Elsevier

Aggression and Violent Behavior

Volume 56, January–February 2021, 101531
Aggression and Violent Behavior

Criminal cannibalism: An examination of patterns and styles

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2020.101531Get rights and content

Abstract

Cannibalism is a practice that has been present in numerous cultures. Personal cause or criminal cannibalism is arguably one of the most unfathomable acts which an individual might perpetrate. This study examined the patterns of those who engage in cannibalism in comparison to those who posthumously dismember or mutilate their victims but do not consume their flesh. Cases were extracted from the Serial Killer Database, as well as media sources, and assessed for characteristics of the perpetrators. An informational form was developed and used to establish quantitative parameters and objectively extract pertinent information that could be used for comparison and pattern analysis. Variables including motives, styles, and level of organization during the crime were examined for each case. The majority of the cannibalism cases were consistent with an offensive style (56.7%), while cases in the dismemberment-only group were marked by a defensive style (66.7%). Whereas the majority of dismemberment/mutilation cases have the ultimate goal of disposing of evidence, the dataset demonstrated that cannibal cases are primarily planned, organized and driven by sadism. The findings support two primary patterns among cannibalistic offenders: ‘psychosis-driven, disorganized and aggressive’ and ‘sadism-driven, organized and offensive’.

Introduction

Anthropophagy, from the Greek anthropos (man) and phagein (to eat), more commonly known as cannibalism, refers to the consumption of the flesh of one human being by another. The anthropological record suggests that this phenomenon dates to prehistory. Columbus, in his 1492 exploration of the New World, observed that the native Caribales of the Bahamas feasted upon male prisoners of war, and it is the name of this people which gave rise to the modern term cannibal (Patterson, 1991). The cannibalism practiced by certain cultures over the millennia, or which has transpired during certain periods of famine is to be distinguished from that perpetrated by criminal offenders for personal purposes. While there have been over 150 such cases over the past few centuries, mostly confined to the past 50 years and the western world, the scientific literature on such personal cause cannibalism has been scant. In this paper, we seek to address this omission and contribute to what is known about extreme violent acts which include cannibalism, as well as the diverse motives for such offenses.

Personal cause cannibalism is arguably one of the most unfathomable acts which an individual might perpetrate, so seemingly bizarre as to prompt those who hear about such cases to presume that the offender was mentally ill. There is, moreover, a general sense that only the worst of killers would engage in such dramatically violent behavior. In some instances, mainstream news outlets and tabloids report that certain heinous murders involved cannibalism, even if there is no proof or indication that such acts transpired, perhaps as a way of highlighting the horror of “evil” of a particular case, or making an offender seem inhuman or monstrous.

While there are cases in which severe mental illness, such as psychosis, is associated with this type of violent act, simplifying and overgeneralizing personal cause cannibalism in this manner would impede a thorough understanding of this complex behavior, potentially influencing offender profiling, criminal pattern identification, and legal proceedings, particularly where insanity is considered as a defense (Tidrick, Brucato, Petreca, Burgess, & Stone, 2020).

It is relevant to note that the driving forces behind any behavior can be varied and influenced by context, with a number of motivational patterns arising within a particular phenomenon. Following this premise, it can be posited that motivations associated with the consumption of human flesh would be diverse and likely fall into distinct general subtypes.

In order to define and categorize cannibalism within criminal cases, a brief exploration of its occurrence across settings is necessary. Cannibalism dates back thousands of years— there is evidence, for instance, that it was practiced by Neanderthals— and has historically been an element of some cultures around the world. It is generally divided into two categories, endocannibalism, and exocannibalism (Boëtsch, 2004; Harvey, 2004). Endocannibalism is defined as consuming someone inside one's social group or community (Harvey, 2004), which might involve religious beliefs or a need for survival. Some Aboriginal Australians would consume the corpses of relatives as acts of respect. Survival cannibalism was practiced in 1850 by Boone Helm, who ate the legs of a deceased friend during a trek through Idaho, en route to seek gold in California. It was also seen following the crash of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 in 1972. When the aircraft collided with a glacier in the Andes, the isolated survivors reportedly engaged in cannibalism of passengers who had not survived. Exocannibalism, by contrast, is defined as consuming a person outside of one's social group, including practices of eating one's enemy to gain qualities of the victim or to demonstrate dominion. Criminal personal cause cannibalism, which will be the focus of this paper, is classified as a subcategory of exocannibalism. A modern and infamous example of an offender who engaged in criminal cannibalism would be Jeffery Dahmer, who, between the years of 1978 and 1991, raped, murdered, dismembered, and cannibalized 17 male victims in a recorded interview with Dahmer, Robert Ressler specifically probed his motivations for cannibalism. Dahmer admitted that it was a “perverse sexual practice,” or paraphilia, and that the eating of a victim was associated with a “feeling of making him part of me.” Dahmer usually took photographs of the young men he brought back to his house. He explained to Ressler, “During dismemberment, I saved the heart, the biceps. Decided to cut 'em into small pieces, washed 'em off, put it [sic] in clear plastic freezer bags, and put 'em into my storage freezer, just as an escalation, trying something new to satisfy. And I would cook it, and then look at the picture and masturbate” (Ressler & Shachtman, 1993, p. 124).

