Girl, 11 by Amy Clarke (best memoirs of all time TXT) 📕

has a saying: “Genetics load the gun, personality and psychology aim it, and experiences pull the trigger.” It takes a perfect, devastating blend of circumstances to create a serial killer. Childhood trauma is only part of it.

Elle:

Okay, that makes sense. Back to those numbers: I’ve spent years researching them, as I’m sure many of my listeners have. Do you have any insights on what they might have signified to him?

Dr. Sage:

Short of some sort of personal message or manifesto, which we’ve seen from other killers many times before, it’s impossible to say with absolute certainty. However, the victim who escaped did tell police there were symbols of the Christian religion inside his cabin. Bibles, crosses hanging on the walls, postcards with Scripture on them. This led me to review the significance of the numbers in the Bible. Theologians and biblical scholars have found meaning in all sorts of numbers throughout the centuries—some of them considered more of a reach than others. But the first two numbers in TCK’s series are universally found to be important. Three is symbolic of the Trinity: the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. It’s also the number of days that Jesus descended into Hell before he rose again after the Crucifixion, and it’s one of what is considered the spiritually perfect numbers—along with seven. Seven signifies completion, perfection. The world was created in six days, and on the seventh, God rested.

Elle:

And twenty-one?

Dr. Sage:

Well, the first thing to note is that multiplying seven and three results in twenty-one. This might be significant—in fact, it might be the only reason he chose it. But if we’re following our theme of biblical symbolism, in II Timothy, Paul lists twenty-one sins that demonstrate the wickedness of self. Twenty-one is seen as the combination of thirteen, the number of depravity and sin, and eight, the number of new beginnings. Added together, it symbolizes a new, active commitment to rebellion and wickedness. If you believe the idea that TCK was motivated by a twisted view of the scriptural meaning of those numbers—which many of the original investigators did, considering the items in the cabin and the conservative religious makeup of the area at the time—then it makes sense why he chose twenty-one as his third number. It implies a conscious decision to rebel, to stray from the Word of God. If we’re right about that, though, it is confusing why he would start with a twenty-year-old girl instead of a twenty-one-year-old. Everything else about the numbers in his pattern is consistent, so it’s strange he deviated from it with something as significant as the age of his first victim.

Elle voice-over:

Dr. Sage brings up a point we’ve discussed in previous episodes—something that listeners will remember is a bit of an obsession for Detective Sykes as well. My producer and I have been doing a lot of work on this behind the scenes, and I’m excited to let you know that we have a promising lead. It’s too early to confirm right now, but I’m hoping we’ll be able to tell you more about our findings soon. Stay tuned. Now, back to the interview.

Elle:

Based on what you’ve said, it sounds like you believe the pattern is a decision, not a compulsion he couldn’t control? Am I correct?

Dr. Sage:

That’s my assessment. He’s a very calculated killer, and that is evident by every aspect of his crimes, from his choice of victim to the way he leaves their bodies when he’s finished. He is fully in control of his faculties, and power actually plays a big part in his crimes. From the meticulous pattern he has established to the way he forces these women to do his bidding, he is demonstrating too much control in his killings for them to be some wild, impulsive action.

Elle:

Let’s talk about that. I understand from my own research that there are different types of serial killers. Can you give my listeners an overview of what they are?

Dr. Sage:

The reason I even have a job is because of John Douglas, the father of criminal behavior analysis. You’ve seen that show, Mindhunter? It’s more or less based on his early career. Douglas interviewed hundreds of serial killers all across the country, found out why and how they did what they did. He used that knowledge to help the FBI and other law enforcement catch active killers. After a while, he noticed there were key differences between many of the men he was interviewing, and he started categorizing killers based on various factors: what motivated them, how they killed their victims, how organized they were, et cetera.

There are visionary killers, who are usually experiencing a break from reality and think they are being directed by God or the Devil to commit their murders. Hedonistic killers do it for the sexual thrill, the pleasure of controlling and then destroying someone. If someone enjoys exerting power or authority over his victims and prolonging their deaths, we would call him a power/control killer. And then there are mission-oriented killers, who commit their crimes out of a sense of duty, to rid the world of a specific type of person.

Elle:

And do serial killers usually fit in only one category? Because a couple of those sound like they could be TCK.

Dr. Sage:

There are some who fit into more than one category, yes. Generally, power/control killers sexually assault their victims as the penultimate exertion of power before killing them, but we don’t see that with TCK’s victims. However, as I said, control is a key aspect to what he does, so I would say that he is still a power/control killer. He degrades them by not feeding them, makes them clean for him—serve him, essentially—before poisoning them and beating their bodies. The way he abuses girls specifically makes me think he was abused as a child, and that he somehow blames that abuse on a woman in his life—probably his mother—whether she was responsible for it or not. He doesn’t seem to get any sexual thrill from killing his