1.1 Elements of Criminal Profiling: The Crime Scene

The very first step in establishing a criminal profile is to analyze the crime scene. This analysis is not to be taken lightly as most of the conclusions you will make depend on how precise your crime scene analysis is. So it is highly recommended to any profiler to go on the crime scenes, as you will be able to see it from every angle and perspective (victim and offender) in ways pictures cannot portray.

1) The Body Talks

According to Dimaio and Dimaio (1993), the victim, whether alive or dead, is an extension of the crime scene. It is therefore important to identify the cause of death (if there is death), the time of death, and any violence that the victim was subjected to. This can be done partially on the crime scene and can be substantiated during the autopsy.

"The wound pattern analysis is the recognition, preservation, documentation, examination and recognition of the nature, origin and intent of physical injuries" Brent E. Turvey, Criminal Profiling

The wound pattern analysis includes an analysis of (still according to Brent E. Turvey):

- The type of wounds:

* Blunt force trauma: create a impact on parts or the entire body. It includes abrasions, contusions and lacerations. As these wounds are usually caused by force, they can indicate that the offender was acting with a lot of anger during the murder.

* Burns can either come from fire used as the weapon to commit murder or as a way to inflict pain (sadism)

*Sharp force injuries that can be caused by stab wounds, incise wounds (like cuts), and chop wounds (from heavy instruments with a sharp edge). be very careful when analyzing this type of wounds, as very often you read that the use of a knife is a substitute for sex (pointing in the direction of an unorganized offender who is sexually immature or inadequate). It isn't always true (ex: The Zodiac Killer was highly organized but used a knife on several occasions).

* Gunshot wounds

* Therapeutic or diagnostic wounds (caused by rescue teams). It is vital to recognize them as to not use them when establishing your profile.

* Ante- or post-mortem wounds: also an important distinction as ante-mortem wounds would refer more likely to sadistic types of behaviors (organized offender) and post-mortem wounds would rather refer to necrophiliac types of behavior (unorganized offender)

- The physical origin of wounds:

* The wounds can be caused by a weapon the offender brought to the crime scene

* The wounds can be caused by a weapon the offender found on the crime scene

* Some wounds can be caused by items from the crime scene that come in contact with the victim and cause injury

* Some injuries can be inflicted by the victim or offender's use of their own bodies as a weapon

- The motivational origins of wounds:

* Lethal force

* Administrative force: usually to show power and control.

* Brutal force: used to release anger.

* Overkill: is when rage, anger, frustration build up over a long period of time and are unleashed in a number of wounds far superior than what is needed to kill the victim.

* Control oriented force: used to restrict the victim's movements and doing so gain total control over the victim

* Precautionary force: the wounds are supposed to keep the investigators or at least slow them in the identification of the body. Also be careful as sometimes these wounds can be the result of the desire of the offender to objectify the victim (take away the victim's identity as human being) or because he feels remorse (which can make him even more angry to a point where he cannot stand the victim looking at him).

* Experimental force is used when the offender aims at afflicting others with acts like cutting off the genitals.

* Physical torture is when the offender uses force intentionally and repeatedly without killing the victim. He gains satisfaction in the pain he inflicts and gets high from the victim's response to the pain. But to achieve that, he needs the victim to be alive and conscious.

2) The Elements of Forensic Analysis

- The autopsy report will give more detailed information on the violence that was applied on the body and at what moment of the offense (before, during and after the offense). It will also reveal if there were any sexual acts performed on the victim and their nature.

- It is vital to also pay attention to the other elements of the forensic analysis (or the lack thereof) as they will give vital information on the MO of the offender, on the events. It will moreover determine if for example some items have been taken from the crime scene, such as evidence (murder weapon), valuables (money), personal items (items that might be of sentimental value to the offender) or trophies (body parts, elements of the victim's clothing...).

3) Crime Scene Classification

Ronald M. Holmes and Stephen T. Holmes, in their book (a real reference in profiling) Profiling Violent Crimes, present two tables evaluating and classifying violent offender characteristics and crime scene behaviors.

