sexual manipulation of the body. The offender used sex as a weapon to punish and degrade the woman. The posing of the body was done to further degrade the victim out of anger or revenge. Staging the scene was the third motivation for sexual posing of the body. The offender consciously attempted to mislead and thwart the police investigation by making the murder appear to be sexual when in reality the murder was based on interpersonal violence.
Identifi cation of the Victim The identifi cation of the victim is a crucial consideration in de- termining motivation. An intensive investigation into the victim’s background, lifestyle, and associations many times will reveal a possible motive. An examination of any relationships, acquain- tances, and risk factors may provide a clue to the “Who could have done it?” scenario. For example, with whom does the victim live? Who was with the victim last? Does it appear that the victim knew his/her as- sailant? What is the victim’s current social status? Why was this particular victim selected? Does the crime appear to be a “stranger- homicide”? Was the deceased in a high-risk occupation, like pros- titution? Was the victim a runaway or hitchhiker? Was the victim a late-hours worker, e.g., waitress or service worker, who had to travel alone at night? What method of transpor- tation did the victim utilize? What route did the victim travel? Were there any recent sexual incidents in the area, such as voyeurism or fetish burglaries? Are there any rape or sexual assault patterns? One of the most signifi cant factors to consider in death investi- gation is victimology. In sex-related events, victimology becomes paramount in the assessment and analysis of “Who was the victim and what was going on in his/her life at the time of the event?”
The Crime Scene Assessment At every crime scene the offender inadvertently leaves messages or clues as to his/her identity, indicating the motivation and/or drive for the crime. Crime scene assessment focuses on the con- nection among the major elements in a homicide investigation. Examples of the major elements would be the location, the victim, the offender, crime scene forensics, and autopsy protocols. The location where an offense took place and the body disposal site can provide insight into the nature and background of an of- fender. Research indicates that the distance between the murder site and the disposal site is usually short. Signifi cant scenes and routes to the scene to consider include last seen alive, initial contact scene, attack scene, murder site, and body disposal site. A victim whose body was sexually mutilated and dumped at an outdoor location with all identifi cation removed is highly sug- gestive of an organized offender who engaged in these activities at one location and had access to a vehicle in order to separate the event from his/her comfort zone. Signifi cant components to consider include location of offense, method of entry, protection of identity, weapons used, and evidence of ritualistic behavior. Crime scene forensics goes beyond the recovery of physical evidence. The other consideration is the signifi cance of what the offender did in the scene, what was done to the victim. Signifi cant components to consider include physical materials, victim inca- pacitation, sexual evidence, was offender forensically aware, was the offender injured, are there any missing items, blood distribu- tion, and linking evidence.
Modus Operandi and Signature In addition to victimology and presentation of the victim in the crime scene, the investigator must understand the signifi cance of Modus Operandi (MO) and Signature especially in sex-re- lated incidents. MO is a learned behavior that tends to change as offenders gain experience and/or build confi dence in their crimes. Some reasons for a change in an offender MO could be attributed to experience, maturity, education, incarceration/ jail time, criminal versatility, and/or technology. Some examples of MO are an offender who brings a weapon,
uses a con, the times of crime, the days of the week, intelligence gathering (stalking), methods of control of victim, use of the vic- tim’s vehicle, and the location of crime scenes, i.e., inside or outside. Many serial offenders target prostitutes and their MO is sim- ply to pose as a “John” in order to get their victims away from an area and into a comfort zone where they can act out their sexual fantasies. Other sexual offenders establish a casual relationship with a prospective victim that eventually allows them access to a victim’s home. Once the offender was in the victim’s residence, he/she would sexually attack and kill to prevent identifi cation. The Signature Aspect of a violent sexual offender is a unique and integral part of the offender’s behavior, which refers to the psychodynamics of the event. The psychodynamics are the mental and emotional processes underlying human behavior and its motivations.
The “Signature” aspect is the end result of a number of bio- logical, psychological and psychosocial factors that have com- bined to infl uence how an individual seeks sexual satisfaction or is able to sexually perform. The nucleus of the “Signature” element begins at an early age and is reinforced through re- petitive fantasy, masturbatory activity, and situational “acting- out” of these themes in various non-criminal scenarios. Clinically speaking, there is a behavioral distinctiveness in human sexuality. This unique aspect of our arousal and re- sponse system accounts for why individuals differ in their sex- ual behaviors. Sexual fantasies play a major role in everyone’s sexual behavior. It is the drive factor for sexual expression. The sexual offender and other individuals, who are aroused with thoughts and fantasies of sexual aggression, reinforce their beliefs through repetition illustrated by the use of sadis- tic pornography and fantasy drawings. These serve as a form stimulus and excitement, a rehearsal before actually commit- ting the offense or a mental re-creation of an actual event and represent the “Signature” component.
Fantasies may be used to organize a collection of deviant thinking into a criminal thought pattern referred to as premed- itation. As a person fantasizes over time, he/she feels the need to express these sexually violent fantasies. Fantasy drawings, writings, and journals are excellent examples of premeditation and investigative evidence.
Many sexual criminals are not just satisfi ed with the murder and have a compulsion to express themselves. Unlike MO, the core Signature is constant. However, over time, the Signature component evolves. Some examples are overkill, mutilation, sexually posing the body, engaging in post-mortem activities. The victim is treated as a prop to be used to fulfi ll their violent sexual fantasies as they progress from victim to victim leaving their imprint at the scenes.
www.lawandordermag.com 29
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68