Diagnosis Serial Killer & The Cure For The Child

America has spawned the most infamous serial killers, but their existence could have been prevented. In children there are certain signals a parent could recognize and warnings they should heed. When studying Dahmer, Bundy, and Gacy there are similarities worth noting, there are patterns. In each of their childhood’s one can discover where and when these killers’ destinies could have been changed. Recent discoveries in the medical field have revealed an uncomfortable truth; evil can be discovered in the brain of a child. There is hope, and the answer is in the balance of structure combined with love. Certain children are born needing love more than others, and if adult humans fail as parents then they’ve failed entirely.

Discoveries in medical research has determined that the brains of a psychopath are different from others. Brain scans for hardened criminals almost always show severe short comings in the lower forehead part of the brain. Many diagnosed with  antisocial personality disorder – have a condition that characterizes many convicted criminals, showing the antisocial individuals had a reduction in parts of the brain's frontal lobe. An 18-percent reduction in the volume of the brain's middle frontal gyrus, and a 9-percent reduction in the volume of the orbital frontal gyrus compared with mentally healthy individuals.

A neurologist and professor, Dr. Gerhard Roth believes the uncomfortable truth is that brain scans can reveal psychopathic tendencies. "No one is comfortable labeling a 5-year-old a psychopath.” Said Mark Dadds, a psychologist at the University of New South Wales. “But the research showing that this temperament exists and can be identified in young children is quite strong.”

"This is definitely the region of the brain where evil is formed and where it lurks."

Dr. Gerhard Roth

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/dark-patch-xray-killers-brain-scans-212141274.html

What is one supposed to take from this uncomfortable truth; that evil can be spotted in the brain of a child? Well since we’re about to go over some details in the early lives of three of Americas’ most notorious killers, we should examine how our culture helped mold them. Just because there are children born with more potential for evil, this doesn’t mean their minds could not have been changed before adulthood.

Americans, in this age especially, prefer to live in a false reality. The truth, (especially the ugly truth), is frightening to see for many. If this Age continues to look the other way, and continues to avoid the truths which make them uncomfortable, then their ignorance will continue to in-danger them. In the cases of Dahmer, Gacy, and Bundy there were times when their victims escaped, and when they went to somebody for help nobody helped them. In a couple of these cases the police were the ones who chose to turn the other way, out of fear or incompetence. In the case with Dahmer the police brought the victim back to the killers’ house, and then the cops quickly left the scene. With this warning against the avoidance of uncomfortable truths, you could look at the suicide note left by the serial killer Israel Keyes. http://abcnews.go.com/US/serial-killer-israel-keyes-suicide-letter-creepy-ode/story?id=18421558

"He doesn't talk much about his own dilemmas of being in prison or why he's taking his own life. It's more of a final statement of contempt for the American style of life and I think the other thing he emphasizes is his own superiority, that he has guile and can take advantage of people who are naive and trusting of him."

Dr. Phil Resnick

When reading through Israel’s final statement one cannot help but recognize how he views America, and the American lifestyle. Israel was not the first of his kind whose perception of the “American style of life” seemed to fuel their blood lust...

Similarities between Dahmer, Bundy, and Gacy:

