Sexual Homicide and Its Investigation: New Perspectives to Improve Police Practices

How to get away with (sexual) murder? Unraveling cold cases in sexual homicide using a hybrid modeling probabilistic approach

“…As discussed earlier, such a characteristic can increase the time before the discovery of the victim's body and significantly increase investigative work as the first 48 h after the commission of the crime are crucial (Reale & Beauregard, 2018). Additionally, moving the body to a different location than the crime scene prevents investigators from having quick and direct access to many crucial elements needed to reconstruct the crime scenario (Chai et al., 2020; Chopin & Beauregard, 2021b). Furthermore, cases involving victims who were stabbed, cut, or where evidence of overkill was identified also present challenges for investigators due to the excessive violence involved (Chopin & Beauregard, 2021a; Trojan et al., 2019).…”

“…Furthermore, cases involving victims who were stabbed, cut, or where evidence of overkill was identified also present challenges for investigators due to the excessive violence involved (Chopin & Beauregard, 2021a; Trojan et al., 2019). These factors add complexity to the establishment of a rationale for the perpetrator's criminal behavior, rendering the identification of priority investigative leads more challenging (Chopin & Beauregard, 2021b). The presence of weapons and associated violence is an important aspect to consider.…”

“…In this context, it is difficult to precisely trace the course of the crime between the moment of contact and the victim's death. Such sequencing of criminal timing has, however, been identified as fundamental in investigative work (Chopin & Beauregard, 2021b). For victims who were traveling on foot at the time of the assault, the possibility of opportunistic target selection by SH offenders makes establishing an investigative rationale, prioritizing investigative leads, and identifying priority suspects particularly complex.…”

Naked body disposal: an indicator of the type of sexual homicide

“…Scales that have been developed to measure sadism have included items related to the souvenirs or trophies taken by sexual sadists as a reminder of the murder, which in turn allows them to derive additional sexual pleasure from the memory of the events after they have happened (Chan, 2021; Myers et al , 2019). Furthermore, sadistic sexual offenders are known to engage in forensic countermeasures and detection avoidance strategies (Beauregard and Martineau, 2012; Beauregard and Proulx, 2002; Chopin and Beauregard, 2021b; Reale et al , 2020). The behaviors highlight their criminal expertise and sophistication that is demonstrated throughout their entire crime commission process.…”

“…Namely, the first criterion of attire or lack of attire is especially difficult to use alone due to the wide-ranging reasons a body may be found naked that are not sexual. The risk of error when investigating sexual crimes is exacerbated by their complexity and uniqueness, so validating the preexisting measures that are already used for these cases can assist in minimizing these errors and ensuring appropriate hypotheses are made (Chopin and Beauregard, 2021b).…”