Richard Benjamin Speck: The Man Born To Raise Hell

Introduction

Richard Benjamin Speck is a well-known mass murderer who was notorious for killing eight student nurses in 1966. He went through a rough childhood that inevitably would plant the seeds for who he was going to become. I believe that his behavior occurs because he is a narcissist. The power control theory explains Specks reasoning for his violent behavior (Hagen,2012). Power is the ultimate key to Richard’s rise and fall. This theory explains why Richard Speck will forever be known as the man “Born to Raise Hell”.

Child hood: A boy who lost his father

Richard Benjamin Speck was born on December 6, 1941. He grew up in Kirkwood, Illinois and was the seventh child of eight of Mary and Benjamin Speck. His family was large and very religious. His mother was strict about her beliefs and had no tolerance for the use of any drugs or alcohol. When he was six years old his father died. Richard began to act more like a toddler than a 2nd grader at school. He was spoiled by his older sisters but was sown no love from his widowed mother. Soon after his father’s death, his mother remarried. She unknowingly, married an abusive alcoholic, named Carl August Lingbergh. Carl was abusive to Richards’s mother and this was the foundation for how Richard thought women should be treated.

His family moved

The tattoo was the words “Born to Raise Hell". Is wife was experiencing the wrath of the hell raiser first hand. At 21 he had a family to take care of so he got a job as a 7 up truck driver. His pay checks were supposed to be used to provide for his family but instead, speck spent his monthly money on prostitutes. In January 1966 Shirley had had enough and filed for divorce. A few months after Shirley left him, Richard began to spiral further and further out of control. He fled to Chicago from the police for a burgled and assault charge. He went to Chicago because his sister, Martha lived