- Comparison of the crime scene of organized and disorganized lust killers

Organized Nonsocial Killer	Disorganized Asocial Killer
Planned offense	Spontaneous event
Targeted stranger	Victim unknown
Personalizes victims	Depersonalizes victims
Controlled conversations	Minimal conversation
Controlled crime scenes	Chaotic crime scene
Submissive victim	Sudden violence
Restraints used	No restraints
Aggressive acts	Sex after death
Body moved	Body not moved
Weapon taken	Weapon left
Little evidence	Physical evidence

- Crime scene analysis of suspected serial murder cases

	Type of Serial Killer
Crime scene characteristics	Visionary	Mission	Comfort	Lust	Thrill	Power/control
Controlled crime scene	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Overkill	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No
Chaotic crime scene	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Evidence of torture	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Body moved	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Specific victim	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Weapon at the scene	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No
Relational victim	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No
Victim known	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No
Aberrant sex	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Weapon of torture	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Strangles the victim	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Penile penetration	?	Yes	Usually not	Yes	Yes	Yes
Object penetration	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	No
Necrophilia	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	Yes
Gender usually	Male	Male	Female	Male	Male	Male

0.0 Introduction to Criminal Profiling

"Offender profiling, also known as criminal profiling, is a behavioral and investigative tool that is intended to help investigators to accurately predict and profile the characteristics of unknown criminal subjects or offenders.

Holmes and Holmes (2008) outline the three main goals of criminal profiling:

• The first is to provide law enforcement with a social and psychological assessment of the offender;
• The second goal is to provide law enforcement with a "psychological evaluation of belongings found in the possession of the offender" (p. 10);
• The third goal is to give suggestions and strategies for the interviewing process."

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offender_profiling

Most of the crimes committed and investigated by law enforcement officers are based on a known motive: money, revenge, jealousy, accident, self defense... In violent serial crimes, the motive is usually unknown to the investigator, and the methods commonly used to predict the offender behavior are useless. Profiling provides a solution by approaching the problem from a different point of view.

Criminal profiling is the identification of specific characteristics of an individual committing a particular crime by a thorough systematic observational process and an analysis of the crime scene, the victim, the forensic evidence, and the known facts of the crime.

It is neither a widely accepted law enforcement practice nor a widespread investigative process, but there is evidence to support its usage in the investigation of certain types of crime.

By its core definition, offender profiling is considered more like an art than a science. There is no perfect formula linking the elements of a crime scene to a precise personality trait. But profiling is based on the study on previous known offenders and patterns between their crimes and their personality traits.

0.1 Guideline to FBI Methodology to Criminal Profiling

1) Elements of Criminal Profiling

1.1 The Crime Scene and Elements of Forensics

1.2 Victimology

2) Criminological Classifications

2.1 Type of Offender

2.2 Space and Time Elements of the offense(s)

2.3 Victim Exposure Analysis

2.4 Risk Taken by the Offender

2.5 Criminal Escalation

2.6 Serial Killer classifications

3) Crime Evaluation

3.1 Modus Operandi
3.2 Motives and Motivations

3.3 Signature

3.4 Reconstitution of the Criminal Scenario

4) Specific Offender Profile

4.1 Gender

4.2 Race

4.3 Character Profiling

4.4 Family, Friends, and Relationships

4.5 Social Life, Eductation

4.6 Similar Cases

4.7 Physical Profile

Southeast Asia's Serial Killers (part seven): The three faces of Ryan, the "Smiling Serial Killer"

Have a look at Very Idham Henyansyah, aka Ryan, aka The Smiling (or Singing) serial killer. These three pictures illustrate the mind of a murderer who shook Indonesia in 2008 and still creates debate and talk among the population and in the media.

Ryan, the seducer

Ryan, the guiltless

Ryan, the angry

On July 12, 2008, mysterious bags containing a head, a torso and other body parts were found in the streets of Jakarta. The autopsy revealed these body parts belonged to Heri Santoso, a 40 year old businessman. In only a few days, the police was able to link the murder to a man called Ryan, and decided to arrest him. Ryan confessed quickly to the murder. What was supposed to be an easy case to close rapidly transformed in one of the most infamous and most mediatized murder case in Indonesian history.

Indeed, in addition to confessing to Heri Santoso's murder, Ryan also confessed to another 10 murders he committed earlier in his life, when he was still living in his hometown, which put his victim count to 11.

Ryan was born and raised in Jombang, a religious town where most of the people live from agriculture. He had poor relations with his siblings and his parents, and mostly kept to himself. Still today he pretends that he witnessed his parents living their affairs in the family house, and that his older sister was forced to marry a middle aged man that also happened to be the mother's boyfriend. But his parents deny these accusations, stating that Ryan started showing signs of mental distress at age 10. None of Ryan's accusations have been proven until now, and it is in the debate whether he really witnessed his parents having extra-marital relationships in front of him or not. But one thing is sure, is that very early on, Ryan grew increasingly violent, and was also very introverted, having no one to turn to when in need to express his feelings or the emotions he was experiencing.

The fact that he was homosexual and had more soft and feminine features surely did not help. School was the only place where he felt himself and comfortable, but even there he was rejected because he was more "girly" than the other boys. He was a very good student, with good grades and good behavior. But even if he got accepted later on in a faculty of medicine, he had to renounce to his project due to a lack of money and financing.

