UNDERSTANDING SERIAL MURDER COMMUNICATION

Serial murder is typically also serial murder communication as well.

The Manson Family wrote on walls and a refrigerator in their victim’s blood, pedophile Westley Alan Dodd kept a detailed diary of torturing and murdering children, and the Mad Butcher of Cleveland taunted Eliot Ness for his failure to apprehend him through phone calls and letters.

The Axman of New Orleans sent a letter in 1911 to the New Orleans Times-Picayune. He said that he was from outer space and would return to Earth on a specific future date to kill everyone not listening to jazz. It is said that he dematerialized outside of his victim’s homes, rematerialized inside, and used an axe he found inside to murder before rematerializing outside the home and escaping.

Jack the Ripper sent more than 250 letters to Scotland Yard in 1888, sent part of a victim’s kidney to the leader of a vigilante group, wrote an enigmatic message on a wall in chalk, and used outlandish mutilation as nonverbal communication.

Three out of four serial slayers communicate in one or more of 27 different modes of communication and mass communication. This communication is purposive and an integral aspect of the crimes, and occurs before, during, and/or after the murders. It is sometimes spontaneous but more often planned and deliberate. It is integral to serial murderer motivation and ironically not infrequently leads to the identification and conviction of the serial murderer.