Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters

by Peter Vronsky

  Avoiding the Serial Killer

  You might already be a survivor of a serial killer, without even knowing it. You may have sat near one in a movie theater or in a restaurant; you might have passed one in the street or parked your car next to one. One might have approached you—do you remember any odd requests from a stranger to help him carry a package to his car or look for a lost puppy? Some man whose attentions you turned away in a bar? A nice couple who offered you a ride in their car—they looked fine but somehow there was something not quite right, and you turned them down? Maybe you are alive simply because you chatted with a friend a minute longer instead of walking off alone, or because somebody else, whom you do not even recall, arrived in the parking lot as you were getting into your car. Maybe you are a heterosexual male who was invited home by a homosexual, and you turned him down; maybe you are gay, and turned down an invitation from a guy you just didn’t quite like for some inexplicable reason. The serial killer begins setting you up for death when he engages you in some kind of innocent contact—whether he gets to finish the job is often up to you.

  Serial killers are frequently mobile, and the chances of passing one in the street or having casual contact with one might be not all that astronomical. I bumped into two that I know of. Your own deeds and actions, however, can dramatically increase those chances. The FBI categorizes serial killer victims as “high risk” or “low risk,” and often that category can depend on your behavior and simple choices you make.

  From the descriptions of how serial killers select their victims, we see that various factors stack up together to determine risk. Some factors are not under the control of a victim, such as age or race, while others are.

  Thus, based on the FBI survey of serial killers and their victims, we can say that being white in the United States immediately increases your risk: Ninety-two percent of victims were white (although recently there has been an increase in black serial killers and black victims). Being female (82 percent), unmarried (80 percent), and between ages fifteen and twenty-eight (73 percent) all put you at higher risk.232

  Beyond that, “victim facilitation” can then propel you into an even higher risk category. Factors such as residence in a bad neighborhood; activity as a prostitute; sex-industry employment; hitchhiking or a habit of picking up hitchhikers; employment at night; and employment serving casual customers, such as a convenience store clerk or waitress, all increase the statistical probability that you could come to the attention of a serial killer. (Checking into a cheap hotel in a bad neighborhood . . . ) These “high facilitators” are evident in 11 to 13 percent of victims of serial killers.233 That means, however, that the remaining balance of serial killer victims were simply victims of chance—they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

  It should be noted that not being alone has at best a marginal effect on your safety: Thirty-seven percent of victims, or more than a third, had a companion with them when they were killed.234 The presence of a companion could have even increased a false sense of security, contributing to their death. A child or a teen accompanied by one other is only marginally safer. Big groups—five and up, unmanageable by even a team of two serial killers—are safer, unless the offender can separate a victim from the group.

  Trust Your Intuition

  One very important lesson that comes forth from reviewing accounts of people who were approached by serial killers but disengaged from them is never underestimate your instincts or your intuition. Numerous accounts are given by women who for no explicable reason, other than an intuitive “bad feeling” or “women’s intuition,” refused to walk into a serial killer’s trap. In reality, female intuition or male “gut feeling” is not a sixth sense. You have probably perceived something concrete that spells out danger, but your brain has not caught up with your perception—you do not know yet what it is you have seen to have analyzed it logically. That is intuition.

  Remember the woman whom Ted Bundy approached on campus wearing a cast and asking to help carry his books to his car? She reported that as she approached his Volkswagen, she noticed that the front passenger seat was missing. For some reason that she could not explain, she suddenly felt afraid and she placed the books on the hood of the car and hurried off, feeling embarrassed by her “irrational” anxiety. It probably saved her life because Bundy had precisely removed the passenger seat to more easily transport his victims, but she had not logically figured that out.

  If something does not feel right, then it probably is not. Never ignore such feelings; do not be embarrassed to act “irrationally” in front of a stranger or be afraid of appearing to be rude. Better rude than dead.

  Never Get into the Car

  The bottom line is, once they get into the car, few victims return alive. Nineteen-year-old Carol DaRonch was in a shopping mall when a neatly dressed Ted Bundy politely approached her, told her he was a police detective, and asked her for her car’s license number. He then informed her that he and his partner, who presumably was somewhere nearby, were investigating a number of break-ins into cars that had just occurred in the parking lot—would she mind accompanying him back to her car to see if anything had been stolen?

  After “inspecting” her car, Bundy managed to persuade her to get into his Volkswagen to drive to the police station and “file a report.” She was annoyed, because nothing had been stolen and moreover she became suspicious about a policeman driving a Volkswagen. Brought up in a Mormon community to be polite and respectful of authority, DaRonch had the boldness to ask Bundy to show her some identification, but not enough to demand a good look at it when he merely flashed a wallet with a small gold badge in it. Despite her misgivings, the aura of authority that Bundy projected overcame her good sense. She got into the Volkswagen and they began to drive. Bundy told her to fasten her seat belt, but at this point she smelled alcohol on his breath and refused. Along the way Bundy suddenly brought the car to a stop at a deserted spot and attempted to handcuff her. She struggled and Bundy accidentally snapped both cuffs on the same hand. She managed to roll out of the car while Bundy attempted to hit her on the head with a crowbar or tire iron. Kicking, screaming, and blocking the blows of the weapon from striking her head, she luckily managed to escape from Bundy. Years later, she testified at his murder trial as the only survivor of an attack by Bundy.

