National Expert Traces Serial Killer Profile Gonzaga Lecture Aims To Dispel Misconceptions About Killers, Targets

Serial killers prey on strangers. They hunt on the fringes of society. Many times they become police groupies. Their childhoods often reveal a vindictive mother who was a prostitute.

Essentially, those at risk of being targeted by serial killers are the most vulnerable, such as children, prostitutes, the homeless.

“Largely, they kill the defenseless, the weak, unnoticed or the ones no one cares about,” said Jackson Beard, a national expert on serial killer cases.

Beard’s lecture Tuesday at Gonzaga University was intended to dispel misconceptions about serial killers. The session, sponsored by the Washington Council on Crime and Delinquency, attracted about 35 people who mostly work in the criminal justice system.

At least one, Denys Knight, a vocational counselor, has been studying serial killers for the past 10 years.

“No one ever wants to talk about my hobby at dinner parties,” she said.

“Serial killers have been with us throughout recorded history,” Beard said.

Going back to the man who inspired Dracula, Vlad the Impaler was a serial killer.

Many people think serial killers are a product of 20th-century America, but Beard said killers have been identified throughout time and in countries such as China, Indonesia, Peru, Russia, India, France and Germany.

“Oftentimes, we haven’t recognized them,” Beard said.

The standard profile is this: mostly white males, age 20-35, sexually, socially and romantically dysfunctional. They often have extremely low self-esteem that’s masked with a suave exterior.

As kids, they abducted and tortured animals. They have violent, unexplained outbursts, moodiness and are attracted to violence of all kinds.

Plenty of video games and movies feed that urge, he said.

“Ultimately, that’s not enough,” Beard said. “They have to go to the next step.”

They begin with small crimes such as theft and assault. They graduate to touching others and exposing themselves and becoming peeping Toms. They collect hard-core porn.

“There’s a clear connection between pornography and violence,” Beard said.

“Their fantasy life is what allows them to rehearse and practice what they’re going to do,” Beard said.

And once they start killing, they won’t stop.

For instance, the Green River killer was never captured. Some think he’s dead. Beard calls him an excellent hunter who never missed a target, never left a survivor.

“If he’s still alive, he will make it known. I believe that with every fiber of my being,” Beard said. He reminded the group of the 31 prostitutes missing in Vancouver, British Columbia. “How far is Vancouver from Seattle?” he asked.

Up front, Beard said he would not address the investigation of a serial killer believed responsible for at least 10 deaths in Spokane and Tacoma over the past few years.

For any agency to cope with a serial killer in its midst, it takes a complete shift in police work.

Law enforcement officers need to get on the street where killers hunt as opposed to waiting for the next crime, he said. Police need to stop arresting the targets and set up lines of communication.

“You have to come at the problem in a completely different way,” Beard said. “It can be difficult even for good police departments.”