This article has been written by Hiteshi Rangroo and Krupa Nishar from National Forensic Sciences University, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India.

Introduction to the concept of serial killers

The serial killer can be defined in a traditional way as a person who has a particular psychological motivation for killing the victim. The murders are committed in a unique pattern, fashion and way and each predator have a unique signature in killing that they are known for.  From a distance, a serial killer may look like a normal person, but they are actually very dangerous folks. A serial killer is somebody who kills multiple people over a large period of time. People have several questions as to how to identify a murderer. There is no one particular characteristic that all serial killers have. Each serial killer is different in their own way but all of them have similar characteristics.

Another definition by Seltzer (2013), a serial killer is described to be a distinctive, predictable behaviour pattern. These individuals’ actions are horrifyingly fascinating to those of us who cannot begin to comprehend why they do what they do. Most of the time, even the killer is sceptical about why he/she did what they did other than a burning, overwhelming desire to, mutilate, torture, harm, impose pain, and/or murder.

Woman as a serial Killer

Women serial killers seem to be excluded from society’s definition of a criminal (Herz and Kania (2002). The idea that a woman can be violent and criminal is at odds with the feminine role. (Herz and Kania 2002; Lee and Stevenson 2006; Islam et al. 2014)

The notion of female serial killers has not yet entered into our popular consciousness of fear, horror, or into our alarmed imagination in the similar menacing way that the notion of a male serial killer has. Female serial killers tend to be taken on the border of a humorous way or titillating for the people out there. Female serial killers are treated in funny ways because people still do not consider and process that women can commit such heinous crimes. 

Another reason why people have such notions is because of the portrayal of the female serial killer by the media, the internet, social media platforms, etc. For example, it can be considered in the case of the serial killer Ted Bundy whose killings were sexually driven and who was portrayed in the media as a charismatic and charming man and planned his killings to the smallest detail. However, on the other hand, the female serial killer Aileen Wuornos character in the movie Monster was represented as chaotic and her motives for committing serial murders were restrained to being merely financial.

It can also be seen in the manner we give names to male serial killers like Jack the ripper, Boston Strangler, Night Stalker, Bikini Killer, Cyanide Mohan, Nithari Killers etc. While with the female killers the monikers such as Lady Bluebeard, Giggling Grandma, Angel of Death, Barbie Killers, Cyanide Mallika, etc.

It, therefore, shows that we as people have not been taking female killers seriously.

There does not exist a single definition of a serial killer – whether a male or a female. Several experts have given numerous definitions in this subject matter, the definitions included so far in the book Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters (2004) are as follows:

1. A person (male/female) who murders at least 3 people in more than a time period of 30 days.
2. At least 2-fantasy driven compulsive homicides committed at different times and different locations in which there is not any association between the perpetrator and the victim and no material gains, with victims having characteristics in common.
3. Those who murder 2 or more victims, with an emotional cooling-off period between the homicides.
4. A person who over time commits at least 10 homicides. The killings are brutal, they are violent, but they are also ritualistic i.e., take on their own meanings for the serial predator.

In today’s time, these definitions of serial killings have been modified in some ways according to the change in the pattern of crime, the pattern of killings, the motive behind the killing and the external factors which result in the occurrence of crime.

However, if these definitions are put up particularly for the female serial killers there can be seen a change in the aspects of the given definitions. Female serial killers are not very brutal killers according to earlier studies they usually prefer a more silent way of killing their victim. 

According to a report from 2005 on serial homicide, a serial murderer selects victims based on availability, vulnerability, and desirability. Availability is primarily defined by the lifestyle of the victim or situations in which he/she is engaged that may provide the offender access for an attack.. Vulnerability is defined as the degree to which the victim is at-risk or vulnerable to attack by the offender. Desirability is highly subjective and is described as the attractiveness or appeal of the victim to the offender. Victim desirability may include characteristics such as race, ethnicity, gender, age, body type.

There is not necessarily a cooling period between the killings as the case of Cyanide Mallika can be taken as an example of the same. Hence, it can be said that the definitions which were given by several experts do not essentially apply in the context of defining female serial killers.

