My research


By Iliana Yanakova

Note: These are my personal notes on the experiment at hand. They are by no means complete and by no means suited for scientific publication, but are posted here for information only.

The first phase:

In the first phase of my experiments, I interviewed a number of convicted serial killers, some of them awaiting execution on death row, some of them incarcerated for life. Exploring their psyche and their reasons for killing, I was able to identify a number of distinguishing factors that were common to most killers. I was interested only in factors that did not in themselves constitute illegal behaviour or acts – thus the factors usually used to identify psychopaths, such as being abused as children, torturing small animals, being violent towards others, addiction to illegal substances, etc., were disregarded in this study, as I wanted to see if potential serial killers could originate from within the law abiding segment of the population.

I interviewed 36 convicted killers. 32 of them all scored high on the traditional psychopath indicators (see for example http://faculty.ncwc.edu/TOConnor/301/psycpath.htm). 16 or the killers had no prior convictions and 10 of these apparently came from well functioning families, and had no record of abuse in their personal history. However, they all possessed at least three of my five identified indicators.

I subsequently interviewed 1036 law abiding citizens (i.e. subjects had no criminal record at all), selected at random amongst the population of the states along the east cost. The result was shocking. Even amongst people who had never committed a criminal act in their lives, or at least never been convicted of one, some of the traits were present in 76% of them. In 12% of the subjects, more than three traits were present. In 3% of the subjects, all traits were present.

Combining these two studies, it appears that 12% of the adult population (20% of males, 4% of females) are potential serial killers. This is in itself a scary discovery, but it does not answer the question of why and when a subject makes the transition between being a potential killer and actually killing another human being. What are the motivators and what are the moral inhibitors? And why or how do the motivators overcome the moral inhibitors?

The second phase:

To answer the questions raised above, more research was needed. I quickly realised that it was not enough to study convicted killers. Many of their memories had faded, and they were apparently prone to after-rationalisation as to their own feeling and motives for killing. I could not conduct the research by studying people who had killed some time in the past. To fully uncover the psychological process, I needed to study serial killers in the making – while they were actually taking the step from potential killers to real murderers.

When I realised what I had to do, I was both shocked and scared. Shocked because of the inhuman cruelty that I had to unleash in order to get to the bottom of my research – and scared because I did not immediately dismiss the idea. Maybe it is due to my romantic affiliation with Ivan Yanakova, my loyal husband through the past seven years. He is a kind and gentle man, but he is also the boss of the Russian mafia in all of North America. He has taught me that in some cases, determination and ambition should not be hindered by morals or law. Some objectives required unlawful or immoral behaviour, and I do consider my research to be of such great value that this minor problem should not be allowed to stop it. I may be judged by morals and law, but the scientific community will thank me for my research. Even if I’m convicted and executed for this criminal experiment, my research will live forever.

From the 124 people in my survey that possessed three or more of the indicative factors, I selected four people with different personal backgrounds and psychological makeups. In the second stage of my studies, I will present them with the possibility of killing young females. I will remove the inhibition of law, as this is a trivial one, and allow them to kill without the fear of judicial prosecution. Here my affiliation with Ivan Yanakova will prove to be of great value. If one of the four subjects decides to take the proposition, and go through with the killing of the designated female, I will be able to examine his/her motivations and how they overcome his/her moral inhibitors. If none of them choose to take advantage of the proposition, I shall be forced to abort the experiment and find a new group of subjects.

What makes a serial killer?:

During my studies, I identified the following five distinguishing traits or indicators:

  • Inclination to objectify women, either as sex-objects (mostly relevant to males), or as competitors/hate-objects (mostly relevant for females)
  • Addiction to a legal substance, such as alcohol, cigarettes, sleeping pills or various psychiatric medicine
  • Physical and/or emotional isolation from other people
  • Abnormal fascination by violence and/or death
  • Dissatisfaction with own place in life, unfulfilled hope or ambition, and/or recent or persistent betrayal of a spouse, close relative or intimate friend
As my research indicates, most people possess at least one of these traits. If three or more of these traits are possessed by the same individual, the risk of that person becoming a serial killer is significantly increased.

The ‘craft’ of killing:

Killing another human being requires both a psychological and physical act. The physical act involves physically killing the person. Some methods of killing require a more strenuous physical act than others. Manual strangulation, for example, requires a relative high level of physical effort, while shooting requires little effort. Some methods of killing become easier if the victim is constrained. With sufficient determination and planning, the physical act does not pose much of a problem, and thus does not act as a strong inhibitor.

The psychological act includes overcoming ones own moral inhibitors, such as compassion, empathy, guilt and fear of prosecution. This is usually much harder than the physical act, and only possible if the subject possesses an inclination towards killing.

