The Serial Killer

The term “serial killer” strikes fear and curiosity into the minds of people; therefore, scientist and medical researchers should look more in depth into the psychology and illnesses of a serial killer rather than their actions alone. A serial killer is an individual who murders three or more people over a period of time typically to fulfill a motive. These motives typically come from past experiences that caused some sort of trauma.
Since 1980 there has been an estimated amount of one hundred fifty four serial killers world wide with eighty seven in the United States. There is also an estimated thirty five active serial killers in the United States today. Researchers have discovered serial killers are typically extremely intelligent white

Chikatilo was believed to be born with hydrocephalus which caused many impairments in his later life. Into his late adolescence, Chikatilo suffered genital-urinary tract problems that cause him to wet the bed and and unable sustain an erection. This lead to future bullying after an incident when he was fifteen where he attempted to perform forced sexual activities on a young girl but was ridiculed for the short experience. This incident is what is believed to shape his future association of sexual violence. Chikatilo’s first known victim was a seventeen year old girl in 1981. Chikatilo would befriend his victims before luring them into nearby forest where he would attempt to rap ehis victims and use to knife to mutilate them. He would also cut out and eat the sexual organs and later began to remove the eyeballs because he believed his victims kept the picture of his face through his eyes even after death. Throughout the years, Chikatilo’s victims ranged from young girls to little boys. Chikatilo was arrested on November 20,1990 and confessed to killing fifty six people but only fifty three were recovered.(Andrei Chikatilo

Puente had a series of run ins with the law for theft before she began killing although police have speculations. During a five year sentence Punte began to pursue a relationship with a man named Everson Gilmouth. After her release from prison, Gilmouth and Punte’s relationship escalated and Gilmouth opened a joint bank account with Punte. After this, Punte hired a man to fix up her house and build a box that complied with Gilmouths body measurements. She then gave the man an extra eight hundred dollars to load the mysterious box into a truck matching the description of Gilmouths truck and dump the box into a nearby river. It took three years for police to identify the body as Gilmouth’s due to the fact he was never reported missing. His family never reported him missing because along with Gilmouth she wrote letters to his family and to the families of the people living in her boarding house. She was also collecting Gilmouths pension and any money or checks her tenants received. When one of her disabled and schizophrenic tenants did not show up to a meeting he was reported missing by his social worker. When police arrived to investigate they noticed where dirt had been dug up in several spots and were able to recover seven bodies. Punte was charged with nine murders including Gilmouth’s. She was sentenced to two life sentences and sent