FOR DISCUSSION PURPOSES:
(I am 3 days away from completing my post grad in forensics, wrote a paper worth 50% of my criminal profiling final mark- TLDR; the last chunk is the profile)
I am no way a pro at this craft, and want to make it clear that I do not have crucial info to compile a proper profile. I also do not believe Libby and Abby were his first victims. An obvious relevant case is that of the Iowa cousins, I also made loose connections to The Amber Hagerman case.
Here are the meat and potatoes of my paper:
The FBI defines a serial killer as murderers whom are involved in three or more murders committed in separate events followed by a cooling off period between the events that can last days to even years. I believe that the person who committed these horrific crimes is an organized non-social sexually motivated serial killer.
An organized murderer is one who appears to plan his murders, target his victims, display control at the crime scene, and act out a violent fantasy against the victim (sex, dismemberment, torture). (Douglas & Hazelwood, 1980).
Organized killers are harder to catch because of their meticulous planning and execution of the murder, they leave very little physical evidence. They often commit murders in one place proceeded by the dumping of the victim in another, more remote area. They often feel like they are smarter than the police and will never be caught, which often leads to sloppiness when committing the murders as their confidence grows, as I feel this killer has done when he missed the fact that Liberty German recorded him on her cell phone. I must also note that perhaps his killing did not start with Amber Hagerman since snatching the girl off of her bike in the middle of the day was quite brazen.
Between the 1970s and 1980s, 5 agents from the FBIs Behavioural Science Unit conducted research into the minds of sexually motivated murderers. They chose 36 men from prisons located all across America and collected data through two types of sources; official records and interviews they conducted with the offenders.
It was found that majority of the men had began their lives in two parent, middle class homes. The agents noted that although the family life appeared normal on the outside, behind closed doors the parents of these men were absorbed in their own problems. The men subsequently bore witness to deviant patterns of criminal behaviour, substance abuse and poor interpersonal relationships. It also has been noted that more than half of the murders suffered some sort of abuse whilst growing up.
It was found that almost all of the men have felt socially isolated since childhood and fantasy played a large role in what motivated them to kill. The Special Agents state that Fantasy is a normal way for adults as well as children to obtain and maintain control
. They also theorized that
the men were motivated to kill by their way of thinking. Over time, their thinking patterns emerged from or were influenced by early life experiences (trauma, usually sexual in nature). (Burgess et al. 1986).
It is based on these studies that I believe that the man responsible for these murders was sexually abused as a child. In the study there was a noted correlation between childhood sexual abuse and the mutilation of the victims bodies and although based on my knowledge of these crimes none of the victims were horrifically mutilated, the slitting of mere childrens throats is quite atrocious.
The man who committed these murders is most likely a drifter, not necessarily homeless but a rugged outdoors, masculine type, this is because of his comfort level in remote areas. The murders most likely took place in the remote outdoors but the victims were always moved to another located post-mortem to avoid leaving evidence. He was mostly likely sexually abused or humiliated by his mother or an older sister (noting the sister being the perceived favourite child). This would explain his hatred towards prepubescent girls. He may have experienced trauma or abuse near water because he seemed to favour dumping his victims on the banks of creeks and rivers. I dont think he is an opportunistic killer because Liberty recorded him, suggesting she had seem him lurking prior and it put her on edge seeing him in such a remote area, it must be noted that in the grainy photograph released by the Indiana State Police the man appears to have his jacket stuffed with a kill kit. He has gone 21 years uncaught because he is as
isolated as he may feel, flying under the radar on the fringes of society