Loden Malone

UWRT 1102
Mrs. Thomas
10/19/15
Annotated Bibliography
Reflection- This book will be very useful for my paper, because it has many serial killers
that Ive never heard about. Im going to use this to look more in depth about these serial
killers. Its a big book so I plan on just skimming and jumping around it, to look for
things that back up my inquiry.
1.
Giannangelo, Stephen J. The Psychopathology of Serial Murder: A Theory of Violence.
Westport, CT: Praeger, 1996. Print.

The Psychopathology of Serial Murder: A Theory of Violence, begins by stating

how a serial murder is identified. A renowned specialist on the crime of serial homicide,
Steven Egger, defines a serial killer as; ...one or more individuals (males, in most known
cases) commits a second murder and/or subsequent murder; is relationshipless (no prior
relationship between victim and attacker); is at a different time and has no connection to
the initial murder; and is usually committed in a different geographic location. Further,
the motive is not for material gain and is believed to be for the murderers desire to have
power over his victim (as qtd. by Giannagelo 4). After understanding how a serial killer
is perceived, Giannagelo gives different serial killer traits, a few include: impulsivity,
failure to accept responsibility for actions, and chronic feelings of emptiness. This book

has four case studies of serial killers and it goes in depth about the psychological factors,
environmental traumas, early antisocial behavior and prior crimes. It then leads into the
gruesome murders that were committed.
Stephen J. Giannangelo (the author) is a special agent who works with the Illinois
Department of Revenue's Bureau of Criminal Investigation. He is a member of the
Illinois State Police Task force on financial and white-collar crimes. Giannangelo holds a
master's degree in forensic psychology from the University of Illinois at Springfield. As a
published author, other work includes: Real-Life Monsters: A Psychological Examination
of the Serial Murderer. He is considered a criminologist and is a credible source in this
field. This book is written with the intent to explain to the readers the pathology of a
serial killer.
I plan on using it as a reference because each of these killers mentioned in his
book grew up in bad/troubled homes making it easy for me to build my case of nurture
making a psychopath. This book has both clinical diagnosis and serial killer traits but also
has the background and development of the serial killer. Then there is Henry Lee Lucas,
who was forced to watch his mother have sex with various men, was beaten mercilessly
daily, made to eat from the floor and was brought up as a girl until the age of 7, wearing
long hair and a dress (Gianngelo 27). This book will be extremely helpful to use as a
starting point when researching about serial killers, because theres an array of
psychopaths I had never even heard about before.

A defective sense of identity and extreme instability (Gianngelo, 11).

The person has experienced an event outside the range of usual human
experience and that would be remarkedly distressing to almost anyone
(Gianngelo 16).

Kempers environment was the most obvisous dimension of his

development. The product of a broken and abusive home, he was belittled
by a shrewish mother, who occasionally locked him in the basement when
he failed to meet her standards of behavior (Gianngelo, 74).

Reflection- this video was very interesting because it has actual footage of Richard Speck
answering questions. This is going to work perfectly for my paper because it has a man
who was pushed away and eventually became a monster. Next I need to find out if he was
ever diagnosed with a disease or syndrome during trail, or if he was nurtured into the
killer he was.
2.
Investigative Reports. Prod. Patrick Bachmann. Perf. Richard Speck. A& E Home Video,
1996. Youtube.

This documentary is about the murderer Richard Speck. The video has his life story,
which I will use in my paper to define either nature or nurture making him into the
monster was. There is also real footage of Richard Speck while in prison talking about
the murders he had committed and showing no remorse. BIO (short for biography, is a
television show) has examined his life of crimes and trail and documents his actions.
Richard Benjamin Speck was born on December 6, 1941, in Kirkwood, Illinois. He was
the seventh of eight children. The family was very religious and God-loving. Bachmann,
the narrator of this documentary explains: After the death of his father when Speck was

six, his mother remarried, moving the family to Dallas, Texas. The children suffered
considerable abuse at the hands of their drunken stepfather, and Speck's childhood was
marked by juvenile delinquency and alcohol abuse, which soon led to petty crime.

Howd you feel after killings those ladies? Richard responds, Like I always
felt. Had no feeling (speck, 1996). This video shows that Richard Speck was

a killer by nurture.
She was always flirting with me, she was the last one to go. I knew I had all the
time in the world. I stuck the goddamn pistol underneath her jaw cocked it and
said get naked, bitch (he beggings to chuckle) (Speck, 1996). Speck released
all of his anger on Gloria Davey, all of the built up lifetime of rage and hatred for
women, especially his mother.

This video was hard to watch at times because of the severity of Richards gruesome
murders, but for other students interested in serial murders- this will be a great reference
because actual footage of Richard Speck is included.

