Serial killers and true crime

I had seen Aaron Hernandez referred to as a serial killer. My first thought was no, he is just a thug. USA Today thinks along the same line.

If juries ultimately believe what prosecutors and police in Massachusetts allege, former New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez isn’t just the man who orchestrated the killing of his friend, Odin Lloyd.

He’s a man who police say killed three people, and tried to kill more.

But this doesn’t necessarily mean Hernandez is a serial killer, said Helen Morrison, a forensic psychiatrist who has done extensive research on some of America’s most notorious killers.

“A serial killer is a person with a very severe lack of personality structure. He’s not a person,” Morrison told USA TODAY Sports prior to two new murder indictments that were made public Thursday. “The serial killer just almost has a sense of continuing to kill as an act. It doesn’t have any motive. It doesn’t have emotion attached to it. It doesn’t fit in the context or anger or revenge or the things that we think people commit homicides for.”

He does not fit into the serial killer profile at all.

“What we see in this guy, Hernandez, is motive. Anger and rage are motive. Whether he thinks he’s being wronged or taken advantage, he’s just going to kill people,” Morrison said. “He just seems to be a guy with a tremendous amount of rage. He doesn’t seem to be psychotic or mentally ill, like a lot of the mass shooters are, just sort of does what he wants to do. ”

Morrison said the fact that Hernandez surrounded himself by friends is another element that distinguishes him from traditional serial killers, who tend to be loners.

Some have also tried to blame some kind of gang affiliation to his crimes. Again, not likely.

Dr. Carl Taylor, a sociology professor at Michigan State who has studied gang culture for more than 30 years, said his observations of Hernandez’s behavior after his televised arrest and subsequent court hearings last year brought to mind old-school mobsters, an organized crime boss rather than petty criminal.

“This is not simply about gang signs. This is being a gangster at a high level,” Taylor said prior to the two new indictments. “He doesn’t seem to be shaken.”

I would not even credit him as a ‘gangster at a high level.” I think he is just a thug who thinks he is untouchable because he played a sport professionally. He also probably thinks that that will bring him some credit in prison.
I hope not.

The whole article is here.