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Alexandra Johnson

Ms. Kane

RC1000

November 2019

Why Are You a Serial Killer?

All across America, people are fascinated with serial killers. Shows like ​60 Minutes on

CBS, ​and ​Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes,​ a documentary on Netflix, have all

sparked interest among Americans. The media has somewhat shone a light on certain serial killer

stories, as they make for great entertainment for certain audiences. Although films portray serial

killers as these naturally evil beings, often what is not exposed is their life before they ever

committed these crimes; their life as a child. What kind of childhood experiences lead to the

development of a murderer? Serial killers are the product of both childhood traumatic

experiences, as well as natural born illnesses.

A traumatic experience can be defined in many different ways. A traumatic experience

can be physical, or emotional and psychological. Events that happen one time, such as an

unexpected violent attack, an accident, or injury, are considered physical traumatic experiences.

Events that are on-going, never ending or seem to never end are considered emotional or

psychological traumas. This kind of trauma consists of things such as living in a crime-ridden

neighborhood, being bullied, or experiencing childhood neglect (Robinson). There are some

causes of traumatic experiences that are overlooked, such as the death of a close friend or family

member, a major surgery within the first three years of life, or an extremely humiliating

experience. These experiences are often overlooked because one may not be able to relate or
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understand why such an experience would cause permanent psychological and emotional

damage. Traumatic experiences can cause permanent damage to one’s self. These experiences

can cause problems, both physical and emotional, later in life. Symptoms of emotional and

physical trauma include: feeling sad or hopeless, shame, feeling disconnected, nightmares,

edginess and agitation, anger, irritability, and mood swings (Robinson). Those last three

symptoms in particular, anger, irritability, and mood swings, are common traits in serial killers.

To analyze the definition of childhood traumatic experiences more closely, the definition of

“childhood” is the period from birth to eighteen years of age. With that being a wide range of

time, the ages are broken up into sections, or certain stages of life. Infancy is considered from

birth to two years old, early childhood is three to eight years old, middle childhood is nine to

eleven years old, and adolescence is age twelve to eighteen years old. Different parts of the mind

and body grow during different stages of childhood. With that being acknowledged, the mind

and body are in vulnerable, developmental stages, where damage to the brain is more likely to

occur, permanent damage. Traumatic experiences in early childhood have substantial effects on

the brain, lasting well into adulthood, if not forever.

For example, the famous serial killer, Ted Bundy, showed signs of having experienced

trauma as a child through his evil, murderous, and obsessive ways. Bundy grew up thinking his

mother was his sister. His young mother, Louise, gave birth to him out of wedlock and

considered putting him up for adoption. However, her father, Bundy’s grandfather, insisted on

keeping him in the family (Kettler). For a time, Bundy’s grandfather and grandmother were his

parental figures. As a toddler, Bundy’s grandmother passed away, as she had struggled with

depression and agoraphobia. This death took a toll on Bundy and his relationship with his
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grandfather. Bundy was older by the time he discovered his “sister” was really his mother. This

was just the beginning of a very strange, corrupt childhood. Bundy was abused physically and

emotionally by his grandfather, who was said to have had a “raging temper” (Kettler). Bundy’s

grandfather set an example of violent acts, which Bundy took an interest in. Growing up with

this mentality of violence, Bundy was an extremely awkward child. He did not like to be social,

much less make friends. He did not understand the appeal of developing friendships or

relationships. He could not understand why people were attracted to each other. This lack of

social connections and interactions was the product of the damage in part of Bundy’s brain. The

underdevelopment of his amygdala, responsible for the development of emotions, social scripts,

and judgements was the reason for his awkwardness and lack of social understanding (Hari). By

the age of thirteen, in the midst of adolescent years, Bundy was exposed to pornography. He

became fascinated with it, as many teenage boys do, however, this fascination quickly turned

into an obsession. His obsession grew to violent pornography. The books and magazines he was

exposed to were much more graphic and explicit than anything anyone was reading at the time.

With Bundy’s family’s religious standpoint, pornography was a sin, so he had no prior

knowledge to the topic other than that it was sinful. With no guidance from an adult figure,

Bundy was left to his obsession. He continued to enjoy intense, violently sexual pornographic

forms of literature. In conclusion, the violence Bundy was exposed to as a child was a form of

trauma; trauma to the brain, emotionally, psychologically (Kettler).