Reflection- This peer reviewed journal article is very useful for my thesis paper. I am
using some direct quotes about the childhood traumas and environmental factors that
these serial killers went through. From this article, I now have two more serial killers to
research more in depth about.
3.
JournalofForensicSciences52.1(2007):199203.WileyOnlineLibrary.Web.26Oct.2015.

Paths to Destruction: The Lives and Crimes of Two Serial Killers is a peer

reviewed journal article written by Dr. Barbra Wolf and Dr. Wendy Lavezzi. Dr. Barbra
Wolf is a recognized doctor, scientist and detective in her job as a forensic pathologist.
Dr. Wendy Lavezzi is a deputy chief medical examiner in Leesburg, Florida. She is also a
expert in forensic pathology who has given lectures and seminars at the United States and
Canadian Academy of Pathology. This article has two cases of serial killers, and their
paths to destruction. The first case is of Gary Evan, who was born on October 7, 1954 in
Troy, NY. As is the case with many budding criminals, his childhood was less than
perfect. Both of his parents were alcoholics and he was physically and emotionally
abused (Lavezzi). This abuse and neglect later led him to begin to kill at the young age
of thirteen, Evans was something of a daredevil as a youth and was known to kill
neighborhood cats (Lavezzi).
This is going to be a very good article to use because the two cases back up my
case for how a serial killer is nurtured into the horrible monster they become. The article
has led me into more discoveries of two serial killers I have never heard about. Every
student who wants to learn about the paths to destruction should read this article. Its very
useful. The read is very easy to understand and straightforward.

Reflection- This is a pretty long book, so I am just going to skim through it and use what
I need. This book is the first reference I am using that shows the nature part of my thesis
paper. After reading this, I was use my findings to go more in depth about how a killer
may be destined to kill from the moment they were born.
4.

Dobbert, Dave. Psychopathy, Perversion, and Lust Homicide: Recognizing the Mental
Disorders That Power Serial Killers. Santa Barbara, Calif: Praeger/ABC-CLIO,
2009. Print.

Internationally known Forensic Psychologist Duane Dobbert wrote the book

Psychopathy, perversion, and lust homicide: recognizing the mental disorders that power
serial killers. Dobbert explains within his book that in the years prior to any crimes
committed these human beings exhibited behaviors of certain mental and sexual disorders
that fueled these horrific murderers. Theres evidence from Herman Mudgett, and more
known sociopaths like Jeffrey Dahmer. Dobbert's analysis covers 13 killers from
Herman Mudgett, who confessed to 27 murders in the late 1800s, to Jeffrey Dahmer, who
killed 17 young men and boys between 1978 and 1991-looks at their early lives and
development of Antisocial Personality Disorder, as well as sexual disorders including
sexual sadism and necrophilia (Dobbert).
This book will help me to examine the more mental side of my thesis question.
Theres a lot of great information about serial killers mental side, which I had never even
heard about. Each of these killers have a unique psychological development, but all
demonstrated early the patterned behavior of psychopathy and sexual disorder, explains
Dobbert.
This was a pretty easy book to read, there are disorders that I have no knowledge
about, and had to read more to learn about them. I hope that my classmates can read parts
of this book, because it is extremely interesting.

Reflection- This was the perfect article for me to find, because now I have the second
side to my argument. This article was about being born to kill, and how they were
predestined to become a serial killer. It was a pretty hard article to read, because there
were a ton of huge words that I didnt understand or had never heard of. It took me a
while and I had to reread it a few times, but its definitely perfect for my thesis.
5.
Allely,ClareS.,HelenMinnis,LucyThompson,PhillipWilson,andChristopher
Gillberg."NeurodevelopmentalandPsychosocialRiskFactorsinSerialKillers
andMassMurderers."ResearchGate.Elsevier,18Apr.2014.Web.05Nov.
2015.

All of these authors are professors in Scotland and have studied

neurodevelopmental and psychosocial factors in serial killers, together they wrote this
peer-review article. Autism spectrum disorder is characterized by Persistent deficits in
social communication and social interaction across multiple contexts; Restricted,
repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities; Symptoms must be present in the
early developmental period (typically recognized in the first two years of life); and,
Symptoms cause clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other
important areas of current functioning. The findings written within this article say that
more that 49 % of the killers they studied were in fact on the Autism Spectrum. Autism is
something that you are born with and must deal with throughout your life. Although
various neurodevelopmental factors could be implicated in the etiology of serial/mass
killing, most research and speculation has centered around the role of ASD (Allely).

