Four Kinds of Serial Killers
In A Better Part of Valor, Val and her team focus on tracking down a serial killer. A critical element of their efforts depends on developing a credible profile of who the killer is. In doing so, they rely on a heuristic developed by psychologists and criminologists, which differentiates between four personality types.
The four types are Thrill-seekers, Mission-oriented killers, Visionaries, and Power-and-Control types.
Thrill seekers focus on outsmarting law enforcement. For them, killing is just part of an elaborate game, all played for their own amusement. Police pursuit if half the fun, and they also relish media attention. Because of this, they enjoy sending messages to the police and media (sometimes in a sort of code, often of their own devising) and watching the “experts” try to figure out what the message really says. They love playing it “close to the edge,” so to speak (another part of the thrill).
Thrill seekers have huge egos and often are convinced they cannot be caught. Often highly organized, they keep meticulous records of their kills and methods. But they are also opportunists, rather than planners. Their unfortunate victims are often simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Another big thrill for this type: raping, abusing, or torturing their victims before killing them. And their final thrill comes afterwards, when they hide or dispose of the body. They often want their victims discovered, to drive the cops nuts, but of course, they don’t want it traced back to them.
While Thrill-seekers know that killing is a wrongful act, Mission-oriented killers view their kills benefit society. They’re doing us a favor by getting ridding it of certain “undesirable” people–those they consider inferior, unclean, or drags on society. Typically that means young women, prostitutes, drug dealers, or homosexuals.
Contrary to what you might think, thrill-seekers are sociopathic rather than psychotic. They see themselves as reformers, “cleaning up” society. They tend to keep a neat, controlled crime scene, offering important clues to investigators, and since they target specific types of victims, they can be among the easiest of these types to track down.
By contrast, Visionary serial killers often do suffer from psychoses. They may believe they are another person, or that God or the Devil compel them to kill their victims. David Berkowitz (aka “Son of Sam”) is an example of a “visionary” killer. Like mission-oriented killers, visionaries view themselves as improving society by ridding it of people God no longer wants. But they target specific individuals rather than members of a group. They are more unorganized than the other three types of killers, making them easier to track down.
Power and Control types are true psychotics. They enjoy inflicting and witnessing their victim’s terror, suffering and screaming. Many inflict sexual abuse on their victims, but their motivation is not rape. Rather, sexual abuse is simply another way of dominating their victim. Many were abused themselves as children, which manifests as a feeling of powerlessness or inadequacy as adults. Their terror, abuse, and killing of others makes them feel empowered in that moment. They tend to be very organized, making them difficult to track down.
The four types share many traits in common. Most are white males between the ages of 18-35. (Women serial killers comprise their own group, known as “Black Widows.”) They leave gaps of time between victims, usually in semi-regular intervals, ranging from days to years.
These four types are the most common, but there are others, and some are combinations of these four types. Of course, each serial killer is unique, with their own motivations and killing rituals, making serial killer cases difficult to solve–despite their high stakes.
Note that these types characterize serial killers only. Other varieties exist: “Spree” killers who kill a large number of people in succession, triggered by their first kill; “mass murderers” who kill a large number of people at one time; and “cult killers,” who recruit victims into a group (religion, club, etc.) in order to sacrifice them to some higher power.
In A Better Part of Valor, Val and her colleagues diagnose the killer’s MO as fitting the “serial killer” pattern and hone in on two of the four profiles early. But which one is correct? The answer lies at the heart of the case that Val is challenged to solve.
