◆ SpookStack

Douglas et al.: Criminal Profiling from Crime Scene Analysis organize the information from Stage | and form an underlying decisional structure for profiling. Homicide Type and Style As noted in Table I, homicides are classified by type and style. A single homicide is one victim, one homicidal event; double homicide is two victims, one event, and in one location; and a triple homicide has three victims in one location during one event. Anything beyond three victims is classified a mass murder; that is, four or more victims in one location, and within one event. There are two types of mass murder: classic and family. A classic mass murder involves one person operating in one location at one period of time. That period of time could be minutes or hours and might even be days. The classic mass murderer is usually described as a mentally disordered individual whose problems have increased to the point that he acts against groups of people unrelated to these problems. He unleashes his hostility through shootings or stabbings. One classic mass murderer was Charles Whitman, the man who armed himself with boxes of ammunition, weapons, ropes, a radio, and food; barricaded himself on a tower in Austin, Texas; and opened fire for 90 minutes, killing 16 people and wounding over 30 others. He was stopped only when he was killed during an assault on the tower. James Huberty was another classic mass murderer. With a machine gun, he entered a fast food restaurant and killed and wounded many people. He also was killed at the site by responding police. More recently, Pennsylvania mass murderer Sylvia Seegrist (nicknamed Ms. Rambo for her military style clothing) was sentenced to life imprisonment for opening fire with a rifle at shoppers in a mall in October 1985, killing three and wounding seven. The second type of mass murder is family member murder. If more than three family members are killed and the perpetrator takes his own life, it is classified as a mass murder/suicide. Without the suicide and with four or more victims, the murder is called a family killing. Examples include John List, an insurance salesman who killed his entire family on November 9, 1972, in Westfield, New Jersey. The bodies of List’s wife and three children (ages 16, 15, and 13) were discovered in their front room, lying side by side on top of sleeping bags as if TABLE I Homicide Classification by Style and Type Style Single Double Triple Mass Spree Serial Number of | 2 3 4+ 2+ 34+ Victims Number of I 1 ] | 1 3+ Events Number of 1 1 1 1 2+ 3+ Locations Cool-Off N/A N/A N/A N/A No Yes Period BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES & THE LAW 14