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Controversy exists in the literature and society regarding what motivates serial sexual killers to commit their crimes. Hypotheses range from the seeking of sexual gratification to the achievement of power and control to the expression of anger. The authors provide theoretical, empirical, evolutionary, and physiological support for the argument that serial sexual murderers above all commit their crimes in pursuit of sadistic pleasure. The seeking of power and control over victims is believed to serve the two secondary purposes of heightening sexual arousal and ensuring victim presence for the crime. Anger is not considered a key component of these offenders' motivation due to its inhibitory physiological effect on sexual functioning. On the contrary, criminal investigations into serial sexual killings consistently reveal erotically charged crimes, with sexual motivation expressed either overtly or symbolically. Although anger may be correlated with serial sexual homicide offenders, as it is with criminal offenders in general, it is not causative. The authors further believe serial sexual murderers should be considered sex offenders. A significant proportion of them appear to have paraphilic disorders within the spectrum of sexual sadism. "sexual sadism, homicidal type" is proposed as a diagnostic subtype of sexual sadism applicable to many of these offenders, and a suggested modification of DSM criteria is presented.

Safarik et al. / HOMICIDE OF ELDERLY FEMALESThe FBI consults regularly on the investigation of extraordinarily violent and unusual homicide cases. Although overall awareness of elderly victimization throughout the United States has greatly increased over the past decade, little attention has been focused on elderly female victims of sexual homicides and the offenders who commit these crimes. Law enforcement agencies are often faced with rarely seen and excessively violent crime scenes as they attempt to solve these homicides. This in-depth study examines the characteristics of 128 elderly women who were murdered by 110 offenders as well as the characteristics of the attendant crime scenes. An empirical analysis of crime scene attributes, victim characteristics (including severity of victim injuries), and offender demographics produces significant predictive information about offender characteristics that may assist law enforcement investigations of such cases.A 77-year-old widow was sexually assaulted and murdered in her bedroom. The medical examiner identified three separate causes of death. The offender strangled the victim into unconsciousness, severely fractured her skull using a nearby clock he removed from the bedroom dresser, and then repeatedly stabbed her in the face, chest, and vagina with a butcher knife he 500 Authors' Note: The viewpoints expressed herein are solely those of the authors and do not reflect the official position of the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, or the University of Liverpool. The authors are particularly grateful to Alan Jacobson who offered editorial guidance on this manuscript. We also wish to thank both colleagues and anonymous reviewers for their detailed, constructive comments offered on earlier drafts. Finally, an earlier version of this work was presented at A 19-year-old offender, while walking by the apartment of a 76-year-old woman at 2 a.m., noticed a light on and began peeping through the windows. He saw her sitting alone watching television. He smashed out the front door window, reached in, and unlocked the door. He blitz attacked the victim, shattering her jaw as he knocked her unconscious to the floor. He ripped off her clothing, raped her vaginally, then anally, and finally assaulted her vaginally with an umbrella lying nearby. He used a piece of glass from the broken window to cut her throat. He returned to a friend's house covered in blood and told him he had just killed an "old lady." He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Case 3A 70-year-old woman was found dead, lying on her bed in a bloodspattered bedroom of a rural farm house. She suffered 28 stab wounds to the face, neck, and chest. The offender had pushed her night clothes above her breasts and spread her legs. She was nude except for the night shirt. After killing her, he placed a pillow over her face. No semen was located at the scene. Ten years later, investigators still pursue leads in this woman's death, and her daughters are haunted on a daily basis because the...

The empirical value of traditional measures related to homicide, the cause of death, and weapon use are well researched and documented in the literature. This research proposes new scale measures quantifying the degree of injury exhibited in homicide cases that can be used to further examine the dynamics of homicidal behavior. These scales are then tested in an examination of a limited set of data reflecting homicides of elderly women. Normally the purview of trauma studies, where the use of injury scales to assess patient survivability is known, homicidal injury is examined using a similar method as a means for exploring offender and crime scene variables. As proposed here, these injury scales may also prove to be useful in furthering other areas of homicide research.

The purpose of criminal investigative analysis is to assist law enforcement in identifying and apprehending violent offenders by identifying important suspect and crime scene characteristcs. The genesis of criminal investigative analysis grew out of micro-level reviews of unusually violent crime cases. Although the descriptive terminology used to identify the process has changed over the years, the process of assessing violent criminal behavior has not. Lack of agreement as to what constitutes criminal investigative analysis has also led some to view the process as more art than science. In an effort to clarify some of these issues, an analysis of cases of serial sexual homicides of elderly women is conducted. Although the sexual homicide of elderly women represents a small percentage of overall homicides in the United States, the authors provide empirical evidence supporting the use of criminal investigative analysis in solving these unusual cases. The FBI regularly consults on various types of violent homicide cases using this methodology and valuable investigative information often is yielded in other cases as well.

Filicide is the purposeful killing of one or more children by a parent, step-parent, or other parental figure. Revenge filicide is a poorly understood, rare form of filicide in which a parent murders their child to cause emotional harm to the child's other parent. This descriptive study presents an international case series consisting of 62 revenge filicide cases from nine countries. Perpetrators were about equally likely to be male or female. Over half of the sample had an active mental disorder of any type, most often a personality disorder. A history of domestic violence was common. The mean victim age was 6 years. They were typically killed by asphyxiation, firearms, or knives, and preschool age children were targeted most frequently. In half of the cases, more than one child was murdered. Post-crime suicidal behavior was commonplace, and one-third of the sample died by suicide. Four revenge filicide subtypes were identified: rejection, custody/visitation dispute, infidelity/jealousy, and argument/conflict. These categories may prove useful in future research and for helping to identify children at high risk of becoming filicide victims. All surviving offenders were criminally convicted, and in only one case was a mental health defense successful in lessening culpability. Notable similarities and differences between the US and international cases are discussed.

Recent research has expanded our understanding of sexual homicide offenders (SHOs). However, little exists beyond case reports for older SHOs. We characterized male SHOs ≥ 55 years, comparing them to typical adult male SHOs who are in their twenties. Analysis of 37 years (1976–2012) of U.S. Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHR) data provided a large SHO sample (N = 3, 453). Three case reports provide clinical context for the diverse nature and patterns of older SHOs. Only 32 older male SHOs and no older female SHOs were identified. Murders by older SHOs accounted for only 0.5% of U.S. sexual homicides. Unlike typical SHOs that generally target young adult females, over two thirds of older SHO victims were ≥ 40 years, and one-third were ≥ 55 years. Sexual homicides by older SHOs, like sexual homicide in general, decreased over the study period. These crimes, while exceedingly rare, do occur, warranting special consideration.

As the investigation and prosecution of sexual homicide cases becomes increasing complex, law enforcement agencies are utilizing alternative avenues of investigative assistance. In 2004, the Oakland County, Michigan Sheriff's Office was faced with the horrific sexual assault and murder of an elderly woman. Although familiar with violent crime, this extremely violent and unusual case motivated the police to enlist the help of forensic scientists and FBI violent crime researchers to assist their investigation. This partnership led to the successful investigation and prosecution of the offender and serves as a model for law enforcement agencies willing to consider using additional available resources in order to successfully resolve unusual and extraordinarily violent sexual crimes.