Classification Of female serial killer

According to Kelleher and Kelleher (1998),  a nine-point system of classification was established. While inherently subjective, his system was designed to specifically study the motivation of female serial killers. Kelleher’s categories are:

1. 1. The Black Widow – Black widows are killers who methodically kill numerous spouses, husbands, or other family members; they are clever, intelligent, cunning, highly organized, and plan their actions. Black widows use coaxing to attract their victims. Poison is the most frequent method of murder for black widows.
   2. The Angel of Death – Slays people who she is taking care of or people who count on her for support or medical care.
   3. The Sexual Predator – Perpetrates murderous acts sexual and erotic in nature.
   4. Revenge: Female revenge serial murderers are rare since most revenge killers engage in a one-time crime of passion. What differentiates revenge serial killers from others is that they are driven by a deeper, more tremendous anger, touching upon the pathological, to exact some sort of retaliation.
   5. Profit or Crime: Profit or crime killers are highly rational, highly intelligent, ingenious, and utterly without guilt. These killers may operate for broader crime organizations, or set up local scam ventures to cheat and kill victims.
   6. Unexplained: Unexplained killers are the catch all for those whose offenses cannot otherwise be justified by the culprits, nor by the law enforcement.
   7. Unsolved: Unsolved serial killer cases are those like the Zodiac Killer, or Jack the Ripper, where the crimes have perplexed officials for ages. Especially, these killers may or may not be female; however, there must be a relative belief that the murders were executed by a woman for them to fit in this type. While this may be hard to confirm, it may be sensible to assume a female offender in certain instances, notably in cases where the victims were children or the aged.
   8. Team Killer: According to Kelleher, team killers exemplify about ⅓ of all female serial killers and include three types: male-female, female-female, and family teams. Amongst these, male-female groups are the most common, and these teams often invoke a sexual element to their crimes. However, the women in this classification often never directly contribute to these murders.
   9. Question of sanity: These killers take part in random serial crimes without a clear motivation and are ultimately charged as legally insane, or their murders can be. Clearly correlated to a psychological disorder. While Kelleher identifies this as a completely distinctive classification, there may be some inherent overlap with other groups.

The study was given by Kelleher and Kelleher (1998) in the Indian context can be applied to an extent in the Indian society but there are loopholes in this categorization of female serial killers by Kelleher and Kelleher (1998). One of the loopholes is that these categories have overlapped each other in the context of the Indian female killers. Another loophole is that there is a need of the hour to find substitutes to the traditional serial killer typologies. It can also be said that these typographies do not reason for the relationship between victim and murderer, environment, or time and therefore are not reliable for profiling every female serial killer. 

Modus operandi of female serial killers

Modus operandi refers to the most common method which is adopted by a serial killer. The modus operandi is what the perpetrator must do in order to commit the offence.

A serial murderer will modify and enhance his MO to adapt to new situations or to integrate new abilities and evidence. For example, instead of using rope to tie up the target, the criminal may realize that it is simpler and more efficient to bring cuffs to the crime site. The MO of Jack the Ripper, for instance, was that he attacked prostitutes at night-time on the street using a knife.  

Hickey (1986) explored 34 cases of US female serial murderers active between 1795 and 1988. The average age of these women was 33 years and 6 were nurses. In about three-quarters, material gain seemed to have been one motive. Poisoning was the most common method of homicide and most women had killed people they knew.

The above-mentioned study shows that the female serial killers tend to keep the method of their killing i.e., their modus operandi quite low and covert. The female serial killers are efficient in their work and they typically use less messy and quieter methods for killing their victims. 

The most common method they use for murdering the victims are murder by poisoning them and other methods also include shooting the victims, stabbing them, killing the victims by suffocating and also by drowning the victims. The results of this study can be described appropriately in the background of today’s times and in the context of female serial killers. This study can be used in the coming times also as it aptly describes the motives and the modus operandi of the female serial perpetrators. The ways by which the killings are committed by the female killers are also aptly applied in today’s society all over the world,

Similarly, the study by Wilson and Hilton (1998) analysed 105 female serial killers. The study revealed that the preferred means of killing was poisoning and in these cases, the time between the first killing and apprehension was longer than when other methods of killing were used.

