Understanding Control Killers: Behavioral Analysis & Examples
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Ever wondered what motivates control killers and how they differ from hedonistic serial killers?
We explore the power oriented serial killer definition, the characteristics of a control killer, examples of control killers, then answer some FAQs.
What Is A Power Oriented Serial Killer?
A power/control-oriented serial killer is primarily motivated to dominate and control their victims. Based on the behavioral sequence analysis of serial killers, these killers were typically the victims of sexual abuse, but not physical or psychological abuse. Approximately 2.6% of serial killers are in this group.
Next, let's look at the common characteristics of a power/control serial killer.
Power Oriented Serial Killer Characteristics
Power/control killers often appear normal in their public lives while harboring violent urges. These killers are often characterized as charming, charismatic, and intelligent.
They may be well known and respected members of their community. Given their precise nature, they may live a long life prior to getting caught.
Power/control killers derive pleasure from the act of murder. Power and control serial killers enjoy the time spent stalking and gathering information about their victims, and capturing them.
When it comes to the actual murder, the control killers are twice as likely to kill their victims quickly as they are to mutilate them, but the power/control serial killer examples we discuss next both deviated from the behavioral sequence analysis(BSA) discussed earlier.
Psychology Today has an article that seemingly contradicts the BSA because all of the serial killings they mention involved rape, sex, or necrophilia. I believe this means that the BSA needs to be reworked for a more accurate picture of the process of killing in this category.
The rape is focused on domination for power/control killers as opposed to lust in hedonistic killers. Both Ted Bundy and Gary Ridgway moved the bodies to another location when time allowed and would return to have sex with the decomposing bodies.
The power/control killers also enjoy keeping trophies from their victims to remind them of the experience.
Famous Control Killers Examples
BTK Dennis Rader
Dennis Rader, also known as BTK, is a notable power oriented serial killer example.
During childhood, there is no mention in literature of any type of abuse, but there is mention of him somehow connecting sexual pleasure and dying at a young age.
 He was a routine church goer, helped with the boy scouts, and was a home security worker while he was in the middle of his murder years.
He would provide services to people who would contact the company because of a
murder he committed.
Rader began killing on January 15, 1974. His first victims, the Otero family, he first identified two months previously as the mom Julia was taking the children to school.
He stalked them for two to three weeks, then returned on January 15th while 2 of the 4 kids were at school.
He jumped the fence, cut the phone lines, then held Joseph Jr. at gun point when he took the dog out. The family thought he was messing with them, but as he took control they got scared.
He took them to a bedroom, bound them with rope, then suffocated the dad with 2 plastic bags secured by rope. He then strangled the mom, but she didn't die.
Rader put a bag over Joseph Jr's head and the mom woke up as he was killing her son.
She asked him to stop and he did, but killed her with a rope. The whole time her daughter was screaming. He went right back to the murder of her son. He sat in a chair watching as the boy slowly suffocated.
Then he took the daughter, Josephine, down to the basement. He undressed her and she asked what was going to happen to here. He told her to her face:
Well, you're going to get in heaven like the rest of your family.
He then hung her secured to a pipe and proceeded to masturbate as the you girl struggled to save her life.
This was the most elaborate and smooth murder. Many of the other murders had surprises occur that blocked his ability to control the situation. This led to much quicker killing than I suspect he would have done if someone didn't effectively steal his power in the scenarios.
He would use guns knives, ropes, and strangulation to ki people in their own home.
After the murder he would steal driver's licenses, underwear, and other personal items that he would keep in a locked trunk at his home. He would perform autoerotic asphyxiation while masturbating while looking at the items.
In addition, Rader would taunt police and media outlets by sending letters that described his crimes in detail. His last murder occurred in 1991. The killing stopped and he was still free. In 2004, he started writing letters again and was arrested on February 25, 2005.
Looking at the complete picture, the murder was only part of what made him feel in control. Making family members watch scared as he proceeded killing their loved ones, saving a souvenir, taunting the police, installing alarms for scared neighbors, and jerking off to the memories were all part of the pleasure for this control killer.
