The Modus Operandi Of Serial Killers

“I have nothing to say.” These were the chilling last words of serial killer Amelia Dyer who allegedly murdered more than 400 children. Although there is no exact formula or set of signs as to who will become a serial killer, there are certain things we can analyze and delve deeper into in order to better understand and classify serial killers. Motive, mode, and method are the things forensic psychologists analyze to determine and create a profile for criminals.

While there are many aspects to serial killers, the Modus Operandi, also referred to as the MO, meaning method of operation, is one of the things that is considered by forensic psychologists. The modus operandi is how serial killers or criminals commit their crimes. To help better understand what the modus operandi is, it is advantageous to analyze a certain category of serial killer classifications, and distinguish between these two types. These two types are organized and disorganized criminals or serial killers. As the name implies, organized criminals commit their crimes in an orderly, clever fashion. Organized killers tend to premeditate their crimes so hence not much evidence is discovered at the crime scene. Scott Bohn, Ph.D., and criminologist, states that, “organized criminals, according to the classification scheme, are antisocial (often psychopathic) but know right from wrong, are not insane and show no remorse.” Not surprisingly, organized criminals fit into society, are intelligent, could be married and have a family, and might even be likable. A great example of an organized serial killer was Dennis Rader, publicly known as B.T.K., which stands for bind, torture, kill. B.T.K. was liked, married, had two children, and was even involved in the church in his community. He was free to kill for 30 years until he was caught. This just goes to show that not all serial killers have the cynical and dark attitude most people would assume they have. One example of B.T.K.’s intelligence was that one of the reasons he would leave gaps as large as years in between victims was so that his family would not become suspicious. An additional reason for waiting so long was that he would stalk his victims to gather more information about them to increase his chances of getting away with the murder. After all, the more information he had about his victims, such as who they lived with, what car they drove, times they arrived home, the easier it would be to commit the murder and most likely not be caught.

The second types of criminals are disorganized criminals. These criminals, opposite of organized criminals, typically do not plan out or premeditate their murders. This does not mean, however, that disorganized criminals cannot be serial killers. Generally these types of criminals do not seek to move or hide the body of their victim. Additionally, it is likely that the disorganized criminal comes from a broken home environment and has frequently been abused by family either physically or sexually. Notably, disorganized criminals generally will utilize abrupt and overpowering force to attack their victim. This ties back into the fact that the murders of disorganized criminals are usually not premeditated, which explains the more abrupt tactic of murder. Another characteristic attribute of disorganized criminals is that they generally kill their victims within a close radius from their (the criminal’s) home, because they do not have access to dependable transportation. A model example of a disorganized criminal is Jack the Ripper, whose identity to this day is still unknown. He would stab prostitutes at night, maim their bodies, and sometimes leave their corpses posed in detestable manners. Additionally, he killed all five women within a one-mile radius of each other, which is a distinguishing trait of disorganized criminals.

Understanding organized and disorganized criminals can help better understand what the modus operandi is. The MO is essentially something the criminal needs to do to execute the crime. Using B.T.K. as an example again, his modus operandi, or method of operation, was to first bind his victim, then torture them, and finally kill…hence, B.T.K. What can make a forensic psychologist’s job difficult is that a criminal’s MO could change. For example, if a certain method of operating was being linked to a certain killer, in an effort to throw off police investigators and forensic psychologists, they could simply change their MO. A criminal’s MO could also change over time as they become more experienced and figure out more effective or efficient methods of operation. Evidently, while studying and analyzing the modus operandi can be helpful in creating the criminal profile, it is dangerous to place too much significance on the MO because it can easily be changed by the criminal.

In addition to the modus operandi, there is another behavioral characteristic criminals might display…the signature. The signature serves to satisfy the emotional or psychological desires of the criminal. For example, Dennis Rader (B.T.K.) had sexual issues and would sometimes take part in inappropriate sexual activities with his victims present. This was not something that had to be done in order to execute the crime; this was simply to satisfy his sexual desires. Again according to Scott Bonn, “the signature comes from within the psyche of the offender and it reflects a deep fantasy need that the killer has about his victims. Fantasies develop slowly, increase over time and may begin with the torture of animals during childhood, for example, as they did with Dennis Rader (‘Bind, Torture, Kill’).” Evidently, as stated before, there is no precise formula to determine what will create a serial killer, but there are similarities that can be seen in hindsight.

Another intriguing aspect of serial killers is their desire to have power over their victims, and in a sense, feel like they are god at that moment. Because evidently the murderer is the one killing the victim, they could feel dominant, as they essentially hold the power of the victim’s life or death in their hands.

Because the differences between organized and disorganized criminals have been distinguished, and the modus operandi and signature differentiated between, it will be easier to understand the methods in which forensic psychologists profile criminals. There are five steps to profiling criminals. The first step is profiling inputs. This step makes up the basic parts of profiling, such as gathering information from the crime scene, autopsy reports, photographs of the victim and the surrounding scene, and really just anything that can help give more context as to what happened. The second step is decision processing. This step helps in classifying the murderer, so essentially attempting to figure out whether or not they were organized or disorganized, the type of murder it was, for example whether it was mass, spree, serial, etc., and the main motive, whether it was love, money, etc. To dive deeper into classification, there are four main ways to categorize them: power and control, visionary, mission, and hedonistic. Power and control would be receiving sexual satisfaction from the power of mortifying and demeaning their victims. Visionary serial killers are deemed to be psychotic, and are driven to kill by voices in their head. Mission serial killers consider it their duty to kill certain races or classes of people. Lastly, hedonistic serial killers draw a powerful affiliation between individual violence and sexual satisfaction. These types of serial killers can also be classified as “lust” or “thrill” killers and usually take time to torture or maim their victims. The third step in criminal profiling is crime assessment. The main point of this step is essentially to recreate the scene from both the viewpoint of the criminal and the victim. Additionally, in this step, the succession of events that occurred before, during, and after the crime are put together. Step four is the criminal profile. Now that the forensic psychologist or profiler has more information about the criminal, they can begin to speculate and brainstorm about what type of person this criminal really is. The fifth and final part to profiling a criminal is the investigative use step. There are two primary ways in which a profiling a criminal can aid in an investigation. First, detailed reports about the findings are made available to the team examining the case so that they can narrow their focus on attempting to find someone who matches the criminal profile created. Second, the criminal profile that was created can be beneficial for the investigative team after they have made an arrest of a main suspect. Not only does the criminal profile contain physical aspects, such as potential race of the person, height, gender, etc., and physical details about the crime scene, but forensic psychologists can use details they find to also create a psychological profile for the criminal. The psychological profile can be helpful for the investigative team when interviewing the main suspect so they will have a direction in which to guide the interview, and so they can better know what to ask.

Evidently, there is no way to determine from youth whether or not a child will grow up to become a serial killer, but through the work of forensic psychologists studying the modus operandi, the signature, and different classifications of criminals, they can better understand how to classify and categorize criminals so as to assist for investigative purposes. The more forensic psychologists understand about profiling serial killers, both the physical and psychological aspects, the more connections they can make in order to better our system and country.