Dennis Rader, Why did he quit?

[Ben]

Hi Blue Wizzard,

These killers do not stop altogether they just pause for a while.

Crucially, though, that doesn't mean that Rader necessarily took the conscious decision to "take time off" or "pause for a while". He could just as easily have resolved to stop for good, only to decide to start up again years later. Either way, it would still come under the canopy of "stopping".

Best regards,
Ben

[sdreid]

He did stop. Let's get real here. Years and years is not a pause unless he starts again and he didn't even though he had every opportunity. How long would he have to be stopped before it's official?

[Roy Corduroy]

Diana, your last post was very comprehensive and very good.

Another reason Rader stopped, or a least slowed way down is, he was getting older. After one of the earlier murders in which he had to struggle mightily with a young woman before she succumbed, he switched to older victims. His last several victims were older women.

The death penalty is not much of a deterrent in the US anymore. It is rarely sought by prosecution and rarely sentenced by a jury. The recent case in Atlanta is instructive. The man who killed the judge, court reporter, county sheriff, and another man. If ever there was a death penalty case this was it. But the prosecution, under Georgia law, is prohibited from barring prejudiced jurors. The defense put on a pity party during the sentencing phase and it worked. And, of the three jurors who would not vote death, one even refused to take part in deliberations. And there is nothing in Georgia law to make it so. So they are trying to change the law.

Trying to get a death penalty against this defendant in Atlanta, well you'd have better luck squeezing an 8 ball through a catheter.

Because the laws are so restrictive, the death penalty is asked for so rarely, so rarely given, and then, with appeals, the gap of time so long that it is carried out, it is hardly part of anyone's consciousness in the US. I imagine most of the tens of thousands of murderers do not even know if they are in a death penalty state or not. It's the last thing on their mind.

Roy

[BLUE WIZZARD]

Yes Ben,

I guess a temporary stop is better than no stop at all.

The urge never leaves them.

BW

The Sinfeld show had an episode, where they made a bet that they could control the urge not spank the monkey, it took one hour before Cramer put his money up saying he lost that bet.

[caz]

Hi All,

Time and time again we read about the homes of convicted serial killers revealing extremely significant bits and pieces, such as murder trophies, personal jottings, writings, scraps and cuttings, dubious reading material or outright porn, weapons, you name it. The homes of poor Colin Stagg and Barry George were considered to contain suspicious stuff, leading to their wrongful arrests.

So I can't help thinking that our Jacky Boy could have left a few suspicious worldly goods somewhere, that were never associated with him or his crimes when, for instance, he was taken into custody for another offence, sent to a workhouse or an asylum, had an accident or illness requiring hospitalisation, or died - with perhaps no opportunity to dispose of them himself.

The alternative is that he just wasn't the type to keep anything of the kind. But I'm not convinced that even the poorest church mouse of a ripper wouldn't have had somewhere to leave a few intensely personal belongings, to be found when he could no longer gain access to them for whatever reason.

Love,

Caz
X

[JSchmidt]

This reminds me of the case of the already mentioned Peter Kürten. Police thought there was a sudden stop in the murder series. But instead there were attacks where the victims managed to escape and did not report the attacks because they did not want any trouble with the police.

[protohistorian]

He was actively stalking another victim at the time of his arrest, and I believe he gave the stalking victim's name to the investigators. He said he had planned to kill the woman in October of 2005.

JM

Theres also the matter of linkage blindness. Authorities still have several open lines of inquiry regarding Rader. Once your world view gets twisted to that degree, returning to a normative state is nigh on impossible. He had other avenues of expression that were more legal, and no doubt used them, but normitive he is not.

[sdreid]

I don't know why Rader quit but, after watching that ridiculous news conference they put on to announce his arrest, it was easy to see why this Keystone Cops outfit couldn't solve the case until the guy practically turned himself in.

[protohistorian]

He did stop. Let's get real here. Years and years is not a pause unless he starts again and he didn't even though he had every opportunity. How long would he have to be stopped before it's official?

My understanding of the word stop is cessation. Any indulgence in the "stopped" behavior, voids the conditions of the word stop. The short of it is for ever.