Born Killers. Christopher Berry-Dee
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trauma, and because other members of his family – mother, father, Fred’s brother John and son Steven – all committed sex crimes, we may well assume that they all carried the demon seed.
In comparison with West, Donald ‘Pee Wee’ Gaskins hit 100 per cent. Henry Lee Lucas, one of the most notorious serial murderers in criminal history, also scores 100 per cent. Aileen Wournos notches 84.5 per cent, while Jeffrey Dahmer comes further down the ‘High Risk Register’ at a mere 61.5 per cent. Myra Hindley scored just 30.77 per cent with Ian Brady at a surprisingly low 15 per cent.
BORN TO KILL, BRED TO KILL, TAUGHT TO KILL, TRAINED TO KILL?
Theodore Robert Bundy ‘learned’ to kill because he was bright and wanted to become a more competent hunter, just like all serial killers evolve and become proficient at what they do in order to be more effective and evade apprehension.
Those that are ‘trained’ to kill are a different matter altogether. Unlike killers such as Ted Bundy, the initial choice to kill does not come from within but is stimulated by an external source such as a mentor, family member, friend or an institution such as the army. There are just two killers in this book that we can show to have been legally trained to kill, namely John Allen Muhammad and Dr Harold Shipman. Muhammad was, of course, trained as a US soldier to protect his country and kill if ordered to do so. Dr Shipman enjoyed a medical education and on qualifying as a doctor swore by the Hippocratic Oath to care for the sick and save life.
Serial killers, spree killers and mass murderers are the dark stars of modern culture. Luring victims to their death, they often act out extreme sadistic urges, and lack any ability to empathise with the suffering of their victims. Many of the faces in Born to Kill? are familiar, others are not, yet they all have one thing in common. They are all killers. Furthermore, they have all been extensively studied and analysed: we know what they did, and how they did it. By opening up the Nature v Nurture debate we now want to ask: What made them act that way? In Born to Kill? we investigate the paths these serial killers took from childhood to adulthood and uncover the factors that created these monsters of humanity.
As a basic guide, it seems that the whole serial killer’s edifice is precariously balanced on pillars of denial, splitting, projection, rationalization and projective identification. Narcissistic injuries – life crises, such as abandonment, divorce, financial difficulties, incarceration and public opprobrium – can bring the whole thing tumbling down. The narcissist cannot afford to be rejected, spurned, insulted, hurt, resisted, criticized or disagreed with. Likewise, the serial killer is trying desperately to avoid a painful relationship with his object of desire. He is terrified of being abandoned or humiliated, exposed for what he is and then discarded.
This book contains fascinating testimony about the early years of these killers, investigates common patterns in their development, visits the scenes of their crimes and gives information from investigating officers and TV and press coverage, which contributes to the efforts of professional profilers as they attempt to uncover the probable cause, and effect, that led these often normal children to turn into some of the most infamous killers the world has seen.
It is also interesting to note that similar early childhood behaviours are common in most serial killers. According to Robert Ressler, an FBI profiler and author of several books, including Whoever Fights Monsters, potential killers became solidified in their loneliness from the ages of eight to twelve. ‘Such isolation is considered the single most important aspect of their psychological makeup,’ he writes, adding, ‘Loneliness and isolation do not always mean that the potential killers are introverted and shy; some are, but others are gregarious with other men, and are good talkers. The outward orientation of the latter masks their inner isolation.’ In addition, Ressler also notes that of all the serial killers he has ever studied, at least 60 per cent of them had wet the bed.
Each case study in this book follows the path of the individual from the cradle to – where applicable – the grave. We look at the parents, siblings, schooling and any form of mental and physical trauma they may have suffered – specifically head injuries – and other adverse factors that might have turned normally ordinary children into monsters. We also examine each killer’s psychopathology to discover if they all had low self-esteem and fragile egos. Without exception, they are all true sociopathic personalities, living in a world of self-denial, never at fault themselves. In their world, it is always someone else who is to blame.
‘I just can’t begin to describe him as a human being. I don’t think that Milat had the feelings of a human being.’
Ian Clarke, father of victim Caroline Clarke
AT THE TIME of his arrest, Ivan Milat was Australia’s worst serial killer. From 1989–1992 he abducted, robbed and sexually molested, tortured and murdered seven backpackers and left their bodies in the Belanglo Forest, South of Sydney. Did the harsh environment Milat grew up in put him on the inevitable path to murder, or was he born to kill?
Short, dark and wiry, with a penetrating gaze – all traits he shared with Fred West – and sporting throughout his killing years a thick ‘macho-man’ moustache, Milat was every inch the Australian outback man. Hardy, independent and self-sufficient, these were all qualities that also served to make Milat a tough, ruthless loner who slaughtered his prey with a degree of sadism shocking even to those who study serial killers closely.
For many, Australia is a land promising adventure and excitement. Young people especially flock to it from around the world, eager to explore its beaches, forests, deserts and wide-open spaces. The outback is a particular lure, a magical, mystical landscape that casts a spell on visitors. And it was here that Milat preyed on his victims, finding a steady stream of trusting young travellers to pick up on the lonely highways. Between 1989 and 1992 seven people – that we know of – were abducted in the Belanglo State Forest, situated on the southern tablelands, approximately 10km (6 miles) west of Moss Vale, just South of Sydney. An exotic pine forest, Belanglo boasts some impressive bush walking along its numerous trails. Bird watching is a favoured pursuit at Belanglo.
But Milat had a different sort of pursuit in mind.
Until 1989 Australia enjoyed a reputation as one of the safest countries in the world. Some five million travellers journeyed to it each year. By tradition, these young backpackers would head for Sydney’s student and travellers’ district, King’s Cross, before setting off to explore the many natural wonders that Australia had to offer. Hitch-hiking was a popular way of travelling around the vast country, and for a dangerous individual such as Milat the prospect of so many young and vulnerable people wandering the roads and forests of his district was a temptation too far. Almost single-handedly, Ivan Milat would tarnish Australia’s reputation as a safe, welcoming place for independent travellers.
According to Commander Clive Small, a former Australian Police Superintendent: ‘He specifically targeted backpackers, because they were distant from relatives and friends. There was less likelihood of people knowing where they were, or what they were doing.’ The treatment he subjected his victims to almost beggars belief. As the forensic psychiatrist Dr Rod Milton puts it: ‘Why he killed was shocking. Some people were tortured. Some people were sexually assaulted and killed. Some people were used as target practice. He was a man who enjoyed killing. He was a man who enjoyed the power, and the sexual gratification that he got from his victims. I think it was violence, for the sake of violence, in someone who enjoyed the explosion of violence.’ Milat would sever his victims’ spines, in a deliberate effort to not only physically paralyse them but to put them completely at his mercy. He would also bind his victims as he raped and abused them, before engulfing them in a final flurry of bloodletting as they were beaten and strangled, then stabbed and shot repeatedly. No one in Australia had ever seen anything like it.
Following the discovery of a double murder