By Katheline Rodriguez and Gianna Campos
When we hear that someone is a serial killer or murderer we tend to think they are crazy and impulsive, but we may fail to realize that there could be much more behind their story.
Deep-rooted childhood trauma is something a lot of people have but don’t realize is there. This “undiscovered trauma” can lead to a lot of pain and potentially having violent tendencies.
In the article “From Abused Child to Serial Killer: Investigating Nature vs Nurture in Methods of Murder”, notorious serial killer Richard “The Night Stalker” Ramirez is cited for having a disturbed childhood and brutal beatings from his father. Later in life he was found guilty for murdering 13 people.
This article also mentions that “the connection between genetics, social environment, and criminal behavior appears to be a reality, although in varying degrees across criminals.” This shows that even if the person didnt grow up with childhood trauma there are still other aspects that can play into violent behavior later on in life.
We wanted to get more of a general opinion on this topic, so we Katheline’s sister, Stephanie Rodriguez. He mentions that “Many serial killers have many things in common such like being very charming, manipulative and crave the need for power.”
In the Ted Bundy case, he was known to be very charming, handsome, Intelligent and just seemed like a normal “joe”. Bundy exprencied some childhood trauma, he was very shy so that caused him to be a target for bullying also later on in his life he found his adoption papers and found out that his sister was actually his mother; his grandfather would regularly beat both Ted and his mother.
Bundy confessed to killing 28 women including 12 year old girl, but people believe he is responsible for hundreds of deaths. He would bludgeon the women unconscious before binding, raping, and killing them, dumping their bodies in the woods and he would often revisit these sites to have sex with their decaying corpses. Ted Bundy described himself as "the most cold-hearted son of a b***h you'll ever meet."
When we hear that someone is a serial killer or murderer we tend to think they are crazy and impulsive, but we may fail to realize that there could be much more behind their story.
Deep-rooted childhood trauma is something a lot of people have but don’t realize is there. This “undiscovered trauma” can lead to a lot of pain and potentially having violent tendencies.
In the article “From Abused Child to Serial Killer: Investigating Nature vs Nurture in Methods of Murder”, notorious serial killer Richard “The Night Stalker” Ramirez is cited for having a disturbed childhood and brutal beatings from his father. Later in life he was found guilty for murdering 13 people.
This article also mentions that “the connection between genetics, social environment, and criminal behavior appears to be a reality, although in varying degrees across criminals.” This shows that even if the person didnt grow up with childhood trauma there are still other aspects that can play into violent behavior later on in life.
We wanted to get more of a general opinion on this topic, so we Katheline’s sister, Stephanie Rodriguez. He mentions that “Many serial killers have many things in common such like being very charming, manipulative and crave the need for power.”
In the Ted Bundy case, he was known to be very charming, handsome, Intelligent and just seemed like a normal “joe”. Bundy exprencied some childhood trauma, he was very shy so that caused him to be a target for bullying also later on in his life he found his adoption papers and found out that his sister was actually his mother; his grandfather would regularly beat both Ted and his mother.
Bundy confessed to killing 28 women including 12 year old girl, but people believe he is responsible for hundreds of deaths. He would bludgeon the women unconscious before binding, raping, and killing them, dumping their bodies in the woods and he would often revisit these sites to have sex with their decaying corpses. Ted Bundy described himself as "the most cold-hearted son of a b***h you'll ever meet."
In addition to the childhood trauma, on the genetics aspect to a serial killer is an article written by Abby Rogers titled “A Terrifying Glimpse Into The Mind Of A Serial Killer” she interviewed 135 serial killers and though they all came from completely different backgrounds she noticed one thing in common: "no matter what country, ethnicity, race, socioeconomic background, education, familial background, they are all exactly the same". They all have a certain chromosome abnormality that begins to express itself throughout puberty and because of this lack of development it doesn’t allow them to empathize with their victims.
Also in Dr. Helen Morrison’s interviews with 135 serial killers she learned that most serial killers lack empathy and remorse so much that they see their victims not as people but as life-sized dolls. “I think it’s just like pulling the wings off a fly when you’re a kid,” said Morrison “just that ‘let’s see what happens’”. This behavior is backed up by a statistic found from Vox.com which states: As of 1900 to present 31.8% serial killers kill for enjoyment and 30.1% kill for financial gain.
In an interview with Lieutenant Joseph Paul from the San Jose Homicide Police Department he shared all the information he was able to. He shared with us that one of the main homicide cases he tends to come across quite often would be financial disputes as also stated by Vox.com. He explained that to investigate homicide cases is a very challenging process.
When we think of a serial killer we think the absolute worst. Although we’re not necessarily wrong for thinking this, there are so many aspects that come into play. Should we use this information to learn how to judge more appropriately or overlook this all because at the end of the day they have still taken (multiple) human lives.
Also in Dr. Helen Morrison’s interviews with 135 serial killers she learned that most serial killers lack empathy and remorse so much that they see their victims not as people but as life-sized dolls. “I think it’s just like pulling the wings off a fly when you’re a kid,” said Morrison “just that ‘let’s see what happens’”. This behavior is backed up by a statistic found from Vox.com which states: As of 1900 to present 31.8% serial killers kill for enjoyment and 30.1% kill for financial gain.
In an interview with Lieutenant Joseph Paul from the San Jose Homicide Police Department he shared all the information he was able to. He shared with us that one of the main homicide cases he tends to come across quite often would be financial disputes as also stated by Vox.com. He explained that to investigate homicide cases is a very challenging process.
When we think of a serial killer we think the absolute worst. Although we’re not necessarily wrong for thinking this, there are so many aspects that come into play. Should we use this information to learn how to judge more appropriately or overlook this all because at the end of the day they have still taken (multiple) human lives.