Edmund Kemper Analysis

Edmund Kemper Analysis Introduction Background Edmund Kemper, famously known as the Co-ed Killer, was an American serial killer who was active in his crimes in the early 1970s. Kemper grew up without a great childhood. His parents divorced from a young age and him, his sister, and his domineering mother moved to Montana after the divorce. According to the book Understanding Criminal Behavior, “data has shown that people who grew up in single-parent households were overrepresented in offender and prison populations” (Jones, 2012, p.107). I do not believe growing up in a single-parent household was the main contributing factor to Kemper’s deviance, but it proves that there could be some correlation, especially since his father rejected him when he tried associating with him. He displayed sociopathic behaviors from a very young age. Kemper was known to torture and kill animals. He would also act out rituals with his sister’s dolls, some including him removing their head and hands. He also had his sister play the two games called the “Gas Chamber,” and “Electric Chair.” In these games, he would be tied up and his sisters would flip an imaginary switch and he would pretend to tumble over and pretend he was being executed by gas inhalation or electric shock (Edmund Kemper Stories, 2020). The torturing of animals from a young age is a clear red flag, as that is one of the things that many serial killers act out in their childhood. Not only is this a red flag, but it is also a sadistic act as he had no remorse for the animals he killed. In Murderous Minds, it says that “children who display psychopathic traits may have had an advantage over adult psychopaths because of the idea that their brains may still be plastic enough to respond to therapy faster” (Haycock, 2015, p.186). If his mother would have gotten him to help instead of locking in the basement and neglecting him maybe, I believe he could have been saved from turning into this serial killer, but you never know because he could have still turned out the same, but at least he would have had a better chance. However, due to his bizarre behavior, his mother claimed to keep him in the basement out of fear of him molesting his sisters. Kemper’s mother was no angel because she would Edmund Kemper Analysis constantly humiliate, belittle, and physically plus emotionally abuse her son. An example of how she would humiliate and belittle her son is when she made fun of how nig he was because he was six feet nine inches and weighing around 280 pounds. In Understanding Criminal Behavior, it is mentioned that “a review done by Cerezo found that children subject to abuse or maltreatment are likely to demonstrate evidence of higher levels of deviance and lower levels of prosocial behavior” (Jones, 2012, p.113). Kemper experienced a lot of abuse in his life with his mother’s emotional and physical abuse, especially locking him in the basement. His grandmother, who he ended up living with was thought to be just as abusive as his mother, so Kemper experienced different forms of abuse and neglect from his own family. If Kemper did experience both physical abuse and neglect, he would be put at a higher risk of being arrested for a violent crime. According to table 4.5 in Understanding Criminal Behavior, “individuals who experienced physical abuse only were set at 15.8% for being arrested for violent crime, while neglect was put at 12.5%. If you combine both of those numbers, it is easy to see how Kemper’s upbringing put him in the high-risk category” (Jones, 2012, p.113). “Authoritarian parenting is associated with cold, distant relationships, lower levels of involvement, and subsequently erratic often harsh punishment. This type of parenting style has shown to influence delinquency” (Jones, 2012, p.116). This type of parenting was demonstrated by Kemper’s mother, so her harsh parenting could have contributed to his delinquent behavior as a child throughout his adult life too. After reading the family section in Understanding Criminal Behavior, it points to clear evidence that the abuse, neglect, harsh parenting style, and divorce could have all been contributing factors to Kemper’s deviance. However, according to Murderous Minds, “childhood abuse and victimization is a risk factor for the development of psychopathy, but it is not necessary” (Haycock, 2015). This shows that the abuse Kemper experienced could be a factor that contributes to his behavior, it may not be the only contributing factor. Kemper’s criminal behavior started from a young age when he shot both of his grandparents. He was committed to Atascadero State Hospital, where he was diagnosed as having paranoid schizophrenia Edmund Kemper Analysis for his crime at the age of 15. He was eventually able to impress the doctors, which was enough to earn him the ability to leave the hospital at the age of 21. Once he was released, he lived with his mother in Santa Cruz. The issues between Kemper and his mother never stopped, so he got a job at the Division of Highways and got his apartment. He wanted to become a state trooper but got rejected because of his size. Kemper got into an accident on his motorcycle and suffered a broken arm. With an