Abstract
This paper addresses itself to the life of one, Gerard John Schaefer. It critically analyses his childhood experiences with a view of determining the nexus between his early experiences and his delinquent disposition during his adolescent stage of development through to his adulthood. To this end, it is premised on the hypothesis that there is a causal relationship between Schaefer’s childhood experiences and his delinquent tendencies later in life. As a result, this paper critically looks into his early life and various crimes committed by him both in his childhood through to his adulthood with lenses of Psychodynamic Criminological Theory as advanced by Sigmund Freud. Consequently, it will assess the id, ego and super ego elements of Schaefer’s mental makeup at various stages of his life with a view of establishing how complex interaction of the three elements resulted in his “displaced aggression.” In conclusion, it will proffer recommendations to policy makers and law enforcement agencies on appropriate mechanisms for taming delinquencies especially where serial killing is the concern thereof.
Introduction
This paper begins by introducing Gerard John Schaefer who was an American convicted murderer and an alleged serial killer. It goes ahead to assess his early life, marital life and career life before embarking on critical analysis of his criminal delinquencies. Predicated on a hypothesis that there is a direct relationship between the childhood experiences underwent by Schaefer and his propensity to kill later in life, this paper shall seek to apply Sigmund Freud’s Psychodynamic Criminological Theory to Schaefer’s case. In the end, it will sum up with recommendations on how to tame such delinquencies.
Early Life
He was born in Wisconsin on March 25, 1946. As a result, he was brought up there till 1960 when his family shifted to Fort Lauderdale in Florida. Admittedly, his relationship with his father was not the best. He believed his father overtly favored his sister as opposed to him. He envied his sister so much that he wished she could be her and take up her place. He is also reported to have described himself as an accidental product of a hurried marriage.
This paper therefore attributes his juvenile delinquent dispositions to his childhood experiences. The fact that his father’s actions led him to believe that he preferred his sister over him may have inspired his early involvement in anti-social behavior such as obsession with women’s panties and ogling. He recalled at some instance that he would cross-dress in a bid to win his father’s affection. Besides, he admittedly derived satisfaction in killing animals as a teenager. This paper therefore takes the view that the negative childhood experiences culminated into the risk factors that inspired his adulthood delinquency.
He attended St Thomas Aquinas High School and graduated in 1964.
Marriage Life
Following his graduation, he went to college where he got married to Martha Fogg in 1968. However, he was later divorced by his wife in 1970 on grounds of extreme cruelty. He married Teresa Dean in 1971 and divorced in 1973.
Career Life
He became a teacher in 1969. However, he was sacked for “totally in appropriate conduct”. He applied for priesthood but was denied admission. As a result, he ventured into law enforcement and graduated as a patrolman in 1971. He made applications for several departments but was occasionally turned down. One of the grounds for which his applications were rejected was failing psychological tests in the Broward County Sheriff’s office. He finally secured employment in the Wilton Manors Police Department.
He earned a recommendation for a successful drug bust in 1972. Nevertheless, he was sacked a month later. There are two different accounts for his sacking. One advanced by Chief Bernard Scott is that he lacked an “ounce of common sense”. On the other hand, he was fired for obtaining personal information of female traffic violators from the department’s system and later contacting them for dates according to Robert Ressler, an ex-FBI agent.
He was able to secure a job as a deputy Sheriff at Martin County Sheriff County Department two months later following his sacking. He served there as a deputy sheriff till his sacking and prosecution.
Death
He was stubbed to death in 1995 while serving his life terms in prison by a fellow inmate, Vincent Rivera. The reason for the stubbing could not be established. There as accounts of snitching, indebtedness to other inmates among others. Whatever the reason, this paper is inclined to the view that his death was already 30 years due.
Criminal Conduct
This paper opines that Schaefer specialized in murder. Other crimes committed by him such as abductions and kidnapping were incidental necessary aspects towards realization of his ultimate desires. To this end, this paper shall discuss several crimes committed by Schaefer during his lifetime while he was still at large.
Kidnapping of Pamela Wells and Nancy Trotter
He was radioed by the sheriff so he tied the girls and left them balanced on a root of a tree with nooses hanging on their heads ready for hanging should they slip. The girls however managed to escape and got to the police station. The very station from where Schaefer worked. When Schaefer found out about the escape, he telephoned his boss and informed him that he had done “something foolish”. He explained that he had “overdone” his job by attempting to “scare” the girls out of future hitchhiking on account of their own safety. The sheriff did not buy his excuse so he fired him and was charged with two counts of aggravated assault and false imprisonment. He posted a bail of $15 000 and was released pending trial.
He entered into a plea bargaining agreement where he pled guilty to one assault charge and have the other charges dropped. He was then sentenced to one year imprisonment followed by probation of three years. Perhaps what inspired such a lenient sentence was the judge’s attitude towards the defendant as it is reported that he referred to him as a “thoughtless fool”.
Murder of Susan Place and Georgia Jessup
The above named two girls went missing on September 27, 1972 while Schaefer was out on bond awaiting trial for the kidnapping of Wells and Trotter. It was alleged by Susan’s parents that the two girls were last seen leaving her house with a Gerry Shepherd. Susan’s mother had noted the license plate number of the so called Gerry Shepherd coupled with the description of the car. The descriptions led to a positive match with Schaefer’s car who denied any involvement with the girl’s disappearance.
