The Mind of a Child Murderer

Shaniya Davis

Mario Andrette McNeill, 29, has been charged with the kidnapping, rape, and murder of 5-year old Shaniya Davis in North Carolina.  According to the coroner, the probable cause of death was asphyxiation.  Earlier in the week Shaniya’s mother, Antoinette Davis, was charged with human trafficking, child abuse, and prostitution.  Law enforcement officials have not released all of the details, but it appears that, after selling her daughter to McNeill for sexual purposes and not getting her back, Davis reported her missing.

Meanwhile, in St. Martins, Missouri, 15-year old Alyssa Bustamante has been arrested and charged with the murder of 9-year old Elizabeth Olten.  According to police reports, Olten was reported missing and, a few days later, Bustamante led them to her body that she had buried in the woods nearby.  The victim had been strangled, had her throat slashed, and had been stabbed.  According to police investigators, Bustamante told police that she committed the crime because she “wanted to know how it felt to kill someone.”  She also indicated that, earlier in the week, she had dug two holes in the woods in anticipation of having someplace to bury Elizabeth’s body after she killed her.  Due to the nature of the offense, Bustamante has been charged as an adult.

When tragedies like this occur one of the first, and most natural, reactions is one of disbelief.  Honest, decent people can not begin to understand how anyone could, in cold blood, viciously take the life of an innocent child.  We begin to search for logical excuses.  Perhaps, during his sexual assault of Shaniya, McNeill somehow “snapped” and killed her.  Maybe her mother was a brain-addled drug addict who didn’t really know what she was doing when she “sold” her daughter.  And certainly no sane 15-year old could ever plan and follow through with the execution of another child.  Surely she is suffering from some severe mental illness that clouds her judgement.  We reason that, since WE are sane and would never contemplate such brutality, anyone who does must, therefore, be INsane.

Nothing could be farther from the truth.

One of the most difficult concepts for me to get across to my students each semester is that there are people in this world who happily exist in a different moral universe than the rest of us.  There are those who think only of themselves and their personal pleasures and who care not the least about the care or comfort of others.  These people are called “sociopaths” or “psychopaths” or are said to have an “antisocial personality disorder.”  Oh, we can accept the fact that monsters like Ted Bundy and Aileen Wournos existed, but they were both adults when they committed their murders.  How does that explain 15-year old Alyssa Bustamante?  How could a mere child be a murderer?

It might help for you to understand that, at one time, both Bundy and Wournos were 15-years old as well.  They didn’t suddenly “snap” when they became adults.  Both Ted and Aileen were involved in self-pleasing criminal and anti-social activities when they were young.

The main point of this post is to reinforce one very important point: these murderers are NOT ill.  There is no known treatment for their condition and they can NOT be rehabilitated.  Face it, how can you possibly REhabilitate someone who has never been habilitated to begin with?

It is indeed a tragedy that all of these lives have been destroyed, in one way or another.  And it is only human nature that we look for explanations and a way to make things “right” again, especially for the 15-year old murderer who will undoubtedly spend the rest of her natural life in prison.  But, while medical science has provided us a preventative vaccine for the H1N1 flu and a laser-cure for nearsightedness, there is nothing that can be done to change the moral universe of a sociopath.  Nothing.

I welcome your responses…

Mass Murder – Reflections on the Ft. Hood Shooting

Please note that this blog is based upon the limited information that has been obtained from news media resources over the past 24 hours and is, of course, subject to change.

INITIAL REPORTS – The initial reports regarding the Ft. Hood shooting were, as expected, confusing and contradictory.  I was listening to the original radio reports while driving home and there were some “facts” that, quite frankly, did not make sense.  “Initial reports” indicated that there were possibly two or three shooters and that they were armed with M-16 rifles.  There were, however, no reports of any explosions.  This struck me as odd because, if this was a coordinated terrorist attack on a U.S. Army base by multiple attackers I would have expected the use of explosive devices in an attempt to maximize the body count.  In fact, I really can’t think of any terrorist attacks on government facilities where explosives weren’t used.  When it became clear that the attack was focused on a facility used to prepare soldiers for deployment, this started to sound like the “Disgruntled Employee” Mass Murderer.  I originally felt that this was probably a soldier who did not want to be deployed, perhaps for the second or third time, and had become so frustrated that his objections were not being taken seriously that he decided to “make his point” by shooting people at the location that most threatened him.  In the end, I think my conclusions were only partly correct.

