder of Michelle Steele started on December 3, 1984. The court however denied the motion.
Chapter 8: The end of a brutal serial killer
On December 7, 1984, the guards went on their usual round in the prison premises. It was a cold and clear morning with everything going on as usual.
But in Hatcher’s cell when one of the officers shined his flashlight, Hatcher was found hanging from an electrical wire tied to the ventilation grate made of heavy metal inside the cell. The knot was located underneath Hatcher’s right ear.
They found his hands tied together behind him with bits of shoelace. The officers attempted to revive him but failed.
On December 11, 1984, a volunteer group carried the fiberboard box containing remains of Hatcher for burial in the cemetery present in prison premises. Hatcher’s brother refused to take over the responsibility of his body.
Suicide and serial killers
Thus, the life of Charles Ray Hatcher, one of most gruesome serial killers in history ended. What makes him different from other serial killers is that it is very rare for a serial killer to commit suicide, especially when in prison or police custody. And suicide itself is rare in the general population.
Further, the characteristic traits that relate to serial killer types mentioned above challenge the idea of them having suicidal notions. The lack of empathy, emotion and more often presence of narcissistic tendencies are not conducive to suicidal thoughts.
The serial nature of the killings themselves shows that the killer neither is haunted nor feels remorse about his deeds. Anguish or pain occurs only in war crimes or due to passion hence, guilty conscience will not make them to sacrifice their life. And without empathy they will not reconstruct the suffering experienced by the victims or their families.
When you consider the narcissistic view the psychopath has, the high opinion they have about themselves will actually prevent them from suicidal tendencies. But in Hatcher’s case the social constraints and environmental restrictions may have limited his desire to kill which could have made his life unbearable.
The suicide may also result from loss of self-regard and pleasure in life. When a person deviates from the narcissistic state of mind, he experiences extreme discomfort and pain.
While psychopaths lack a wider and positive emotion range, they do feel frustration and pleasure. They choose their path based on the pleasure they derive with minimal frustration.
Impulse control is often lacking in psychopaths as can be seen in the addiction they have to drugs, alcohol and sex. They crave stimulation and like to be in an aroused state, which for them is the normal state to be in.
Whenever they are not stimulated, they become frustrated, feel abnormal and unpleasant, and start doing things that make them feel stimulated and alive, which for them invariably is inflicting pain upon others.
In Hatcher’s case, the environment he lived in could have restricted his pleasure seeking activities, pushing him to take his own life. Fred West, Harold Shipman and Samantha Koenig are a few of the serial killers who had committed suicide.
As it is, the powerful impulse that drives a person to commit suicide in a normal individual varies considerably, when compared to a psychopathic killer.
The pathology is entirely different. While in normal individuals, it is depression that is the leading cause of suicide, psychopathic killers do not get depression in the way normal individuals do because of the emotional disability they have.
Frustration is by far the closest emotion they can get in relation to depression. Hence, suicides, such as Hatcher’s, need to be analyzed separately. While the suicide of a serial killer is not something that attracts compassion from the public, the system still needs to consider it seriously.
Chapter 9: Analyzing a serial killer
Joel Norris, a noted Psychologist, in 1988 described the different phases which a serial killer experiences. The phases help in understanding the case of Charles Ray Hatcher in a different perspective. Norris worked as part of the defense counsel team for many convicted killers in Georgia. He conducted over 500 interviews with the convicts concerned from which he provides a better perspective of the various phases of a serial killer.
The aura phase
In this phase, the killer withdraws from reality, and experiences a heightened feeling of his senses. This phase extends from multiple moments to months. Initially the phases appear as prolonged fantasy active only for a short span and continue later for a few years too.
Drugs or alcohol is usually used by the killer to treat himself. The initial crimes done by Hatcher including auto theft and abduction attempts relate to this phase to some extent.
Trolling phase
This is the staking mode of the killer where he exhibits certain behavior patterns. The killer uses these patterns to identify and further stalk the victim. The way Charles had attempted the abduction and his various failed attempts are apt instances of this phase.
Some killers lure their victims by asking help with packages, books or anything other such aid. While some victims make a fortunate escape, others don’t. The escaped victims claim that the killer was completely in control and behaved normally until the attack.
Wooing and capturing phase
This is the span when most killers win the victim’s confidence before luring them. The capture involves locking the victim inside or hitting them rendering them helpless. This is the moment, a killer savours.
Murder phase
Norris claims that murder phase is the part where the killer re-enacts the bad and violent experiences of his childhood, but this time around, he reverses the roles and acts as the perpetrator of violence instead of being at the receiving end.