The skeletal remains of what two girls were later to e found on Hutchinson Island on April 1, 1973. The dental records helped in identifying deceased victims as Place and Jessup. Place’s skull had a bullet hole in the jaw. Forensic examination of the evidence in the scene revealed that the two girls had been tied to the tree and butchered.
Following the discovery of skeletal remains of Place and Jessup, the police conducted a search on Schaefer’s mother’s house where he kept his personal belongings, on April 7, 1973. Among other women paraphernalia, a purse belonging to Susan Place was found. Moreover, Place’s mother positively identified Schaefer as the man he was last seen with the two girls and the same man who was believed to be going by the name Gerry shepherd.
He was then charged with two counts of first degree murder of Place and Jessup. Accordingly, h was indicted on May 18, 1973 and convicted on both counts in October that year. Consequently, he was sentenced to concurrent life imprisonment terms. He filed several appeals all of which were dismissed.
Moreover, the search shockingly revealed a collection of female jewelry, personal effect and documents belonging to women who had reportedly gone missing or found dead. More so, a manuscript detailing gruesome murders and butchering of young women was found. The manuscript had more than a hundred pages of such gruesome details. These revelations tied Schaefer to a number of other offences.
Murder of Leigh Hainline Bonadies
Leigh was a teenage neighbor to Schaefer who reportedly went missing on September 8, 1969. She had allegedly left a note to her husband to the effect that she had gone to Miami but was to be back in time to play tennis with him. Schaefer had complained of being emotionally tortured by Leigh’s tendencies of undressing while her curtain was not drawn. Forensic examination of her skeletal remains, which were discovered at a construction site in April 1978, revealed multiple bullet holes in her skull. More so, an item of her jewelry was found among Schaefer’s belongings during the search at his mother’s house. Nevertheless, Schaefer was not charged with her murder.
Murder of Carman Hallock
Carman Hallock is a waitress who reportedly went missing on December 18, 1969. Circumstances surrounding her disappearance pointed to potential abduction at her home. Among the items found during the search were news paper clippings one of which referred to the disappearance of the said waitress. Besides, pieces of her jewelry and a gold-filled tooth positively identified by Carman’s dentist were found in Schaefer’s collection. However, no charges were filed as well.
Murder of Collette Goodenough and Barbara Wilcox
Collette and Wilcox were hitchhikers both aged 19. The two girls were last seen alive on January 8, 1971.Their remains were discovered in 1977. The search on Schaefer’s mother’s house had yielded identification documents belonging to the two girls. However, Schaefer was not charged in connection with their murders on account of the fact that the causes of deaths could not be established.
Murder of Mary Briscolina and Elsie farmer
Mary and Elsie were teenage girls aged 14 and 13 respectively. They are reported to have gone missing in Broward County in October 1972. The jewelry discovered in Schaefer’s mother’s house during the search points towards Schaefer’s involvement with their disappearance. Their skeletal remains were recovered in 1973. Similarly, no charges were brought against Schaefer. Despite the fact that all these evidences were merely circumstantial, the reason why Schaefer was not charged for the murders murder was said to be inability to establish the causes of deaths.
The aforementioned murders and potential murders are the ones which can be supported by evidentiary proof whether circumstantial or otherwise. However, there are other murders of which Schaefer privately boasted. In the letters addressed by him to his attorney and acquaintances, he admitted to having committed more murders. In a particular letter dated January 20, 1991 for instance, he recalled of having been responsible for 80 to 110 murders all spread across three continents namely, North America, Europe and Africa. He emphasized the numerical dilemma as to whether killing an expectant woman amounted to two killings. He also cited an incident where a certain “whore” had chocked on her own vomit having witnessed him “disembowel her girlfriend” and the difficulty in attributing the said death to him.
Most scholars agree with Hickey definition of a serial killer. He defined a serial killer in simple terms as “any offenders, male or female who kill over time”. The term traces its origins to 1970s and is believed to have been coined by either Robert Ressler, an FBI agent or Dr. Robert D Keppel. Having looked at the trends in which Schaefer committed his killings and suspected killings, this paper takes the opinion that he fits the definition of a serial killer and can properly be referred to as such. In theorizing Schaefer’s criminal dispositions, this paper does so by adopting the lenses of psychological criminological theory.
The second component of an individual’s personality is the ego. According to Freud, this aspect is in calculated into the subconscious mind of an individual early in life. It operates to make up for the gratification demands of the id component so as to keep the individual in check with regard to societal bounds.
Thirdly, the super ego element develops as a function of incorporation of societal moral standards and values. The three salient elements work jointly in guiding individual’s actions. The ego mediates between the super ego’s adherence to strict moral code and the id’s demands for instant gratification. Therefore, delinquency is occasioned by id’s prevalence over super ego, a phenomenon that Freud termed as “displaced aggression”.
Furthermore, Sigmund argued that when an individual’s psychosexual stages of development are characterized by conflicts, their ability to operate normally as an adult is significantly impaired. .
Applying the psychodynamic theory to Schaefer’s criminal life reveals how childhood experiences may have profound impacts on and adult behavior. Having been born in a family of three children, Schaefer’s id craved for his father’s affection. However, he could not get it as his father seemingly preferred his sister to him. It is little wonder why he admittedly would cross-dress so as to attract his father’s attention. More so, this theory is given credence by the fact that Schaefer’s victims appear to be young women. They represent her sister who took deprived him of his father’s affection. This is a lucid manifestation of displaced aggression.
Conclusion
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