out-of-court settlement, he was able to buy a car that looked like an unmarked police car. This is the car he would use to pick up hitchhikers, which led to the unfortunate events to follow (Blanco, n.d.). Murders Kemper’s Modus Operandi and Signature Modus Operandi in simple terms means the things the killer must do to commit the crime. When Kemper originally started picking up hitchhikers, he was not killing them right away. Kemper did not have any experience about how to live out his fantasies without getting caught, so he took some time to pick up hitchhikers and gathered all the details on how to commit the crimes. It is known that he picked up at least 100 girls, but he did not commit any murders. Eventually, when he got comfortable, he started to pick up his female hitchhiker victims in the Santa Cruz area. His modus operandi (MO) included picking up co-ed-aged girls who attended the same college his mother worked at who was hitchhiking. Then he would drive them around, take them somewhere secluded, then kill them in various ways (“Ed Kemper’s House,” n.d.). The ways he would kill his victims included shooting, stabbing, strangling, and hitting with a hammer (“Who is Edmund Kemper?” n.d.). The hitting with the hammer was used for his mother, but not his other victims. His MO was the things he needed to do to commit his crimes, but what is weird is Kemper’s signature (Blanco, n.d.). Kemper’s MO was consistent across all his victims, so it is easy to identify his MO. However, there is always the question of why did Kemper kill and kill in the way he did? I believe that there are a few reasons after analyzing Kemper’s past as to why he picked the victims he did and how he killed them. As stated before, his mother worked at the University of California in Santa Cruz making it an easier way Edmund Kemper Analysis to gain access to his victim pool. It is known that Kemper took his mother’s parking pass and used it on his car that way he would not get questioned when he picked up the girls. Kemper claims that he was involved in killing co-eds because his mother working a college. In my opinion, it makes sense why he would pick victims that were associated with his mother. His victims had long, dark brown hair and attended the college his mother worked at. Kemper had so much hatred for his mother, so I believe that he wanted to target women who were associated with his mother in some way, in this situation they were connected to her by her workplace. I feel that he did not want to kill these women, rather he wanted to kill these women as practice until he finally got his chance to kill his real victim, his mother. Another possibility for the reason that Kemper committed these crimes is because of the thrill he got from the killing and the mutilation of the women’s bodies. It is known that men are more common to commit violent crimes, but what isn’t widely known is the influence of hormones especially testosterone in men. “Hormone levels themselves are reactive to life events. One study with rats showed that when rats won a right their testosterone levels increase” (Jones, 2012, p.158). This could potentially mean that serial killers like Ed Kemper kept killing because of the thrill and increase in hormones after the killings which he found exhilarating, instead of trying to perfect his crime. I believe that he was influenced by how his hormones reacted to the situations making him more excited and using these women as rehearsals for his primary target, his mother. It is hard to say if Kemper wanted to kill these women or if all his violence came from his mother and his preparation for her murder. I believe that he chose these virtual ways to kill his women because he did not get the thrill from the kill, but rather a thrill from what followed. I feel he killed brutally so the women did not have to suffer, but rather experience a quick death because it was the decapitation and playing with the bodies that brought pleasure, not the kill. A signature is something the criminal does at the crime scene or to the victims that he would not need to do to commit the crime, it’s just an extra unnecessary addition that makes the killer unique from others. Usually, the signature is meant to help live out the fantasy of the killer, in this case, Kemper had these fantasies about mutilation, decapitation, rape, and cannibalism, which he then carried out in the Edmund Kemper Analysis crimes (Deen, 2019). Kemper mentioned that he never mentioned the cannibalism fantasy when he was in Atascadero because he knew he would have never gotten out (Edmund Kemper Stories, 2020). Kemper has some interesting yet disturbing signatures. One of his signatures was taking the victim's remains to his room and performing weird experiments on them and even engaging in sexual activities and raping the bodies (Edmund Kemper Biography, 2021). There could be an explanation for his rape signature. According to Understanding Criminal Behavior, there are different taxonomies of rape offenders. The one I would categorize Kemper as would be the aggressive offender, “who is someone for whom rape is simply one part of a violent criminal lifestyle” (Jones, 2012, p.215). Along with the aggressive offender, I would