At the same time, he met a religious leader (who was also an unmarried young man at the time) and Ryan faced another blow when this man entered in a heterosexual marriage. This event certainly increased his frustration and anger to a boiling level, and became the trigger to his future killings. He would kill his first victims within a year of their separation. In only on few months, he would bury 10 victims in his backyard, most of them men aged 24 to 34, and a woman with her 3 year old daughter.

Ryan was diagnosed  as a sociopath with anti-social personality disorder, as he was charming, manipulative (by using a combination of intimidation and sexual seduction), and guiltless. To this diagnosis, I would also add that he presented a certain number of characteristics of a narcissistic personality disorder. I don't know if he believed he was better than the others, or if he fantasized about power, success or attractiveness. But he certainly enjoyed the notoriety that his actions, his book and album gave him, and, when interviewed, showed signs of pride saying that his actions had some positive effects on the people, and might help society change. He definitely shows signs that he thinks he is special, and almost that society should thank him for killing his victims as his actions point out society's dysfunctions.

An other reason for me to think he is narcissistic lies in the center of the debate around his case. He pretended from the start that he killed all these people because they were pressuring him for sex, and would then use hurtful words.

"Zacky and Aksony (2 of the victims) did not only strike me with hurtful words, but their hands groped my vital organs (sex) so that I would date them. I hated their acts. Especially when my homosexuality was used as a reason for them to satiate their lust"

"Most of the victims were gay men like me. They made me feel cheap. I got angry, we fought and I accidentally killed them"

"Not all gay men are promiscuous. Love is very important to me. It makes me furious when people say there's no such thing as loyalty in the gay world"

Now it is not uncommon for men in Southeast Asian to entertain sexual relationships with other men, even when they claim to be heterosexual. At the same time, it happens often, especially in the Muslim communities, that gay men live out gay relationships during their early adulthood, but when the family pressure to get married gets too strong, suppress their homosexuality to become an exemplar Muslim husband and son. But I seems a bit suspicious to me that the same pattern, especially like this one, would repeat itself 11 times other than in his mind and fantasy.

The reality is that we will never know if Ryan was really involved in a relationship with the religious leader, and really was, as he pretends, the victim of sexual advances of his victims, who started being demeaning to his refusal to have a sexual relationship with them. According to Ryan, he killed Santoso after he offered Ryan money and a car to have sex with his boyfriend. Unfortunately, we will never hear the other side of the story.

Do you want my opinion? I think that his claims might be far from what really happened. We have to consider a certain number of elements:

- according to him, it was often jealousy or the unwanted romantic overtures of others that drove him to kill. I have never heard of a serial killer who killed people because they wanted to date him or asked him for sexual relations. However, a more common reason, which makes more sense to me considering Ryan's personality, could be that he was the one who came on to his victims for sex, but got frustrated and angry when his victims would reject him.

- take the murder of Grady Adams, a witness testified he saw Ryan the next day wearing Grady Adam's tee-shirt... this is something you do when you like the person, not because you hate them. I cannot find any other reason to this, especially as Ryan specifically said he had no interest in his victim's belongings, and that he would bury them with the bodies. So he was not wearing Grady's tee-shirt as a trophy, but more as a sign of belonging, to show off and prove that they were having an intimate relationship.

- in a way he reminds me of Aileen Wuornos, who also pretended to the last day that she killed her victims in self defense. I think she really was convinced of it, shoving the real motive of her crimes deep into her unconscious. In Ryan's case, he probably tried to give himself more credit and notoriety by trying to portray himself more like a victim, not being able to cope with the reality of his actions. "It's about disappointments in my life. I'm tired of the shackles in my life, tired of the society I live in, a society full of strict rules. I want to be myself. I want to be the best in my life". A difference though is that Aileen Wuornos, mostly because of her erratic behavior throughout the trial, was not able to convince anyone. Ryan, during his trial, in a way succeeded in manipulating the public opinion (else he would not have gotten a record and book deal) in believing that he committed his crimes because he was first and foremost a victim of society. Moreover, when a person feels like being the victim in most of the situations, it just tends to show the low self-esteem they suffer from.

- his violent behavior might originate from a very low self-esteem and self worth, for which he compensated by creating a new him who would fight to be able to be whoever he decides to be and do what ever he decides to do. But in a way he over-compensated as he did that with a total disregard for others and by expressing his frustration and anger through violent behavior. "It comes to not wanting to be put down and abused by others, and to fight for myself in whatever way I can".

