Unit 8: Serial Killers

Question 1

Mass murder

Answer 1

• at least 3 victims
• one event
• one location
• no cooling off period

Question 2

Spree murder

Answer 2

• at least 3 victims
• at least 3 events
• at least 3 locations
• no cooling

Question 3

Serial murder

Answer 3

• at least 3 victims
• 3 events
• 3 locations
• yes cooling off period

Question 4

Myths about serial killers

Answer 4

• come from abusive backgrounds
• there is an epidemic of serial murder in the US
• abused animals and set fires as children
• kill for sex

Question 5

John Wayne gacy

Answer 5

• march 17,1942
• grew up: Chicago Il
• killed at least 33 individuals, most of them young men

Question 6

Gacy’s background

Answer 6

• father physically abusive
• father never displayed positive emotions towards his children
• physical maladies (issues), including seizures, fainting and heart difficulty

Question 7

Murders

Answer 7

• general MO
• would solicit a male late at night after works
• sexual relations would take place at Gacy’s Home
• victims were strangled, often using the “rope trick”
• victims were buried on Gacy’s property or in the crawl space under the home, or thrown into the Des Plaines River

Question 8

Gacy’s downfall

Answer 8

• arrested in 1978
• his lawyers attempted an insanity defense
• trial lasted 6 weeks
• convicted on all counts in 1980
• a death sentence was requested in 12 of the cases (those that took place 1977 and later)
• may 10, 1994

Question 9

Bio sources

Answer 9

-head trauma/brain damage or an extra chromosome may be underlying factors

Question 10

Psychological sources

Answer 10

-unresolved psychological conflict may be an underlying factor

Question 11

Sociological sources

Answer 11

-enviornmental factors may create a learning experience in which the individual understands how to use violence an becomes desensitized to its effects