Psychotic Characters: The Lust Behind the Kill

Today will conclude my series on serial killers....mainly because it's just too dark to post regularly about! But don't worry, I'm sure I'll revisit it at some point in the future. Never say never, right? If you missed the other posts in this series, then click here and here.

We last ended with a brief description of the types of serial killers out there, but I promised to go a bit deeper with the Lust Killers, as these are the ones projected in the media the most, perhaps because they are the most disturbing to those who are sane.

Lust Killers basically have sexual gratification as their main motivation. They almost always exhibit sadism (inflicting pain on others for their pleasure). They usually are not opportunistic killers, but rather highly organized, with vast amounts of planning and forethought put into their kills.

Infamous "Lust Killer" Ted Bundy

They tend to go through four phases:

Fantasy - they act out the crime over and over in their mind, maybe with use of pornographic material. The desire to kill is manifested, and this time period may last years before they progress to phase two.

The Hunt - the killer might be focusing on primarily on the "right" type of victim, or he may focus on the "right" type of location. Once he finds the victim, he may stalk them (hunting) for a long time, memorizing their schedule down to the minute. It could take many more years to go through this phase, and cover 100s of miles.

The Kill - the victim is lured into the trap and then the killer makes real on his fantasy. Depending on how elaborate the kill ritual is, this could take a while....several days or longer, even. There will almost definitely be "overkill," in that there could be extreme torture, mutilation, or dismemberment. The killer might have sex with the corpse, drink their blood, eat body parts (hey...you asked for this!)...whatever they can do to preserve their moment of ecstasy however they can. The killer might take a token of their kill or leave a calling card, but not always.

Post-Kill - the killer will likely feel empty or depressed, because their torment was only relieved short-term. More lives will have to be taken in order to have temporary relief. It would be during this stage that a killer would write a confession to the police or media. Unless caught, it is inevitable that he will kill again.

So how's that for a happy ending to a post, huh? Hope that this helps you with your serial killer development.

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