MacDonald Triad as predictor of violent behavior: myth or reality?

In 1963, J.M. MacDonald proposed a set of characteristics that could predict future violent behaviors. His research consisted in making a connection between violent behaviors and characteristics such as cruelty to animals, fire setting and enuresis (bed wetting) past the age of five.

Katherine Ramsland, Ph.D and expert in forensic psychology, in her article "Triad of Evil: Do three simple behaviors predict the murder-prone child", describes how this "triad" of sociopathy came to life from a research that was made on a group that was "small and unrepresentative" and became a keystone of behavioral analysis when it was given credit by the FBI profilers, but still without conclusive empiric substance.

In a more recent study, Kori Ryan was able to contradict the previous studies. "Ryan performed the most extensive review of the literature to date and found little empirical support for the triad's predictive value." (Katherine Ramsland)

Let's study the elements of the triad separately:

- Fire setting: the fascination with setting fire can have several origins

*"Fire setting is, in its simplest form, an act of curiosity. Children strive to learn and do this by exploring their environment. Fire makes an attractive draw because of its beauty, color, movement, and mystery. This attraction is compounded by the ceremonial and celebratory ways in which we introduce it to children (birthday candles, holidays, religious ceremonies, etc.). I is also used for functional tasks by adults, but often not with an eye for safe practice (igniting cigarettes, barbecues, fireworks, etc.). As children learn they learn a great deal by what they see. They see fire as an integral part of our life, but often not something that their caregiver presents as a dangerous item. Without clear information to put fire into a proper perspective (a dangerous tool in the household), children may explore fire and ignition items without parental guidance. Children may not have a negative experience right away and continue to grow bolder in their experimentation. This can lead to more dangerous behaviors and increase the potential for problems." (source: http://www.sosfires.com/about-sosfires/understanding.php) 

* "Children who experience some type of stress or crisis in their lives may also turn to fire as an "acting-out behavior". In some ways, it may be a form of communication when they are otherwise not able to put their crisis into words or no one seems to be listening." (source: http://www.sosfires.com/about-sosfires/understanding.php) 

* According to "Singer and Hensley (2004), fires etting is theorized to be a less severe or first shot at releasing aggression. Extensive periods of humiliation have been found to be present in the childhoods of several adult serial killers. These repetitive episodes of humiliation can lead to feelings of frustration and anger, which need to somehow be released in order to return to a normal state of self-worth." (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macdonald_triad)

- Animal cruelty: it is also believed that many serial killers tend, before killing people, to kill animals as a "training and testing" phase of their fantasy. Children or teenagers building up anger, rage, and humiliation would take it out on animals as they are more easy to control to get back to the people who made them suffer.  "Wright and Hensley (2003) named three recurring themes in their study of five cases of serial murderers: as children they vented their frustrations because the person causing them anger or humiliation was too powerful to take down; they felt as if they regained some control and power over their lives through the torture and killing of the animals; they gained the power and control they needed to cause pain and suffering of a weaker, more vulnerable animal - escalating to humans in the future." (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macdonald_triad)

- Enuresis: "the idea that bedwetting has anything to do with psychological maladjustment, and certainly with later antisocial or violent tendencies, or plays some part in a triad of predictors, has been described as a destructive myth entirely discredited.... However, some authors continue to speculate that enuresis may be related to fire setting and animal cruelty in some way. One argument is that because persistent bed-wetting beyond the age of five can be humiliating for a child, especially if he or she is belittled by a parental figure or other adult as a result, this could cause the cild to use fire setting or cruelty to animals as an outlet for his or her frustration." (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macdonald_triad)

Without having any empirical study or statistics to confirm my statements, I still do believe that there is something interesting with this triad, but not the way it was presented until now. It is not because a person presents these three characteristics that he/she will become a violent sociopath, and at the other end, you can become a violent sociopath without presenting those signs.

These characteristics are consequences of deeper problems, not the root. It is like when you are sick: if you just focus of the symptoms you won't get rid of the problems, you need to tackle the origin of what causes theses symptoms. Of course many violent sociopath present these symptoms as they are the symptoms of deeper problems caused by abuse, humiliation, abandonment, rejection...

One statistics is certain without having to make extensive research: no serial killer was born and raised in a stable, loving and empowering family. So my opinion is that if you want to practice criminal behavior analysis, you should not rely on this triad, as it only focuses on possible symptoms caused by the real elements that should be studied, which are the real wounds that are created on the child's mind and how the child copes with these moral, emotional, physical and psychological wounds that are inflicted to him.

So as much many serial killers count fire setting in their resume, the act of setting fires cannot be, in itself, a precursor to violent behavior.