Literature exploring criminal cannibalism is limited. Studies have, however, explored patterns observed among offenders who commit dismemberment and/or mutilation (Petreca, Burgess, Stone, & Brucato, 2020). Given that cannibalism is physically impossible without the dismemberment or mutilation of a victim, an exploration of the patterns, motivations and styles of cannibals as a potential subset of offenders who dismember and/or mutilate their victims is warranted.

In this study, dismemberment was defined in the manner proposed by Stone, Brucato and Burgess; namely, “the entire removal, by any means, of a large section of the body of a living or dead person, specifically, the head (also termed decapitation), arms, hands, torso, pelvic area, legs, or feet.” Mutilation, by contrast, involves “the removal or irreparable disfigurement, by any means, of some smaller portion of one of those larger sections of a living or dead person. The latter would include castration (removal of the testes), evisceration (removal of the internal organs), and flaying (removal of the skin)” (Stone & Brucato, 2019). Dismemberment and mutilation can be further classified into three general styles: defensive, aggressive, and offensive. The defensive style serves primarily to hide the body following homicide. The aggressive style is characterized by excess rage, generally manifested in an erratic and chaotic manner, with the dismemberment or mutilation at times being initiated while the victim is still alive. Lastly, the offensive style is generally driven by sexual desire, fantasy or sadism (Häkkänen-Nyholm, Weizmann-Henelius, Salenius, Lindberg, & Repo-Tiihonen, 2009; Püschel & Koops, 1987; Rajs, Lundström, Broberg, Lidberg, & Lindquist, 1998).

In order to better understand the phenomenon of cannibalism, more granular categorization may be required. Stone and Brucato (2019) have proposed that any violent action should be considered along a wide spectrum, encompassing in external influences, such as self-defense, loyalty to or fear of a powerful individual or group, extreme and sudden feelings of jealousy or rage, or trauma; the role of culture; psychiatric disturbance; and basic personality structure. They have described cases of cannibalism which were endorsed with a given culture or belief system, or during times of famine, during which social sanctions were lessened. They reviewed cases in which cannibalism was practiced for what an individual viewed in entirely pragmatic terms, such as self-survival. For persons suffering from psychosis, cannibalism may serve a practical purpose—as when Richard Trenton Chase devoured flesh and drank blood as a means of preventing his blood from becoming pulverized, a delusion central to his serial killing. Cannibalism may also be pragmatically motivated if it is part of the process of eliminating evidence of a murder. Finally, Stone and Brucato described cases of cannibalism which were purely driven by psychological and personality-based elements, such as the narcissistic desire to render a victim part of the self forever, paraphilic sexual arousal, or sadistic cruelty.

In the previously referenced work by Petreca, Burgess, Stone, and Brucato (2020) examining patterns of dismemberment and mutilation, the organization/disorganization dichotomy was explored as a fluid process that may vary in different stages of a given violent act. An organized act of dismemberment/mutilation includes preplanning of devices, location, incision areas, motivation, disposal of body parts, and cleaning up of the crime scene. By contrast, disorganized cases of dismemberment/mutilation show evidence of poor planning, arbitrary use of tools, and negligent abandonment of the crime scene, and are generally motivated by rage and an acute change in cognitive status. In cases of cannibalism, investigating the organized/disorganized dichotomy as a separate stage from the murder itself may be prudent, particularly as it compares to styles, motivations and levels of organization observed among offenders who dismember and/or mutilate their victims.

This study aims to examine the patterns of those who engage in cannibalism in comparison to those who posthumously dismember or mutilate their victims, but do not consume their flesh. In addition to exploring overall patterns descriptively, we hypothesized that we would observe a significant relationship between dismemberment style, and motives for murder, dismemberment and cannibalism. We also hypothesized that the patterns of persons who commit personal cause cannibalism would prove distinct from offenders who only dismember or mutilate their victims. We posited that cannibal cases would be potentially twice as likely to be disorganized and associated with the aggressive dismemberment/mutilation style.

Section snippets

Methods

In order to explore the patterns of those who committed one or more acts of cannibalism, the characteristics of this group of offenders (termed the cannibalism group) was compared to those who mutilated or dismembered victims on at least one occasion, but did not engage in any acts of cannibalism (termed the dismemberment-only group). Murder of the victim was not a requirement for inclusion in either group, as acts of dismemberment, mutilation and cannibalism may be perpetrated against victims

Results

The demographic data, and prevalence rate of motives and styles of dismemberment and/or mutilation among both groups are shown in Table 1. A total of 120 perpetrators who committed dismemberment and/or mutilation were analyzed.

Our samples of perpetrators who committed dismemberment/mutilation and/or cannibalism were found to have killed in multiple countries, as noted in Fig. 1 (see Appendix). A total of twenty countries were represented in the study, with the majority of cases occurring in the

Discussion

The phenomenon of cannibalism has the capacity to conjure polar extremes in thought, ranging from sacred rituals lending comfort in certain ancient and modern cultures, to the most heinous violent acts, harrowing societies across the globe. The notion of a human being consuming the flesh of another person is generally palatable in intellectually detached discussions of cultural behavior, in which it is understood as a form of communication or symbolism within the context of a religious or

Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Terence Leary, PhD and Larry Southard of Florida Gulf Coast University and Dr. Michael Aamodt, PhD of Radford University, for giving us access to the Serial Killer Database. We also thank research assistants Shannon Dinsmore, Caillin MacQuarrie, Jessica Flores, Molly Tidrick and Elora Barros.

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