Psychologists say killing doesn't fit sadist pattern
MacQuarrie, Brian . Boston Globe 27 June 1996: 23.
Karina Holmer's killer was a monster, but he may have been a monster for only a few, frenzied hours of murderous rage.
The Swedish au pair's severed upper body had not been mutilated further, police sources say, which tells forensic psychologists interviewed yesterday that her killer does not fit the mold of a serial killer or sexual sadist.
Rather, the unmarked condition of the body and its unorthodox disposal in a Fenway dumpster would indicate to these specialists that Holmer's assailant may have been a first-time killer.
But first time or not, the psychologists say, the horrific nature of the crime shows that the murderer may have a severe mental illness and probably harbors a longstanding, explosive resentment of women. Their unnerving concern: If he did it once, he could do it again.
"This could be one-time, but it's unlikely that it's your typical murder committed by somebody with motives that the rest of us could understand. This person is either profoundly emotionally disturbed or a sociopath," said Craig Latham, a forensic psychologist from Wellesley.
The psychologists emphasized that their conjectures are based on limited public knowledge of the evidence, and that Holmer may have been the latest in a string of victims who include still-missing women.
But what is known about the case supports their view that this is a strikingly rare crime both in its nature and its puzzling aftermath.
Fewer than 5 percent of murder victims are mutilated, said James Alan Fox, dean of the College of Criminal Justice at Northeastern University. And many murderers who show some deliberation in their crime dispose of their victims' bodies in remote locations.
Although any murder is tragic, Holmer's mutilation is what makes this crime so morbidly riveting, observers said. "This person didn't feel any kind of boundaries about violating the body, particularly in such a ruthless, savage way. This suggests it just wasn't somebody faced with a problem of disposing of the body," Latham said.
Holmer's upper body was discovered in the dumpster Sunday, about 36 hours after she was last seen leaving Zanzibar, a downtown nightclub. Investigators say that Holmer, 20, was strangled first, and that a saw may have been used to sever her body afterward.
"These kinds of offenses are, gratefully, rare. But because they are so stark, so violent, they take hold of our
imagination and our worst fears," said Theoharis Seghorn, a founding partner of New England Forensic Associates.
Seghorn said that such brutality is possible even in seemingly normal human beings who resort to lethal actions in desperate situations.
"In this case, you're talking about somebody who had to cut through flesh and bone," Seghorn said. "People are capable of all sorts of bizarre acts when they are in this sort of state. In a disassociated state, anything is possible."
Vernon Gebreth, a New York homicide and forensic consultant, said that most severed bodies are found in congested, urban areas where a killer needs to decrease his risk of being noticed when disposing of the corpse. Fox said, "This killer tends to be fairly cunning, careful, clever. He obviously did not panic in the wake of the crime. We're not talking about a bizarre maniac."
"Either it's someone who had some relation with her . . . or we're talking about a stranger who has a great deal of control over his behavior, who could very well have a good job and neighbors and friends, but for whom rape and murder is done for the pleasure."
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