The psychological trauma Bundy endured through violent acts of close family and violent

pornography as a child fueled his fate as a serial killer. Bundy killed over thirty women. Women

were his sexual target. As much evidence shows, Bundy’s teeth marks were left on many of his
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victims’ bodies. He was able to brutally murder all of his victims in a certain order: lure a

woman in by charm or sexual appeal, kidnap, rape, then strangle them to death. All murders were

committed violently and sexually. As stated earlier, this was a reflection of Bundy’s obession

with sexual violence as an adolescent (Deutsch).

Although there is much evidence backing the idea that serial killers are the product of

childhood traumatic experiences, there is also the argument that serial killers are naturally born,

evil murderers. For example, David Berkowitz is said to have been a killer created by “nature”.

He was brought up in a loving, caring, nurturing family with no outstanding abnormalities. His

family had no criminal backgrounds, nor mental illnesses. Berkowitz was brought up in a stable

family and home environment, without trauma. There was really no biological evidence that

could be displayed to explain the murderer he would turn into. The only explanation is that

Berkowitz was a natural killer. Despite his rather lavish home life and great family environment,

the mental disturbances he was born with made him become a serial killer. His explanation for

his killings was to “keep the demons quiet.” He was born with this mental illness that he could

not overcome. This mental illness was not something he controlled, nor did his family or

environment necessarily contribute to it. It was just something naturally in him (Salvatore).

Both Bundy and Berkowitz killed over thirty women. Their victims were all sexual

targets. Both of these serial killers received some sort of satisfaction by killing their victims.

Bundy, a sexual sort of satisfaction and Berkowitz, a satisfaction that the “demons” would finally

leave him alone. Although these two killers had similar outcomes from their murders, over thirty

women dead, they both had different motivations and different ways of getting to a certain

mental state. Bundy’s way was more of a “nurture” way, meaning experiences from the world, in
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his case, exposure to violent pornography, made him so sexually aggressive in his killings.

Berkowitz’s way was more of a “nature” way, meaning he was born with the intention to kill, as

he had mental battles with what he called “demons”.

One could argue that the idea of “nature vs nurture” both play a role in the development

of serial killers. Childhood traumatic experiences, as an example of “nurture” and natural born

illnesses, as an example of “nature,” can both be contributing factors that makeup a serial killer.

One could argue that Bundy was born with a mental illness and that trauma he experienced as a

child was just another factor that contributed to his illness. One could also argue that Berkowitz

had traumatic experiences as a child that has not yet been discovered, on top of the fact that he

had a natural born illness.

No one can be certain of the true reasons why serial killers kill or what leads to the

development of a murderer. Investigation of family history, both biologically and criminally, as

well as the investigation of the serial killers’ childhood experiences can be helpful in providing

reasoning.
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Bibliography

Hari, Riitta, et al. “Brain Basis of Human Social Interaction: From Concepts to Brain Imaging.”

​Physiological Reviews,​ 1 Apr. 2009,

physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/physrev.00041.2007.

Kettler, Sara. “Inside Ted Bundy's Troubled and Disturbing Childhood.” ​Biography.com​, A&E

Networks Television, 30 July 2019, www.biography.com/news/ted-bundy-childhood.

Lopez, Ed and Yang, Allie. “Timeline of Many of Ted Bundy's Brutal Crimes.” ​ABC News​,
ABC News Network, 15 Feb. 2019,

abcnews.go.com/US/timeline-ted-bundys-brutal-crimes/story?id=61077236.

Robinson, Lawrence, et al. “Emotional and Psychological Trauma.” ​HelpGuide.org,​ 11 June

2019,

www.helpguide.org/articles/ptsd-trauma/coping-with-emotional-and-psychological-traum
a.htm.

Salvatore, Taylor. “The Creation of a Serial Killer: Nature vs. Nurture.” ​The Undergraduate

Times,​ 2015,

ugtimes.com/2015/04/science/the-creation-of-a-serial-killer-nature-vs-nurture/.