ILLUSTRATES Andre Toma
Not everyone who kills is a psychopath, and not every psychopath kills. How do you know, then, when a murder is an isolated act of rage and violence and when a crime indicates signs of cruelty in the mind of its perpetrator? How does this evil evolve to create a serial killer? Forensic psychiatrist Michael Stone, from Columbia University, in the USA, tried to answer these questions by creating an index that measures the evil in people who have committed murders. Roughly speaking, the meanness index, which ranges from 1 to 22, evaluates three points: motive, method and cruelty. The evil increases as the futility of the motive, the sadism and violence of the method, and aggravating factors such as sexual perversion, number of victims, time on the job, and torture grow. Follow, below, real examples of people who fit into the highest categories of the axis of evil. Coldness, lies, not even a hint of remorse, and blood, lots of blood, are part of the police reports of the scariest criminals in history.
+ What is the difference between a psychopath and a sociopath?
+ Spoken Portrait: Jack the Ripper – the father of all serial killers
THIS ARTICLE IS PART OF THE COVER REPORT THE DARK WORLD OF PSYCHOPATHS. CHECK OUT THE OTHER PARTS:
– How is the diagnosis and treatment of a psychopath?
– Why does a person become a psychopath? And how does her mind work?
THE BEGINNING OF THE EVIL INDEX
Discover below the first grades on the scale developed by forensic psychiatrist Michael Stone
1. People who kill in self-defense
Commit some homicide just to defend themselves
2. Partners who kill motivated by jealousy
For one-time crimes of passion
3. Manipulated individuals who kill and instigate others to kill in their name with the justification of self-defense
People with a strong borderline personality disorder who kill with the excuse of self-defense based on distorted facts
4. People who kill in self-defense but who provoke their assailant to the limit
They provoke another person until they are attacked and then kill them under the pretext of self-defense
5. Traumatized and Desperate People Who Kill But Regret
Person who kills moved by traumatic experiences. After the crime, feel remorse
6. Fiery killers who aren’t psychopaths
They kill with high violence, but do not have any kind of psychopathic behavior
7. Extremely narcissistic people who kill out of jealousy
Individuals who create a passionate fantasy and who usually signal that they are going to freak out
8. Non-psychopathic subject with repressed rage who kills when he reaches an extreme
Has traces of depression and kills after a stress dump
NOW THE BICHO CATCHES
From level 9 onwards, cruelty already shows clear signs of recurrent psychopathy and will only increase
9. Criminals of passion with traces of psychopathy
EXAMPLE BETTY BRODERICK, Californian socialite
WHERE San Diego, California
WHEN November 1989
WHAT DID Betty’s husband, Dan Broderick, has separated and married another woman, Linda Kolkena. Betty couldn’t stand the rejection and made the couple’s life hell, moved by attitudes of anger and revenge. After several bouts of jealousy, Betty broke into her ex-husband’s house and shot them both while they slept. Betty Broderick was sentenced to 32 years in prison.
10. Non-psychopaths who kill people who are obstacles to a goal
EXAMPLE JOHN LIST, Family Father and World War II Veteran
WHERE Westfield, New Jersey
WHEN November 1971
WHAT DID With the justification that he would no longer be able to support his family, John List turned his fury against his family and started to hate them based on excuses made in his mind. John murdered his mother, wife and three children in a methodical and planned manner. He fled to the state of Colorado where he was recognized and arrested. Sentenced to five life terms, he died of pneumonia in chess in March 2008.
11. Psychopaths who kill people who are obstacles to a goal
EXAMPLE ROBERT CHAMBERS, alcoholic with learning disabilities and kleptomania
WHERE New York
WHEN August 1986
WHAT DID From level 10 to 11, one detail makes all the difference: level 11 criminals are already psychopaths. Chambers always stole under the influence of drugs and alcohol. Handsome, he got along well with women. After being discovered by Jennifer Levin, one of the girls he dated, stealing money from her purse, Chambers strangled and sexually assaulted her. After a 15-year sentence, he was released in 2003.
12. Power-hungry psychopaths who kill when they feel threatened
EXAMPLE JIM JONES, founder and cult leader
WHERE Guianas
WHEN November 1978
WHAT DID From this level up, the amount of victims starts to increase. Jim Jones is a typical megalomaniac – when he feels his position is threatened, he does his best to maintain control of the situation. After founding two religious houses, Jones built a community in Guyana. When he lost the support of some of the politicians, he poisoned over 900 people, including children. Jones ended up committing suicide along with his group.
+ Spoken Portrait: check out more details of the story of Jim Jones
13. Psychopathic Killers Who Kill Out of Anger
EXAMPLE RICHARD SPECK, sailor without feelings
WHERE Chicago
WHEN July 1966
WHAT DID Richard Franklin Speck is part of a group of self-centered psychopaths who act violently when they explode, without feeling an ounce of remorse for their victims. After getting drunk in a tavern, Richard raped a woman and made his way to a student dormitory. There, he kidnapped and held eight student nurses hostage – all killed by strangulation or stabbing. Richard was sentenced to life in prison and died of a heart attack while still in prison in 1991.