Totem Phase
This phase follows subsequent to the murder. Once the killer completes the deed, he goes into a depressed state. To preserve the success of their kill most killers develop some sort of ritual.
This is the reason many use photographs, news clippings or body parts of the victims, wear the skin of the victim or show the parts to other victims.
These trophies represent their achievement. The trophies give the murderer a power that is similar to the power he senses during the kill.
In Hatcher’s case, he just used violence to mark his victims but did not take back any trophies. But the map he drew later and the confessions he did were his way of showing this phase. Had he not confessed of the murders, the chances of the police knowing about the information any other way was nil.
Depression phase
This is the final phase that a killer experiences. After he kills the victim, the victim does not represent anymore the idea that the killer used to do the killing. The violent memory of childhood that initiated the urge to kill is however still present inside the killer.
The killing does not satisfy the killer and leaves his fantasy incomplete or unfulfilled. This is the reason for the psychopath to continue with the killings. With every subsequent murder, the killer tries to turn the crime scene on par with that of his fantasy.
The killer experiences an absence of self after the killing, during which the killer is likely to confess the murders to the police. This is before the fantasies start again. In Hatcher’s case, he confessed because of the lack of self-awareness. He does not see the victims as real people.
For some killers, the recollection of the killin
gs is vague or as if someone else does them. But Hatcher on the contrary remembered every little detail of the murders he did and even drew a map for the authorities to find the dead body of Churchill.
The way in which he confessed to the murders show his sane state of mind and negate any claims that it was insanity, which urged him towards committing the crimes.
Conclusion: Getting into the mind of a serial killer
While it is not possible to find the exact reasons behind Hatcher turning into a serial killer, a combination of biological, social and psychological factors did play a significant role in his criminal deeds.
Emotional isolation or obvious abuse is a prime reason that is common in the childhood period of most serial killers. Charles’s childhood too indicates a similar pattern. His abusive and alcoholic father is a stark example.
For some serial killers it is their mother or father beating them. In some cases, the abusive parent forces the child to watch him or her having sex. Sexual abuse is another cause that leaves behind a deep and unhealed wound urging on the killer to inflict similar abuse on his or her victims.
The child reverses the role of aggressor and re-enacts them with the killer now becoming the aggressor. But not all serial killers have such an abusive background. However, some amount of rejection by parents is present in most cases.
The dual phased personality of a killer is another thing to consider. The killer leads a fantasy life in which he is able to wield full control and the other phase is the real world where he acts as a normal being with no effort or energy used to commit to the real life. Emotional isolation happens, when a child starts living in the fantasy world.
Control of trauma
In some cases, a brain pathology or head injury may also cause the psychopath to behave abnormally. These are predisposing factors however and the traumas received during the formative childhood years are the main culprits that lead the killer on to the murder path. The low level of self-esteem and violent fantasies, which continue to escalate in intensity with every murder, are the key factors to consider.
A killer disconnects the traumatic feelings and experiences he has during his childhood from his conscious feelings. The killer moves to this altered consciousness with the help of drugs, alcohol or pornography. Murder is the way for the killer to regain control and make him feel confident. The murder occurs in a state of high after which the low self-confidence phase sets in.
Biological causes
Some psychologists believe that the criminal nature stems from the defect in the nervous system. The nervous system of a killer is different from normal people. According to studies done in relation to this aspect, extroverts have higher chances of indulging in antisocial behaviors.
Anxiety in most people prevents them from making any antisocial response. This is termed as passive avoidance adaptation. The serial killers have criminal characteristic traits with deficient inhibition of behavior. This will urge them to commit anti-social acts such as assault and murder.
Behavior activation
Activation of behavior is also a causative factor, which leads to the reward seeking habits and acts such as fleeing to avoid punishment. Criminal minded persons have such behavior patterns. Researchers believe that the killers have a nonspecific system of arousal that gets stimulative impulses both from the inhibitory and activated behavioral systems.
Brain and violent behavior
When compared to individuals who are nonviolent, aggressive people show different type of activity in their brain cells. Reduced functioning in the brain leads to loss of impulse control, ability to concentrate and judge properly in highly emotional situations.
In contrast, over activity in certain parts of the brain such as limbic and basal ganglia related to anxiety, negative moods and violent behavior.
Increased temporal lobe activity led to constant mood shifts and outbursts of temper. It is possible to control such abnormalities related to brain activity using the right medication and treatment.
Alcoholism directly links to reduced brain activity resulting in violent behavior. This is the reason for most serial killers using alcohol, while killing their victims. The above factors indicate that dysfunction of brain is also a key reason for the psychopathic behavior of the serial killers.
