The distinction between a psychopath and an empath is that a psychopath has little to no feelings when witnessing the pain of others while an empath feels sympathy and compassion for everything and everyone all the time. Researchers report that when psychopaths imagine others experiencing pain, brain regions associated with empathy for others do not connect with areas of the brain involved in emotional processing, making any concern for others impossible. When asked to empathize, some are capable of activating their emotional processes, which could explain why a serial killer can make themselves appear “normal” at times to lure their victims in. Many serial killers such as Ted Bundy, Gary Ridgeway, Tom Lynn Sells, John Wayne Gacey, Jeffery
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For John Wayne Gacy, his alcoholic and physically abusive father ultimately opened up many issues John would have to live with. Not only did he not fit in at school, but he was questioning his sexuality as a teenager and didn’t do anything about it, not wanting to disappoint his father. This infatuation and frustration of his resulted in the raping and eventually killing of 33 men. John’s main targets were typically 14-22 year old boys who had light colored hair and a thin figure. He would mostly lure his victims into his own house by offering them construction or other job work and then tortured, raped, and murdered them; burying most under his home. During his killings, he was married and divorced twice with children. Most people would say that he generally seemed like a nice guy. The disappearance of 15-year-old Robert Piest led police to John Gacy, who had apparently offered a job to the boy right before his disappearance. Police did a background check on Gacy and saw his previous convictions and a search warrant for his home revealed 27 bodies around his property. Before being sentenced to death by receiving a lethal injection, he was a diagnosed a psychopath and did not express any remorse for his
For John Wayne Gacy, his alcoholic and physically abusive father ultimately opened up many issues John would have to live with. Not only did he not fit in at school, but he was questioning his sexuality as a teenager and didn’t do anything about it, not wanting to disappoint his father. This infatuation and frustration of his resulted in the raping and eventually killing of 33 men. John’s main targets were typically 14-22 year old boys who had light colored hair and a thin figure. He would mostly lure his victims into his own house by offering them construction or other job work and then tortured, raped, and murdered them; burying most under his home. During his killings, he was married and divorced twice with children. Most people would say that he generally seemed like a nice guy. The disappearance of 15-year-old Robert Piest led police to John Gacy, who had apparently offered a job to the boy right before his disappearance. Police did a background check on Gacy and saw his previous convictions and a search warrant for his home revealed 27 bodies around his property. Before being sentenced to death by receiving a lethal injection, he was a diagnosed a psychopath and did not express any remorse for his