Did you know that in the United States, there have been over 3,200 serial killers? That is 67% of all serial killers in the world. (Serial Killer Statistics.pdf) As you can see that is a very high number, so my question is what types of serial killers are there? What do those different types of serial killer do to their victims? The four different types of serial killers are: power and control, mission, visionary, and hedonistic. The first type, power and control, is a type of serial killer that experiences complete gratification from the domination and humiliation of the victim. This killer is a true psychopath. The second type of serial killer is mission. A mission serial killer usually will have the desire to kill certain types of people …show more content…
These types of serial killers get their motivation to kill people from the voices and visions they experience. They sometimes believe they are someone else, or they are compelled to murder by higher entities such as God or the Devil. In fact the two main subcategories of a visionary killer is demon-mandated, and God-mandated. These individuals are often suffering from psychosis or some other mental disease. They also often hallucinate and normally their victims are not targeted. David Berkowitz is an example of this type of serial killer. Although you may think that he was crazy, he wasn’t. All his test results showed that he did not have any mental illness. Berkowitz is also known as the “Son of Sam”. This motto for David came from his neighbors dog, Sam. David claimed that the dog was a demon who barked orders at him. Later on, David shot and killed the neighbor's dog (David.pdf). This is when his killing spree began in 1976. David was adopted and he later went on to try and find his birth mom but, he ended up finding out she died from childbirth. David targeted women so they would not be able to have kids and abandon them, like his mom did to him. David Berkowitz murder six people in New York City in 1977. He was then arrested on August 10th, 1977. Eleven days after his last murder and he was sentenced to six consecutive 25 years-to-life long sentences. Unlike the other serial killers David Berkowitz was not executed and he is still alive. Since David has been in prison he has become very religious and now instead of being called the “Son of Sam” he wants to be called the “Son of Hope”. A little over a month ago David was transferred to a nearby hospital to undergo a heart