Identifying behavior patterns
The brain dysfunction, rejection of a parent or loss of parents, dual personality development and trauma control are important components that motivate an individual to turn into a serial killer.
When you identify such personality disorders at early childhood stage itself the child concerned could get the right psychotherapy, medication and intervention enabling them to control or prevent their aggressive behavior from turning into a violent one.
If the society could come up with the skills needed for such an endeavor and finance them, it is possible to bring about a change. But this needs to be done after careful consideration regarding the freedom of people and the rights of general population.
The deinstitutionalization of people with mental illness, even if it has some flaws has benefited several thousand helping them lead a life with fewer restrictions. Such a situation is possible, if done in a more organized manner resulting in a safer future for the public and proper identification and confinement of serial killers.
An insight into psychological behavior
Serial killers strike fear in people generally. But fear is the emotion that often drives many curiosities. Finding the reason why serial killers commit the gruesome murders is therefore a question that many have tried to answer.
Most often, emotional and developmental issues control the activities of serial killers. Their intelligence is also above average. The childhood reports on Hatcher reveal that he had fared consistently well in school.
The intellectual thinking is also one of the reasons for the killers to escape attention and continue with the murders undetected. Hatcher had kept most of the murders under cover, until he confessed doing them.
Most serial killers have defective emotional development. The murders they commit serve to act as drug or motivation to keep them alive. The studies on serial killers show that they exhibit similar characteristic traits in their infancy, early childhood and in their relationships especially the relationship with their mother.
Infancy and aggressive behavior pattern
This is a critical part of human development. The initial twelve months of life is when emotions like affection and remorse take root in a person. If parents do not give adequate attention to a child, it can lead to from various personality disorders when the child grows up. Psychologists suggest that the signs of psychopathic characteristic are present in children as young as two years of age.
Absence of remorse, affection and sympathy in infancy indicate the personality defect in a child. Serial killers such as Kenneth Bainchi and David Berkowitz were adopted and had received very little attention or affection in their early childhood.
Early childhood is an important step in the life of a person and more so in case of a serial killer. You can identify issues such as stutters, learning difficulties or bullying in the early childhood. Charles Ray Hatcher’s childhood shows several instance of bullying in school, which is one significant reason for his criminal activities later in life.
The torment and bother one feels on bullying results in aggression, when the person bullied grows up. Loneliness is another characteristic trait that is common to all serial killers. Many of the fantasies they have about the murders materialize because of their lonely state.
Another common trait in serial killers is the relationship they have with their mother. Overprotective, controlling, and emotionally or physically abusive mothers cause the child to take to violence and murder later in life.
Trauma during childhood
Trauma occurring during childhood is another key reason that changes the behavior of the serial killer. The trauma may be physical or emotional. Whatever trauma a child exp
eriences has lasting effects. Statistics reveal that over 70 percent of the convicted serial killers suffered psychological abuse and 40 percent suffered physical abuse during childhood.
Hatcher had witnessed his brother’s death, which is in itself a highly traumatic event for any child. Further, he also suffered under his abusive alcoholic father. Psychologists suggest that such traumatic factors do cause irreparable damage to the self-esteem of an individual and make them emotionally disturbed.
While emotional trauma is significant, sexual abuse is another aspect that you can see prominently in many serial killers. They either witness sexual abuse or were victims of sexual abuse.
Physical trauma such as a head trauma also triggers the violent behavior that serial killers exhibit. A study on the serial killers showed nearly 30 percent were accident-prone children. The psychopathic behavior as a result is a type of defense mechanism of the brain.
Biological trait theories
While it is common opinion that serial killers act due to the inherent evil streak in them, the various researches and studies conducted on serial killers show that their behavior is under influence of biological conditions mostly.
Neurophysiology, which is the study of the functions of the human brain, reveals many physical and neurological abnormalities that start during the prenatal stage itself in humans. This abnormal change is the cause of aggressive behavior. Impaired brain function results as a direct impact of the abnormalities that occur. Most of the serial killers convicted have some amount of neurological disorder.
Although Hatcher underwent numerous psychological evaluation from the time of his conviction for auto theft to spending time for murder nothing concrete evolved. This is because at that period the possibilities of finding a link for his behavior with the hereditary and chemical factors in his brain were minimal.
Another factor that attributes to the brutal personality of a serial killer is the development of a negative behavior early on in childhood. The egoistical attitude developed by humans from childhood guides them to conform to the norms of the society if an individual is comfortable with his ego.
True Crime Stories Volume 4: 12 Shocking True Crime Murder Cases (True Crime Anthology) Page 33