categorize Kemper with the power and dominance motive, which is a “group that is seemingly motivated by particular aspects of rape: the feeling of power and dominance, the impersonal aspect of rape” (Jones, 2012, p.216). Kemper seemed to be motivated by power because the women were dead when he raped them, so it could have been the feeling of being in total control and power so he could live out his perfect fantasy because without having complete dominance and power he wouldn’t have been able to live out the perfect fantasy. Another part of his signature is he would also decapitate his victims’ heads and have oral sex with them which. Some of the heads of the victims were buried in his mother’s garden because he claimed that she always wanted people looking up to her (Hayden, 2020). It is also believed that he had cooked and eaten parts of his victims. He would then take photos of their mutilated bodies as a souvenir and then dispose of them by throwing them off ravines (Emma, 2022). All these things that Kemper did were not necessary to carry out the crime, rather they were part of his fantasy, making these things his signature. Victims His first victims were his grandparents Maude and Edmund Kemper. Kemper shot his grandmother first after they got into an argument and then killed his grandfather because he claimed that he did not want him to live life without his wife. Mary Pesce, 19 years old, and Anita Luchesa, 18 years old were Kemper’s next victims, who were both hitchhiking. They said that they needed to go to Stanford University and Kemper said he would take them there. Instead, he took them to a secluded wood area and Edmund Kemper Analysis stabbed and strangled both women to death. He then drove back to his apartment with their bodies in his trunk. He decided to have sex with their corpses before he beheaded them. After he was done with their bodies, he put them in plastic bags which were then left near Loma Prieta Mountain. Mary’s skull was found, but Anita’s body was never found (Deen, 2019). Aiko Koo was a 15-year-old dance student who was hitchhiking to dance class. She got picked up by Kemper who then preceded to choke her unconscious before he raped and killed her. He then dismembered her body and disposed of it. Cindy Shall was a 19-year-old girl who was shot in the trunk of his car. He decided to take her corpse back to his apartment and have had intercourse with her body before he dismembered it. Cindy’s head was then buried in his mother’s garden. The next two victims were Rosalind Thorpe who was 23 years old and Allison Liu who was 20 years old. They both attended the University of California. Kemper lured them into his car because they saw his mother’s university sticker. He shot and wrapped their bodies in blankets then placed them in his trunk. Back at his mother’s home, he beheaded the woman and then decided to have sex with Alice’s body the following morning. He then drove away from Santa Cruz and disposed of the remains of these women (Deen, 2019). His final victims are the most interesting. His mother Clarnell Strandberg and her mother’s friend Sally Hallett. Kemper murdered his mother with a claw hammer while she was sleeping. He then decapitated her and raped her head. He eventually removed her larynx and put it down on the garbage disposal, but it came back up and he said, “that seemed appropriate- as much as she’d bitched and screamed and yelled at me over so many years.” I just find it interesting how blunt he was about his mother’s death, and I feel he had no regrets but was rather relieved. Finally, he invited Sally to the house where he proceeded to kill her by strangling her to death. It is believed he did this that way the suspicion of Kemper killing them would be not as expected since there were two bodies (Deen., 2019). Kemper’s arrest is quite interesting because after killing his mother’s best friend, he drove away to Colorado, and he decided to use a telephone booth to call the police and confess. At first, the police did not believe him since he was so close to the police department, but after he confessed and told all the details about the bodies and victims, which verified that he was the killer. To me, hearing that he Edmund Kemper Analysis confessed right after killing his mother and a best friend tells me that the mother was likely the primary target and had no need to kill anymore, but this could be inaccurate. It is hard to say if Kemper was still out in the public if he would kill again, but I don’t think he would. I believe that Kemper maybe had some regrets about killing the other females since he did confess, but it is just interesting why he would confess (Deen., 2019). Final Thoughts It is known that almost 88% of known serial killers appeared between the 1970’s – and the 1990’s, Edmund Kemper being one of those as he killed between 1972 and 1973 (Mueller, 2022). Edmund Kemper is a serial killer, which I know through using class content and books relate to Kemper’s crimes. There is a killer triad that includes animal cruelty + bed wetting + arson, so if anyone displays these behaviors at a young age, there should be a concern (Mueller, 2022). One of the big red flags with Ed Kemper is that he displayed