Most of the serial killers I interviewed said that they were very scared the first time they killed. Even for the killer who has already overcome his/her moral inhibitors, standing face to face with death is an awe-inspiring experience. Doubt plagues the killer as the moral inhibitors struggle against the motivators. However, for each subsequent time that a murder is committed, it becomes easier and easier, and after 2-5 murders, the moral inhibitors are no longer active and the killer experiences only the motivators. The motivators are often so strong that the killer becomes addicted to this activity and a true serial killer is born.

Motivators:

There are several factors that may act as motivators for a serial killer. For some killers, only one motivator is present, while others experience a mix of motivators. Below are listed the most common motivators that I have encountered in my studies:

  • Hate/Revenge: The killer hates the victims, either women as a gender, or women with special characteristics, i.e. young, slander, blonde, or whatever. This is most often triggered by some perceived emotional betrayal in the killer’s background.
  • Power: The killer enjoys power killing, either the power s/he exerts over the victim or the power of ‘escaping death by playing cat-and-mouse with the police. This is most often triggered by dissatisfaction with the killers career or status in life, which causes him/her to crave a position of power
  • Intimacy: The killer seeks intimacy from the victim. The killer wishes to share the intense emotional stress of the victim, and to experience a phase of the victims life that s/he does not share with anyone else (i.e. death). This is most often triggered by an inability to connect emotionally with another human being under normal circumstances.
  • Sex: The killer wants to sexually exploit the victim, either while the victim is still alive or after the kill has been carried out. In this case, killing is more seen as a means to an end – for the rapist to ensure the silence of his/her victim, for the necrophiliac to produce a warm corpse. This is most often triggered by a sexually compulsive fixation.
  • Curiosity: The killer is curious about death and kills in order to explore how other people deal with the intense emotional and physical stress of death. The killer sees this as a way of coming to terms with his/her own mortality. This is most often triggered by an abnormal fear of death.
  • Fascination: As curiosity above, except that the killer has some special fascination with death – either psychological, philosophical or religious.
The passive participants:

For my experiment I will use unattached young ladies that will not be missed or mourned. This is done both for security reasons – such a girl is less likely to cause a large police investigation – but also because I want to minimise the agony and grief caused by my experiments. Though I’m first and foremost a scientist, I do have a conscience. Also, I do not have it in me to condemn an innocent woman to death, however, I have found a way around this issue, which opens up a further area of investigation.

It has been shown that quite ordinary people are willing to inflict serious, or even life-endangering pain on another human being, if s/he thinks that is expected of him/her – see for example the experiments by Milgram (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment). I will extend this concept, by the addition of what I have chosen to call ‘passive participants’ to the experiment.

When my husband identifies suitable young ladies for execution, through one of his many modelling agencies, I will allow perfect strangers to access a web-page, where they can choose between the girls. They will select one girl who will be offered for execution. Then they will select one of the active participants, who must then make up his/her mind whether s/he wants to kill the selected girl or not. Thus the passive participants actually play a huge part in condemning a healthy, innocnt, young girl to a painful and totally unjustifiable death. It will be interesting to see how many people are willing to use their personal preferences to pass ultimate judgement on another human being, who they select, and by what criteria they make their potentially fatal selection.

If you, dear reader, wishes to become such a passive participant, please read our guide – it will tell you exactly what to do.

The emotional process of dying:

Phase two of my studies do not only allow me the potential to explore further the motivators and inhibitors of serial killers, and the process by which the inhibitors are overcome by the motivators, it will also allow me to study the reaction of the victims, should any of the subjects choose to exploit the opportunity I give them.

Facing death at the hand of the killer, and actually experiencing ones own death, is one of the most intense and stressful events that a human being can possible encounter. Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, a Swiss psychiatrist did landmark work with the terminally ill patient in the 1960's which resulted in the establishment of a "cycle" that she found each patient went through upon learning of their imminent death:

  • The first reaction was shock. The universal first reaction to hearing the news was, "No."
  • The second stage that quickly followed was denial. "This can't be happening to me."
  • The third stage was anger. This anger was usually directed at God, nature, or luck, but needed to be understood by the family because it usually became directed at them at some point.
  • The fourth stage was bargaining. The patient typically hoped that God would extend their life or cure them in exchange for promised behavior.
  • The fifth stage was grieving. This is usually the longest lasting stage of the cycle and is marked by deep depression and mood changes.
  • The final stage was acceptance. Once this stage is reached, the patient usually used whatever time remaining to "put their house in order." There was a marked peace in the patient's mood. Death was not a feared event.
It will be interesting to explore how these stages exhibit themselves in the victim. The process of getting killed typically involves a much shorter timespan than the process of dying from a terminal disease. Will the stages be the same in this case? Will the short timespan mean that some stages are skipped or experienced in parallel? I will consider this topic as a small bonus to my original research idea.

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