What makes a serial killer get an urge to kill

'With Alferd Packer, there was debate over whether he killed the five victims but there was evidence that he had eaten them.

'Cannibalism can be driven by hunger, a need for sustenance,' said James Starrs, law professor at George Washington University Law School who has studied Packer's case. He found himself in a situation where he had to eat human flesh to survive. In 1873, Colorado gold prospector Alferd Packer went on a gold expedition with a group of men in brutally cold conditions in the San Juan Mountains. Montana prosecutors could argue that Bar-Jonah was trying to hide evidence when he allegedly fed Zachary's remains to unsuspecting neighbors. Some killers may be driven to eat their victims by a more practical need: hunger or the desire to hide evidence. Other times he claimed that he ate the flesh of his victims because he believed that they would come alive again in him. Sometimes he would keep the skull or other body parts as souvenirs. Then he would drug them, strangle them, masturbate on the body or have sex with the corpse, dismember the body and dispose of it. He went to bathhouses and gay bars to find his victims and lured them to his home by either offering them money for posing for photographs or simply to enjoy some beer and videos. I don't want to be without you and anyone else to have you.''Дahmer indicated that he believed in incorporation.

'It's almost like they're saying, 'I have you. 'Probably the most likely reason they would do that is to incorporate that person and their most desirable trait into themselves,' said Palermo.

It can be extension of ancient cultures' traditions. By eating their victims, they are showing an extreme desire to possess their qualities and not share them with anyone else. Noting cannibalism's historic significance, experts believe its practice in slayings could illustrate a killer's need to possess his victim. Eating dead relatives was a way of inheriting their best qualities and ensuring they would live on eternally. Experts say some Australian aborigines believed that if a child ate his dead father he would inherit his hunting skills. In some ancient cultures, cannibalism was not seen as an act of conquest or revenge but as a religious experience and tribute to deceased relatives. Eating an enemy's brain could have meant ingesting his intelligence. It was a way of taking an enemy's greatest trait: eating the heart could symbolize taking a foe's bravery or strength. In fourth century China and other parts of the Far East and various tribal cultures in Africa, Australia, and Papua, New Guinea, soldiers and warriors saw it as the ultimate conquest and revenge against an enemy. The practice of cannibalism was recorded as far back as fourth century China and was not seen as a social taboo among various cultures.

Rooted in Ancient Rituals and Warrior Battles 'It's like they're saying, 'I really killed you. 'It goes back to the old days of the warrior, where they would defeat their enemy and eat the part they most admired, like their brain or their heart,' said George Palermo, forensic psychiatrist at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, who worked on the Jeffrey Dahmer case. Devouring a victim is the step beyond taking their life and represents the ultimate conquest and sign of domination to a killer. Why would someone not only kill, but also cannibalize, their victims? Experts say a killer's need to dominate his victim may be a motivation. In addition, police say various witnesses claim they saw Bar-Jonah with the clothes Zachary wore the day he disappeared and that he admitted to the slaying. Bar-Jonah allegedly makes references to 'Little Boy Stew,' 'Little Kid Dessert,' 'Little Boy Pot Pies,' anal sex and masturbation in these writings. However, according to court documents, investigators searched Bar-Jonah's home and found writings they say allude to the boy's suspected gruesome fate. Police suspect he may have fed him to unsuspecting neighbors, who later told investigators the meat they consumed in stew and spaghetti sauce prepared by Bar-Jonah tasted peculiar.Д«ar-Jonah denied any involvement in Zachary's disappearance in letters written to the Great Falls Tribune. Prosecutors believe Bar-Jonah, who had a long history of child molestation before his alleged encounter with Zachary, abducted the boy and then killed and butchered him.

What makes a serial killer get an urge to kill