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The woman died from 21 stab wounds to the lett side of the thorax and upper abdomen. Rape victim 10. The offender had decided to kill this woman, but her talking saved her life (“She told me her tather was dying of cancer’). Her talk evidently ‘neutralized his aggression due to his identification with the situation (“{ chought of my own brother who had cancer. | couldn’t kill her. She had ic bad already”). He threw her car keys out of che window and ran off into the woods. Murder victim 4, rape victim 11. The offender had decided to kill this woman. Her resistance and attempc to escape triggered his violence. She scratched me across the face. I got mad; she started to run. I got up from falling down and chased her. She can into a tree. I caught her. We wrestled, rolled over the embankment into the water. | landed with my face in the water.... That's where the idéa to drown her came. .-. She was fighting and she was strong but [| puc her head under the water and juse sat there with my hands on her neck. The cause of death was drowning. Murder victim 5, rape victim 12. This woman's talk led the offender to realize that she knew him. This knowledge escalated his fear of being apprehended and, in curn, led him to confess the 4 previous murders. The decision to kill was made quickly. We were walking along, through the culverts, under- neath the highway. That’s when I pulled out the knife and without €ven saying anything, | stabbed her ... maybe 50-100 times. He buried the victim's body in a shallow grave. Behavior Following the Murders Following each murder, the offender would usually take an item of jewelry from the woman’s body for a souvenir, go back to the woman's car and search through her purse for money, drive her car for an extended period of time, park the car several blocks from his apartment, return to his apartment and go to bed, and watch television and newspapers for reports about the discovery of the body. DISCUSSION Psychodynamics of Rape-Murder Some reports have suggested that rapists rarely murder (1) but that when they do, the motives are social rather than personal; that is, they murder to silence the victim and prevent detection (2). This motive differs from lust-murder, whereby sexuality and aggression fuse into a single psychological experi- ence known as sadism (3). Rada (4) argued, and we agree, that rapists are capable of murder but for 4 AM RESSLER, BURGESS, AND DOUGLAS different reasons than the lust-murderer. One reason, Rada suggested, is that in some rapists there appears to be a progressive increase in aggressive fantasies about women that over time may eventually lead co murder. The case we have reported suggests that for some rapists there is a progression in the offender's intent or decision making toward killing. With the first 3 mur- ders the offender made the decision to kill the women during the period he interacted with them, but in the last 2 murders, he decided ahead of time to kill chem. This case also suggests an additional dimension to motive in rape-murder. The modern view of rape regards it as an act of violence expressing power as one motive (5). We suggest that the psychological motive of power expands for the rapist-murderer from a need tor power over one person (“It was a real turn on to realize the victims weren't reporting or identifying me’) to a need for power over a collective group (“Pm too slick for them’) thac included the police, judges, psychiatrists, and psychologists. This case illustrates the influence of an individual's affective stace when combined with various degrees ot intent to commit murder. A review of the offender's last 6 offenses suggests thac 2 affective states may influence the decision to kill: Escalating the anger motive in the rapist may trigger aggressive behavior aimed at establishing dominance and authority, and stimulating fear and decreasing the power motive in the rapist may trigger aggressive behavior aimed a self-preservation (5). Interviewing Patients Charged with Crimes The fact that the offender was under psychiatric supervision when he committed most of his criminal acts suggests that close atrennion be paid to psychiatric interviewing techniques. We offer the following two suggestions. 1. When interviewing a patient who has been charged with crimes, one should pay careful attention to the deviant behavior and focus on all dimensions of the interactional aspects of the crime. If possible, and if it is within agency policy, one should gather supple- mentary data regarding the crime scene, the victim’s statements, police interviews, and official reports and talk with staff who have worked with the patient. These corroborating dara will lend a perspective other than the patient’s for assessment of and challenge to the patient. The interviewer should maintain a high index of suspicion when the patient denies committing or refuses to talk about the crime or deviant behavior and should consider the possibility chat he or she is concealing other secretive and dangerous behavior. A parallel can be drawn between the dynamics of sex and secrecy (6) and incest and treatment. 2. Rape and attempted rape behavior should be viewed as serious and chronic and thus repetitive. The interviewer should not assume that a patient with a history of sexual assault has committed it only the number of times for which he or she is charged. When