  A study of serial homicides indicated that in 78 percent of the cases, the killer used a vehicle directly or indirectly in the murder, and that 50 percent of the serial killers who did use a vehicle used it to offer their victims a ride.235 In Canada, fourteen-year-old Leslie Mahaffy, locked out of her house by her parents as punishment for coming home late, encountered handsome and charming Paul Bernardo passing by her home in the middle of the night. After chatting for a few minutes, she asked him for a cigarette and he told her he had some in his car parked down the street. She was doomed the moment she sat down in the passenger seat to smoke it and continue talking with him, even while cautiously leaving the car door open and her legs dangling out on the curb. At one point Leslie turned toward the open door to blow some smoke out. At that instant Bernardo snapped the trap shut: He placed a knife against her throat and told her to lift her legs into the car. Bernardo pushed her into the rear seat, blindfolded her, and threw a blanket over her. He then calmly drove forty miles back to his house, where he and his wife, Karla Homolka, raped and murdered her. I repeat: Do not get into the car! (And don’t lock your children out of the house no matter how late they come home.)

  Also do not be fooled by the presence of a baby seat or children’s toys in the vehicle—or even the children themselves. Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer, once returned to a body dump site to have sex with the corpse of one of his victims while his son slept in the vehicle.

  Dealing with Strangers and Recognizing Warning Signs of Duplicity

  According to Gavin de Becker, a threat prediction expert who quotes the saying of Buddha with which this chapter opens, there are behavioral indicators of potential
violence in some people.236 When a stranger approaches you with ulterior motives, there can be underlying warning signs of duplicity. Learn to recognize the signs that there might be more to the contact than what appears on the surface. These signs include the following:

  Feigned weakness: The stranger makes a big deal of letting you know that he might be physically weaker than you. “Please help me carry this to my car. Ever since my back injury I can hardly move.” He is wearing a cast or walking with a cane. That’s how Ted Bundy trapped some of his victims.

  Too much information: The stranger gives you too much unnecessary and detailed information: “My sister has a sweater just like that. She was living in California but she moved home last year. Her boyfriend gave it to her for Christmas, but afterward they broke up . . .” When somebody is telling a lie, even if it sounds credible to you, he has less confidence in what he says; thus he tends to fill in more details than necessary to bolster it. This revelation of details also makes a stranger appear more familiar to you than he really is.

  The unrequested promise: “Just one drink and then I will take you home, I promise.” You never asked him to promise you anything. Sudden offers of unsolicited promises can be a sign of an underlying agenda.

  Friendly authority: The stranger projects some kind of nonthreatening authority: “I’m the park ranger here. I guess you didn’t see the signs; this part of the park is closed. I’ll escort you/drive you out of here.” “I’m a police officer. You shouldn’t be walking alone here; we are on the lookout for a serial killer in this neighborhood. Get in and I’ll drive you out of here.” You want to cooperate in the fear of turning the authority to an unfriendly mode. This is a tough one too, because some serial killers come tricked out with police identification and police-like vehicles. Insist that he call a uniformed backup if you have not done anything wrong and you are being “arrested.”

  Challenging your ego: The stranger labels you in a subtly critical way, hoping that you will be challenged to prove them wrong. “You’re probably not strong enough to help me lift this box into the back of my van.” “You’re not scared of me, are you?”

  Teaming: Often a manipulative stranger tries to “team up” with you. You and he suddenly become a “we”—“I hate drinking alone, I know a great place we can go to up the road.” “I’m going there too, we can get there in my car.” This is an attempt to somehow bond with you or quickly establish a familiarity—“we are in the same boat.”

  Feminine referencing: The stranger projects an image of himself in relationships with other females or children, therefore reassuring you that he is not interested in you and is harmless. “I’m supposed to pick up my wife from the campus—do you know where the night classes are held? Jump in, I’ll give you a lift and you can show me.” “My daughter wants a sweater just like that, and I’ve been looking for it everywhere. Where did you get it? Can you show me if I give you a ride?” References to children or pets also projects a friendly and harmless image: children’s toys in the car or the presence of a baby seat.

  Imposed obligation: A stranger imposes his help on you, and thus you feel an obligation to him. That obligation can then be manipulated into placing you into a vulnerable position. “Let me help you carry that to your car” can lead to “Can you give me a lift to the corner?” You come out of your home and find your tire flat. “Let me change that flat tire for you” can be followed up by “May I come inside to wash my hands?” But maybe he was the one who punctured the tire in the first place. Having accepted his help, you would feel bad to refuse a simple request like that.

  An appeal to a vulnerable third party: “Help me find my lost puppy before it gets away too far.” “I need to drop off this medicine to an elderly person but you can’t park there. Can you just come and sit in my car while I run up for five minutes?” “My little girl is missing—can you help me search for her?”

