I would like to know, whether a killer/serial killer is speaking of himself - as long as he isn't caught and nobody knows about his deed - as a "killer", "serial killer", "murderer". Or whether he names the not caught perp (who is himself) by a more distanced name like "monster", when in a conversation about a murder/a case with someone. What would killers do? What would profilers think, they do?
Very interesting question, and I think it should pave the way to the discussion of the criminal types that some of us could have met, it might be more interesting than profiling.
My feeling is, no one can predict human behavior, and while you look at one person and think, he is creepy, in the meantime, someone else, benevolence himself, would turn out the killing type.
One guy killed probably in a drunken rage, and he was the nicest, the politest guy ever. His speech was somewhat poor in emotional color and I didn’t hear any specific words for himself.
And many years ago, I came across two people, neither of whom had been ever accused, but they kept company with such unsavory types that if I ever hear that either was a murderer, I would not be surprised. I don’t think either is a serial killer, though. (One, actually, managed to harm someone, but probably accidentally). Both were the hit-and-run types.
They both were very smart, very presentable, and inside, incredible cowards and shocking liars. The desire to lie to create an impression was pathological in both cases, but in one, it was to the degree of an illness. I think both were lying to protect very small, fractured, easily wounded ego, but as I have said, there is a degree after which lying can only hurt you, and maybe even hold you back, in relationships and career, yet both continued doing it. One did call himself names, sort of diminutive ones, like “sonny” or “kitten” or something like it, and referred to himself in the third person (“the kitten is going to have a nap”).
The other one used more adult words, but strangely, 3D person was common for him as well.
This is why I sometimes wonder, maybe, both were slightly on the spectrum? They did very well in life and were social, but neither had solid male friends.
Women who were not accused but also of the type that won’t surprise me were very different, much stronger, even grandiose (you’d think they were heroes by listening to them), and their speech was colorful and dramatic, but I think they had a higher degree of mental illness.
P. S. And about this case, I think he simply says, “the guy”. Or “that guy”.