John Wayne Gacy
John Wayne Gacy is another classic power/control oriented serial killer example. As a child, Gacy suffered both physical and sexual abuse.
At 18 Gacy got involved with politics. Two year later he was living in Las Vegas and working as a mortuary attendant where he had his first homosexual experience with a corpse. He returned home because of the shock it caused to attracted to a man.
John Wayne Gacy started business school and graduated in 1963, then took on a management role. He succeeded at both work and the Jaycees.
In 1964, he got his first blowjob from a guy while drunk and also took a management position at KFC. In 1967 he sexually assaulted a 15 year old boy and went to prison for 18 months for it.
He got out on June 18, 1970, and returned to Chicago. He was charged with sexual assault twice between then and when his probation ended on October 18, 1971, but was not convicted.
Gacy bought his house at 8213 West Summerdale Avenue where he would live until he went to prison. He also started a construction company that would grow to over $200K (equal to $974,450.92 in 2025) per year. He would sexually assault many of the teenagers who worked with him, but they would continue to work with him.
In 1975 he created the characters "Pogo the Clown" and "Patches the Clown." Pogo was happy, while patches was serious.
Gacy's strategy for picking up men and boys worked different ways including:
Offering the alcohol and drugs.
Pretending to be a cop.
Once he got the boys to the house, he would get them high and/or drunk, offer to show them a magic trick, then put them in handcuffs. That's when the horror would begin. Gacy would:
Sit on the man or boys chest and force him to pleasure him orally.
Rape them.
Burn them with cigars.
Ride the victims like horses.
Shove pill bottles and dildos up their ass
Taunt them.
Drown, revive, then drown them again.
Tighten a rope tourniquet around their neck and tighten it slowly with a hammer
Hide them under the bed for a day.
Embalm them or encase them with calcium oxide
Bury them in the crawl space.
Kept their drivers licenses/ID cards
The whole process would normally last hours. Gacy was arrested on December 21, 1978 for 33 counts of murder. He was convicted and sentenced to death. He was executed by lethal injection on May 10, 1994.
This sounds like a murder that is based on control except for one thing. Gacy's background sounds like he preferred men over women. He was married twice, but at least the second one sounds like a typical cover story that was prevalent for gay men back then.
FAQ
Which Criteria Must Be Met In Order For A Person To Be Classified As A Serial Killer?
The most basic definition of a serial killer is someone who kills three or more people at separate times with a cooling down period between each murder. There are more criteria that help differentiate serial killers from hitmen and people who kill to get away with another crime including:
Multiple Murders: Unlawfully killing three or more people is one of the core requirements.
Separate Events:Â Separate events makes serial killers different from mass-murdering or spree killers.
Cooling-off Period:Â The time between the killings, often called a "cooling-off period," distinguishes serial killers from mass murderers or spree killers.
Psychological Motivation:Â Killers are motivated by a need for control, power, or thrill-seeking instead of a motive that is related to their victims.
Victim Selection: Serial killers commonly choose similar victims that share characteristics.
Premeditation: Premeditated killings are the norm because the serial killer has to choose a victim that matches their fantasy and plan it where the victim cannot escape.
What Are The 4 Types Of Killers?
The four types of serial killers are based on their motivations and include the following types:
Visionary Killers: These killers are driven by a vision or command from a religion or delusion.
Mission-Oriented Serial Killers: These killers seek the elimination of an undesirable group of people.
Hedonistic Serial Killers: These killers are often called lust or thrill killers because they enjoy the act of killing and may accompany it with sexual assault.
Power/Control-Oriented Killers: These killers enjoy the feeling of control over their victims before and during the murder.
Learn more about the different types of serial killers.
Conclusion
Ultimately, which type of killer each serial killer gets classified is inexact. power/control killers and hedonistic killers often have similar behavioral attributes, but the goal is different.
We provided the power/control-oriented serial killer definition. Then we discussed characteristics of a power/control serial killer and how the behavioral sequence analysis(BSA) and criminology professionals don't always view the category the same.
Then, we explored two examples of power/control killers and how they don't perfectly match the BSA. Finally, we answered some frequently asked questions.
