Research News
Running Amok? Spree Killers and their fan base
Mass killings are unusual events but devastating when they occur Although the absolute risk of dying at the hands of such a killer are low, people stubbornly refuse statisticians’ earnest assurances of relative safety This should not surprise us Mass killings are, among many other things, a deliberate attempt to drive a wedge into the existing social order That is why they are public, and why the killer seeks to maximise attention
Attention to our evolved natures can cast some light on this Men swim in worlds of status, like trout swim in complex currents of water Said status is exquisitely linked to male reproductive success, and males who were blind to its ups and downs have simply not had descendants
Here we report on two studies into spree killings in the USA In the first we carried out an archival study of mass killers Latent class analysis revealed a highly bimodal distribution
The younger group (average age 23 tended to have been in trouble with the law, they were more likely to have had mental illness In other words at the age where young men are acquiring status, and the skills and abilities that will enable them to do so they were, in fact, acquiring signs that they were on a fast track to reproductive oblivion
In ancestral times times without highly trained and equipped SWAT teams a “Hail Mary” attempt to attract attention and make ‘ take you seriously might just might, have worked
The older group (average age 41 were much more likely to be married, and maybe have families They were less likely to have had prior signs of legal issues nor of mental illness But a peak into their personal details (so far as we were able) revealed that they had a pattern of recent status loss These older guys were not so much trying to acquire status, their actions looked more like a highly pathological attempt to not lose it They were more likely to die during the spree, through suicide or “suicide by cop"
The older group (average age 41 were much more likely to be married, and maybe have families
They were less likely to have had prior signs of legal issues nor of mental illness But a peak into their personal details (so far as we were able) revealed that they had a pattern of recent status loss
These older guys were not so much trying to acquire status, their actions looked more like a highly pathological attempt to not lose it
They were more likely to die during the spree, through suicide or “suicide by cop Ogas and Gaddam 2012 note “It turns out that killing people is an effective way to elicit the attention of many women virtually every serial killer, including Ted Bundy, Charles Manson, and David Berkowitz, has received love letters from large numbers of female fans”fans”. The most toxic of masculinity does not put off all possible sexual partners The existence of the first type of spree killer implies a female audience In our second study we found part of this audience online
They are a conscious subset of hybristophiles who actively distinguish themselves from run of the mill celebrity, or even spree killer followers, by showing a desire to join in, or have open sexual ambitions towards the killers Sometimes they manage to meet and marry them in prison
For more on this story contact:
Dr Rob King
r.king@ucc.ie