The point is
where the serial killer refuses to be brushed off by you, and
moves beyond the stage of casual contact. By words, demeanor, showing a
weapon, or actions, he confronts you and indicates that he is ready to use
force if you do not comply with his demands—getting into his car, taking
your clothes off, closing your eyes, being quiet, turning around,
putting your hands behind your back, engaging in sex with him—whatever the demand
might be. If you are unable to run away to safety, what can you
do? Of the serial killers studied 7.5 percent of their victims survived— not encouraging, but nonetheless a sliver of good news. What it was in the victim’s behavior that resulted in their survival? The question
is whether to resist the attacker. In the opinion of the serial killers, 28 percent of all of
their victims acquiesced or offered no resistance, 31 percent attempted to
negotiate verbally, 7 percent verbally refused to obey the killer, 10 percent
screamed, 5 percent attempted to escape, and 19 percent tried to fight back. The serial killers reported that in the face of
resistance from their victims, 34 percent had no reaction, 15 percent threatened the
victim verbally, 25 percent escalated the level of their aggression, and
25 percent became outright violent. Thus in more than two-thirds of
the cases, the killer countered resistance from the victim, and in half of
the cases they countered it with increased force. In summary, resistance
sparks force or increased levels of force. Of
course, you do not know you are facing a serial killer who is intent on killing
you (unless he tells you). Sometimes the serial killer himself is unsure
whether his intention is to kill you. The primary threat is rape or physical
confinement—one hopes that by evading that, one will consequently escape being
murdered later. The study identified four types
of rapists; some experts are now urging that these types be applied to serial
killer classification systems:
1. Power-reassurance (or compensatory rapist): This
type of rapist often has a rape fantasy
that his victim actually likes it and will fall in love with him as the result
of the rape. He may attempt foreplay and to make a date with his victim
afterward. Rape results from sexual arousal and loss of self-control. The
rapist is called compensatory because of his terminal sense of inadequacy,
which leads him to believe that no “normal” woman would want to have sex with
him, unless he compensates it with rape. The rape is a highly sexual act and
the offender often has a history of sexual behavior such as voyeurism,
excessive masturbation, and exhibitionism. He will do what the victim allows
him to do.
2. Power-assertive (or exploitative rapist): The
sexual component is less important here, and the rape is more of an expression
of aggression in which the rapist needs to build his own fragile ego and sense
of inadequacy by humiliating his victims, dominating them, and having them
submit to him.
3. Anger-retaliatory (or displaced rapist): The sexual
attack is an expression of anger and rage. The victim often serves as a
stand-in for the rapist’s real object of hate. The behavior can vary from simple. rape to highly elaborate acts of murder and
mutilation. Edmund Kemper might be described as a displaced rapist, because he
killed eight victims before finally killing the person he actually wanted to—his
mother. Most displaced personalities, however, do not get an opportunity to
kill the subject of their deep hate, and thus continue killing “innocent”
victims.
4. Anger-excitation (or sadistic rapist): The sexual
act is an expression of aggression fused with sexual desire. In a cycle, sexual
arousal gives rise to aggressive desire, which in turn further arouses the rapist.
Sometimes the attack begins as a consensual seduction, but then escalates in
intense and violent sexual aggression. The rapist often focuses his attack on
parts of the victim’s body such as the breasts, anus, buttocks, mouth, and
genitals. Paul Bernardo was an example of the sadistic personality.
The rape study determined that different types of
rapists will respond in different ways to victim behavior—a particular mode of
behavior will be more effective in escaping harm from one type of personality
than with another and vice versa—with some rapists a behavior can escalate an
attack. Escape remains the best and safest of all measures. Nevertheless, if
escape does look possible further down the line, you should take into
consideration several things. First, to where are you escaping? If you are in a
remote area and there is no place or people to run to, escape could be futile.
Second, are you unencumbered? If your legs are tied or tangled in clothing, you
will not get very far. What is the age and athletic shape of your attacker, in
comparison to yourself—can you outrun your assailant? What type of weapon are
you being threatened with? You can outrun a knife or a club, but the situation
is different with firearms. There are several things to take into consideration
if you are threatened by a firearm. Unlike what we see on television shows, in
reality a target becomes rapidly and progressively difficult to hit with a
handgun after a distance of about fifteen to twenty feet, especially if the
target is moving quickly and weaving. If the assailant has a revolver, a type
of handgun that has a revolving drum in the center, the chances are that he
will be able to fire only six shots before having to reload—something that
often takes at least five seconds at minimum to do. Although it is a little
much to ask, perhaps, having the presence of mind to count shots while escaping
can help give you that extra burst of straight running power once six shots
have been fired. The risk, however, is that some .38-caliber revolvers have
only five shots, while some .22-caliber revolvers have eight and nine shots.
Furthermore, a device called a speed loader can shorten the reload time. It is,
however, a favorably calculated risk that a revolver will be a six-shot weapon.
Also, the shorter the barrel, the shorter the weapon’s effective range. The difficulty of hitting distant targets applies to
automatic (semiautomatic) handguns as well—it is not as easy as well. Automatics
are square like weapons with no revolving drum in the center. As these weapons
come in great varieties of capacities from seven to seventeen shots, counting
shots will be of little help, unless you are intimately familiar with the
specifications of the particular weapon you are threatened with, and even so,
the rapid rate of fire that a pistol can unleash may make counting accurately
impossible. (Nor can you be sure that the weapon was loaded to maximum capacity
in the first place.) Outrunning an assailant armed
with a rifle is virtually impossible, unless the assailant is truly a bad
shot—something that the victim is unlikely to know until it is too late. On the
other hand, an attacker is often as nervous as you are, and possibly under the
influence of drugs or alcohol. This could significantly reduce his shooting
skills. To attempt to outrun an assailant
armed with a firearm is a very dangerous and highly risky proposition, but not
entirely impossible. Finally, one word of caution about escape: In the case of
sadistic personalities, running may actually arouse the assailant and lead to
an escalation of violence. However, the chances of surviving an attack by a sadistic
personality are minimal anyway, so escape is always an option that you should
constantly be alert to. In any case, you should always be ready for escape,
while pursuing any one of the following strategies when escape is not
immediately an option:
1. Verbal resistance should be the first action that you
take when confronted by an assailant where there are no immediate means to
escape. Immediately, yell and shout at the assailant: “Leave me alone! Go away!
Help! Police!” Do not scream. Screaming from the
throat can be mistaken for play and also projects fear to the assailant.
Instead shout and yell from your diaphragm, which can also prepare you for
taking a blow without having the wind knocked out of you and projects a
forceful stance to the assailant. You want to convey to the
attacker a clear and succinct message that you are not going to be an easy
target. The serial killer sometimes begins his approach without having yet
decided whether to use physical force. The decision to use force will be
inevitable at some point in his attack, but by forcing the assailant to
consider the decision earlier than he is ready to commit to it, you may defuse
the attack. Sometimes an attack is preceded by a cat-and-mouse-like dynamic
between the assailant and victim—the assailant may need reassurance that he
will overcome and capture his victim or that his victim will behave in a
submissive and fearful manner. Bold, verbal indications that the capture may
not be easy may shake the confidence of some assailants.
2. Physical confrontational resistance encompasses both
moderate responses, such as struggling, punching, kicking, and pushing away,
and violent responses, such as blows to the face, eyes,
groin, and throat, intended to seriously injure or kill the assailant. The use
of such defenses depends on the size and strength of the victim, the presence
of weapons, location, and so on. Such measures should be undertaken quickly,
powerfully, and decisively and should be immediately followed by escape. Do not
hold back. Do not hesitate. Surprise is a key element. Do not wait around and
see what effect, if any, your attack had on the assailant. Run. Run. Run. You
are not trying to win. Escape is your objective. The downside, however, is that the victim should
anticipate that physical resistance will be met with increased force by the
assailant. Another study noted that serial offenders tended to be of two types:
increasers, those who had a tendency to increase their level of violence as their
career progressed, and non-increasers, those who did not. The two types showed
different response patterns. Response patterns also varied whether rapists were
in the early, middle, or late stages of their careers and by their types. This
study found that victim resistance was related not to the amount of force used,
but to the amount of time the offender spent with the victim. Assaults on
resisting victims lasted two to three times longer than on passive victims.
This was not only because of the time necessary to overcome resistance, but
also because of the additional pleasure derived by certain types of offenders
from the victim’s resistance.
3. Verbal nonconfrontational dissuasion - serial killers
“depersonalize” their victims—they are substitutes for other people or props in
their fantasies. Ted Bundy stated that he avoided getting into any extended
conversations with his victims because that might remind him of their personal
characteristics. Tell the rapist that perhaps you
and he could go for a beer first. This is not as stupid as it sounds. Any kind of unanticipated reaction can stall the
rapist and give the victim time to set the stage for an escape. Focus on
personalizing yourself in the assailant’s perception: “I am a total stranger.
Why do you want to hurt me? I have never done anything to hurt you. What if I
were somebody you cared about? How would you feel about that?” Keep the
dialogue in the present tense. Do not use lines like, “You will end up in jail if you
do this,” for you might only remind the assailant of the necessity of killing
you as a potential witness— even if he has come to like you. Above all, do not
use the popular feminist appeal, “What if I were your mother, sister, or
daughter?” The assailant might be precisely fantasizing that he is raping and
killing his mother, sister, or daughter when he is attacking you. Such
statements as “I have VD” or “I am pregnant” should also be avoided, as they
may reinforce the assailant’s fantasy that you are somehow “bad” and deserving
of rape and death.
4. Physical dissuasion You can push away, twist, wrestle,
evade, kick, and use various means of moderate force to keep the attacker at
bay. This of course, depends on your own strength and stamina, but you may
eventually wear the attacker down or convince him that you are not going to be
an easy submissive victim. The downside to this tactic is that your resistance
will actually excite a certain type of offender into escalating his attack. Another type of physical dissuasion could be faked
fainting, choking, seizures, or mental illness or other sickness, or actual
physical responses such as crying, vomiting, or loss of bowel and bladder
control. All of these reactions could turn off a potential rapist—but on the
other hand, in the cases of a sadistic or displaced-anger rapist, they may
actually escalate the attack.
The prognosis is not good—survival in the hands
of a serial killer is at best a marginal and highly idiosyncratic process. What
may save your life with one type of personality may condemn you to death with
another. Obviously, it is not a viable proposal for a victim, at the moment of attack,
to attempt to sort out which of the four personality profiles applies to the
assailant. If verbal resistance has no
effect, than the victim has a choice of two strategies. If the offender is
armed, then verbal dissuasion is recommended. Attempt to engage the offender in
conversation and steer him away from attacking. If the assailant ceases his aggression at this point
and is willing to enter into conversation, it is likely that he is an exploitative
personality, and the victim should attempt to verbally manipulate him in that
case. If the strategy fails, and the
attacker continues to escalate his aggression, then the victim needs to make a
difficult decision between acquiescence and violent resistance. Physical
dissuasion, such as pretending to faint or crying and vomiting, is not
recommended, as it is unlikely that the attacker cares particularly about the
physical well-being of his victim, and may actually become excited by visible
physical reactions to his attack. The second response should be verbal
confrontational resistance. If the attacker persists, there is no weapon
present, and he is not excessively violent, then the victim should offer
physical dissuasion. If the attacker is a compensatory personality, he will
likely flee at this point. If however, the attacker continues with the same
level of aggression, the victim should begin talking in an attempt to engage
the assailant in a conversation. The conversation should be in the present and
focused on talking the assailant down from his state of rage. The intent is to
redirect the assailant’s fantasy by personalizing oneself to the attacker.
However, if the assailant pays no attention to the victim’s attempts to engage
him in conversation and continues his aggression without escalating the level
of violence, then he is most likely an exploitative personality. The victim
should then continue attempts to engage him in conversation if there is no
means to escape or opportunity to critically injure the attacker. A sadistic personality is the most dangerous
personality, and no amount of verbal engagement will shake him from his goal.
In this case, the victim should attempt anything possible to escape, including
the use of lethal force if possible. Obviously, the victim will not always have an
opportunity to think about what is happening and respond with a schedule of
strategies. However, there are sufficient case examples of victims and
assailants engaging in drawn-out dialogues and escalating dynamics of violence
to warrant some thought to the possibility that an informed victim might
favorably increase her chances of survival with a well-thought-out response. The
following actions are suggested to enhance your survival:
1. Never get into the car!
2. Flee.
If unable to flee:
3. Use firm verbal confrontational
resistance—firmly tell the attacker to leave you alone.
If that does not work:
4. Use moderate physical dissuasion—twist, kick,
push, and punch to attempt to wear the attacker down.
If that fails:
5. Use verbal dissuasion—attempt to engage the
attacker in conversation, talk him down from his rage, challenge his fantasy.
Attempt to set a stage for an escape—invite him for a drink in a more populated
area.
If that fails:
5. Use violent resistance—attack your assailant’s eyes,
throat, genitals, and face. Strike him with any convenient object nearby, such
as a rock or club. Punch him, kick him, stick your fingers in his eyes, bite his
nose off. Fight for your life, because at this point you have nothing left to
lose.
Acknowledgements:
The
Police Department;
www.politie.nl
and a Chief Inspector – Mr. Erik Akerboom
©
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