  Never taking no for an answer—A classic. No matter how many times you say, “That’s okay, I don’t need your help,” the stranger insists on helping you. If you give some weak excuse or sound unsure, he will persist. Do not be afraid to be blunt and rude: “I said, NO! Go away. I do not want your help.”

  So many victims later say, “But he was so nice.” Niceness is not the same as being nice. Niceness can be a deadly manipulative tool. A charming smile can mask the most evil intentions.

  Thus, one’s first line of defense is not risking attracting or exposing oneself to a predator in the first place. The second line of defense is “brushing off” or ignoring unanticipated, suspicious, or unwanted attention. It might make you appear unfriendly, but it may also save your life. If something does not quite feel right, do not think about it: Politely, quickly, and calmly extract yourself from the situation. Be firm but polite if you can—you do not want to unnecessarily spark anger or a sense of discourteous rejection in a potential serial killer. But in the final analysis, if the stranger does not accept a firm and polite “no” for an answer, tell him loudly to leave you alone. If the man is decent in the first place, while your rudeness might offend him, it will not turn him into a violent offender. If on the other hand he meant you harm, he might understand that you will not be an easy target—he might move on. Do not be embarrassed about appearing capricious or unfriendly if pressed—better that, than police sampling seminal fluids from your cold rectum the next morning.

  Desperate Measures

  If, however, you are unfortunate enough to find yourself among the 75 percent of victims who simply had the bad luck of being targeted by a serial killer at random and were not able to evade or disengage from him, there are still things you can do. The point we are describing now is where the serial killer refuses to be brushed off by you, and moves beyond the stage of casual contact. By words, demeanor, showing a weapon, or actions, he confronts you and indicates that he is ready to use force if you do not comply with his demands—getting into his car, taking your clothes off, closing your eyes, being quiet, turning around, putting your hands behind your back, engaging in sex with him—whatever the demand might be. If you are unable to run away to safety, what can you do?

  Of the serial killers studied by the FBI, 7.5 percent of their victims survived—not encouraging, but nonetheless a sliver of good news. The FBI then tried to pursue what it was in the victim’s behavior that resulted in their survival. The question is whether to resist the attacker. The FBI asked the serial killers, how did they perceive the behavior of their victims? In the opinion of the serial killers, 28 percent of all of their victims acquiesced or offered no resistance, 31 percent attempted to negotiate verbally, 7 percent verbally refused to obey the killer, 10 percent screamed, 5 percent attempted to escape, and 19 percent tried to fight back.

  The serial killers reported that in the face of resistance from their victims, 34 percent had no reaction, 15 percent threatened the victim verbally, 25 percent escalated the level of their aggression, and 25 percent became outright violent. Thus in more than two-thirds of the cases, the killer countered resistance from the victim, and in half of the cases they countered it with increased force. In summary, resistance sparks force or increased levels of force.237

  It should be pointed out, however, that of the victims in the survey who, in their killers’ opinions acquiesced to demands, all were murdered without exception. Of the twenty-eight victims who offered physical resistance in the form of screaming, running, or fighting, three survived. Thus except for a slight marginal advantage in resistance, the bad news is that both resistance and acquiescence often equally result in death.

  Of course, you do not know you are facing a serial killer who is intent on killing you (unless he tells you). Sometimes the serial killer himself is unsure whether his intention is to kill you. The primary threat is rape or physical confinement—one hopes that by evading that, one will consequently escape being murdered later.

  The FBI study on sexual and serial homicides refers to a study of 108 convicted serial rapists and their 389 victims.
The data collected from this study is very valuable, as serial homicide is mostly a sexual crime and often begins or ends with a rape. Rape had occurred in 98 percent of the serial homicides studied by the FBI: 56 percent before the victim’s death and 42 percent after death. The study identified four types of rapists; some experts are now urging that these types be applied to serial killer classification systems:

  Power-reassurance (or compensatory rapist): This type of rapist often has a rape fantasy that his victim actually likes it and will fall in love with him as the result of the rape. He may attempt foreplay and to make a date with his victim afterward. Rape results from sexual arousal and loss of self-control. The rapist is called compensatory because of his terminal sense of inadequacy, which leads him to believe that no “normal” woman would want to have sex with him, unless he compensates it with rape. The rape is a highly sexual act and the offender often has a history of sexual behavior such as voyeurism, excessive masturbation, and exhibitionism. He will do what the victim allows him to do.

  Power-assertive (or exploitative rapist): The sexual component is less important here, and the rape is more of an expression of aggression in which the rapist needs to build his own fragile ego and sense of inadequacy by humiliating his victims, dominating them, and having them submit to him.

  Anger-retaliatory (or displaced rapist): The sexual attack is an expression of anger and rage. The victim often serves as a stand-in for the rapist’s real object of hate. The behavior can vary from simple rape to highly elaborate acts of murder and mutilation. Edmund Kemper might be described as a displaced rapist, because he killed eight victims before finally killing the person he actually wanted to—his mother. Most displaced personalities, however, do not get an opportunity to kill the subject of their deep hate, and thus continue killing “innocent” victims.