Charles Lechmere: Prototypical Life of a Serial Killer

[Errata]

Can you name any that come close to the Ripper?

Zodiac.

One of the problems with serial killers who do stop is that they tend not to get caught, so we know nothing about them. Some of them are prolific or spectacular enough to earn a nickname, some aren't. Some only attain local fame. Middle Tennessee has three perennially unsolved serial cases, none have a nickname that I know of, and only one has bee active in the last five years. I could tell you about the bodies he leaves, but that's the only identifier I could give you. They don't even have a catchy moniker like "The Fort Campbell Killer" or whatever. And unless you know someone is law enforcement, you can't really look them up without searching every newspaper for the last 30 years, and since the victims are male prostitutes in the South, they don't even get press that often. It's a file in a cops drawer somewhere. No less terrifying or disgusting that the Ripper, just not as high profile.

[Harry D]

rader and kemper off the top of my head. probably a lot of the unsolved ones.

Rader I already covered.

Didn't Kemper "stop" by turning himself in? That more or less proves my point.

Besides, I acknowledged that some serial killers can stop of their own accord, but the Ripper was such a violent risktaker that I don't see how he was the kind of guy who could resume a normal life. Think of all the times Lechmere walked to work, day in, day out, for years on end exposing himself to the same stimuli that drove him to kill in the Autumn of 1888, but now we're supposed to accept that he was suddenly a changed man? Yeah right.

Or, you know... he wasn't the killer to start with?

[Abby Normal]

Zodiac.

One of the problems with serial killers who do stop is that they tend not to get caught, so we know nothing about them. Some of them are prolific or spectacular enough to earn a nickname, some aren't. Some only attain local fame. Middle Tennessee has three perennially unsolved serial cases, none have a nickname that I know of, and only one has bee active in the last five years. I could tell you about the bodies he leaves, but that's the only identifier I could give you. They don't even have a catchy moniker like "The Fort Campbell Killer" or whatever. And unless you know someone is law enforcement, you can't really look them up without searching every newspaper for the last 30 years, and since the victims are male prostitutes in the South, they don't even get press that often. It's a file in a cops drawer somewhere. No less terrifying or disgusting that the Ripper, just not as high profile.

Hi errata

I agree. But since the unsolved serial killers we don't really know for sure why they stopped I didn't list any of them (but mentioned it). But I agree. I think the zodiac probably just stopped. the monster of Florence too.

I'm back and forth on the original night stalker-he might have stopped also. but the violent extremely risky and escalating MO of him I think he was killed.
This guy would take on and torture females AND their male companions. I think he may have gotten shot during one of his break ins.

[Abby Normal]

But Kemper stopped because he was caught.

because he turned himself in.

[Abby Normal]

Yes because the MO's of the Torso Killer and the Ripper are identical. Yeah and plenty of serial killers similar to Jack have gone from being violent serial killers who mutilate post mortem to upstanding citizens.

there a lot closer than you think.

BTW I think Bury is a lot more viable suspect than lech-hes in my top five. But lech is not that bad of a suspect IMHO.

[Abby Normal]

Rader I already covered.

Didn't Kemper "stop" by turning himself in? That more or less proves my point.

Besides, I acknowledged that some serial killers can stop of their own accord, but the Ripper was such a violent risktaker that I don't see how he was the kind of guy who could resume a normal life. Think of all the times Lechmere walked to work, day in, day out, for years on end exposing himself to the same stimuli that drove him to kill in the Autumn of 1888, but now we're supposed to accept that he was suddenly a changed man? Yeah right.

Or, you know... he wasn't the killer to start with?

Of course. or he didn't stop, its just not associated with the ripper/torso crimes.

But it is challenge for the Lechmerians I agree. I don't have any problem with him as a family man though. I think that's the weakest argument against. MANY serial killers have turned out to be family men, had normal relationships etc..

[Errata]

because he turned himself in.

If there is one thing my recent research taught me, it's that there's actually a fair amount of serial killer/mutilators (sk/m) that turn themselves in. I think it is it's own profile, that there are types of sk/ms and one type walks into a cop shop with a severed breast in a ziploc baggie. It's not the only type of sk/m, but it is a well represented type. Completely different mentality, completely different psychology. So comparing Kemper to the Ripper may be really incorrect. Though I suspect it is fine, because I think Kemper's confession was self serving, not pathological.

