Michael D. Kelleher and C. L.

Kelleher created several categories to describe female

serial killers. They used the classifications of black widow, angel of death, sexual
predator, revenge, profit or crime, team killer, question of sanity, unexplained,
and unsolved. In using these categories, they observed that most women fell into
the categories of the black widow or team killer. [94] Although motivations for female
serial killers can include attention seeking, addiction, or the result of
psychopathological behavioral factors, [95] female serial killers are commonly
categorized as murdering men for material gain, usually being emotionally close to
their victims,[90] and generally needing to have a relationship with the victim,
[94]
hence the traditional cultural image of the "black widow".
The methods that female serial killers use for murder are frequently covert or low-
profile, such as murder by poison (the preferred choice for killing). [96] Other methods
used by female serial killers include shootings (used by 20%), suffocation (16%),
stabbing (11%), and drowning (5%).[95] They commit killings in specific places, such
as their home or a health-care facility, or at different locations within the same city
or state.[97] A notable exception to the typical characteristics of female serial killers
is Aileen Wuornos,[98] who killed outdoors instead of at home, used a gun instead of
poison, and killed strangers instead of friends or family. [99] One "analysis of 86
female serial killers from the United States found that the victims tended to be
spouses, children or the elderly".[94] Other studies indicate that since 1975,
increasingly strangers are marginally the most preferred victim of female serial
killers,[100] or that only 26% of female serial killers kill for material gain only.
[101]
Sources state that each killer will have her own proclivities, needs and triggers.
[102][94]
A review of the published literature on female serial murder stated that
"sexual or sadistic motives are believed to be extremely rare in female serial
murderers, and psychopathic traits and histories of childhood abuse have been
consistently reported in these women."[94]
A study by Eric W. Hickey (2010) of 64 female serial killers in the United States
indicated that sexual activity was one of several motives in 10% of the cases,
enjoyment in 11% and control in 14% and that 51% of all U.S. female serial killers
murdered at least one woman and 31% murdered at least one child. [103] In other
cases, women have been involved as an accomplice with a male serial killer as a
part of a serial killing team.[102][94] A 2015 study published in The Journal of Forensic
Psychiatry & Psychology found that the most common motive for female serial
killers was for financial gain and almost 40% of them had experienced some sort of
mental illness.[104]
Peter Vronsky in Female Serial Killers (2007) maintains that female serial killers
today often kill for the same reason males do: as a means of expressing rage and
control. He suggests that sometimes the theft of the victims' property by the female
"black widow" type serial killer appears to be for material gain, but really is akin to a
male serial killer's collecting of totems (souvenirs) from the victim as a way of
exerting continued control over the victim and reliving it. [105] By contrast, Hickey
states that although popular perception sees "black widow" female serial killers as
something of the Victorian past, in his statistical study of female serial killer cases
reported in the United States since 1826, approximately 75% occurred since 1950.
[106]

Elizabeth Báthory is sometimes cited as the most prolific female serial killer in all of
history. Formally countess Elizabeth Báthory de Ecsed (Báthory Erzsébet
in Hungarian, August 7, 1560 – August 21, 1614), she was a countess from the
renowned Báthory family. Before her husband's death, Elizabeth took great
pleasure in torturing the staff, by jamming pins under the servant's fingernails or
stripping servants and throwing them into the snow. [107] After her husband's death,
she and four collaborators were accused of torturing and killing hundreds of girls
and young women, with one witness attributing to them over 600 victims, though
the number for which they were convicted was 80. Elizabeth herself was neither
tried nor convicted. In 1610, however, she was imprisoned in the Csejte Castle,
where she remained bricked in a set of rooms until her death four years later. [108]
A 2010 article by Perri and Lichtenwald addressed some of the misconceptions
concerning female criminality.[109] In the article, Perri and Lichtenwald analyze the
current research regarding female psychopathy, including case studies of female
psychopathic killers featuring Munchausen syndrome by proxy, cesarean section
homicide, fraud detection homicide, female kill teams, and a female serial killer. [109]
Juvenile
[edit]
Juvenile serial killers are rare. There are three main categories that juvenile serial
killers can fit into: primary, maturing, and secondary killers. There have been
studies done to compare and contrast these three groups and to discover
similarities and differences between them. [110] Although these types of serial killers
are less common, oftentimes adult serial killers may make their debut at an early
age and it can be an opportunity for researchers to study what factors brought
about the behavior. While juvenile serial killers are rare, the youngest felon on
death row is a juvenile serial killer named Harvey Miguel Robinson who was 17 at
the time of his crimes and 18 at the time of his arrest. [111][112]
Ethnicity and demographics in the United States
[edit]
There is a myth that most serial killers are white males. [15] However, according to
the FBI, based on percentages of the U.S. population, white males are not more
likely than other races to be serial killers. [15] White males are actually greatly under-
represented among serial killers in proportion to their overall numbers in the United
States.[113] According to a 2016 study, since the year 2000, African Americans
accounted for roughly 60% of all serial killers in the United States. [113]
Anthony Walsh found that the prevalence of non-white serial killers has typically
been drastically underestimated in both professional research literature and the
mass media. Black males were over-represented among serial killers by a factor of
2.[114][115] Walsh argues that the popular media ignores black serial killers because of
a fear of allegations of racism, and that this may enable black serial killers to
operate more effectively, as their crimes do not get the same media attention as
the crimes of non-black serial killers.[114]
Motives
[edit]

