Facts About Serial Killers

According to the Crime Museum, a serial killer is conventionally defined as a person who murders three or more people in a period of over a month, with “cooling down” time between murders. Often driven by a psychological thrill or pleasure, serial killers murders must be separate events. Serial killers commit murder in different places over a long period of time. The characteristics of a serial killer often lack empathy, guilt and often become egocentric individuals. They also hide their true psychopathic tendencies and appear normal, which some may call a “mask of sanity”. The Scientific American states that there are five common myths about serial killers. The first myth is all serial killers are men. The second is they are all Caucasian; …show more content…
In the town of Columbia, unlike in the United States, there is a massive population of homeless children. Young boys who went missing were not alarming as it would be in the United States, because the town is filled with violence. He posed as a priest and a teacher and would lure young boys gaining their trust by offering them gifts and small amounts of money, he took them for a walk and once they were tired, he would take advantage of them. He raped and tortured them, slashed their throats and usually dismembered their corpses. Although there is no exact number on how many unfortunate victims there were authorities believe there were at least 138 through. The dates of the murders range from 1992 – 1999. Authorities first discovered Garavito’s killing spree in February of 1998. Outside the town of Genua, Columbia, two naked corpses of children were discovered laying next to each other on a slope of a hill as most other crime scenes. Only meters away, the very next day, a third corpse was found in an advanced state of decomposition. All of the bodies were tied at the hands and along with a knife countless blood stains were discovered in the area. At the crime scene there were underwear, shoes, money, eye glasses and liquor bottles left by the killer. The victim’s external organs and the neck of the bodies were severely cut and severed. As the investigators …show more content…
Garavito’s unconscious mind had drives and urges for young boys. As Freud expressed, Garavito proved these feelings existed indirectly. He gave the impression of an honest and nice man, but was no longer able to disguise or distort enough to elude censorship. Garavito wanted to satisfy his sexual urges, but the punishment and suppression made him feel anxiety. He targeted young, poor boys because in Garavito’s conscious mind, his perceptual conscious system did not see them as a threat. The ID of the province of the mind serves as a pleasure principle. Garavito needed to satisfy his desires, and he had no contact with reality. Freud’s drives such as sex, aggression, anxiety effected Garavito. As a result of Garavito’s childhood, the repression from his father’s abuse and his neighbor’s abuse definitely caused some psychological issues with him. Abraham Maslow would analyze Garavito and come to the conclusion that his hierarchies of needs were not met. The safety need was not met at an early age. While being abused by his father, he had no since of security, stability or dependency. Being raped by his neighbors left him with feelings of fear, anxiety and chaos and shifted his views towards sex. The love and belonging needs were not met as well as a result of his father’s abuse towards him and his neighbor’s sexual abuse. Garavitos’ deprivation of needs, along with