THE STRANGE ALLURE OF THOSE WHO KILL AND KILL AGAIN

A serial killer is frequently an unassuming everyman or everywoman who could easily be a next-door neighbor or co-worker. Such was the case of the late John Wayne Gacy, a prolific and psychopathic serial killer born in Chicago in 1942. He was named after his mother's favorite Hollywood movie star, the legendary John "The Duke" Wayne. As a young adult, the outgoing and sociable Gacy became a successful building contractor, husband, and father. He was well known and respected in his suburban Chicago community. He became heavily involved in local politics and was named a Jaycee (Junior Chamber of Commerce) "Man of the Year." He even escorted President Jimmy Carter's wife, Rosalynn, on one of her visits to Chicago.

John Wayne Gacy was also a ruthless predator who tortured, raped, and strangled thirty-three young men between 1972 and his arrest in 1978. He buried twenty-nine of his victims in a crawl space under his house. Gacy was caught after a surveillance detective assigned to the case noticed a suspicious smell emanating from a heating duct in Gacy's home. The floor boards of Gacy's house shook as forensic anthropologists attempted to excavate the twenty-nine bodies buried in the crawl space due to millions of worms that were feeding on the corpses. Gacy pled not guilty by reason of insanity but was determined to be legally sane by the court. He was convicted of the serial rape and murder of his victims and sentenced to death on March 13, 1980.

Gacy became known as "The Killer Clown" because his favorite pastime when he was not killing involved entertaining children at parties and hospitals dressed in a clown costume and full-face makeup. His clown alter ego was named Pogo. The late FBI profiler Robert Ressler, who interviewed Gacy after his conviction, said Gacy told him that his victims were "worthless little queers and punks." Ressler challenged him on that statement, asking "Aren't you a homosexual, too?" Gacy responded that his victims were young runaways while he was a respected and successful businessman. Gacy also explained that he was too busy at work to date and romance women following his divorce, so he settled for quick sex with transient young men. Unremorseful until the end, Gacy's final words before being executed by lethal injection on May 10, 1994, were, "Kiss my ass."

Serial killers tantalize, terrify, and entertain the public. Since at least the 1970s they have been frequent and chilling actors on center stage in the news and entertainment media. Massive and highly stylized news coverage of real-life serial killers such as David Berkowitz (the "Son of Sam"), Ted Bundy, and Jeffrey Dahmer transforms them into ghoulish popular culture celebrities. Similarly, fictional serial killers such as Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter in TheSilence of the Lambs and the "Tooth Fairy" in Red Dragon created by author Thomas Harris have also become popular culture icons. More recently, the tremendous success and acclaim of the Showtime television series Dexter and The Millennium Trilogy global media phenomenon based on author Stieg Larsson's book The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo demonstrate how eager the public is to be frightened by serial killers.

Interest in serial killers is hardly new. Public fascination with serial killers probably dates back to the late 1880s when a series of extremely brutal, unsolved prostitute murders occurred in the Whitechapel area of London, England, and those killings gained worldwide notoriety. In the fall of 1888, a series of five grotesque murders were committed in London by an unknown individual who legend has it called himself "Jack the Ripper" in letters he allegedly sent to the London police claiming credit for the crimes. Prior to the Jack the Ripper letters, the London newspapers called the unknown killer "Leather Apron" based on a suspicion that the killer was a local butcher. The following provides the unedited content from the most infamous of the letters allegedly written by Jack the Ripper:

Dear Boss,

I keep on hearing the police have caught me but they wont fix me just yet. I have laughed when they look so clever and talk about being on the right track. That joke about Leather Apron gave me real fits. I am down on whores and I shant quit ripping them till I do get buckled. Grand work the last job was. I gave the lady no time to squeal. How can they catch me now. I love my work and want to start again. You will soon hear of me with my funny little games. I saved some of the proper red stuff in a ginger beer bottle over the last job to write with but it went thick like glue and I cant use it. Red ink is fit enough I hope ha. ha. The next job I do I shall clip the ladys ears off and send to the police officers just for jolly wouldn't you. Keep this letter back till I do a bit more work, then give it out straight. My knife's so nice and sharp I want to get to work right away if I get a chance. Good luck. Yours truly,

Jack the Ripper

As noted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in its 2005 report titled Serial Murder: Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives for Investigators, the name Jack the Ripper has become synonymous with serial murder over the years. This case has spawned many legends and myths concerning serial homicide and the killers who commit them. More than 125 years after his killing spree abruptly ended without his capture, the murders of Jack the Ripper continue to haunt and tantalize the world. In many ways, the Ripper killings are the greatest unsolved "whodunit" mystery of all time. In the 1970s and 1980s the exploits of high-profile serial killers in the US such as the Green River Killer, Ted Bundy, and Jeffrey Dahmer rekindled public interest in serial murder, which then exploded after the 1991 release of the now classic Hollywood film The Silence of the Lambs and its sequels and prequels.

Today, when we hear a television news account of an unidentified serial killer on the loose somewhere, many of us have a mental image of a thirty-something-year-old white, male loner, who preys on unsuspecting, young female strangers. This popular image has been reinforced in the fictional portrayals of serial killers such as "Buffalo Bill" and the "Tooth Fairy" to such an extent that it has become a...