This article is going to help me have the second side to my argument. Everything
that Ive found so far says that serial killers are nurtured into these mass killings. This
article shows the side that someone can be born with a disorder that leads them to have
such bad social skills that they eventual kill.
This article was pretty hard to read and decipher because so much of it was words
that I had to look up to be able to understand. Words like Monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) is an enzyme involved in the metabolism of neuroepinphrine, serotonin and
dopamine and its levels are genetically determined (Allely). Men with low MAOA
activity are three times more likely to be convicted of a violent crime by the
time they are 26 years old than men with high MAO-A activity (Allely). This article has
made a few good points that I can now go off of and get more information about to back
up the other side of my argument.

Reflection- this was a great article to find! It had both sides pitted up against each other
and showed me, how I would let to set up my thesis paper. I am going to use a lot of
research from this article because it is my exact thesis question. Everyone should try and
read this article, because its extremely interesting!
6.
Bromberg,Walter."SerialKillers:Naturevs.Nurture."AmericanAcademyofExpertsin
TraumaticStress.AmericanAcademyofExpertsinTraumaticStress,n.d.Web.
09Nov.2015.
This web article is credible because its the database used to find out information
about Traumatic Stress. This specific article is called Serial Killers: Nature Vs. Nurture

and presents findings on both sides of the argument. Back in 2000 a report that was
published in Science by Dr. Richard Davidson at the University of Wisconsin at Madison
compared brain scans of more then five hundred people between those who were prone to
violence and those who were considered to be normal. The study found that the brain
images of those who had been convicted of a murder with aggressive or antisocial
disorders showed distinct brain activity compared to those who were considered normal.
If this study is correct then these murderers must have been born with an entirely
different genetic makeup then that of those in the majority of the population who are not
violent (Bromberg). The article goes into depth about the orbital frontal cortex, which
has been found to control and restrain emotional outburst and acts of aggression. Serial
killers may be influenced by the culture that they are surrounded by, but those who can
affect their thoughts do not have control over the reactions to ideas that are apart of our
DNA (Bromberg). This article talked about both nature vs. nurture and while both sides
have valid points, I think that it might take a little bit of both, for someone to become a
serial killer. Naturally we are all born with a different genetic make up but many argue
that differences in DNA do not create a psychokiller. The main focus of many
criminologists and psychologists are the origins and the surroundings of these killers
childhood (Bromberg).
This article is pretty much my thesis paper. It has both sides of the argument, and
I am going to use it, to show both sides of the argument within my thesis. A definite
answer, nature vs. nurture will never be a concrete one. I think that each person will make
up his or her own mind when deciding. Evidence is shown for both sides, but I believe
after reading this article that both are definitely a factor.

This was a very easy article to read and understand. It had a lot of criminologists,
psychologists and scientist that I will look into more, and be able to find more research
on. My next step will be to look up these certain experts and see what else they have to
say, that was left out of this article.

Reflection- Im extremely happy to have been able to find this documentary. It was really
sad and hard to watch, but will be very useful to use for within my thesis. Nilsesn had a
loving family but after the death of his only loving bond with his grandfather, Nilsen
began to spiral downward and would later kill more than 16 young men.
7.
"DOCUMENTARIESDennisNilsenSerialKillerBornToKill."YouTube.YouTube,27
Sept.2013.Web.09Nov.2015.
ThisisadocumentaryoftheserialkillerfromLondonnamedDennisNilsen.
DennisNilsonwasborninFraserburgh,Scotland,aremotefishingcommunity.Dennis
wasalonerasachildandhadnorealbondswithanyoneexcepthisgrandfather.Nilsens
grandfatherhaddiedatseaandwhenNilsensawhisgrandfatherlaidout,whiteasa
corpse,ThisiswhenNilsensideaofdeathandideaoflovebegantofuseandbecame
linked(PeterJay).PeterJaywasthedetectivethatarrestedNilsenandbegantostudy
himfromthetimehewasayoungboy.TherearehomevideosofNilsenanditshowsjust
howoddhewas.Nilsenlaterjoinedthearmyat15andbecamethebutcher,whichwould
laterhelphimdismemberthebodiesofthevictimshekilled.
Thisdocumentarywasextremelysadtowatch,butgavemesomeamazingpoints
thatIwillbeabletouseinmythesis.Itshowsayoungboythatattheageof6beganto

associateloveanddeathasthesamething.IwilluseNilseninmythesisbecauseheisa
verygreatserialkillerthatwillhelpmeonbothsidesofmyargument.
Ihopeotherswillwatchthisdocumentarybecauseitshowsbothsidesofaserial
killer,someonewhotriedsohardtomakebondswithothers,butwasjustunabletodo
so,andlaterlosttouchwithrealityandbeganhisgruesomemassmurders.