I think the main problem is that most of the studies in terms of bed-wetting, fire setting and animal cruelty are made on people who already committed offenses, and if we would ask the questions to a broader pool of people (offenders and non offenders), we could end up being surprised. Let me explain this by using myself as an example: I have always been attracted and fascinated by flames. Even though I have never pulled up the courage to set fire to more than a cigarette or a candle, I have always wondered how it would feel like to see the destructive power of fire. At the same time, when I was a child, I used to kill baby animals, not as a release of anger, but I wanted to take over the parent's job and feed them and having the pride of raising them from baby to adult birds and see them leave the nest. Although it seems kind of creepy to think about it now, I just wanted to do something good and be proud of myself, and instead I was killing baby animals (I do realize now how cruel that was). And I also suffered from enuresis even through my teenage years: I had, and sometime still have, a recurrent dream of having sexual intercourse, and at the same time as I was reaching an orgasm in the dream, I would wake up, but too late to reach the toilets. (Thank the gods, it happens rarely now, and I wake up soon enough to go to the toilets). 

After having said that, I am very far from being a serial killer, as it even is difficult for me to kill an insect. On the other hand, the serial killers presenting the three characteristics are rare, and there are even serial killers who present none of them. So I am wondering how the percentages presented by offenders in terms of the MacDonald Triad would fare if compared to the same studies made on the general population?

10 Traits of Serial Killers

This post is entirely originating from "The Serial Killer Files: the who, what, where, how and why of the world's most terrifying murders" from Harold Schelchter that I can only recommend to everyone. In his book, Harold Schlechter refers to a conference given by Robert Ressler and John Douglas (two notorious FBI special agents from the Behavioral Science Unit and pillars of offender profiling) during the 10th Triennal Meeting of the International Association of Forensic Sciences held at Oxford, England, in September 1984. These traits are the result of their study and analysis of 36 jailed offenders.

1) Most are single white males.

2) They tend to be smart, with an IQ of "bright normal".

3) Despite their intelligence, they do poorly in school, have spotty employment records, and generally end up as unskilled workers.

4) They come from deeply troubled families. Typically, they have been abandoned at an early age by their fathers and grow up in broken homes dominated by their mothers.

5) There is a long history of psychiatric problems, criminal behaviors and alcoholism in their families.

6) As children, they suffer significant abuse - sometimes psychological, sometimes physical, often sexual. Such brutal mistreatment instills them with profound feelings of humiliation and helplessness.

7) Because of their resentment toward their distant, absent, or abusive fathers, they have a great deal of trouble with male authority figures. Because they were dominated by their mothers, they have a powerful hostility towards women.

8 ) They manifest psychiatric problems at an early age and often spend time in institutions as children.

9) Because of their extreme social isolation and a general hatred of the world and everyone in it (including themselves), they often feel suicidal as teenagers.

10) They display a precaucious and abiding interest in deviant sexuality and are obsessed with fetishism, voyeurism, and violent pornography.

Personal note:

These traits represent a general image of serial killers, but it does not mean that every single serial killer presents these traits, nor that people who present these traits are or will be serial killers.

Serial Killer vs Mass Murderer vs Spree Killer

A serial killer is usually defined as a person who kills 3 or more people in 3 separate events with a "cooling off" period between the killings. The FBI profilers tend to disregard the "3 or more people" for good reasons. Indeed, some killers are caught after their first or second killing, but have characteristics that would indicate that they have the potential of killing more people (see Southeast Asia's Serial Killers part two). But in this definition, the separate events and the "cooling off" period are essential to consider a series of murders as serial killings. Often, but not always, there is a deep sexual element to the series. This element can be as obvious as the rape of the victim, or at the contrary subtle such as the sexual arousal of the offender in some other practices (sadism, necrophilia...).

Mass murderers are often depicted as "human time bombs". Rightly so, they are often people who literally see their lives completely fall apart (divorce or separation, loss of a job, humiliation or all the above) and are in a sense pushed to their limits. Humiliation and frustration in this case would lead to an overwhelming rage and the mass murderer would "explode in a burst of devastating violence that wipes out everyone within rage" (Harold Schlechter, The Serial Killer Files). Having lost total control over their lives, they start blaming everything and everyone for their failure, and decide to take down as many people as possible with them as a revenge to the harm that has been caused to him. Mass murderers are almost always commit suicide, either killing themselves, or committing "suicide by cop".

A spree killer kills 2 or more people in a short period of time, in different locations. As the mass murderer, he has suffered a major loss or a major humiliation, and is so enraged that he is pushed over the limit. The major motivators of spree killers are revenge against society or a desire to prove everyone that they should not be messed with.