In our town about 15 year ago a group of young people like this was into dungeons and dragons... and pretend murders...they had machetes, fantasy plays etc and one night one of the boys made plans to kill her PG girlfriend who was in the process of breaking up with him and another boy was to follow behind in another car to a secret spot in which to kill her ...Well the accomplice chickened out but the one boy killed her with the machete . She had many defensive wounds and was hacked up so bad she was not recognizable
I think its possible if you are have a violent type personality you might gravitate to this type of pretend fantasy murder stuff....and enjoy it a wee bit too much and I think its possible for this type of person they could have a problem with fantasy and reality and its easier to escalate to a crime....
But of course not all people who fantasize are gonna go that next step but after that has happened to a teen I knew I so leary of all this murder stuff...
BBM--Thanks for posting this!!! It just reminded me of research I did for a class I took a few years ago on Violent Crime...
Sexual killers fall into two main categories:
--The rape or displaced anger murderer (Cohen et al., 1971)--Rapists who kill do so primarily to escape detection.
--The sadistic or lust murderer (Becker and Abel, 1978)--Sado-erotic materials at home are evidence of
fantasy.
For the sadistic killer, aggression and sexuality become intertwined whereby aggression becomes eroticized. The thinking of these killers is dominated by fantasies of power and control and often begins in childhood.
Fantasy is the focus of their behavior and the killer is pushed to kill by their thought patterns. He is essentially incited to murder by an intrusive fantasy life. His early learning is that that violence against other humans is normal and "acceptable". Sadistic killers have an inherent sadistic nature with a fascination for violence, injury and torture. They enjoy fantasizing about doing sadistic things to fellow humans.
The sadistic killer, much like the chronic gambler and problem drinker, is addicted to the use of fantasy--a coping device.
Sexual predators, whether they kill or not, will escalate their activities over the course of their careers. Typically, they will start with violent sexual fantasies and progress to acting out their imagined scenes with both willing and unwilling partners.