1.       All sought approval by Father figure, (usually abusive or cold parent).

2.       Each diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder at an early age.

3.       Each one suffered some sort of loss of a loved one, or was rejected by one.

4.       Each was master impersonators and manipulators.

5.       Possessive

6.       Each one always had someone or something to blame in justifying why they did what they did.

Jeffrey Dahmer suffered from antisocial personality disorder; loneliness plays a significant role in the development and continuation of violent, antisocial attitudes and behavior. His parents were not physically abusive, and there is no evidence that Dahmer ever suffered any kind of sexual abuse from anybody in his youth. However his father was quite strict and Jeffrey seemed to dread disappointing him. (Perhaps he felt he couldn’t live up to his father’s expectations). Dahmer grew increasingly withdrawn and uncommunicative between the ages of 10 and 15, showing little interest in any hobbies or social interactions. Fundamentally an outcast at Revere High School, Dahmer nonetheless became something of a cult figure among some students due to his impressions of his mother's interior decorator, who suffered from cerebral palsy. In 1977, Lionel and Joyce Dahmer divorced. Dahmer attended The Ohio State University, but dropped out after one quarter, having failed to attend most of his classes. He was drunk for the majority of the term, but he blamed his parents’ divorce for his alcoholism. In the summer of 1978, Dahmers’ father went away on business and his mother had moved out, taking his brother with her. Was at this time when Dahmer was left behind, alone, and feeling betrayed, he committed his first murder at the age of 18. As a serial killer he was able to manipulate many victims into entering wherever he was staying and then led them to their horrible demise. He would keep his victims heads or some other members as his personal possessions.

In 1994, Lionel Dahmer published a book, A Father's Story, and donated a portion of the proceeds from his book to the victims' families. Most of the families showed support for Lionel Dahmer and his wife, Shari. He has retired from his career as an analytical chemist and resides with his wife in Medina County, Ohio. Lionel Dahmer is an advocate for creationism, and his wife was a member of the board of the Medina County Ohio Horseman's Council. Both continue to carry the name Dahmer and say they love Jeffrey despite his crimes.

With Ted Bundy some experts found his precise diagnosis elusive, but the majority of evidence pointed away from bipolar disorder or other psychoses, and toward antisocial personality disorder (ASPD). As with most "sociopaths" or "psychopaths" — he was outwardly charming, even charismatic; but beneath the facade there was little true personality or genuine insight. "Guilt doesn't solve anything, really," he said in 1981. "It hurts you ... I guess I am in the enviable position of not having to deal with guilt." He showed signs of narcissism, poor judgment, and manipulative behavior. "Sociopaths," prosecutor George Dekle wrote, "are egotistical manipulators who think they can con anybody."  "Sometimes he manipulates even me," admitted one psychiatrist. For Bundy, the fault always lay with someone or something else. He deflected blame onto a wide variety of scapegoats, including alcohol, the media, the police (whom he accused of planting evidence), "society" in general, violence on television, and ultimately, true crime periodicals and pornography. On at least one occasion he even tried to blame his victims: "I have known people who ... radiate vulnerability," he wrote in a 1977 letter. "Their facial expressions say 'I am afraid of you.' These people invite abuse ... By expecting to be hurt, do they subtly encourage it?" "A long-term serial killer erects powerful barriers to his guilt," Keppel wrote, "walls of denial that can sometimes never be breached." Biographer Ann Rule described him as "a sadistic sociopath who took pleasure from another human's pain and the control he had over his victims, to the point of death, and even after." He once called himself "...the most cold-hearted son of a bitch you'll ever meet." Bundy had said he "chose to be alone" as an adolescent because he was unable to understand interpersonal relationships. "I didn't know what made people want to be friends," he said. "I didn't know what underlay social interactions." However, classmates from Woodrow Wilson High School said Bundy was "well known and well liked" there, "a medium-sized fish in a large pond." In 1967 he became romantically involved with a UW classmate who is identified in Bundy biographies by several pseudonyms, most commonly Stephanie Brooks. In early 1968 he dropped out of college and worked at a series of minimum-wage jobs. He also volunteered at the Seattle office of Nelson Rockefeller's presidential campaign, and in August, attended the 1968 Republican National Convention in Miami as a Rockefeller delegate. Shortly thereafter Brooks ended their relationship. (Short time after Bundy’s first love Brooks broke up with him his first murder had been committed in 1969 or early 1970’s.)  Brooks returned to her family home in California, frustrated by what she described as Bundy's immaturity and lack of ambition. Bundy felt betrayed. Psychiatrist Dorothy Lewis would later pinpoint this crisis as "... probably the pivotal time in his development." Devastated by Brooks' rejection, Bundy traveled to Colorado and then further east, visiting relatives in Arkansas and Philadelphia, and enrolling for one semester at Temple University. In the summer of 1973 Bundy came back into the life of ex-girlfriend Brooks, who marveled at his transformation into a serious, dedicated professional. He continued to date Kloepfer as well; neither woman was aware of the other's existence. In January 1974, however, he abruptly broke off all contact with Brooks; her phone calls and letters went unreturned. Finally reaching him by phone a month later, Brooks demanded to know why Bundy had unilaterally ended their relationship without explanation. In a flat, calm voice, he replied, "Stephanie, I have no idea what you mean ..." and hung up. Later he explained, "I just wanted to prove to myself that I could have married her." Shortly after midnight on January 4, 1974—around the time that he terminated his relationship with Brooks—Bundy entered the basement apartment of 18-year-old Karen Sparks (identified with the pseudonym Joni Lenz by many sources), a dancer and student at UW. After bludgeoning the sleeping woman with a metal rod from her bed frame he sexually assaulted her with a speculum, causing extensive internal injuries. She remained unconscious for 10 days but survived, with permanent brain damage. “The big payoff for me," he said, "was actually possessing whatever it was I had stolen. I really enjoyed having something that I had wanted and gone out and taken." "The ultimate possession was, in fact, the taking of the life," he said. "And then ... the physical possession of the remains." Bundy also confided in Special Agent William Hagmaier of the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit. Hagmaier was struck by the "deep, almost mystical satisfaction" that Bundy took in murder. "After a while, murder is not just a crime of lust or violence," Hagmaier related. "It becomes possession. They are part of you ... [the victim] becomes a part of you, and you [two] are forever one ... and the grounds where you kill them or leave them become sacred to you, and you will always be drawn back to them." "It was the absolute misogyny of his crimes that stunned me," she wrote, "his manifest rage against women. He had no compassion at all ... he was totally engrossed in the details. His murders were his life's accomplishments."