[Abby Normal]

If there is one thing my recent research taught me, it's that there's actually a fair amount of serial killer/mutilators (sk/m) that turn themselves in. I think it is it's own profile, that there are types of sk/ms and one type walks into a cop shop with a severed breast in a ziploc baggie. It's not the only type of sk/m, but it is a well represented type. Completely different mentality, completely different psychology. So comparing Kemper to the Ripper may be really incorrect. Though I suspect it is fine, because I think Kemper's confession was self serving, not pathological.

agree. but my point is he stopped of his own accord. Not that he was killed or moved or was involuntarily incarcerated.

He stopped. or he stopped himself.

[Errata]

agree. but my point is he stopped of his own accord. Not that he was killed or moved or was involuntarily incarcerated.

He stopped. or he stopped himself.

He did.In a Freudian frenzy.

[Columbo]

Damaso,
You can place hundreds of people in Whitechapel. Charlie was on his way to work, what he did everyday, not deviating from his usual routine, when he had the bad luck to see a woman dead or dying and stopped like a concerned citizen to check her out. They say no good deed goes unpunished and that is true of poor Letchmere.

Can you name any of these sucessful socially intergrated serial killers who worked at the same job for years, the same wife,with large families, and no criminal convictions?

Miss Marple

The BTK Killer in America, Gary Ridgeway, to a large extent John Wayne Gacy(although he was arrested at one time) The Yorkshire Ripper. Most serial killers do hold jobs, have families, etc.

The biggest problem is that people think they know serial killers because of the FBI, profiling, etc. Profiling's basic foundation comes from discussions with serial killers and questionnaires they filled out. Are we to trust what they say?

As far as I know not one case was ever solved by profiling alone, or that it's ever contributed to the capture of a serial killer.

[Errata]

There is a very 70s/80s point of view where serial killers are essentially out of control addicts who cannot stop. That this represents the average serial killer. And it did, in the 70s and 80s when the science of profiling was just hitting it's groove. It also represented a lot of the serial killers from that era. Son of Sam, Bundy, Ridgeway. But we have more information now, and we have a lot more information on unsolved cases, and we know that the earlier model of the serial killer is not accurate. It can be. Any number of examples would prove that the assumption is still true for some serial killers. But we know that this isn't the representation of a serial killer today. We don't assign such models anymore. We don't accept these kinds of rules. Which is good. It leads to better research. But the old mode of thinking still lingers. Extra pernicious because it is sometimes absolutely true. It is one kind of killer. It is not all killers, and it never was.

[John Wheat]

If there is one thing my recent research taught me, it's that there's actually a fair amount of serial killer/mutilators (sk/m) that turn themselves in. I think it is it's own profile, that there are types of sk/ms and one type walks into a cop shop with a severed breast in a ziploc baggie. It's not the only type of sk/m, but it is a well represented type. Completely different mentality, completely different psychology. So comparing Kemper to the Ripper may be really incorrect. Though I suspect it is fine, because I think Kemper's confession was self serving, not pathological.

Surely that rules Bury in then.

[Errata]

Surely that rules Bury in then.

Probably not. The guys who turn themselves in pathologically like Bury appears to have done usually do i immediately after an escalation. So, two murders, third murder adds mutilation, they turn themselves in within a short period of time. Bury's wife is not an escalation of the Ripper murders, so it actually points to him possibly having a different series of murders. I'm sure there's more to it, I noted the trend, but didn't delve too deeply in it. It's probably worth a look, but gut for me says no. It was an escalation, just not from the Ripper killings.

[harry]

Cross cannot be presumed a serial killer.There is simply no evidence for it.
What we have is a person who leaves home to go to work,and must if he killed,have left home with the intention to kill,have formed an intention to kill after leaving home,or killed from a sudden impulse when meeting or in the presence of a victim,Nichols.
What kind of a killer is that? Can anyone state a comparison with any other killer?

[Columbo]

Cross cannot be presumed a serial killer.There is simply no evidence for it.
What we have is a person who leaves home to go to work,and must if he killed,have left home with the intention to kill,have formed an intention to kill after leaving home,or killed from a sudden impulse when meeting or in the presence of a victim,Nichols.
What kind of a killer is that? Can anyone state a comparison with any other killer?

How about every killer? Who knows what drives a person to do what they do? Gary Ridgeway tried to kill a friend in school because he wanted to know how it felt. John Wayne Gacy started out molesting teenage boys. He didn't kill every one of them that he molested. The Yorkshire ripper killed people on the way home from his job. Jeffrey Macdonald probably didn't plan to kill his family when he and his wife got into a fight. OJ on the other hand....

I would be very careful trying to read people's minds. We just don't know what prompts a person to kill unless the killer tells you and even that would be in question since most are lying narcissists.