THE SHOOTER – Major Nidal Malik Hasan is being described as a 39-year old Army Doctor/Psychiatrist who was born in the United States (Virginia) and was raised as a Muslim.  After joining the Army as an enlisted soldier, he spent 8 years before, after completing his Bachelor’s Degree at Virginia Tech, he was sent to Medical School and then completed his internship and residency in Psychiatry.  Some reports have indicated that he has had some “difficulties” which may have required counseling and extra supervision. Relatives have indicated that Major Hasan had reported being “harassed” about being a Muslim since September 11th and had wanted to be discharged from the Army and not be deployed to the Middle East. (Initial responses from the Army indicate that Major Hasan had not filed any complaints of harassment.) It has further been reported that he was vehemently against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and openly criticized U.S. policy in the Middle East. Another important fact is that, as a psychiatrist, Major Hasan had been treating numerous soldiers for post-traumatic stress symptoms and had undoubtedly heard many, many horror stories about combat activities in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

PRE-SHOOTING BEHAVIOR – News outlets have spoken with Major Hasan’s neighbors who report that recently he has been giving away his possessions telling his neighbors that he was about to be deployed.  This is not an uncommon behavior for someone who has decided to commit suicide.  One of the common traits among most mass murderers is that they expect to die at the scene, either at their own hands or the hands of the police.

THE SHOOTING (based on initial reports) - Major Hasan was seated at a desk at the Soldier Readiness Center where approximately 300 soldiers and civilians were in various stages of being medically examined for deployment.  At some point around 1:30 p.m. Major Hasan took two firearms out of the desk (two privately-owned and not military firearms) and began calmly and methodically shooting people.  With that many people in the building, he could hardly miss. It has also been reported by multiple sources that, during his shooting spree, Major Hasan shouted “Allahu Akbar!” (God is Great).  He then moved outside to continue shooting before being confronted by two civilian police officers.  There was an exchange of gunfire and a female police sergeant, Sgt. Kimberly Munley, and Major Hasan, were both wounded.  In the end, Major Hasan fired more than 100 rounds, killing 13 people and wounding more than 30 others.

MASS MURDER TYPOLOGY AND MOTIVATION - This case is an excellent example of how one offender can have multiple motivations.  One one level, Major Hasan is an example of a “Disgruntled Employee Mass Murderer.” This type of offender blames others for his own problems and, in the end, feels that the only way to “get his message across” or “make a statement” is for him to go out in a blaze of glory.  Again, these offenders usually expect to die at the scene and view this as a form of suicide. (There are exceptions, of course, like Jason Rodriguez who, the very next day, killed one person and wounded five at an Engineering firm that had fired him.  He was arrested without incident at his mother’s home.) What is important in this type of shooting is not only who was shot but WHERE the shooting took place.  In this case, Major Hasan shot people at the Soldier Readiness Center, a location which represented to him the impending deployment that he had been unsuccessful in getting out of.

At the same time, Major Hasan has some of the attributes of the “Ideological Mass Murderer.” This type of mass murderer kills to further his religious and/or political agenda (i.e. Timothy McVeigh, or a suicide bomber).  Again we need to look at the target location, a U.S. Army base.  Major Hasan seems to have demonstrated that his actions were designed to support the radical Islamist belief that by killing others while giving up his own life, he would become a martyr to Islam.  Killing soldiers about to deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan would make his actions that much more beneficial.

CONCLUSIONS – In the end, it is my opinion that, first and foremost, Major Nidal Malik Hasan was a coward.  Perhaps, after hearing so many horror stories from returning soldiers, he became deeply afraid of what might happen to him during a deployment, especially if he was captured. He made every effort not to be deployed even going so far, apparently, of offering to repay the Army for his medical education.  In the end, it became apparent that he would rather die than be deployed.  His anger and frustration at the Army for wanting to send him to the Middle East against his will helped him to reach the decision to become a mass murderer.

But even though he, himself, was a trained psychiatrist, he apparently could not come to grips with his own cowardice and had to find another reason to justify his murderous attack.  That reason seems to have been the defense of Islam.  While he could not envision coming face-to-face with his God and explain that he had died a coward, he could very easily convince himself that God would welcome a martyr with open arms.

