Sexual Murder - Justicia Forense

Figure 8.3 Crime scene photo of woman whose vagina and reproductive systemwere carefully removed.The importance of fantasy can be seen in these ritualistic activities. Thedistinct signature of one individual is seen in Figure 8.3. Here, a youngwoman was killed by manual strangulation. Following her death, the offendercarefully cut out her vagina and reproductive system. This was not an impulsiveact; rather, the offender probably fantasized about this activity for yearsand finally carried it out. The suspect in this case was found guilty of killingseveral other women, but was never charged with the murder of the womanshown in Figure 8.3. At his home, investigators found several briefcases(which contained rope, duct tape, and surgical scalpels), along with a collectionof detective magazines.Hazelwood and Warren (2000) have differentiated the ritualistic offenderfrom the impulsive offender. The ritualistic murderer is characterized by “apervasive and defining fantasy life, and a carefully developed and executedset of crime scene behaviors” (p. 267) that are an outgrowth of his imaginings.The authors note that the impulsive offender, unlike the ritualistic offender,may be unaware that sexual fantasy underlies his criminal behavior. Theritualistic offender, however, will “invest a great amount of time in the pursuitof his fantasies” (p. 272).Hazelwood and Warren (1995) have identified five elements of the ritualisticoffender’s fantasy life: relational, paraphiliac, demographic, situational,and self-perceptual. “For example, a rope may have a relational component(i.e., date, sexual slave), a paraphiliac component (bondage, sadism, fetishism),a situational component (war, arrest), a self-perceptual component(powerful, God-like), and a demographic component (victim characteristics)”(p. 129). Many times one aspect of the fantasy is dominant. For example,the authors report the case of a 42-year-old male whose sexual fantasies