The Killer Across the Table

That is why the concept of rehabilitation is so problematic for violent offenders.

Once the damage is done, it is often all but impossible to repair it.

We think of young, beautiful women as the targets of these men, but vulnerability, more than anything else, is likely to lead to someone’s becoming a victim. That’s why children, senior citizens, prostitutes, drug addicts, the homeless, and other marginalized groups are prime targets of serial killers.

Lesson learned: Everyone is a potential suspect, and don’t let looks or behavior fool you.

We all feel the urge to exact revenge at one time or another, but most of us are able to suppress and control those impulses. Actual revenge murders tend to be one-offs rather than serial crimes.

There are two main reasons killers return to these scenes. One would be classified as signature behavior and the other as modus operandi—the psychic versus the practical aspect of the crime. The first is to relive the thrill and emotion of the crime. We have seen a number of offenders come back to masturbate on or around the victim’s body. We have even seen actual necrophiliacs who returned to have sex with their recently deceased victims. Ted Bundy was one of those. Clearly, Kondro did not fit this profile; once he was done with a victim, he was done, and blithely went about his business.

The other reason is defensive: to make sure the body remains properly hidden and will not be discovered by the authorities or casual passersby

Now, the first thing that should occur to you about this brief narrative is how absolutely ordinary, matter-of-fact, and almost banal it sounds. Then you remember that Kondro killed the stepdaughter of his “friend from way back,” and you realize once again the searing reality: Predators may look and sound and often act like we do, but they don’t think like we do. Their logical process is completely different.

Another concept difficult for many people to understand is that an offender can be sexually aroused by something that does not appear to have any direct connection with sex.

“The basic thesis, the basic premise of my approach,” I stated, “is that to understand the artist, you must look at the artwork.” Likewise, I clarified, to understand the violent criminal, you must look at the crime.

I always start from the same premise, one that I taught throughout my years with the FBI: Past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior.