212. Piquerism

I ran into some people at a training this week that were like what I haven't gotten to that yet. I'm a few weeks behind and delivered the news in person and just some lovely feedback that we would have never gotten. So we also want to thank everyone for another great walking tour in July. It was a blast. Even though you and I have done that to our

multiple times now, it just one is amazing. Just you can't get any better than that, But obviously being with a new group of people and old friends makes it that much more special. So with our last episode the Forensic psych one was episode two ten and that was titled Echoes of Salem, Modern witch Hunts and the Courts.

This one hit a lot of topics, a lot of cases that involve moral panic and politically charged moves in the criminal justice system that has fortunately moved somewhat in the right direction, but as we found out in that episode, is still very susceptible to a backslide from time to time.

in the past month or so. And we're going to have a separate conversation in a shrink wrap and probably behind the couch in the next couple of months. But let's get into the research before we explore that particular area to see if it even fits into this incident or not. So trigger warnings as usual, we're going to be talking about sexual offending themes, murder, especially with edged

weapons and stabbing. This is a dark one, folks. So again we all know the stats on trigger warnings apparently don't do anything, but we care about you and we want you to care about yourself, So be careful and have that pause button ready if it gets too descriptive for you.

and personal. It's brutally intimate and deeply violent. Unlike a gunshot, which can happen at a distance and be over in an instant, a stabbing really forces the victim into intimate contact with their attacker. It's face to face. There's no space, no time, no chance to mentally prepare. In a lot of cases, and victims often see the weapon feel repeated thrusts, are overwhelmed by really the sheer physicality of it all.

This type of violence feels very chaotic, it's raw, it's emotional, and that really taps into a lot of our most primal fears, and research backs this up and surveys people rank stabbing along with burning and drowning among the most feared forms of death. A UK study even found it was second to only being shot at by close range.

it's massive. Survivors of knife attacks frequently describe the sensation of helplessness, panic, disbelief that such a violent thing is actually happening to them. And then there's also what stabbing often represents, rage, control and intimate betrayal. It's not uncommon in domestic violence cases where the emotions are really high and the weapon is like whatever's closest, which is often a kitchen knife. You know, just picture any horror movie in the last thirty years.

and over again. It's a form of violence that's not only deadly and painful, but it really shows the most horrifying side of what humans are capable of.

or their physical reaction. In extreme cases, the acts may cause serious injury or death. So the theory here is that the behavior symbolically mirrors sexual penetration, making it a violent and pathological expression of both dominance and sexual desire. And the term peakerism was coined in the nineteen twenties

by Wilhelm Stikle. However, it was explored prior to that, back in eighteen eighty six, when he had written about the concept with this particular statement quote when the injury of the victim of lust and sight of the victim's

blood are a delight and pleasure. So Kraft Ebbing expanded in his nineteen sixty five seminal work Psychopathia Sexualitis by stating that sexual gratification is not achieved through rape or sexual assault, but rather by aspects of the murder itself, and he states where sexual violation is omitted and the sadistic crime alone becomes the equivalent of coitus.

Statistically that it's generally something we don't find when we're looking at the wide variety of people's sexual interests. These intense urges have to last for at least six months, so we're not just talking about one fleeting thought of something bizarre or weird or rare. And it needs to cause significant distress to the person's life. So this can be psychologically, this could be interpersonally, maybe occupationally, or just in a myriad of other ways that it is now

interrupting and being distressful to them. Multiple paraphilia can be present with one person and as a lot of you have heard us say before, they actually often travel in threes. But there is going to be a dominant one and sometimes dominant doesn't mean that like it's the strongest, but it might just be the one that they have thus far acted out on and may continue to act out on the others. But usually it's the one that brings attention to them or they get arrested for it or

something like that. So fantasy is also a key component to paraphilias. Before any acting out, there are intense urges and fantasies that are utilized as arousal material for masturbation, and then there might be some planning or rehearsal stages that are attempts to sort of satiate the urge before any acting out happens, especially if it's something that's illegal

or going to cause harm. And if that person is afraid of those things aka actually has a conscience and maybe is not fully psychopathic, they might do some of those things, you know, sort of in lieu of to

see if it helps satiate the urges. And while we really can't talk about a violent paraphilia such as peakirism with out mentioning the obvious overlap with sexual sadism, we just wanted to mention that here sexual sadism disorder is one of the main paraphilic disorders listed in the DSM, and it is characterized by taking sexual pleasure from humiliation, fear,

or another form of mental harm to a person. So sadistic acts include restraint such as ropes, chains, handcuffs, as well as imprisonment as well as behaviors against that person in terms of causing harm that could be biting, whipping, beating. Of course, can these acts be consensual, yes, and in those cases there is not likely any distress being caused that can't be resolved, as people kind of find their

way into that lifestyle safely. So in fact, many who engage in BDSM or kink within the context of romantic relationships report that it actually brings them closer to their partners, and this is mainly due to these increased feelings of trust that result from setting and respecting boundaries, as well as the emotional safety that comes from being able to explore some of these less conventional sexual interests without judgment.

So we just wanted to make sure we we got that in here to not pathologize these behaviors that are being utilized safely.

healthy sexuality. But when someone repeatedly practices these type of statistic sexual acts without consent from their partners, or when sadistic fantasies or behaviors cause social, professional, or other functional problems within an individual's life, sexual sadism disorder may be diagnosed, and when we look at the broader population of sexual offenders, only about two to five percent of them would actually meet criteria for sexual sadism, and the majority, which is

eighty seven percent of sexual sadists who do offend, do so against other adults. Very important to remember. So when combined with traits of antisocial personality disorder like poor impulse control, dishonesty, lack of empathy, and remorse, sexual sadism can especially be dangerous. Some researchers like to distinguish between sex murders and lust murders,

so let's break down those two terms. Where in sex murderers kill their victims to silence them out of fear of being caught or retribution right, and then lust murderers kill as part of the completion of the sexual fantasy. A lust murder may perform various sexual acts before, during, and after the victim is killed, and the rape being just one of the part of the sexual ritual or acting out right.

helpless victim. Some of the cognitive distortions of sexual status include justifications that they tell themselves, like this person is bad, this person is evil, sick, or perverted. They are deserving this. That's definitely some mental gymnastics. Okay, now that we laid that foundation, let's get back on track to explore pikerism specifically.

There's not the data on peakerism that there is with other more well researched type of paraphilic disorders, but you might come to expect that with something that it is more rare. So yeah, I guess there's not that much. There was actually more than I thought there was going to be. Hence the reason there's an entire episode. It was good enough to formulate a full episode, and I think you guys will find that this is really interesting and you know where this can go even further is

still definitely to be explored. In that I was able to find an entire book chapter on the subject by doctor Devere D. Woods, a former police officer who became a criminologist. Was like, who is this guy? I need to look him up. He ended up advancing to the position of criminology department chair at Indiana State University by the time he had authored this chapter, which is pretty cool and it's.

So he advocates that it's not enough for an investigator to just shake their head at the excess of amount of wounds and talk about how senseless it seems, but to actually take the time to try and understand the motivation for those mutilating wounds, which in turn could eventually assist in identifying the perpetrator.

that the crime is being committed. So investigators have been trained over the years to consider modus operandi or MO, the MO being the perpetrator's method of operation, Right, what crimes do they engage in and how do they go about accomplishing them. So, while each MO is unique in its details, it usually falls within a typical range of

behaviors for a specific type of crime. That means, while you know, sort of the small stuff the small action might vary, the overall approach to the crime tends to be pretty consistent, especially across similar type crimes. Right, so, property crimes, crimes against people, thefts, that sort of thing. Investigators use these patterns not only to link crimes together, but to also connect them to potential suspects now think

of an MO like a criminal's craftsmanship. Right. It can reflect the offender's personal habits and preferences, or even the level of experience that they are bringing to the table. In fact, the MO is often based on what has worked for them in the past. If a certain method gets the result that they want and lets them get away with it, they're likely going to use it again.

here's the important part. Emos can and do evolve, and as offenders gain experience, they adapt, they learn what works better, what's more efficient, or even how to throw off law enforcement. And that is really a phenomenon in today's world with

the advent of forensics files. Forensics files has now been on for decades and newer versions and it really does become sort of like a primer learning environment for criminals, like, oh, I got to watch for that particular thing, got to make sure I wear a mask in gloves, right, So these techniques in these perpetrators might shift based on trial and error, or because they're trying to be more emotionally satisfied, or just to avoid getting caught, and so that evolution

can continue across their entire criminal career, especially as circumstances change. For example, if their motive or opportunity shifts, then their approach might shift as well. No, two crimes are committed under exactly the same conditions, and that affects the way

the crime is carried out. Now, It's also worth noting that most investigators won't ever encounter a true serial homicide case, despite all the shows that are on that like just sort of there's a serial killer on every corner, right, So those investigators may naturally treat each incident as a one off. Without clear signs that the crimes are connected, it can be easy to miss the larger pattern.

emotional satisfaction. Doctor Eric Hickey, who was the dean of my graduate program, noted in his book on serial killers, that signatures are the offender's calling card and that he is psychologically compelled to leave this behind. It's not the means he uses to complete the offense, but it's this calling card aspect. Doctor Hickey added, quote. Signatures include verbal, sexual, and physical acts. Therefore, the signature is essential to the

perpetrator's satisfaction of the crime. Additional researchers have also come to the determination that, unlike MO, a killer signature is fairly consistent or static because it's based in the perpetrator's fantasies, so it is much more difficult for him to change his signature than his MO. Douglas, Brandell, and Keppel have all determined that the psychological core of the signature really

does not change, but it could evolve over time. Signatures are especially important to consider, and murders perpetrated by serial offenders would states that he considered signature killers as a subcategory of serial killers who leave these unusual pieces of evidence of their psychological makeup at the crime scene, and therefore giving emphasis to signatures is especially helpful in behavioral profiling and serial linkage of crimes.

at connecting cases and then catching the serial offenders as compared to those who rely solely on traditional investigative techniques. It seems like a lot of the more dramatic criminal procedural shows love the idea of these signature killers despite their low statistical occurrence. So note what we're saying here. Yes, there's a low occurrence of this happening, but we also need to emphasize that there needs to be somebody that's willing to look at the big picture to pick up

on these factors. Not all homicides are created equal, especially those where knives are involved. In many serial murders, the act itself is surprisingly quick, often fueled by adrenaline, impulsivity, and many times in today's world, substance use. Novice offenders can often be really shocked at how easily a blade can end a life, or they can also be frustrated about how resilient and fighting back a victim can offer,

right requiring multiple utilitarian strikes. These wounds are functional, intended solely to kill and nothing more. Once death is achieved, the act is then complete. And this is so important for investigators because, as Brickin and his compatriots research for two thousand and six indicate, as paraphilic offenders those who are sexually aroused by the infliction of this behavior upon others, a single pickarist homicide is most likely to be followed by others.

end a life. Right, So, in cases of overkill, the number of stab wounds, sometimes dozens or even over one hundred, far exceed what is needed to end a life. This level of violence is not only physically demanding, but I think really psychologically revealing as well. It signals that something deeper is at play. Hair the killer isn't just trying to extinguish life. They are expressing rage, loss of control, or an intense emotional drive that extends beyond the act

of murder itself. Research and case studies suggest that stabbing requires greater emotional investment than gun usage. The act, as we've said before, is more physically intimate, which may reflect deeper psychological motivations again on that spectrum of anger and rage and revenge or sexualize violence in some offenders. And as we're kind of talking about today, before we talk more about overkill, just a little bit more on murders

perpetrated with knives. Stats from the US indicate that knife homicides are more likely to occur between people who know each other, family members, intimate partners, or acquaintances, as compared to gun related killings, which more frequently involves strangers or are associated with gang activity. A significant portion of knife homicides are linked to domestic violence, and in these cases the weapon is often just readily available in the home,

used impulsively during a heated conflict. Most knife homicide offenders are male, and the incidents often involve alcohol or drug use. So while firearm homicides have spiked in recent years, knife related killings have remained relatively stable in the US.

the crime as we spoke about earlier. These are wounds that go far beyond They're often involving multiple methods of killing or such intense trauma that the victim is virtually unrecognizable, so what drives this kind of brutality? And in many cases, the killer doesn't stop after the victim is dead. Researchers, Spits Wrestler, and Couple have written extensively on how the violence continues, sometimes until the killer feels a sense of

control or reassurance about their own power. This is especially evident when the face is targeted. They suggest that excessive injuries to the face often signal a deep personal rage. It's not just about ending life, it's about erasing an identity. Destroying the face means destroying the person, psychologically dehumanizing them.

Overkill then becomes a psychological fingerprint. In this case, it tells investigators and forensic psychologists not just how someone was killed, but perhaps why, and often that why then reveals this complete storm of rage and resentment and unresolved trauma. And

just a note from the research. So back in nineteen ninety two, Robert Wrestler and his colleagues at the FBI Behavioral Now Unit found evidence of mutilation and overkill in many of the sexual homicides that they collected data on for their bodies of work, including Wrestler's book Who Fights Monsters, which I'm sure many of you have read, so you know, I know, we referenced doctor Wood's chapter being from twenty

years ago. A lot of the foundational work to what we're talking about today is back from those early Bau days. So yeah, I mean we're talking like nineteen ninety two is where some of this is also coming from. However, in some of the literature, you will see a term adopted from the media's coverage of such crimes when it comes to overkill behaviors with knives, and that is they use the term ripper murders, not my favorite term that

they've ever come up with. These killings are in the context of homicide that involve a knife or a similar sharp instrument and the infliction of numerous excessive stabbing or slashing wounds to the victim and have been reported all around the world, so UK, Russia, Caribbean, China, and the US. The term, although we don't love it, it comes from

the media. It is represented in the literature. Some of these academic articles and some of the research that focuses on ripper murders includes not only behaviors with dozens of stab wounds, but they've also gone a little further and looked at completed or attempted decapitations in some cases, and then also disembowlment, which have been just ways in which bodies have been additionally desecrated with sharp edged weapons.

achieves sexual orgasm by stabbing his victim. Kapln Burns took this step further and opining that even though it sounds contradictory, pikeriism behaviors are acts to achieve satisfaction, not to cause death. Of course, death is often the result. And if we go all the way back to good old doctor Freud, well, of course he wasn't shy to bring up the phallic nature of edged weapons, and this continues to be an important part of the conversation about the psychology of the Peachrist.

If we look at this ven diagram, there is the sexual sadism element, the power and control element, perhaps with specific rage or jealousy, and then the penetrative nature of using the knife to symbolize a violent sexual act. These three points are really vital in their overlapp to understand.

one of mutual exclusivity. For example, in our resources, there was a case study of an offender who had actually started interfacing with his victim, became aroused and was kind of confused by this and then couldn't decide how he was then going to move forward with killing her. The same offender in another one of his crimes, ended up masturbating over a victim after striking her with a hammer, not using any penetrated object at all. He didn't use a knife in this case. So when these cases are

really examined closely, it's not so black and white. And again, you know, I think this speaks to the evolution of mo especially when you know with victims, you're talking about another person that could throw off, you know, whatever the best laid plan is. So we do see these big differences, and it can be really subtle to link some of these together and even go a step further to say, you know, this is peakeerism at work. Care Kepel and Bearns noted that for some killers, it no longer matters

if the victim is still alive. The perpetrator's sexual urges can be expressed in post mortem mutilation and other types of cutting exploration. There have even been cases where some killers return to the crime scene to derive further satisfaction by inflicting more cutting on their victims' bodies.

Although peakorism often targets sexual or intimate areas, a high volume of wounds or wounds to other regions may obscure this intent, So investigators have to acknowledge that both peakorism and over kill involve mutilation, but they stem from different motivations. Again, overkill is driven by intense emotional release, typically rage or frustration, and results in excessive, chaotic violence meant to obliterate the victim.

In contrast, pechorism is controlled and deliberate, with wounds serving as a means of sexual gratification. The injuries, often focused on erogenos zones, may then be patterned and inflicted before or after death, So understanding these distinctions is really essential for accurate behavioral assessment in violent crime. Still, this does not mean that overkill and pechorism are mutually exclusive, and that there does not need to be an insistence that

investigators must distinguish between the two. A killer can have pent up rage and also can connect sexual satisfaction through the violence perpetrated by an edged weapon.

as that precursor to later arousal. These individuals often leave the crime scene and then engage in their sexual release privately, sometimes hours later again through fantasy or masturbation, or then it becomes kind of fuel for future fantasy even as the days and the weeks go by, and in between killings,

if they go on to complete more. As a result, there's often no physical evidence of sexual activity like semen or signs of rape left at the scene, and Understanding this delayed connection between violence and gratification is crucial when interpreting certain types of sexually motivated crimes.

to unmet treatment needs. So proper identification not only supports individual rehabilitation, but also it then strengthens the case for developing and expanding specialized treatment programs to address paraphilic behaviors like peakeerism. So, even as rare as it is, it can be treated to some extent, but it has to be noticed, even though it's like we're saying, very rare,

small percentage. Just because it's a low incidence of this particular thing that manifests doesn't mean it's any less important, and in some cases it may be even more important. In the potential for violent and treatment for paraphilic disorders is complex. I mean this just right down to the ground works. It is complex because it has to be tailored to the individual's risk, their behavior, and their willingness to engage in treatment. Seriously, it's so important. If you

can't get engagement, you're not getting anywhere. The focus is going to be not just on suppressing urges, but on building safer and more adaptive behaviors while managing risk to the community and the others around them. Right, So treatment has to prioritize public safety, I mean especially, this is what Broadactter Shiloh and I together is working in a forensic setting and a clinic where the bigger overarching goal was to protect the community with these people that had

a potential for sexual violence against others. But it also the treatment planning has to emphasize violence risk assessment and that individual's psychological probe file. So comprehensive risk assessments are essential, and we as clinicians have to consistently and continually evaluate for co occurring mental health conditions because it is very rare that any of these things exist completely in a vacuum.

There may be the presence of other paraphilias, and whether the individuals urges after completion are distressing or gratifying, either a prodromal leading up to it or post act. And when I say co occurring, I want to really primarily emphasize the presence of psychosis because that is a whole different bubble out there. This is not a psychopath, this is not a pure antisocial, this is not a rage killing. Psychosis is on a whole different level of comprehension and

understanding and treatment planning right now. Another one that is very predominant in today's world is the comorbid existence of serious addiction, particularly with substances like amphetamine and methamphetamine, and that can cause non organic psychotic episodes with like serious chronic use. Time and time again, we will get exposed to information about crimes that occurred almost out of nowhere, where the background on the perpetrator is this is not

the person I knew. They're good people, but she's a meth addict or he's a meth addict and they've been on a six month run. Because that is how powerful and destructive those medications. They literally can change the wiring in the brain after that much exposure. So going back to the output of treatment, it can involve cognitive behavioral therapy that focuses on deviant arousal impulse control and really importantly relapse prevention, along with possible use of anti android

in medication or even SSRIs to reduce sexual preoccupation. Although look just very clearly here for anyone listening now or ten years in the future, medications are not a singular option. It gets promoted in the media, it gets promoted by I will say even this. I'll just go out on the smaller law enforcement agencies that are not quite so up to the latest research. We'll say, let's chemically castratum

and that's going to fix everything. It really doesn't. And of course there are legal considerations like mandate reporting and treatment within specified forensic or secure settings such as the ones that doctor Shiloh and I worked in.

had quite a serious addiction problem. But in you know, as we're going through this, I'm thinking, like, good clinical interviewing is so important because we then were able to go back before she had even acted out and before she was under the influence of drugs, and there were still those fantasies and urges of sexual sadism prior to all that. So I was able to say, yes, she is a sexual status. This wasn't like a result of some methed out craziness.

I didn't prepare the note for this for today's outline, but I think it was Carla Fay Tucker in Texas and she was on like a meth binge with the boyfriend and brutally, brutally murdered a couple in their home using an act using the point end of an acts, I believe, And she even testified in Core that like she was so overwhelmed by the amount of substance that was in her that she got a satisfaction from it.

But to my knowledge, there was no history at all of her ever having a history of engaging in sadistic acts. So again another testament to just how brutal methamphetamine can wreck a system.

go back pretty far. So just to dial down a little bit on that last point that you made regarding treatment, and this was so much of the work that you and I did in our internship site, what I went on to do for many years where we're focusing on those whose paraphilia is clearly a factor in there offending behavior.

So generally treatment, yes, is going to consist of psychotherapy, primarily cognitive behavioral therapy, where the goal is to help individuals recognize, understand, and then manage those deviant sexual thoughts and behaviors. A lot of the techniques that we relied on heavily were cognitive restructuring, so you're challenging the mental gymnastics,

the distorted beliefs about sex, about power, about consent. There's then behavioral interventions, so reducing the deviant arousal through techniques like adversion therapy is something that is definitely used. Still, masturbatory satiation is something that is not really used anymore.

But we could go to something that is still sexually satisfactory, but maybe involving an eighteen or nineteen year old rather than someone younger or not including violence to still get their sexual urges met. And then this all kind of has a through line of relapse prevention, which really comes from addiction methods for working with folks who are trying

to remain in recovery and remain sober. And this is again all about identifying triggers, finding intervention points, building coping strategies, and looking at all of the factors that come into

play to avoid acting on these urges. Lastly, I would say, you know, training is probably a pretty strong word, but like empathy, training, trying to build empathy in folks is something that again was kind of a through line, and we touched on it as much as possible in treatment because that's one of those factors and for some folks can be there or it cannot and maybe there is no and do all the training in the world and those connections aren't being made in the brain.

a similar medication that works on norepinephrin. These medications are very commonly and very successfully used to treat depression and anxiety in run of the mill treatment for those disorders through a psychiatrist. Usually, I usually highly recommend that you don't get your psychiatric medications from just a regular family doctor because they don't have the specialized training that's required.

But as a side effect, one of the main side effects for SSRIs is that it's really hard to sometimes even get an erection and it's very difficult to reach climat So they found this as a useful tool to reduce obsessive sexual thoughts, compulsivity, and anxiety that are common for cases that are involving voyeurism, exhibitionism, and fetishism. But the word is still out actually on whether or not

those consistently work. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. I don't want to say silver bullet here, but it doesn't work that way. And then, of course the anti androgens that lower testosterone levels in order to reduce libido, and those are often using cases of metaphilic disorder or severe sexual aggression. The problem is with the anti androgens is that you can lower the testosterone level, So it's going to affect the ability to have an erection, the ability

to climax. It doesn't necessarily address the motivational drive if the motivational drive is to hurt other people. So let's just again emphasize that these are not one size fits all approaches. And we know that these drug treatments don't prevent crimes because sexual crimes can be completed with body

parts other than the genitals. Many of you sent us a recent news story out of Italy where they're moving towards legalizing chemical castration for rapist and pedophilic offenders, and god knows, I love Italy, I dream of living there. But that is actually pretty archaic because it can be effective for those who are also participating in psychotherapy and who want to change and are highly motivated, but it

is not a fixed by itself. And it feels very odd because Italy can be really ahead of the game in many medical areas of research, but this is one where a question it.

multidisciplinary and risk based approach. So this means treatment involves collaboration among the treating clinicians, psychiatrists you know usually that are part of their parole or probation agency, perhaps medical doctors, and the criminal justice professionals like the probation officers and parole agents who are monitoring them. So in these cases, treatment is guided by risk level. So again doing entire risk assessments, looking at their history and looking at risk level,

we're not predicting human behavior, but assessing risk. We Also part of this is motivation and insight of the individual. Again, how engaged are they going to be? Do they want to change? And then you know sort of the legal forensic involvement. What is is their treatment court mandated at this point? Are their polygraphs going to be used? How often do they have to come? And then what does

the clinician actually recommend. Sometimes those can be in conflict with each other, but all of that is what goes into this risk based approach. In California we called it the containment model. So we had the clinician. Like if you think of it as a triangle with the offender in the middle. At one tip of the triangle you have the clinician and treatment. At another tip you have probation or parole, the monitoring. And the last point was

for here in California, was that polygraph. It was kind of that other catch all piece that helped the monitoring and us to kind of see where this person was at as we were monitoring them in the community.

all peakerists are homicidal. However, an overkill is a common feature in peakarist killings, which can mislead investigators into attributing the violence solely to rage rather than sexual motivation, and because of this, it's critical for investigators to consider the possibility of peekerism in cases of extreme mutilation, especially when the wounds are targeted at sexual organs or accompanied by

victim posing clothing removal or signs of torture. I know that sounds like we're just getting so into such wild specific areas, but it's really important to build out a profound body of research to understand a whole host of other types of crimes. It sounds like that's just focusing on one thing, but as anybody who's interested in research understands, it lends to a larger body of understanding of sexual motivations,

particularly when it comes to violence. Right, So recognizing these patterns can help link cases a lot more efficiently and in the future prevent further victimization. Like doctor Shawley was saying, risk assessment does not promise that you're going to be able to stop something, but it absolutely can make a

huge difference in preventing these types of crimes. And for clinicians understanding that a homicide may have an underlying sexual component, particularly when the offender conceals or can't express it, it's essential for appropriate assessment and treatment planning. I forgot to ask you. I know this is a totally old show, but did you watch The Fall?

which is so so ridiculously unrealistic. And the way I'm tying to this to what we just talked about is that, again, it's really important to understand motivations, but it's also important to put this in a bigger framework within the true crime milieu, is that there are some things that really just don't happen. We do have brutal examples of murders like the recent Idaho four Like that's just a brutal, horrible issue, and hopefully with time and research we'll understand

more about that perpetrator motivations. But the media's creation of these particular characters can be really misleading, and that's why specific, drilled down, microscopic, minutial oriented research is so important. I know that's a wild connection, but it's stuck with me as I was reading through this, not because that character in The Fall is a peekarist, but because he's almost like a superman in a way as some of these serial killers and offenders are portrayed.

these two things together, we are almost magnetically drawn to it. So, you know, when crimes have these elements, especially with female victims and the absolute bizarre nature of the acts, it's going to get media attention, which is why we still talk about this particular case from the late seventeen hundreds. So let me set it up for you. Between seventeen eighty eight and seventeen ninety, London was paralyzed by fear.

Dozens of women reported being attacked in the streets by a man who would approach them, shout obscenities, and then stab or prick them, usually in the buttocks or thighs with sharp instruments like pins, blades, or spikes. These were not just isolated incidents, and total over fifty attacks were reported, often in public areas like Saint James's and the Strand, places where middle and upper class women were out invisible. Sometimes the attack are offered flowers to distract the victims.

Other times he'd slash their clothing without even touching them. There are even reports that, aside from using a knife, he would prick women with a spike protruding from his knee. That is some real planning.

trying to startle people. But I'm leaning towards psychosis. It's like something psychosis and definitely a paraphelia, like this person was a repeat offender and he was successful at it, so he was continuing to do it right.

for the genitalia, considering like the time period. I'm also showing you right now on our screen this crazy illustration that of course everybody was paralyzed by fear as the media was reporting this, and I'll put this up on our social media of their depiction of the London Monster running around the streets in the UK back then.

Was it mercury fumes that like when we use the term mad hatter, you know people mad hatter like makers of hats at that time did go crazy because the chemicals they used for the felt just give them brain damage.

that's losing yourself. So anyway, just another chocolate up dumb humans. How are we even alive? Right?

historians argue that he was likely wrongfully accused. He professed his innocence throughout the trial, but the attacks stopped after his arrest, and many victims asserted that he did not match the description. Williams was convicted and served six years in prison.

London Monster, I think fulfills really similarly to us. The sexual language and cursing at the women, paired with the attacks on the buttocks and the legs, lens to the offender possibly having a paraphilic disorder, maybe even consistent with Peakerism. She points out, however, that after his release, Williams got married, he went on to have a family, He never offended again, making it tough to believe that he would have just

stopped the behavior without any additional intervention. And of course, you know one of those interventions being treatment which they probably didn't know how to treat except to throw some away or I don't even know if they're doing lobotomies at that time or how they would have done that. But she's like, hmm, I don't think it was him.

and eighteen ninety one. It was a total of eleven women, most of whom were impoverished and struggling with alcohol misuse. They were murdered under very horrific circumstances. The most infamous of these cases are what are referred to as the five canonical victims, Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Edos and Mary Jane Kelly, who were killed between

August and November of eighteen eighty eight. These murders were marked by throat slashing, abdominal mutilation, and in some cases organ removal. The extreme violence and the distinctive pattern of these killings led investigators and the public to believe that they were the work of a single individual, soon dubbed Jack the Ripper, though the killer was never identified, and of course the case remains one of the most notorious

unsolved serial murder investigations in criminal history. Now after careful case analysis, they characterized Jack the Ripper not as a traditional sexually motivated killer driven by acts like rape, but rather as someone who achieved sexual gratification through a secondary mechanism, specifically that mechanism being stabbing and mutilation. They assert that his use of a knife to penetrate and dominate his victims reflects an eroticized expression of power and control consistent

with Peakerism. Their analysis highlights several hallmarks of peakarist homicide present in the White Chapel murders, incapacitation and control of victims, overkill injuries, display and posing of the bodies, escalation and violence,

and deliberate planning of attacks. They believe that these behaviors suggest that the sexual component of the crimes was embedded in the violence itself, not in the physical sexual contact, aligning the offender's methods with key indicators of pikerism and homicidal behavior.

Pim Intel would typically distract his victims by knocking clothings off the racks, and as the women turned or bent down, he would inflict quick, precise slashes to their buttocks, often so subtly that the victims didn't even immediately recognize what had happened, and in total, nine women were victimized. Many believed that they had simply brushed against a hangar, or maybe they felt a mile pinch. It wasn't until they discovered slashed clothing and in some cases bleeding wounds that

they realized they had been assaulted. In several instances, it took days or even weeks for victims to connect their experience to the larger pattern of attacks on other women once news of the incidents started to become public. Pimentel was a former day laborer originally from Peru. He was arrested in early twenty twelve near a shopping mall in Lima, Peru, and then later extradited to the United States. He ultimately pleaded guilty to four counts of malicious wounding and two

counts of unlawful wounding. Though sentenced to twenty years, the judge ended up suspending all but seven years of that term, and while no victims sustained life threatening injuries, the attacks, of course, sparked fear and confusion in the community, particularly because of their seemingly random nature and the highly specific targeting of a private part of the body. These assaults raised questions about sexual violence, humiliation, and how quickly calculated

attacks like this can escalate if they're left unchecked. So, you know, this one's very different from the serial killer focus of this episode, but I actually think more in common with the London Monster case than not, but I think I think it can potentially still kind of fit the bill if the simple criteria is met for a paraphilic disorder, which we don't know. We don't have a psych evaluation for this guy or anything, but certainly the behaviors would pique my interest in that sense.

campus rental home in Moscow, Idaho. The victims were Kaylee Gonzalvez age twenty one, Madison Mogan age twenty one, Xena Kernodle h twenty and Ethan Chapin H twenty All four were attacked in the early morning hours while sleeping. The case drew national attention to the brutality the killings. I remember it like it was literally yesterday. It was so huge and the lack of an immediate suspect this just absolutely affected the close knit nature of this small college town.

After an intense investigation, Brian Cooberger, a twenty eight year old criminology PhD student at near My Washington State University, was arrested on December thirtieth, twenty twenty two. He was charged with four counts of first degree murder and one count of felony burglary. Investigators linked him to the crime through a combination of DNA evidence, cell phone records, and surveillance footage. Last month, he pled guilty to all counts to avoid the death penalty.

awake when confronted. We are now just starting to get more information, and I'm sure plenty more will probably come out after this episode airs, so please know this is just a moment in time. We're recording this on August second, where some information has started to come out from families or from documents that have been released now that he

has been sentenced. So corner Kathy Mabbott confirmed that their wounds were extensive caused by a large, non serrated fixed blade knife, consistent in size and shape with a k bar knife, though the weapon itself has not been recovered. Ethan Chapin's fatal wounds severed major vessels under his clavicle, the neck, and high chest area. Xana Kernodle endured over

fifty stab wounds, many defensive, really indicating a struggle. Her fatal injuries included penetrations to the lung and to the heart, while Kayleie Gonzalvez suffered over twenty stab wounds, including injuries to her lung, liver, and again that clavical region. Her body was described as being nearly unrecognizable there was so

much injury. Madison Mogen sustained similar injuries, again to lung's liver, and was found with the knife sheath beside her bed, which later was determined that that's where Coburger's DNA was found. So there were no signs of sexual assault. Victims were neither tied, gagged, or bound in any way. The scene showed significant blood spatter and cast off patterns, especially in

the rooms where the bodies were found. The wounds were extensive and brutal, with signs of struggle and at least two of the cases, and there was no evidence that indicated a sexual motive, no signs of assault. Again, binding was not there, groping or any indications of masturbatory behavior at the scene. So with that, that is the end of you know, the description of the wounds there. What do we think? What do we think about overkill? Let's just talk about overkill at first. Thoughts.

out to the families as we even discuss this. But when we talk about overkill, my question is did he anticipate the situation he was walking into?

sexual motivation angle that needs to be further know. When he starts talking and he will eventually he'll start talking.

the book, and that's me talking about our peers. I think, honestly, we should let him sit behind bars and not give a shit about him anymore, which tugs at the piece of me and what we've talked about in this episode of like the need to study these things to keep the community safe in the future. But I agree with the judge who said we need to have mister Coberger's

fifteen minutes of fame be done. But I'm sorry, there's going to be someone in our industry, in our field that cannot wait to get in there.

And that's now what their job is. Their job is to be a talking head. And I'm one of those talking heads. You are one of those talking heads, right, So we're getting very meta here, and I agree that there's a part of me that wants more information, and then part of it was like, are we really going to get anything of value from this person? I don't

think that it is fascinating. One of the interesting things that I think is important to look at is a share from one of the women that connected with him on a dating site and had the conversations with him via text as they're getting to know each other, and he just goes off the rail because he's like disinhibited because he's behind the screen of his phone or his computer, and he starts talking about like, first it's horror movies, and then it's like crime and serial killers and what

do you think about this? Almost as if he was trying to find someone that was going to be his bridge to intimacy, was to find a woman who shared these things. I would not be so surprised if and again let's let him rot, but if it comes out that he was actually trying to find a partner to do these things with, that's.

on these victims. And again I also default back to what you're saying, like, did he think to one person was going to be there who maybe he targeted and then there were four right? Or he thought everyone would be asleep and now somebody is still awake. So could that play into how he then had to complete the crime rather than how he wanted to. I don't know. I think there's just again, if we go back to the wounds as well. You know, we're talking fifty stab

wounds with one victim. We're talking statements being made like them being unrecognizable. That can certainly be overkill peakrism. I just I need to know more, right, I'm not making that leap at this point.

coercive themes. So investigator found internet searches around the time of the martyrs that included some keywords like forced, drugged, passed out, sleeping, suggesting here, you know, some interest in non consensual or unconscious victims and then there was also some other visual content on his phone, which were images of women in bikinis like that he had taken, including photos of female students at Washington State University and the

University of Idaho. I think it's an interesting like voyeurism aspect there with that specifically, definitely feels like there's this sort of like outside looking in theme to this guy, which again could promote the jealousy and that sort of thing. However, I will say those search terms on the computer not uncommon for men to have, those not uncommon in regular, non deviant pornographic use, and not indicative of a sexually motivated crime. Taken alone, right, it would want more.

me your phone for five minutes. I'm going to find every single thing like this that you've been Let me look at your Instagram feed you know, like, who are you following? It's it's just another manifestation of Western American culture, puritanical view on sexuality, you know, and which only makes it worse when you like make it as something dark. So why they don't have problems with porn in some areas of the world is because they're very open and progressive about sexuality.

fantasy list. So again, these are just fantasies. This doesn't mean it's a paraphilic disorder, doesn't mean it's causing them distress, It doesn't mean this is what they want in real life. You know this again, like I know, I'm dipping my toe into something that is a way bigger conversation. A book that we've referenced a lot of times, a billion wicked thoughts is phenomenal in just like mathematicians, breaking down the type of pornography that people consume is super super interesting.

But again I will say alone, this does not make me say, oh my gosh, Coberger was absolutely sexually motivated because of the content on his phone or his computer.

that continues to come out about him. Certainly, you know you're hitting on those control issues with diet and there's just a lot there that we can work with. That's very interesting, although again we don't want to give this person too much attention, but it is fascinating sure, all.

truly fit Peakerism. It also feels a little weird after I just like gushed and recommended the Fear Street series last month when we were talking about Salem witch Trials, but it was tough to find something that would be perfectly clued into our title today.

that was an indication that they were a witch. But of course there were already bad actors at that time using collapsible needles, so it would be a handle with the needle on a spring, so any kind of pressure would make it go back. This is not so much entertainment, but this is media and it unfortunately is largely forgotten. This is particularly of a I am interested in because my dissertation was on sexual practices during the age of HIV.

I mean, I feel like today the age of HIV has been capped because there are really successful treatments for over ninety nine percent of the people who have been

exposed to HIV. But for those of you who don't remember, if you're my age and you do remember, or you're younger, there was an absolute fear of getting pricked with bloody needles, and it was backed up by an actual safety risk like hospital and medical protocols changed very rapidly, and there was an absolute rise in blood exposure phobias that many

clinicians had to treat. There were all these sort of sensationalistic stories about blood spattered razor blades being glued to the interior of payphone change returns, which I know is an archaic idea that they're like the SAP phone, Oh my gosh, but that you would get poked on a subway, And there were these reports that never really came to fruition about whether or not someone that was exposed, but the fear was really there. And then but back to

media and your idea of slasher films. You know the movie Cycle, which is a wonderful classic R move that that could work. That would work as well.

the only show that came up as a result. They are this cheeky gossip pod with two girlfriends who cover weird shit, some true crime, just some generally like fun stuff. So I reached out to them on social media and I was like, thank you for helping with our research. You were like literally the only ones that came up when I looked at this, and they I listened to their episode. They talked about some cases that had this, They talked a bit about the London Monster. So please

go give them a listen. They're really fun and sweet and they gave us a shout out after I had reached out to them.

really really good. And our final Behind the Couch will be on Saturday, August thirtieth with Dark City Podcasts, So please mark your calendars and come hang out with us for a live last show.