Bundy was an unusually organized and calculating criminal who used his extensive knowledge of law enforcement methodologies to elude identification and capture for years. "Ted lured females," Michaud wrote, "the way a lifeless silk flower can dupe a honey bee." He was a master manipulator.

Some family members expressed suspicions that Bundy’s father may actually have been his mothers’ own violent, abusive father, Samuel Cowell, though there was no direct evidence to support such speculation. Bundy expressed a lifelong resentment toward his mother for lying about his true parentage and leaving him to discover it for himself.

While Bundy spoke warmly of his grandparents in some interviews and told Ann Rule that he "identified with", "respected", and "clung to" his grandfather, he and other family members told attorneys in 1987 that Samuel Cowell was a tyrannical bully and a bigot who hated blacks, Italians, Catholics, and Jews, beat his wife and the family dog, and swung neighborhood cats by their tails. He once threw Louise's younger sister Julia down a flight of stairs for oversleeping. Ted occasionally exhibited disturbing behavior even as a child. Julia recalled awakening one day from a nap to find herself surrounded by knives from the kitchen; her three-year-old nephew was standing by the bed, smiling.

In 1950 Louise changed her surname from Cowell to Nelson, dropped her first name Eleanor, and at the urging of multiple family members, left Philadelphia with her son to live with cousins Alan and Jane Scott in Tacoma, Washington. In 1951 Louise met Johnny Culpepper Bundy, a hospital cook, at an adult singles night at Tacoma's First Methodist Church. They married later that year and Johnny Bundy formally adopted Ted. Johnny and Louise conceived four children of their own, and though Johnny tried to include his stepson in camping trips and other family activities, Ted remained distant from his stepfather. He later complained to his girlfriend that Johnny wasn't his real father, "wasn't very bright", and "didn't make much money."

