1. There were six victims killed – two females and four males (Bovsun, 2010).
One of the female victims was pregnant. Her door was unlocked and the perpetrator entered the house just as she was about to bring the garbage out. She was alone. The other female was babysitting an infant and had her son with her when all three of them were killed (Ramsland, 2012). The son was supposed to go to a friend’s house around the time of the killings. A male friend was in the house and also died. Both the female victims were sexually assaulted.
There are four crime scenes. One home was entered into by the perpetrator and burglarized, another was the Wallin home, and the other the Miroth home about a mile away (Ramsland, 2012). The decapitation of an infant victim’s head took place in the perpetrator’s house. The killing and mutilation were done in daytime, one outside the home and the others inside. The perpetrator worked alone in a disorganized fashion. The murders were not premeditated or organized. The victims lived not far from the perpetrator’s residence and were killed either because of a chance encounter with him or there was easy access to their home (Bovsun, 2010). A gun was the method used to kill victims. For instance, the Griffin drive-by shooting was followed by the Miroth killings on the same day. There were no witnesses in the killings except the Griffin shooting that was witnessed by the victim’s wife.
Physical evidence was abundant at the crime scenes. There were shell casings corresponding to a .22 caliber gun and bullet holes. There was blood, brain tissue, semen, feces, and urine (Ramsland, 2012). There were knives and containers. Fingerprints and footprints were also found. In the perpetrator’s residence, there were stains on dishes and the blender. There were body parts in the refrigerator, bones, and pet collars as well. The infant and female victims’ bodies were mutilated and sodomized (Bovsun, 2010). Their internal organs were stabbed and/or cut out with a knife and removed and/or placed back. One victim was repeatedly stabbed in the anus. The infant’s head was cut open and his head severed. One of the female victims was dragged from the living room to the bedroom and the other from the bathroom to the bedroom. Otherwise, there was no attempt to conceal or stage the bodies. The dead infant was taken by the perpetrator to his home after he was interrupted by the arrival of police.
Forensic analysis showed semen in the female victims’ vagina or anus. Animal feces were found in one of the female victims’ mouth. The urine and feces on baby clothes and on a child’s bed were from the perpetrator. The evidence revealed that he mutilated the female and infant victims’ bodies to get their blood which he collected in a container and drank (Bovsun, 2010). Sexual assault, mutilation, and sodomy were performed after the victims’ were shot suggesting necrophilia. Based on the classification system, the perpetrator committed two personal cause homicides, one multiple murder, two personal cause sexual assaults of the sadistic type (Douglas et al., 2013).
2. Personal cause sexual assault is an event of rape or sexual assault motivated by personal causes including interpersonal aggression, psychological issues, and emotional conflict (Douglas et al., 2013).
This type of sexual assault is categorized into indirect offenses, adult domestic sexual assault, child domestic sexual abuse, opportunistic rape, social acquaintance rape, subordinate rape, anger rape, sadistic rape, child/adolescent pornography, and child/adolescent sex rings, and abduction rape. For indirect offenses, there is no direct physical contact between victim and perpetrator (Douglas et al., 2013). Examples are voyeurism, exhibitionism, and fetishism wherein sexual gratification is the primary motivation. With regard to domestic and child sexual assault, drugs or alcohol is commonly involved and there is evidence of impulsive and escalating violence inside the home. The victim typically presents with signs of physical trauma. In children, there is usually scarring in the vaginal and anal areas.
In opportunistic and sadistic rape, the offenders have no regard for the welfare of their victim. They are highly aggressive, motivated by power and dominance and their desire for sexual gratification (Douglas et al., 2013). Sadistic rapists obtain sexual pleasure from the pain and discomfort of the victim. Forensic evidence shows signs of mutilation, use of force, humiliation, insertion of foreign objects into orifices, burning, or stabbing. Anger rape is similar to sadistic rape in forensic evidence except that the motivation for the assault is rage directed toward the person (Douglas et al., 2013). The above types of rape also qualify as abduction rape if the victim is brought to another place and assaulted there. In social acquaintance and subordinate rape, aggression is minimal as the offender is known to the victim. Exercise of authority and reassurance of power over another are the motives. Forensic findings pertain to the results of an examination for sexual assault. In pornography, offenders who collect pictures and videos of children in sexual acts and believe that this act does not constitute harm to the child. Concerning sex rings, the children engage in sexual acts with pedophiles in exchange for rewards such as money. In both pornography and sex rings, the motive is sexual gratification. Forensic evidence includes video and photography equipment, and actual photos and videos.
