PL, aka The Best Friend, and I had a rather unusual MSN conversation a couple of nights back.
We started off talking about the Viet chap who's been sentenced to hang later this week, after being caught carrying about 400g of heroin. (Of which we only knew about from Adrock2xander's blog entries. Read his posts here and here, or the Australian news reports on it here and here...) After puzzling a little on why local dailies hadn't deemed the death sentence of a young man newsworthy enough, we went on to a rather short debate on the death penalty, and later meandered on towards the world's most notorious serial killers.
Not exactly your typical, idle, late-night chit chat I know... :P
I've always had a somewhat macabre fascination with serial killers. I can't help but wonder how their minds work, why they feel the need to kill not just once but over and over. Here are some of the most notorious ones in history, which of course, make the most interesting reading. Details and pics taken from crimelibrary.com...
BOSTON STRANGLER - ALBERT DESALVO
Albert DeSalvoA man described as someone who's devoted to his his family, DeSalvo is believed to have murdered at least 11 women between June 1962 and January 1964. He would enter the homes of his victims under false pretenses and sexually assault them, before strangling them with a piece of their own clothing, like a pair of stockings or a scarf. As a "farewell gift", DeSalvo would "decorate" the body by tying his choice of murder weapon around the victim's head and into a bow under the victim's chin.
Did DeSalvo really kill those women? The night before he was stabbed to death while serving a life sentence in a maximum security facility, DeSalvo had reportedly called his lawyers sounding extremely frightened. He promised to tell them who the Boston Strangler really was during their next meeting, but was murdered that very night.
(Click here to read the full case report fromcrimelibrary.com)
SON OF SAM - DAVID BERKOWITZ
David BerkowitzA paranoid schizophrenic who initially claimed to hear demons in his head, screaming for blood of young women. Which resulted in him prowling the streets of New York in the 1970s, picking out his victims at random and shooting them in the head, face, neck or chest with a 0.44 caliber handgun. Berkowitz later confessed that the demon story was his attempt at convincing the authorities to declare him legally insane. In actual fact, he'd found the murders to be sexually arousing and would often return to the scene of the crime to relive them as he masturbated.
David Berkowitz, at his parole in 2002 Berkowitz, 52, is in the midst of serving a 365 year sentence at Sullivan Correctional Facility in Fallsburg, New York.
(Click here to read the full case report from crimelibrary.com)
THEODORE ROBERT BUNDY - TED BUNDY
A charming, attractive man who was a complete sociopath, Bundy started his killing spree in 1974 and could have been responsible for as many as over 100 murders / disappearances that stretched across the whole of the United States. Wearing a leg or arm cast, Bundy would approach young women and ask for their help. He would later bludgeon them to death with a heavy blunt object, usually a crowbar. More often than not, various forms of sexual assault, even necrophelia, were part of his "routine".
The many faces of Ted BundyAfter an attempted escape and a long drawn out court battle, during which he showed absolutely no remorse, Bundy was sentenced to death by the electric chair. His execution was carried out on 24 January, 1989.
(Click here to read the full case report from crimelibrary.com)
JACK THE RIPPER
The one that needs no introduction. The one that was never caught. The father of all serial killers...
Many believed The Ripper was a man of noble blood, 1 with a relatively sophisticated knowledge of medicine and surgery. He murdered, disemboweled, decapitated and butchered at least 6 women - all of whom were prostitutes working in the White Chapel district - in 1888.
(Click here to read the full case report from crimelibrary.com)
Gosh, this post has gone on a lot longer than I expected. Haha, I don't talk about this sort of stuff much. Tonight, like I said earlier, I'm in a weird mood. I've also learned never to mention this in front of company, unless company = friends I've known for ages. I tend to get a lot of strange, apprehensive looks otherwise. :P
Ah well. All Hallow's Eve...
HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!
TRICK OR TREAT! :)