14. Cold and self-centered psychopaths who kill for their own benefit
EXAMPLE SANTE KIMES, murderer and scammer
WHERE Nassau (Bahamas), Los Angeles and New York
WHEN September 1996 to June 1998
WHAT DID Sante and his son Kenny would strike to accumulate money and property before starting to kill. The first death was that of an Indian banker in Nassau who refused to approve financing. The subject was drugged, drowned in his bathtub and his body dumped in the sea. The scammers are suspected of the disappearance of at least three more people and the death of another. Kimes and his son are serving life sentences in New York.
15. Psychopathy attacks or multiple murders
EXAMPLE CHARLES STARKWEATHER, traveler and murderer
WHERE States of Nebraska and Wyoming in the USA
WHEN Between December 1957 and January 1958
WHAT DID After killing a 21-year-old with a shotgun at point-blank range and not being caught, Charles began to get more of a killing spree. In a violent argument with the family of his girlfriend, Caril Fugate, the boy killed Caril’s parents and sister. The couple fled and claimed six more victims along the way, all with violent deaths – strangulations, shots and stab wounds. Starkweather was executed. Caril, sentenced to life, got out after 17 years.
16. Psychopaths who commit acts with refinement of violence, at long intervals
EXAMPLE DR. MICHAEL SWANGO, poison doctor
WHERE USA and Zimbabwe
WHEN From 1983 to 1997
WHAT DID Dr. Swango was known for the large number of murders without being caught and for the constant changes in his area of operation. He graduated with a medical degree in 1983, and during his residency he was suspected of injecting patients with unknown substances. Fearing prosecution, Michael changed hospitals and continued his activities. He had a morbid fascination with victims of serious accidents. He was eventually arrested and sentenced to life in prison.
17. Serial killers with sexual perversions
EXAMPLE TED BUNDY, charming psychologist and famous serial killer
WHERE Six US states
WHEN Between 1974 to 1978
WHAT DID Ted was attractive, ambitious and confident. He liked girls with long black hair – at least down to their shoulders. He kidnapped and raped women in several US cities and was captured in Utah, driving drunk with handcuffs, panties and women’s stockings, which he wore as a mask over his face. Bundy escaped and was arrested months later in Florida. Sentenced to death and executed in 1989, he confessed, minutes before execution, to having killed 30 women.
18. Torturing Killers
EXAMPLE JEROME BRUDOS, serial killer fascinated by shoes
WHERE Oregon, USA
WHEN Between 1968 to 1969
WHAT DID Brudos always tortured his victims before killing. As a child he was mistreated by his mother and developed an erotic fascination with women’s shoes. Most of the time, Jerome captured his victims with a hard blow to the head or strangled them until they lost consciousness. Brudos’ wife found photos of her husband with women skewered on hooks like dolls and interviews with women in the town of Salem – where Brudos lived – led to the serial killer. Jerome was arrested, given a life sentence, and died of cancer in 2006.
19. Psychopaths Driven to Terrorism, Subjugation, Intimidation, and Rape Without Murder
EXAMPLE GARY KRIST, sadistic thief and kidnapper
WHERE atlanta, usa
WHEN December 1968
WHAT DID Krist started stealing at age 14. In 1968, he and his girlfriend kidnapped a millionaire’s daughter in Atlanta. Krist fled with the ransom money. Through a phone call, the police discovered the whereabouts of the girl, buried in a box still alive, and the couple was captured. Gary Krist was sentenced to life in prison in 1969 and released on parole after ten years.
20. Murderers who have torture as their main motive
EXAMPLE JOSEPH KALLINGER, torturer and arsonist
WHERE Baltimore, Maryland and New Jersey, USA
WHEN From July 1974 to January 1975
WHAT DID At level 20 of evil, the subject is already considered sick and is not responsible for his actions. Interned in various mental institutions, Kallinger was violent with his children (he killed one of them) and tried to burn down his own house three times. In 1974, he got an accomplice: his son Michael. Together, they robbed, beat and tortured four families, in addition to killing a nurse in 1975. Discovered, Kallinger received life imprisonment and died in an epileptic fit.
+ Spoken Portrait: check out more details of the story of Joseph Kallinger
21. Psychopaths Who Don’t Kill Their Victims, But Put Them Under Extreme Torture
EXAMPLE CAMERON HOOKER Kidnapper and sex maniac
WHERE California, USA
WHEN 1977
WHAT DID Hooker was married to Janice, with whom he had a sinister agreement: he could have a female slave, with whom he would not have sexual relations, but would play «jokes». And so it was done: the couple kidnapped Colleen Stan, a 23-year-old girl. Colleen was kept in a box under her bed 22 hours a day, in addition to psychological pressure. Janice rebelled and handed her husband over when he said he wanted five more slaves. Hooker was sentenced to 104 years in prison.
22. Psychopaths who put victims under extreme torture for a long period of time and then kill
EXAMPLE DENNIS RADER, the “BTK Killer” (acronym for “bind, torture and kill”)
WHERE Kansas, USA
WHEN Between 1974 and 1991
WHAT DID In 1974,…