Major Hasan is currently expected to survive his wounds.  The analysis, and criticism, of this event will go on for months.  He will be described as someone who has “snapped” (see my first blog for my perspective on that) and who suffered from depression and other forms of mental illness.  There will undoubtedly be an effort to invoke the insanity defense.  It will be difficult, in my opinion, for the insanity defense to prevail for it will be hard for a jury, and it will be a military jury in this case, to conclude that a man who would purchase two handguns and over a hundred rounds of ammunition, and who then secretively brought these weapons to Fort Hood, and who then methodically shot over 40 people, was insane at the time.

But, I guess, stranger things have happened.

The Cleveland Serial Killer

Fifty year-old Anthony Sowell is in custody in Cleveland, OH, charged with forcible rape and suspected of the murder of at least six women.  This is not Sowell’s first arrest for rape.  In 1989, Sowell lived in East Cleveland where he lured a 21-year-old woman into his bedroom where he choked her and repeatedly raped her.  He was convicted and spent 15 years in prison.  He was released in 2004.

Sowell was required to register as a sex offender and to check in with authorities every 90 days.  On September 22, 2009, Sheriff’s Deputies went to Sowell’s home to do a “spot check” to make sure that he was, in fact, living at his registered address.  Eight hours later a woman told police that she had been inside Sowell’s home drinking with him when he punched her in the face, choked her with an extension cord, and raped her.

Police officers investigated the reported rape and, on Thursday, October 29, went to Sowell’s house with both arrest and search warrants.  Officers entered the home and, while Sowell was not present, the officers discovered two decomposing bodies.  Over the next two days officers discovered the remains of at least six women, all of whom had been strangled.  After a massive search of the city, Sowell was quietly arrested while walking down the street about a mile from his home on Saturday, October 31st, almost fittingly on Halloween.

MOTIVATION – While the investigation is continuing, it seems clear to me that Sowell is driven in large part by anger with much of his anger directed towards women. The Anger-Retaliatory Rapist is usually motivated by the anger felt towards a specific woman, or group of women, that he feels has done him wrong in the past.  In some instances it is an angry encounter with one of these women (mother, wife, authority figure) that serves as a trigger causing him to go out and seek another victim upon which to vent his built-up anger. (It would be interesting to find out whether or not one of the deputy sheriffs that went to do the spot check on Sowell just eight hours before his last reported rape was a female deputy.)

A sketchy family history that has emerged indicates multiple female authority figures in Sowell’s past.  Sowell’s brother Allen, 66, indicated that he has not had contact with Anthony from some time but, while they had the same father, they had different mothers.  The home where Sowell was living was being rented from Segerna Sowell, a woman who was a stepmother to both brothers indicating at least three different “mothers” that he has had.  Interestingly, Segerna Sowell seems to be missing.  When Allen last spoke with her in 2008, she indicated that she was in the process of evicting Anthony because of his drug use and failure to pay rent.  Neighbors have said that they believe she is in a nursing home, but Allen feels that Segerna would still maintain contact with him and he is worried.

Another woman from the neighborhood, Nancy Cobbs, 43, has been missing since April.

The expression of anger through rape is also about control.  An individual who, for most of his life has felt that he has NOT been in control and feels that he has been subjugated by women, or at least one specific woman, wants to be able as an adult to have control and to express it without contradiction or opposition.  In fact, resistance makes this individual even angrier.  A telling comment was made by Teresa Hicks who, apparently, has known Sowell since high school.  ”He was crazy,” she said. “Sometimes he would just go off if he didn’t get his way.”

Based on the information released by the police so far, it would appear that Sowell’s M.O. (Modus Operandi, Method of Operation) hasn’t changed much over the years. He probably lured most of his victims into his home with the promise of drugs or alcohol and then attempted to sexually assault them.   If it does turn out that he is a serial killer, he is not the most organized of serial killers.  Rather than being planned, these murders have all the markings of spontaneous bursts of anger, most probably while overcoming resistance to the act of rape.

In the end, if Sowell does decide to speak with the police and he confesses to his crime, he will not take full responsibility for his actions.  He will undoubtedly place some of the blame on the victims themselves.  He will rationalize, I’m sure, that if these women had only submitted to his sexual assault, they would probably be alive today.

And please don’t think that such a position is a symptom of insanity, for Mr. Sowell is not insane.  He is simply a cold-blooded rapist/murderer.