3. In mass homicide, the number of victims is four or more in one event and location. An example is the Colorado theater shooting.
The shooter released tear gas in the audience and shot at random killing 12 people (CNN, 2014). The deaths occurred in one location, which is the Century Aurora 16 Theater, during one event. A spree homicide involves killings at two locations or more and characterized by the absence of emotional cooling between the events (Douglas et al., 2013). The Sandy Hook shooting can be categorized as spree homicide because the gunman shot his mother first before proceeding to the elementary school and shooting at random. On the contrary, serial homicide is three or more events but with emotional cooling in between. Richard Kuklinski, also known as the Ice Man, is an example of a serial killer. He killed either for sport or mastering the art of killing, revenge, or profit and puts the bodies of his victims on ice to prevent forensics from determining the time of death (Ridley, 2013). Several days or weeks pass between each killing as the killer maintains his façade as a businessman.
Both serial and mass homicide can be performed with power, terror, revenge, profit, and loyalty as motives (Fox & Levin, 2010). Persons who commit mass and spree homicides often do not methodically select their victims. There is an element of impulse in spree homicide as perpetrators regard random killing as a form of enjoyment. On the other hand, individuals who perform serial homicide choose their victims well and systematically plan how and where their killings would be to avoid detection (Douglas et al., 2013). Their satisfaction comes from pulling off the homicide according to plan without being caught.
4. The offender was 47 years old and a former construction worker who killed a total of nine people aged 19 to 39 years (AP, 2011).
These were either single event or double homicides. He has also been involved in armed robberies. In addition, he also sexually assaulted 15 girls and women, the youngest 12 years old (Rubin, 2011). Uncooperative victims were often killed and the bodies concealed. Young girls walking home were forced at gunpoint to secluded areas and raped. Meanwhile, women were typically sexually assaulted at gunpoint in their cars, one was abducted while in a carwash, one was outside her home, and one was waiting at the bus stop (Wiggin, 2011). The perpetrator often described as wearing a mask or disguise. In later assaults, the women were shot in the head. The crimes were committed within a span of two years.
His pattern of sexual assault is opportunistic as he roams the community in a disguise looking for potential victims (Wiggin, 2011). He does not plan who his victims are. His primary motives are sexual gratification and also power as he forces his victims to perform sexual acts at gunpoint and later on, refusal meant death even if the sexual act was not committed (Kiefer, 2011). However, he is careful in concealing the bodies and other evidence which allowed him to elude suspicion and arrest while victimizing many women in a specific geographical area, namely Baseline.
References
Associated Press (2011). Jury convicts Arizona man Mark Goudeau in Baseline Killer spree that terrorized Phoenix. Retrieved from http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/jury-convicts-arizona-man-mark- goudeau-baseline-killer-spree-terrorized-phoenix-article-1.970590
Bovsun, M. (2010). Just crazy for blood: Richard Trenton Chase, a.k.a. the Vampire of Sacramento. Retrieved from http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/crazy-blood- richard-trenton-chase-vampire-sacramento-article-1.457438
Cable News Network (2014). Colorado theater shooting fast facts. Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2013/07/19/us/colorado-theater-shooting-fast-facts/
Cable News Network (2014). Sandy Hook shooting: What happened? Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2012/12/us/sandy-hook-timeline/
Douglas, J.E., Burgess, A.W., Burgess, A.G., & Ressler, R.K. (2013). Crime classification manual (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Fox, J.A., & Levin, J. (2010). Extreme killing: Understanding serial and mass murder (2nd ed). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Kiefer, M. (2011). Construction worker convicted in ‘Baseline Killer’ attacks. Retrieved from http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2011-11-01/baseline-killer- arizona/51027832/1
Ramsland, K. (2012). Richard Trenton Chase. Retrieved from http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/weird/chase/index_1.html
Ridley, J. (2013). Meet the undercover cop who brought ‘The Iceman’ to justice. Retrieved from http://nypost.com/2013/05/03/meet-the-undercover-cop-who-brought-the- iceman-to-justice/
Rubin, P. (2011). Take a chilling look inside the Baseline Killer case. Retrieved from http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2011-11-10/news/take-a-terrifying-look-inside- the-baseline-killer-case/
Wiggin, K. (2011). Jury convicts Arizona man of 9 murders in Baseline Killer case. Retrieved from http://www.cbsnews.com/news/jury-convicts-arizona-man-of-9- murders-in-baseline-killer-case/
