Erotophonophilia: Investigating Lust Murder

This book examines the effectiveness and efficiency of the typologies of lust murder (erotophonophilia) advocated by contemporary researchers, specifically, Godwin, Holmes and Holmes; Keppel and Walter; Kocsis, Cooksey, and Irwin. The behavior and activities exhibited by offenders that distinguish lust murderers from among other types of serial murderers are presented through a multiple case studies analysis of the offenders' psychosocial histories and offense patterns. The lust murderers examined include Theodore Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and Dennis Rader. The book proposes the need for a composite typology technique in order to have a more promising approach in identifying a suspect pool from a broader range of psychosocial, offense activities, and particular offender characteristics to aid in investigations. The study advocates that a primary function of the development of typologies is to provide aid and assistance in the investigation of violent crime, specifically violent sexualized homicides. As such, this book presents a comprehensive series of issue discussions linking specific issues, activities, processes, and operational contexts in general homicide investigation and specifically for lust murder investigation. The examination of various violent homicide typologies and their applicability illustrate their individual unique utilities and limitations in the development of practically applied offender profiling. The lack of a unifying theory or model that explains the offense aspects, distinguishes significant crime scene activities, victim targeting, and variances of significant or available forensic findings will result in the viability of typologies as effective tools in the criminal investigation of lust murder. The book provides an approach to the development of such a unifying theory.