acts of animal cruelty. It is known that he would torture insects and animals, he even buried a cat alive and dug it back up to decapitate it. These behaviors are clear red flags early on of a sadistic serial killer. We also know that his childhood could have contributed to Kemper becoming a serial killer. One fact is that “an infant can become a psychopath by the age of two if they are deprived of human affection, love, touch, etc” (Mueller, 2022). Kemper’s mother was extremely abusive, manipulative, and degrative towards her son all the time, so we can infer that he lacked all of these things. In my opinion, it makes sense how his mother’s lack of affection and father's absence could have contributed to him becoming a psychopath. Kemper could have been described as “The Lonely Child,” which could have also contributed to his creation into becoming a serial killer. It is known that Kemper was often lonely and isolated as a young child, at home, and school. Due to his size, it was hard for him to fit in and his mother continually made fun of him for this. Kemper was rejected by his mother and father, so he was rejected a lot throughout his childhood and into his adulthood as well. This loneliness likely gives people like Kemper time to think and fantasize, so being locked in the basement, probably only worsened his fantasies Edmund Kemper Analysis because he had a lot of time and privacy to do so. Kemper’s behavior and personality can also confirm that Kemper would be classified as an organized serial killer. “His behavior is organized because an organized serial killer’s behavior includes abducting them, having weapons, kidnapping in one location, killing in another, and disposing of in another” (Mueller, 2022). These are all behaviors that Kemper displayed. Kemper’s personality is an organized type as well because he was “intelligent, social, dressed well, and had a nice/decent car” (Mueller, 2022). These are all personalities of an organized serial killer. From this class content correlation, it is evident that Ed Kemper would be classified as an organized serial killer because of his behavior and personality. Ed Kemper fits the recent definition of a serial killer, which is defined as “the unlawful killing of two or more victims of the same offender in separate events for any reason, including anger, thrill, financial gain, and attention-seeking.” (Mueller, 2022). Kemper kidnapped eight people all women in their teens in early twenties, but his mother and her best friend were not young (Mueller, 2022). These killings happened between 1972 and 1973. This eight-victim count does not include his grandparents, which happened when he was 15 years old, so in total, he would have killed ten people. Another part of the serial killer definition that Ed Kemper fits into is his unlawful killing including anger and thrill. It is possible that his MO included anger and frustration that was built up from his childhood and maltreatment. His MO could also include the thrill he got from the different types of killing. Also, his signature depicts thrill because of the way he mutilated the body. Kemper fits the definition of a serial killer. There are four types of motives that serial killers have, and I would categorize Kemper in the Anger Excitatory motive for a few reasons. The first reason is that the rapes and murders were planned (Mueller, 2022). It is unclear if he planned each victim specifically picked, but he did plan to rape and murder each of the women he killed. Also, mutilation is a big part of the anger excitation motive and Kemper’s signature contained mutilation (Mueller, 2022). Kemper would decapitate and dismember the bodies, which is where I feel he gained the most pleasure and satisfaction. It is unclear if he meant to inflict pain and terror before death, but I do not believe that he meant to inflict those things on his victims. Edmund Kemper Analysis Being sadistic is another feature of this motive and Kemper would also be considered sadistic since he found his love for torture and hurting things like animals at a young age (Mueller, 2022). Finally, another part of the anger excitation motive is that it is all about the process (Mueller, 2022). I believe that Kemper was all about the process and the excitation it brought him from start to finish, but I do believe the mutilation aspect probably brought him the most pleasure. Evidentially, Kemper’s murders align with the anger excitation motive that is seen by serial killers. Using class content, book, and other resources it is easy to see how Ed Kemper fits into the category of a serial killer. I believe that Ed Kemper’s childhood was a big motivation for him to become a serial killer. It is hard to say if Kemper wanted to kill all these women or if they were practice for his true target his mother or a combination of both. Regardless, Kemper is the most interesting serial killer in my opinion because he has a kind, intelligent, and very open personality that a lot of serial killers do not have, which likely allowed him to get away with it because no one, especially the police, could believe that someone like him would do such a thing. Ed Kemper is not doubt a interesting and undeniable serial killer.