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Serial killers commit some of the world's most heinous murders, but there is a psychological process and a number of phases they go through before, during, and after the murder. First described by psychologist Joel Norris in 1988, these phases take the killer through an intricate and complex journey, mentally, and then manifest outwardly through their heinous acts of murder.
In his research, Norris performed interviews with numerous serial killers and was able to come away with, what he discovered to be, seven phases.
The first of these psychological phases delineated by Dr. Norris is the Aura Phase, which begins to manifest itself by a gradual, and mostly non-outwardly-observable, withdrawal from reality and life. The killer begins to have changes in personality, lessened social interaction, and, in simplistic terms, begins to metamorphose into a portal of fantasy.
The fantasies of the killer can vary and can include acts of violence or sadistic sexual thoughts, some of which may have etiological foundations in their childhood. Depending on the individual and conditions, the Aura Phase can have varying time lengths and can range from minutes to a year or more. This transposition from reality to fantasy eventually leads the killer to the next phase: a need to act upon the fantasies.
The Trolling Phase is the next in sequence and represents the killer desiring to find a suitable victim that meets the needs of the desires within the fantasies. The Trolling Phase is an intense phase and the killer is almost single-minded of purpose: to find a suitable victim.
During this phase, the killer will scout out locations where he is comfortable operating. Included in the location seeking is a location to approach a potential victim as well as a location (depending on the serial killer classification of organized or disorganized) to dump the body after the murder. The killer will also be cognizant of potential victims and pay attention to their vulnerability, lifestyle, and schedules and routines, determining the right time to act.
The victim and locations having been decided, he will then, based again on the serial killer's classification, initiate contact to begin to build the victim's trust and confidence in the Wooing Phase. This is exclusionary of the organized killer, who is more methodological.
Wooing is a very important phase, and a killer who cannot gain the trust of the intended victim may very well move on to another potential victim. The process of gaining trust can consist of pleasant and engaging conversation, compliments, gifts, promises, or other actions that will help the killer succeed in his quest of gaining the trust of, and relating to, the victim.
Once the killer feels he has won the victim's confidence, he will move to the next phase: the Capture Phase. This is considered one of the defining moments by the killer — he has an incapacitated victim. It is during this phase that the killer lets his true intentions begin to shine through. A proverbial Jekyll and Hyde transformation. This change from the sweet, nice, caring, and likable person into the murderous killer can be a slow process where the true intentions are revealed slowly or a quick, “Now I have you!” Happy with his capture, he then can move into the next phase.
Captured and defenseless, the victim is now catapulted into the killer's Murder Phase. Norris explains that, typically, this phase often represents the killer's horrible life as a child and his wish to propagate his horrible childhood into his actions toward the victim.
In this phase, there are a couple of possible avenues for the murder process and victim abuse that are mainly dependent upon the classification of the serial killer. The disorganized killer will kill almost immediately and, once the victim is deceased, will typically engage in necrophilia and will also depersonalize the victim. Depersonalization typically takes the form of body and/or facial mutilations. This can be accomplished by cutting, acid, or other avenues.
The organized serial killer, different from the disorganized killer, is not exclusively interested in the murder, but in the control and subsequent pain he wishes to inflict upon the victim. His desire to inflict pain is so desirous that, oftentimes, this killer will take his victim to the point of death only to stop the torture and to allow the victim to, at least in part, recover. Once recovered, the killer will once again begin the torture. This cycle of torture and recovery can continue numerous times before the serial killer finally murders his victim.
The murder now complete, the killer seeks something by which he can remember the feeling he derived from this torturous actions and subsequent murder of his victim. This is the Totem Phase. The killer takes one or more items due to the deflation and beginning depression he is experiencing having not been relieved of his fantasy that began back in the Aura Phase. Some of the items typically selected by the serial killer are shoes, jewelry, photos, or even body parts of the victim.
The final psychological phase is called the Depression Phase. Having begun somewhat in the Totem Phase, the serial killer has had to come to terms with the fact that his torture and murder of his victim did not satisfy his urges and falls into a deep depression. A depression that, sometimes, will lead to the killer’s suicide.
Suicide aside, the killer, fantasy unfulfilled, will eventually fall back into the belief that his fantasy of killing, again, will solve his fantastical needs—unless the cycle is interrupted by arrest, death, or some other interference. And, once again, he will begin the Aura Phase.
References
Norris, Joel. Serial Killers. Anchor Books, 1989.