Bundy was regarded as handsome and charismatic by his young female victims, traits he exploited in winning their trust. He typically approached them in public places, feigning an injury or disability, or impersonating an authority figure, before overpowering and assaulting them at a more secluded location.

Some root causes to the creation of this monster seemed to be his lack of identity, and his shame once discovering his origins.

John Wayne Gacy: Two doctors examined Gacy over a period of 17 days and concluded he had antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), they said “he was unlikely to benefit from medical treatment, and whose behavior pattern was likely to bring him into repeated conflict with society.” As a child, he was overweight and nonathletic, being frequently bullied in school. At the age of 9 Gacy was molested by a family friend, a contractor who would take Gacy for rides in his truck, then fondle him. Gacy never told his father about these incidents as he was afraid his father would blame him. He was close to his two sisters and mother, but endured a difficult relationship with his father, an alcoholic who was physically abusive toward his wife and children. Throughout his childhood, Gacy strove to make his father proud of him, but seldom received his approval: one of Gacy's earliest childhood memories was of being beaten with a leather belt by his father at the age of 4 for accidentally disarranging car engine components his father had assembled. He was regularly belittled by his father and often compared unfavorably with his sisters, enduring disdainful accusations of being "dumb and stupid". The friction between father and son was constant throughout his childhood and adolescence, yet in interviews after his arrest, Gacy always vehemently denied he hated him. Gacy's mother attempted to shield her son from his father's verbal and physical abuse, yet this only succeeded in Gacy earning accusations from his father that he was a "sissy" and a "Mama's boy" who would "probably grow up queer." (After the death of his father, it was a year and a half later that Gacy committed his first murder.) Gacy's father died from cirrhosis of the liver on Christmas Day 1969. Gacy murdered over twenty people and most of them he had killed in his house and buried under his home. Many young men were manipulated by him and seduced towards their deaths.

When his father died Gacy knew the one person he always longed to impress, the one he respected, died knowing his son was a failure.

When examining these three most notorious serial killers the similarities are most apparent. What we should all take from this though is the comparisons to their childhoods. Each of them had somebody in their lives that they respected and even looked up to. If these parental figures were there for the young Dahmer, Bundy, and Gacy in the way they needed them the most, then perhaps the destinies of these three men could have turned out quite differently. Were there signs of darkness in them even from childhood? Certainly, but this does not mean that they were hopeless cases from birth. Something most interesting is when we see the point at which each of these men committed their first murders; when they had lost or had been rejected by the one person whom they respected, or even possibly loved. When young they were all diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder, but they were not killers. Someone in their lives (even if indirectly) kept them at bay from so many potential victims. Even if this authority figure (or loved one) was abusive in some way, the disturbed young boys were hindered from killing as long as the one whom they respected remained prevalent in their lives. Once losing this person, who was ironically the straw that broke the camel’s back, the flood gates were opened. The future killers, (now full of bitterness and anger), began to become master impersonators and manipulators. They trusted no one, and would use anyone they could. After losing the one thing they were certain of respecting or loving, the serial killers became obsessed with their human possessions, (their victims), never allowing them to leave. They would keep the heads of their victims, or other body parts, or they would visit the places where they had left the bodies. Eventually after being caught and locked up, when venting to an interviewer each murderer had someone or something to blame for their crimes. The one person whom none of them could blame, or hate, was the one person who could have prevented their destinies.

So even after the recent discoveries in psychology and neurology, it still comes down to a child’s upbringing. As a parent one recognizes how not all children are the same, even from the earliest age there is an obvious difference in personalities. A good parent learns when they place the love for their child above all other humans; they’ll be able to see how the child needs to be raised and how they need to be loved. Today American society needs to be in fear and be aware, for the majority of the children in this generation have to raise themselves as their parents find ways to avoid them. Prescription medication only does so much, the next generation of serial killers will be quite a sight to behold, but sadly may not be as uncommon as those mentioned here were in their generation. Certain children are born needing love more than others, and if we fail as parents then we’ve failed entirely.