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Of course, those same trophies he confidently held on to eventually helped put Milat behind bars. "It's part of the psychopath's overconfidence - the belief they can fool everyone through manipulation or charm.”
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"It's not uncommon for to collect 'trophies' - holding something back from victims," Dr Kirchengast told the BBC in 2019, while discussing Milat, who killed several Australian backpackers and held onto their camping equipment.
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Other crime experts, like University of Sydney criminology expert Dr Tyrone Kirchengas, say the trophies are a sign of serial killers’ belief they won’t get caught.
#What makes a serial killer articles free#
Watch 'Mark Of A Serial Killer' In Our Free App By holding on to the bones (or even more disturbingly, eating the flesh), he said he was able to keep them from leaving him. However, Dahmer insisted part of the reason he kept the trophies - and part of the reason he killed in the first place - was his unrelenting fear of rejection. Dahmer, who kept skulls, body parts, and photos of his victims, admitted he took sexual pleasure in keeping the bodies of his victims, according to a 1991 New York Times article. Of course, some killers have expressed their own peculiar reasoning. She also noted that trophy-taking acts as “a signature” and becomes part of a killer’s murder ritual. Nicole Mott, the author of “Encyclopedia of Murder and Violent Crime,” agrees, emphasizing that the trophy is used to preserve the memory of the victims to aid in sexual acts. However, the end goal is the same, the authors note: It allows killers to feel powerful and relieve their crimes as a fantasy, making it a “fetish” object. A souvenir is an item used to fuel a fantasy, while a trophy is taken as proof of their skill. Ivan Milat, the Backpack Killer, kept sleeping bags belonging to his victims.īut why do killers do it? Well, there are all sorts of theories.įirst of all, the FBI distinguishes between “souvenirs” and “trophies,” according to “The A to Z Encyclopedia of Serial Killers,” a 1996 book by Harold Schecter and David Everitt. Others, like James Lloyd, collected high heels. Ed Gein even created lamp shades, corsets, and other furniture out of human flesh. Some collected body parts like bones, eyeballs, and fingernails (think Ed Kemper and Jeffrey Dahmer). Rifkin is not unique in that regard when it comes to serial killers, as shown in the latest season of “Mark of a Serial Killer,” starting Sunday, October 17 at 7/6c on Oxygen. Rifkin didn’t just strangle and sometimes dismember his victims, he also regularly took a “trophy” when he killed, according to a 1993 New York Times article. Was it a grandiose claim or the horrific truth?Īfter searching his Long Island home and uncovering a creepy stockpile of missing women’s IDs, credit cards, jewelry, and clothing, they had their answer. When Joel Rifkin, New York’s deadliest serial killer, confessed to 17 murders, police were stunned.