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Wednesday, April 6, 2016

The quintessential expression, Part II

The previous post described how serial killers, even when first taken into custody, or on trial for multiple murders, don't feel the slightest guilt or shame. They've just been exposed as the bogeyman, and….they're not embarrassed in the least. Most people, in those circumstances, would be distraught, beside themselves with mortification. But some serial killers actually bask in the limelight, conceit oozing from their every pore.

Here are a few more examples of that.

Aileen Wuornos is one of the rare female serial killers. Here she is at her trial:


She looks as if she's flirting with someone in the audience.

Juan Corona killed 25 migrant farm workers and drifters in California:


He looks like one of those goofballs you see on TV at a ball game -- "Hi Mom! I'm a celebrity now!"

Russian Andrei Chikatilo killed 56 women and children in Rostov between 1978 and 1990:


He looks quite pleased with himself in a queer sort of way.

Randy Steven Kraft was the "Freeway Killer" who was convicted of killing 16 young men between 1972 and 1983; he is thought to be responsible for the deaths of as many as 67:




Kraft obviously feels no guilt, or even embarrassment about all the young men he killed. Here's a mugshot taken of him in 2007:


Have you ever seen a more benign smile? Kraft looks like a CEO who just delivered a particularly good quarterly report, and who's just spotted his favorite investor in the audience.

Edmund Kemper, who raped and strangled seven girls in Santa Cruz, then killed his mother and her friend, decapitated his mother, and had sex with her disembodied head:


(Most guys would feel a little embarrassed after being discovered doing that.)

Kenneth Bianchi, one of the two Hillside Strangers:


Bianchi looks as if he's trying to put on a modest expression for the courtroom, but not quite succeeding.

Carroll Cole, on trial for killing 16 people from 1948 to 1980:


Carroll looks as if he is enjoying some private joke.

Tamara Samsonova, the Russian serial killer and cannibal:


She's actually blowing kisses to reporters at her trial as if she's a movie star graciously acknowledging her fans. How glamorous!

There aren't that many photos of serial killers in the courtroom, as photographers are often not allowed there. But the few that exist can be quite telling.

If you ever doubt how utterly without remorse or guilt or shame sociopaths are, remember these photographs.

It's striking how many serial killers there are who haven't become household names. Here's a list, in order of number of victims, on Wikipedia. (Warning: it's easy to waste a couple of hours just following the various links and reading about their crimes.)

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lol. So the most prolific killer on the list, Luis Garavito, "admitted to the rape, torture and murder of 147 young boys." During an interview in prison 7 years later, "Garavito tried to minimize his actions and expressed intent to start a political career in order to help abused children."

Can't make this stuff up!

Anonymous said...

In the end (even though they're supposedly not officially insane), I look upon sociopaths as certifiably crazy.

- Susan

John Craig said...

Anon --
"LOL" is right. The most amazing thing about the Garavito case is that while he admitted to 147 murders, and is suspected of over 300 total, his prison sentence was only 22 years. Under Colombian law, the maximum penalty which can be imposed is 40 years, and because he confessed, helped police find some of the bodies, etc, his sentence was whittled down to 22 years. And he will be eligible for parole after just 3 years.

John Craig said...

Susan --
I think it's misleading to think of sociopaths (even serial killers) as insane. It's much more instructive, and useful, to just think of them as evil.

Anonymous said...

I agree that they're evil. However, having dealt with one in particular, they can be nuts as well, aggravatingly so.

- Susan

Shaun F said...

John - I wouldn't have been apprised of these similarities unless you had taken the time to illustrated them. Quite disturbing to say the least! And "evil" is appropriate. All these people made repeated conscious choices associated with their actions.

John Craig said...

Shaun --
Yes, they're the very incarnation of it.

Rifleman said...

Juan Corona killed 25 Mexican men in California:

No, you are just assuming "migrant farm workers"/drifters = Mexican.

Corona was from Mexico. Almost all of his victims were older White American farm workers, alcoholic drifters etc....

John Craig said...

Rifleman --
Wow, thank you, I had no idea. Yes, I had made that assumption. Surprising; Corona was one of the few serial killers who killed outside his race. There have been a few others, most notably Coral Watts, but most of them kill their own.

I'll make the correction in the post above, thank you.