The whole decapitation issue is confusing, but what's really throwing me for a loop is that the killer(s) took the head with them. What was the point of that?
I came up with a few potential reasons why:
- He took it as his own personal "trophy".
- He took it so he could show it off later.
- He took it to throw LE off and buy time to dispose of evidence and/or leave town.
- The killer decapitated Mr. Dermond to send a message to someone, and may have taken the head to terrorize that person even more with it.
- Shirley was still alive when the killer took her, and he brought the head with him to torment/terrorize her even more before she died (for his own sadistic pleasure).
- He's severely mentally ill or was drugged up out of his mind, so he took the head because he thought that God told him to ... or some other psychotic reason.
- He's trying to prove himself to someone or trying to join a gang, and this was part of some weird initiation to prove that he's vicious enough to be a part of the gang. This would tie in with the gang/drug hit theory.
Whatever it is, this guy is disgusting and needs to be arrested ASAP.
We don't have enough info to really decide on which one it is. Hell, it might be a combination of any of the above. But ... considering what we know so far, what do you think is most likely?