The study by Wilson and Hilton (1998) can be generalized more into the Indian trend of killings by female killers. There are many female killers in the country i.e., India who preferred poison as the preferred method of killing the victims. So, it can be aptly said that this study can be generalized to an extent into the Indian background. Examples of the female killers who used poison as the preferred method of killing their victims are- Cyanide Mallika, Jolly Joseph, etc.

Motives Of female serial killers

There are various stereotypes that consider that serial offenders are mostly men and women who are not able to commit such heinous offences such as murder, etc. 

However, on the contrary, the female serial killers certainly do exist in however their motivations are certainly different from the male serial killers. On one hand, the male serial killers are frequently driven by sexual drive, pleasure and lust drive, the female serial killer takes a more pragmatic approach towards the killings. Psychopathological attributes and accounts of childhood abuse are habitually found among the very few female serial murderers who have sexual or sadistic motives. Female serial killers are much more likely than males to kill for profit or revenge. Hence, female serial killers fall more into the category of hedonist comfort/pain killer than any other type.

A prominent exception to the typical characteristics of female serial murderers was the notorious highway prostitute, Aileen Wuornos, who killed outside instead of at home, used a gun as an alternative of poison, killed strangers instead of friends or family, and killed for personal gratification and vengeance.

The woman is said to be the epitome of love, care, and nurturance but it is not the case always and This holds pretty true in the case of female serial killers. There are several examples in the Indian scenario which also proves the fact that not only men but women become dangerous for society and cause social hazards. It is described in the table drawn below:

Conclusion

Society is most drawn to these monstrous beings because it feels like they are eyeing into the reflection of the darkest, deepest fragments of themselves. In a way, serial killers have become deadly creatures from years of loneliness and overthinking and psychic behaviour. There has been a notion in the society and world all-around which depicted a serial perpetrator as a deranged man, due to the flawed and paternalistic societal notion that women could not commit such crimes. 

Female murderers have always been held in particular fascination, possibly because women are looked upon as nurturers, the polar opposite of murders. In Indian society, women tend to commit such crimes as there is a prevalence of patriarchal society as compared to matriarchal one. Women tend to face abuse, violence, discrimination, pressure etc in the household, workplace, and other places. These conditions however when worsened may lead the women into committing crimes. The existence of the patriarchal society and male dominating society and the motive of revenge against them also has been shown in the killing’s trends of the female serial killers. 

It can, however, be concluded accordingly that there has been a sharp decline in serial killers whether male or female during the current era as there had been better updates in forensic science, the investigation techniques and the profiling means of the killers. Another reason can be that society has become safer as people are more aware and it is also possible that society has gotten better at detecting and reforming potential serial killers, especially in their youth. But at last, on contrary, it can be stated that only the devil knows. The ambiguity, in its own way, can chill the spine as much as any known killer’s dark deeds. Hence It will not be wrong to say that serial killers whether male or female do exist in current times too, but they are just less common now.

References

• Kelleher, M. D., & Kelleher, C. L. (1998). Murder most rare: The female serial killer. Westport, CT: Praeger.
• Harrison, M. A., Murphy, E. A., Ho, L. Y., Bowers, T. G., & Flaherty, C. V. (2015). Female serial killers in the United States: Means, motives, and makings. Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology, 26, 383–406. 
• Holmes, S. T., Hickey, E. W., & Holmes, R. M. (1991). Female serial murderesses: Constructing differentiating typologies. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 7, 245–256.
• Farrell, A. L., Keppel, R. D., & Titterington, V. B. (2011). Lethal ladies: Revisiting what we know about female serial murderers. Homicide Studies, 15, 228–252.
• Vronsky, P. 2004. Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters. New York: Berkley Books.
• Salman, A. An Insight into Female Serial Killers: A Product of Childhood Abuse and Trauma?.
• Rose, T. W. (2019). Black Widows, Sexual Predators, And The Reality Of Female Serial Killers. Plan II Honors Theses-Openly Available.

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