Case Study: Inside The Mind Of A Killer

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Inside the Mind of a Killer
"We serial killers are your sons, we are your husbands, we are everywhere. And there will be more of your children dead tomorrow." Ted Bundy had stated this just days before his execution in 1989 for murdering over 30 people. It is surely obvious that Ted Bundy 's mind differs from the thought process of someone who has not killed another being. The questions we ask now are, How is it different? What makes his and plenty like him so very different? Experts have spent years asking themselves why exactly do these man hunters crave the spilled blood of the innocence smeared about their hands. Many of us see murder as a cruel inhumane act, but through the eyes of the man/woman committing the crime it is an act of possession.
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Sociopaths are oftentimes nervous and easily agitated. Their behaviors are erratic, and they more times than not have emotional emotional outbursts. Psychopaths lack empathy, however, they often have charming personalities. "Psychopaths are very manipulative and can easily gain people 's trust. They learn to mimic emotions, despite their inability to actually feel them, and will appear normal to unsuspecting people" (Bonn). Sociopaths are usually uneducated and have difficulty leading a normal life, unlike a psychopath who generally has a steady job and may even have a family. In many instances, psychopaths have carefully planned out every detail before committing their crime. They both view their victims as inhumane objects that they have violated for their personal pleasure. Neither sociopathy or psychopathy is considered a mental illness. In order to be considered criminally insane, the killer must be unaware that murder is legally wrong while committing the act of homicide. Psychopaths and sociopaths are usually very aware of the wrong they are doing but disregard the laws. Although they seem to be the same, psychopaths and sociopaths have subtle differences that may be hard to pin …show more content…
Four recognized killers are Ted Bundy, Gary Ridgway, and finally the duo of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley. Ted Bundy admittedly murdered 30 people, but it is believed he killed over 100 beings. "Bundy raped and/or murdered a scoredis of women, strangling and mutilating his victims. He displayed their lopped off heads in his apartment and slept with their corpses until putrefaction made it unbearable" ("Ted Bundy") Bundy was born in 1946 and executed in 1989. Gary Ridgway plead guilty to killing 49 women but claims he killed closer to 80. The press referred to him as the Green River Killer due to the numerous bodies he dumped into the river. Ridgway was caught in 2001, but he is still alive and continues to serve multiple life sentences at the Washington State Penitentiary. Ian Brady and Myra Hindley brutally murdered five children between the ages of 10 and 17 during the years of 1963-1965. Hindley died in prison in 2002, however, Brady is in Maximum Security Ashworth Hospital and remains on a hunger strike to this day. A murderer 's motives are sometimes unknown which makes these cases that much more interesting to those who enjoy the secrecy and darkness of the killers mind even though the after effects of their rage may be

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