Informative Speech

Darrin Brown

COMS100

Informative Speech

Introduction

1. You guys might have heard of people like; Jeffery Dahmer, or Ted Bundy, but you might not have heard of Pedro Alonso Lopez. He’s known for being one of the most evil serial killers in the entire world. He killed more than 300 girls across South America by luring them into secluded areas where he would torture and rape them. Well I’m going to take you inside the mind of a serial killer to look at what drives someone to commit these brutal murders. There are a few things to look at which includes: The characteristics of a serial killer, the motives or what drives this person, their history, and also the way the media portrays them.

Body

1. So what is a serial killer? According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a serial killing is defined as “The unlawful killing of two or more victims by the same offender or offenders, in separate events.” There’s no specific race, gender, or method of murder. Serial killers can be broken into three different categories.  

1. Medical

1. Someone being a part of the medical field who is “Usually highly intelligent and know how to carefully and cleverly conceal their murders.” This typically being in a hospital setting, because people usually pass away here, so it would look to initially be a natural cause of death.
2. These are also very rare to come across, but one of the most evil serial killers was an English Dr. Harold Shipman, who was responsible for more than 250 murders. He was even a well-respected person of the community who everyone had trusted.

1. The Organized Killer

1. The organized killer is the most difficult to actually identify and capture. Organized killers are highly intelligent and so well organized to the point being near perfect. They take the time to go through every single detail and plan everything out in advance. The killer also takes every, and any precaution so that they make sure to not leave any evidence that could be traced back to them.
2. They spend several days watching their victim to make sure that they chose a good target. The psychopath will usually come up with some sort of sympathetic way to pick up the victim in which they bring them to another location to commit the murder. Someone like this takes great pride in their work, so they’ll take every precaution to make sure the body isn’t found, until they want it to be. A motivating factor being that they want to see if they can stump the law enforcement officers who are working to solve the crime.

1. The disorganized killer

1. The disorganized killer is far less intelligent than the other two. These individuals rarely plan out the deaths of their victims. Most of the time, the people that they end up killing just end up being at the wrong place at the wrong time.
2. These serial killers strike at random times, or whenever an opportunity arises. No steps are taken to try and cover up any signs of their crime, and usually move to different locations frequently in order to avoid being captured. They’re known to be very anti-social, have no close friends or family, and don’t stay in one place for too long. Also, they end up not even remembering that they committed the crime, or they’ll confess saying that imaginary voices in their head made them do it.  

1. Motives of a serial killer depends on who does the killing, and why. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, motivations involved in serial killings are fears of rejection, power, and perfection.

1. The feeling of empowerment

1. The power to cause pain is the only power that matters, the power to kill and destroy, because if you can’t kill you are always subject to those who can. Killing is the only way that they can achieve these feelings of empowerment. Fear of rejection, and also power are major themes of most serial killings.
2. They look at a certain group of people such as women, or prostitutes as being “unclean”. Their way of making themselves feel better is by removing them will improve the world in some way. Or that killing those in some ritualistic way will help to redeem the person of their wrongdoing.

1. Addicted to the feeling

1. They rationalize every single bit and detail of the crime they commit so there is no reason in their head as why they should stop. They know exactly what they’re doing, the consequences, and how to avoid getting caught.
2. Having Serial killers know how to hide their rage and actual true intentions behind a charismatic and civilized person, or they like to call that “mask of sanity”. Even though they know the difference between right and wrong, they do not care and just lack the feeling or guilt or remorse when they kill.

1. Repeated Psychological trauma during the early stages of growing up can cause a child to seek relief through activities of violence such as killing small animals. Such trauma includes  

1. Moving

1. As a child Jeffrey Dahmer was a nice outgoing kid who got along with everyone. When he and his family moved, he became anti-social and did not get along with anyone at his new school. His parents fought often, and whenever they did, he would go to the woods where he would consider his place of escape where he would kill animals. He felt at peace when he was there. Ultimately he was deprived of human interaction and didn’t fully understand if what he was doing was right or wrong.

1. Crime captures the interest of many people. Some of you may have seen the show Dexter (Which was actually one of my favorite shows) which the main character is a serial killer who kills criminals. Serial killers receive extensive media coverage because it fascinates people more than a single murder.

1. Serial killing has become a popular feature of culture the past two decades

1. Lana Del Ray, who’s a popular artist released a song called Serial Killer where the lyrics almost glamorize murder, and the character of a serial killer. “So I murdered love in the night. Baby, I’m a sociopath, sweet serial killer. On the warpath, because I love you just a little too much. Sweet Serial killer. I left a love note, said you know I love the thrill of the rush.” (Lana Del Ray lyrics, 2013). Although lyrics aren’t meant to be taken seriously, you could argue how the lyrics paint a picture of how this “Iconic Dimension” of a serial killer can be connected to the image of love.
2. Referring back to the shower Dexter, who considers himself to be a “good” serial killer that only murders bad people who have committed bad offenses, such as murder. “I am a very neat monster. Neatness takes time, of course, but it’s worth it. Worth it to make the Dark Passenger happy, keep him quiet for another long while. Worth it just to do it right and tidy. Remove one more heap of mess from the world. A few more neatly wrapped bags of garbage and my one small corner of the world is a neater, happier place. A better place.”

1. All Serials Killers have an intricate way of thinking. They’re a normal person like you and I who have their problems. But the way they handle their issues and problems are what separates us from them. Having that basic knowledge of how they work can help to create a better understanding of why they do what they do.