Child Serial Murder-Psychodynamics: Closely Watched Shadows

On September 4, 1989, the bodies of two young children were found in a park in Vancouver, Washington. On October 24, the police in Portland, Oregon, responded to the disappearance of a young child in a public park. On November 1, Vancouver detectives were called to investigate the nude body of a white 5-year-old male. This child's body had been dumped in the woods, and police determined that this was the boy reported missing from the park in Portland. Police determined that all three children had been murdered. A multidimensional task force, which included agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and detectives from Washington and Oregon, was assembled to investigate the murders, a standard procedure in suspected serial murder cases. I joined the task force on November 7 and was asked to develop a psychological profile of the perpetrator. Together with the detectives and FBI agents, I examined crime scene photographs, autopsy photos, and reports, and consulted information we compiled regarding similar murders. The latter included the socalled demographic data that some police agencies keep. We also considered the psychodynamic aspects of both the perpetrator and the crime scene, viewing the crimes and the scenes as a symptom of psychopathology. We considered the character structure of the perpetrator.

This type of aggression, characteristic of Kernberg's description of malignant narcissism, should not be viewed as a disease but as an aspect of personality structure and function (Fromm, 1973; Kemberg, 1992). The rewards of serial murder are psychological, and the motivations for the killer very meaningful. An understanding of the integration of aggression within the personality is essential in comprehending the motivation of serial killers. Liebert and I have previously noted that even in the presence of severe psychopathology, the actual reasons for committing serial murders are not obvious, and thus an examination of