SERIAL KILLER METHODS OF DISPOSAL

Usually when you think of a serial killing you think about the fact that they killed. That is the main factor in serial killers, but once the killing part is out of the way the killer is faced with a decision. Should they eat the body, burn the body, bury the body, or just leave it where it dropped. For some serial killers, such as Ed Gein or Dennis Nilsen the corpse in front of them is their whole motivation. They will proceed to commit necrophilia or cannibalism at this point. The bodies will remain with them until they’ve completed what they started. After that they will be faced with disposal of what remains. For these types of killers the act of murder may or may not be enjoyable, but it is what necessary to get what they want. For other killers it is a completely different story. The corpse that stares back at them mockingly must be destroyed or hidden. Depending on how pre-meditated the murder was the killer may already have a selected location for the disposal. Other will make a hasty and shallow attempt at hiding or destroying the body. These types of killers have usually acted on impulse and once they murdered the individual they were in a hurry to resume their normal life. Still others such as John Wayne Gacy would keep their victims close by. It may be that they are lazy, stupid, or crazy or maybe it's because they want the bodies close by. Some killers actually prepare a location just for the disposal of their victims. H H Holmes kept his home/death factory in working order. One level of hell was for torture and death and another level was for dismemberment, burning or dissolving of the bodies. The Zodiac and Jack the Ripper, two unsolved murder mysteries left the bodies of their victim's right out in public because they wanted the bodies found. They would call in to police to be sure that the victim's mangled remains were discovered. Both killers probably felt as untouchable and lucky as they were.

Each and every case of murder is unique. Even in the case of a black widow who chooses the same types of victims and poison in each case you can find the inside story by studying the cases closely. For example, maybe in the first killing as an inexperienced killer she gives a fatal dose of the poison to a man she had intended on killing slowly. By her next killing she’s learned to lessen the dosage, but maybe this time it takes longer then she had expected. So on and so forth until she gets it perfect. You can see the way a killer perfects their methods of obtaining victims, killing them, and disposing of them. In some cases killers have out-smarted us so thoroughly that we have no idea how the victim was caught, killed or where the body is at.

Methods of disposal can be so important that some serial killers are known more for their chosen method of disposal than they are for the murders themselves. John George Haigh (The Acid Bath murderer) would dissolve the bodies of his victims in 40 gallon drums of sulfuric acid. Afterwards he’d dump the sludgy remains down a sewer drain. He was under the misconception that if no body could be found no conviction could be made. He was dead wrong. Besides, the police were able to retrieve 28 pounds of human fat, three gallstones, a piece of a foot, 18 bone fragments, and a pair of dentures. John George Haigh was hanged for his crimes.

John Reginald Christie kept one victim in his garden, two in a shed, his own wife under some floorboards, and three more female victims in a kitchen cupboard. Before he moved out he covered the cupboard with some wallpaper. The bodies were soon discovered when the new family started making renovations. Dean Corll rented out a boat house for his victims. Belle Gunness kept the dismembered remains of 12 victims on her farm. Fritz Harmann and Hans Grans sold bodies to the black market as meat during the depression. H H Holmes would occasionally sell his victims to medical schools.

Joe Ball, another killer famous for his chosen method of disposal ran a Bar/Restaurant with a rather unusual attraction out back. He had a manmade pond with five alligators. The regulars around town would get drunk and watch as Joe threw stray animals to his gators. The town's members could appreciate a good kill when it came to cats and dogs but after six waitresses and two ex wives went missing people began to wonder what he was really feeding his pets. When the detectives approached him in his Bar/Restaurant he blew his own brains out. His alligators were sent to the San Antonio Zoo. Hard as it may be to swallow, many killers have used animals to help them cover up their crimes. Many cannibals would throw the scraps they weren’t eating to the strays. In Canada in 2002, it was discovered that Robert Pickton had disposed of 18 prostitutes by feeding them to his pigs on his pig farm. He’d run their bodies through a wood chipper beforehand.

So obviously a killer's chosen method of disposal is very important when trying to learn about them. It can explain how resourceful, cunning and smart they are or it can tell how sick, twisted, and evil they are. In some cases it is hard to say which is the lesser of two evils, the murder or the means in which the body was handled afterwards. There really isn’t any proper way to dispose of a body after you’ve killed though. Ted Bundy left six of his victims lying in bed with their covers pulled up. They appeared to be fine until further inspection. However, the fact that their daughter was in bed looking cozy or peaceful was likely not much consolation to the fact that she was brutally murdered. The bottom line is that serial killers are deranged and everything they do will be just as deranged as they are themselves.