Whoa Pax I feel compelled to jump in here regarding the personal nature of a killing versus a crime of passion.
It is true that the violence inflicted if a sort of "overkill" can give clues that the perp was intimately familiar with the victim, however, that only gives clue to who. The fact that someone familiar might also harbor deep resentment or just pure malice or that they might also spend considerable time contemplating killing the victim must be taken into consideration.
A crime of passion would be more instant and the fact he used the wood maul, which he would have had to go out to the back yard and procure, suggests WAY more contemplation.
I get what you are saying, but given the Syko Sam mentality complete with hatchet in hand pictures conveys a sense of contemplation imo. maybe not necessarily with those particular victims, but a sense of wanton and willful disregard in general for the value of human life. That's why I lean toward anti-social, or sociopathic tendancies.
In other words, I think the choice of weapon and manner of killing are more a consequence of Sam's mental imaging due to his love of horrocore than to his personal relationships with the victims. JMO.
There are also plenty of examples of stabbing and bloodshed and mayhem inflicted by killers who chose their victims randomly.
I don't doubt that Sam had some sort of grudge after being with Emma and things going south, but he did not just snap and kill girls in their sleep..isn't that considered lying in wait? (lying, laying, someone help me out with those please).
