Driving, Pseudo‐reality and the BTK: A Case Study

Abstract

The significance of occupational choice, in particular those that involve driving, has not yet been studied or investigated in relation to serial murder. This paper, which adopts a case study approach, attempts to shed light on how driving as an occupation may instrumentally influence the offending behaviour of one North American serial murdererDennis Rader. Attention is given towards how spending such significant amounts of time driving may have held deep psychological importance for Rader, with regard to the development of his offending-oriented fantasies. In particular, the "offending space model" is used to examine the relationship between 'thinking and doing'. In providing this microlevel analysis, we suggest that transient oriented occupations provide a rich array of practical advantages that may aid serial murderers in avoiding detection, whilst also holding deep psychological influence in the nurturing and development of their fantasies. Copyright

Benjamin’s ‘flâneur’ and serial murder: An ultra-realist literary case study of Levi Bellfield

“…There has been almost no scholarly research about the relationship between serial killing and driving as an occupation. Even so, it is clear that a considerable number of British serial killers were employed as drivers of some sort (Lynes and Wilson, 2015). Nor has there been much interest in applying literary criticism to gaining insight into the phenomenon of serial murder.…”

“…As demonstrated by the case study, Bellfield would leave his vehicle and travel by foot in order to attack his victims, before making a quick getaway by returning to his vehicle -his private interior world. As researched by Lynes and Wilson (2015) in their study on North American serial killer Dennis Radar -who also used a vehicle in both his occupation and offending -this private world is a place where Bellfield could indulge in his sexual fantasies, which have been discussed more generally as 'primitive lusts and brutish impulses in ways that might be unacceptable in reality' (Wilson, 1997: 28). It is in these moments shortly after attacking his victims that he would then return to the road and disappear into the masses.…”

“…With regard to the types of data collected, we had access to books (both scholarly and 'true crime'), contemporaneous and later newspaper articles and court transcripts. News articles were collected via Nexis, a search engine 'which houses all major British newspapers, including both national and regional titles ' (Yardley et al, 2014;Lynes and Wilson, 2015). True crime books also offered a means by which initial data could be further validated.…”

The Preference for Strangulation in a Sexually Motivated Serial Killer

“…The data were then cross referenced to other sources of information such as diaries, letters, an unpublished autobiography, and the killer’s confession, as well as witness statements given to police which are stored at the National Archives. Through that process, of triangulation, the veracity and accuracy of the data supplied by the killer could be assured (Lynes & Wilson, 2015).…”