An interesting read about poisoners who use poison to kill on purpose.
Some pieces from the article.
A Psychological Profile of a Poisoner
The Demographics of Death
Contrary to popular belief, the majority of convicted poisoners are men, overwhelmingly so when the victim is a woman. When the victim is a man, the poisoner is equally likely to be male or female. As with other methods of murder, perpetrators rarely cross racial lines when they decide to send a victim to an early grave, meaning African Americans tend to be poisoned by other African Americans, Caucasians by other Caucasians. etc. On average, a homicidal poisoner is 5 to 10 years younger than his/her victim.
Career-wise, homicidal poisoners are over-represented in the medical (doctor, nurse, laboratory professional) or care-taking professions (wife, mother, nursing home attendant), where they have easy access to both the means to kill and a bevy of vulnerable victims. Of course, the vast majority of poisoners knock off someone s/he knows, such as a child, spouse, friend, or acquaintance.
The Bottom Line
Given that 1 out of 5 verified murders by poisoning is never solved, it's hard to draw a definitive psychological profile of the typical poisoner. Those who've been caught and convicted give us some clues — clever, sneaky, emotionally immature, methodical, and self-centered. Many of them are amazingly skilled at pretending to be something they're not — a doting husband, caring nurse, or devoted friend. Behind the mask, though, lies a psyche that is propelled by childish needs and unencumbered by moral restraints.
More details in the article.
Just pondering. Although the cause of death of Otay Jane Doe was poisoning, I challenge the overall belief that this was the main homicidal intention. She was also tortured (beaten), while alive (before her death) and before set on fire (there are also studies about the profile of who would set a body on fire and why, in general). As the poison used is a common pain killer, was it given to her intentionally to cause her death or did she took it because of her aching/root canal tooth (how old was it?) and something happened after that. Considering the extensive beating it was not "just" poisoning, like the people referred to in the article did.
