Chloe Wilkerson

CLP 4143 - CRN 80427

Lester Schulz

8 December 2022

Psychopathic Killers

1. Biographical information

BTK (Dennis Rader), whose name stood for bind, torture, kill, killed at least ten victims.

During his initial spree in 1974 lasting through 1991, BTK killed seven victims, constanting

leaving hints about his murders. In 2004, BTK sent more clues to the police and media that led to

his arrest in 2005.

Ted Bundy was a serial killer with charm. He used his charm to lure women into helping

him back to his room where he would beat, rape, and murder them; sometimes sleeping with

their corpse. Several people contacted authorities bringing up Bundy as a potential suspect, but

Bundy was ruled out numerous times due to his looks and upstanding character. Bundy was

eventually arrested in 1975 but was released due to lack of evidence linking him to the crimes.

Bundy was arrested and escaped numerous times before he was finally sentenced to death via

electric chair in 1989. Before his death, he confessed to 30 murders.

Wuornos was a notorious serial killer who preyed on male truck drivers in Florida. Aileen

had a rough childhood and family history. Her father, Leo Pittman, was a sociopathic child

murderer who was eventually killed in prison. Growing up she lived with her grandparents and

eventually engaged in prostitution, armed robbery, check forgery, and grand theft auto. Aileen

would hitchhike and would murder the men she picked up on the side of the road; claiming it

was self defense. She was named “America’s First Female Serial Killer'' in 1991, and there is a
movie named “Monster” where Charlize Theron plays Wuornos (I think the movie is pretty

good). During her spree between 1989-1990 she murdered at least seven men and in 2002 died

via lethal injection after receiving six death sentences.

2. Early childhood

BTK’s childhood experience was seemingly normal. BTK was a Boy Scout and

participated in group activities at the Lutheran Church. At his elementary school he was a

low-average student and had an introverted and withdrawn personality. While he was in grade

school, he developed fantasies about domination, bondage, and torture. Psychologists believe

something happened in BTK’s childhood that made him acquire these feelings, yet BTK never

told the authorities anything. In a book documenting his life, it was reported that BTK would get

aroused when he was spanked as a child and when he saw chicken get slaughtered. He also told

the author of the book that he would fantasize about tying women to train tracks and had a

fascination with torturing cats.

Bundy was born by his mother Elenor, and is it suspected that Bundy was the result of a

rape. Bundy’s grandparents raised him and told Bundy that his mother was his sister. His

grandfather who raised him abused and tortured neighborhood animals, beat his children, and

was overall very vulgar. Bundy’s grandfather had vile pornographic images in the home that

Bundy would look at when he still in preschool. Elenor eventually took Bundy away and they

moved to Washington where Elenor met John Bundy. From this point forth, Bundy lived a

normal life, even becoming a law student and politician. Bundy had a girlfriend in college who

broke up with him due to lack of ambition and maturity. All of his known murder victims looked

very similiar to his ex girlfriend.

 Wournos was raised by her grandparents who were abusive. The grandfather once forced

Wournos to watch as he drowned a cat. Aileen was impregnated at the age of 14 and it is

suspected that she was impregnated by her brother or grandfather. Wournos told multiple sources

that she would have sex with her brother often. Wournos was kicked out at age 15 where she was

homeless and just able to survive through prostitution.

3. Nature vs. Nurture

I believe that the root of all evil stems from childhood experiences. BTK’s story is a

mystery of sorts, because BTK did not let authorities know of any traumatic experiences he had

but it can be suspected that indeed something did happen. BTK was a narcissist and had OCD,

along with being anti-social of course.

Wournos was highly abused as a child, and had sex with family members and witnessed

abuse and alcoholism. Besides being antisocial, Wournos had borderline personality disorder,

and suspected PTSD. I believe the root of her diagnosis stems from her rough childhood.

Bundy exposure to vile pornographic images of rape he was exposed to at a very early

age played a role in his murders. I believe the things he was exposed to at this young age play a

key part in how he acted. Bundy was diagnosed with antisocial, necrophilia, paraphilia, and

sadism.

4. Conclusion

I do believe that many people experience very traumatic childhoods, yet most of these

people do not go out and commit vile acts against others. Socialization definitely plays a role. As

a parent, if you realize your child is exhibiting antisocial personality disorder characteristics, the

child should be taken to therapy weekly to help the problem early on. There is a stigmatization

around therapy and many parents might feel ashamed to take their children to therapy, which
may explain why some parents don’t believe therapy is an option for their family. The

development of a conscience also plays a role. As children, we learn that our actions have

consequences, and most importantly we are often taught about empathy. I think that in an

abusive household, empathy is lacking, and therefore the child in that home never gets a concise

definition of what empathy is or should look like. Not having a basis of empathy plays a role in

children growing up not caring about the feelings of others. Overall, I do believe that people are

products of their environment and they are going to mimic what they see; e.g. mirroring. Parents

need to model better for their children and look to therapy as an option if their child is exhibiting

signs of a mental illness at a young age.

 References

https://www.paperhelp.org/samples/essay-on-ted-bundy-upbringing-unraveling.html#:~:text=For

%20the%20first%20six%20years,a%20bastard%20(Kendall%2041).

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/wicked-deeds/202202/evolution-serial-killer-dennis-r

ader-btk#:~:text=He%20attended%20Riverview%20Elementary%20School,while%20still%20in

%20grade%20school.

https://heavy.com/entertainment/2020/09/inside-dennis-raders-childhood-btk-killer/

https://scholar.smu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1120&context=jour#:~:text=Dennis%20Rad

er%20was%20interviewed%20following,and%20obsessive%2D%20compulsive%20personality

%20disorders.