According to psychiatric reports, Michael Maria Penttilä, the

so-called "serial strangler" reportedly admired the primordial, violent manhood of
her teenage years.[116]
The motives of serial killers are generally placed into four
categories: visionary, mission-oriented, hedonistic, and power or control; however,
the motives of any given killer may display considerable overlap among these
categories.[117]
Visionary
[edit]
Visionary serial killers suffer from psychotic breaks with reality,[118] sometimes
believing they are another person or are compelled to murder by entities such as
the Devil or God.[119] The two most common subgroups are "demon mandated" and
"God mandated".[51]
Herbert Mullin believed the American casualties in the Vietnam War were
preventing California from experiencing the Big One. As the war wound down, Mullin
claimed his father instructed him via telepathy to raise the number of "human
sacrifices to nature" to delay a catastrophic earthquake that would plunge California
into the ocean.[120] David Berkowitz ("Son of Sam") may also be an example of a
visionary serial killer, having claimed a demon transmitted orders through his
neighbor's dog and instructed him to commit murder. [121] Berkowitz later described
those claims as a hoax, as originally concluded by psychiatrist David Abrahamsen.
[122]

Mission-oriented
[edit]
Mission-oriented killers typically justify their acts as "ridding the world" of certain
types of people perceived as undesirable, such as the homeless, ex-
cons, homosexuals, drug users, prostitutes, or people of different ethnicity or
religion; however, they are generally not psychotic. [123] Some see themselves as
attempting to change society, often to cure a societal ill. [124]
An example of a mission-oriented killer would be Joseph Paul Franklin, an
American white supremacist who exclusively targeted Jewish, biracial, and African
American individuals for the purpose of inciting a "race war".[125][126] Saeed
Hanaei was a serial killer convicted of murdering at least sixteen women in his
native Iran, many of whom were sex workers. He reported his goal was to cleanse
his city of "moral corruption" and that his mission was sanctioned by God. [127]
Hedonistic
[edit]
This type of serial killer seeks thrills and derives pleasure and satisfaction from
killing, seeing people as expendable means to this goal. Forensic psychologists have
identified three subtypes of the hedonistic killer: "lust", "thrill", and "comfort". [128]
Lust
[edit]
Sex is the primary motive of lust killers, whether or not the victims are dead, and
fantasy plays a large role in their killings. [129] Their sexual gratification depends on
the amount of torture and mutilation they perform on their victims. The sexual
serial murderer has a psychological need to have absolute control, dominance, and
power over their victims, and the infliction of torture, pain, and ultimately death is
used in an attempt to fulfill their need. [130] They usually use weapons that require
close contact with the victims, such as knives or hands. As lust killers continue with
their murders, the time between killings decreases or the required level of
stimulation increases, sometimes both. [131]
Kenneth Bianchi, one of the "Hillside Stranglers", murdered women and girls of
different ages, races, and appearance because his sexual urges required different
types of stimulation and increasing intensity. [132] Jeffrey Dahmer searched for his
perfect fantasy lover—beautiful, submissive and eternal. As his desire increased, he
experimented with drugs, alcohol, and exotic sex. His increasing need for
stimulation was demonstrated by the dismemberment of victims, whose heads and
genitals he preserved, and by his attempts to create a "living zombie" under his
control (by pouring acid into a hole drilled into the victim's skull). [133]
Dahmer once said, "Lust played a big part of it. Control and lust. Once it happened
the first time, it just seemed like it had control of my life from there on in. The killing
was just a means to an end. That was the least satisfactory part. I didn't enjoy doing
that. That's why I tried to create living zombies with acid and the drill." He further
elaborated on this, also saying, "I wanted to see if it was possible to make—again, it
sounds really gross—uh, zombies, people that would not have a will of their own,
but would follow my instructions without resistance. So after that, I started using
the drilling technique."[134] He experimented with cannibalism to "ensure his victims
would always be a part of him".[135]
Thrill
[edit]
Main article: Thrill killing
Further information: Serial offender hunting patterns
The primary motive of a thrill killer is to induce pain or terror in their victims, which
provides stimulation and excitement for the killer. [129] They seek the adrenaline rush
provided by hunting and killing victims. Thrill killers murder only for the kill; usually,
the attack is not prolonged, and there is no sexual aspect. Usually, the victims are
strangers, although the killer may have followed them for a period of time. Thrill
killers can abstain from killing for long periods of time and become more successful
at killing as they refine their murder methods. Many attempt to commit the perfect
crime and believe they will not be caught.[136]
Robert Hansen took his victims to a secluded area, where he would let them loose
and then hunt and kill them.[137] In one of his letters to San Francisco Bay
Area newspapers in San Francisco, California, the Zodiac Killer wrote "[killing] gives
me the most thrilling experience it is even better than getting your rocks off with a
girl".[138] Carl Watts was described by a surviving victim as "excited and hyper and
clappin' and just making noises like he was excited, that this was gonna be fun"
during the 1982 attack.[139] Slashing, stabbing, hanging, drowning, asphyxiating, and
strangling were among the ways Watts killed. [140]