Psychology

According to court documents obtained by the Orange County Register, Itzcoatl Ocampo confessed to Detective Daron Wyatt that he joined the Marines in order to become a killer. He was disappointed when he did not see any combat in Iraq, and was made a truck driver instead. Ocampo made the…

Shortly after his arrest for the murder of four homeless men, Itzcoatl Ocampo was reported to suffer from psychological problems. It appears that he continues to deteriorate while sitting in jail. He was placed on suicide watch last weekend after banging his head against the toilet in his cell in…

Two electrical engineers from UCLA, Mikhail Simkin and Vwani Roychowdhury, believe that they have shown that the erratic behavior of serial killers actually conforms to a mathematical power law known as the Devil’s Staircase. The two looked at the crimes of Soviet serial murderer Andrei Chikatilo, they found that when…

Ian Brady, one of the so called Moors Murderers, has been granted the right to have a hearing to determine where he is imprisoned. Brady was originally jailed in 1966, but has been detained at Ashworth Hospital since 1985, and has been on a hunger strike since 1999. He is…

Last week, we looked at 4 of the 7 phases of the serial killer cycle: the aura phase, the trolling phase, the wooing phase, and the capture. This week, we look at the last three phases: the murder, the totem phase, and the depression phase. By the way, this episode…

This week, we look at the serial killer cycle, a theory proposed by Joel Norris in 1988. While the theory is rather lacking in scientific testing, it ties in well with the concept of serial murder as addictive behavior, a concept I believe has considerable merit. Dr. Norris’ “Phases of…

The hearing in El Paso, Texas to determine whether David Leonard Wood is mentally retarded has been recessed until December. It was expected to be completed Friday, but defense attorney Laura Ferry told the court that she was “nowhere near finished” cross-examining psychologist Thomas Allen. Judge Bert Richardson is from…

Prosecutors in El Paso, Texas continued to build the case that David Leonard Wood is not retarded on Thursday. A letter from 2009 was shown where Wood wrote: My new attorney is wanting to raise the Atkins issue, which is the ‘retardation’ issue. Well, we all know that that is…

Paul Steven Haigh killed seven people, including a child, and was sentenced to six life sentences without parole. He now says that he wants, and deserves, parole. A hearing was held in the Victoria, Australia Supreme Court to address the matter. Grace Morgan, Haigh’s lawyer, told the court that a…

Charles Albright removed the eyeballs of his victims. The Zodiac Killer signed his letters with a distinctive mark that included a cross and a circle. Richard Ramirez drew Satanic pentagrams on the walls of his victims’ homes, and sometimes on their bodies. The Boston Strangler tied his ligatures into birthday…