Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters (82 page)

*
Kemper quotes repeatedly overlap a myriad of multiple sources, but the “head on the stick” remark has grown to mythical proportions in serial killer literature and culture. It even appears from the mouth of the homicidal protagonist in the movie
American Psycho,
based on the controversial book by Bret Easton Ellis, and may even appear in his book. (I have not read it.) Many years ago I read somewhere that Kemper made that remark to a
Cosmopolitan
magazine reporter interviewing him in the 1970s, but I have had no success in confirming this subsequently.

*
As his defense, Heidnik claimed that the women were already there when he moved into the house.

*
It’s remarkable how many cases of sexual murder occur precisely when the killer’s partner is giving birth to their child.

*
The book is published in the U.S. by the apocalyptic alternative publisher Adam Parfrey. See:
www.feralhouse.com
.

*
Although still often referred to as the BSU, it was actually later renamed as Behavioral Sciences Services (BSS), and the profiling section was renamed as the Investigative Support Unit. (One FBI agent said, “They wanted to take the B.S. out of profiling.”)

*
The paranoiac has a behavioral disorder, a type of neurosis, sometimes called a “persecution complex.” The paranoiac is often functional; he or she tends to exaggerate or distort actual events into a persecution scenario, but otherwise might be functioning normally. The paranoid, however, hallucinates his persecution complex and is totally immersed in his visions, which will be accompanied by a whole complex of other symptoms. The paranoid as a psychopath is nonfunctional, which is why it is rare for any psychopath serial killer to evade capture for any extended length of time. A sense of persecution by others is not the only symptom of the paranoiac and paranoid. A conviction that one is suffering from a disease, for example, is also a symptom of both disorders.

*
Experts are divided on the safety of sleeping with a loaded handgun under a pillow. There is always the risk that one can unintentionally grip and discharge the weapon while asleep or that children find the weapon if it is not securely put away every morning.

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