Case Study of Albert DeSalvo
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Somewhat similar to Bundy, Albert DeSalvo experienced a childhood of wretched upbringing. As confirmed by friends, family, social workers and investigators; DeSalvo’s father was a despicable man who would beat the children, his wife and bring home prostitutes. DeSalvo was rejected and made to feel as if he did not exist in the eyes of his father as well as in the eyes of his mother who was too busy to defend anyone else but herself from the wrath of Albert’s father. The lack of family cohesion and filthy living quarters were the strongest memories of DeSalvo. A child in the middle of six children, DeSalvo lived in desperation, helplessness and negativity stating; “We all graduated from jail” (Watts 1993: 30). Like Bundy, DeSalvo felt rejected by his family and peers, thus retreating into a world of fantasy and a struggle for power. Once he reached his mid twenties, he married a lower class woman and then began his terrible acts of serial murder.
In his short, deranged life as a serial killer, Albert DeSalvo acquired several nicknames. In his twenties, he became known as "The Measuring Man", a serial sex molester who went from door to door, posing as a scout for a modeling agency (www.geocites.com/Sunset Strip/Towers/ 9590/moniker.html). When a woman let him in, he would produce a tape measure and proceed to check out her “assets”. This was a ploy that allowed him to indulge in his taste for crude sexual fondling. Years later, he progressed from molestation to rape, assaulting girls throughout the New England area for two years. During this period, he became known as "The Green Man", because of the green work clothes he favored while committing these crimes. However, It was his third nickname, that ensured his infamy. In 1962, DeSalvo became known as "The Boston Strangler", a smooth-talking sadist who savagely murdered thirteen women during an eighteen-month reign of terror.
In line with Fromm’s position in his book; The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness, both Bundy and Desalvo were products of their environment. However, can we say that because there was violence in the home, it is acceptable for them to also commit acts of outward aggression? No. I would have to say that this would be intolerable and utterly unacceptable. Yet, one cannot overlook the fact that these men, like so many other sadistic sexual killers, did live infant lives of torture and spent their adolescent years in quiescence from the outer world. But, this cannot simply be the only excuse for their behavior, there must be more to their withdrawal and covertness.
I would briefly like to return to the topic of the media to shed some light onto the way we perceive serial killers. One word is to be credited to the media; misconception! Movies such as John Carpenter’s Halloween, Friday the 13th, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and A Nightmare on Elm Street depict foolish characters not to mention ignorant characteristics of killers in general. On the other side of the coin, we have films that glamorize killers, such as Kalifornia, Thelma and Louise, Love and a .45 and who could forget Mickey and Mallory in the highly controversial Natural Born Killers. It is through the media that the anti-hero becomes the bearer of morality. I think most are intrigued by the fact that someone can carry out all their fantasies with no rules or hindrance. Watching movies where people run wild and do whatever they want is something we wish we all could do at one time or another. I think that that is why these characters become so popular. Most of us know our boundaries and know that we can never get up and defy authority without paying a penalty that most are not ready to handle. It is sort of like living through the actions of someone else with who we have no association or attachment. Unfortunately, the media and even some mixed up individuals cannot see what the rest of the intelligent world can; the aforementioned individuals are killers, plain and simple. And why do they kill? What’s the motivation? It most certainly goes back to infancy.
Returning to Ted Bundy’s infancy can explain, although not fully, but partly why he grew to be so deranged. To understand Bundy’s circumstances in adult life, one must remember that he spent the first three months in an institution where he was uncared for. Not only was he ignored, more importantly, he was deprived of love, security, trust and stability. According to Moes, as a result, the “death” instinct surfaced rather than the “life” instinct (Moes 62). Moreover, the absence of a father, states Pruett, can be more devastating and psychologically significant than that of a father, who though present, shows no affection toward the child (Pruett 1983: 260). While we know that Ted was an illegitimate child, we do not know for sure what role John Bundy played in Ted’s life as a young child or adolescent. What one can assume is that John Bundy was not very supportive in playing the role of the father, thus Ted may have been influenced to some degree by the father that he resented. But, one must remember that Ted was introduced to John long after his symbiotic phase. Therefore, Ted had never bonded with a male figure and it was too late to attach himself to the “other” parent because that crucial phase in his life had passed (Abelin 1971: 246).
Similarly, DeSalvo encountered much of the same circumstances as Bundy. However, unlike Bundy, he was legitimate, but not well supported by his father. Once again one can see that Pruett’s theory comes to light in such a circumstance showing us that the father plays just as large a roll in the part of a child’s early life as the mother. One can see that Albert, throughout his whole life, encountered violence, hatred, anger and sadness. While his life was quite different from that of Ted Bundy in the respect that they came from completely different classes, the result was the same for both men in the idea that both turned out to be such horrific power hungry murderers with deeply rooted psychological problems.
In the case of Ted Bundy, according to Melanie Klein, the depravation that he felt from infancy, was projected onto the breast of his mother while his birth trauma was expressed by sadistic hallucinatory impulses to “suck dry and scoop out all of her internal contents” (Moes 1991: 62). This is referred to as the internal mother object.
This form of fantastical conception is derived from the infants instinctive urges which stifles the understanding of what is real and what is hallucination. However, objects of fantasy such as the breast of the mother (inner objects or concepts), are only experienced by the infant and as a result, the infant may experience, what Klein calls, “psychotic” anxiety, due to a type of inner confusion between reality and fantasy, as well as “good” and “bad” (Moes 1991: 63). What the baby may do to defend himself is either form more extreme ideas of the bad objects, like the mother’s breast, or stifle his emotions. Moreover, because the ego is lacking solidarity (which we know from Mahler), and the internal objects or fantasies are focal point in the development of the ego, the ego indevelopment may split itself if too much idealization of “bad” objects occur. In turn, this makes comprehension of reality a less feasible possibility. To look at a person’s fantasy riddled adulthood, we must understand that this occurrence is spawned in childhood and is carried out in forms of both aggression and regression.
Ted Bundy turned his anxiety inward as an adolescent and by doing so, was protecting his ego within a sort of shell. In reality, unlike in fantasy, there are dangers and problematic situations that tend to arise at the wrong time or all at once. Fantasy gives one the option of either dealing with the situation that presents itself or backing into a world where you are untouchable (Apsche 1993: 31). The greatest example of this lies in the early ears of childhood of Bundy where he remembered his grandfather as a jolly old Santa Clause rather than the abusive man that he was. On the other hand we have DeSalvo who remembers the violence of his father and openly acknowledges it. However, one cannot overlook the fact that these men, although articulate and intelligent, upstanding citizens with previous relations with women, had deep-seated internal mental problems that caused them to hallucinate. It must be remembered though that “...these persons are not having delusions or hallucinations as our language has defined such. They are during these episodes, living out the phantasies that their minds have created for them. It can be said, that during these episodes, the most severe form of denial exists” (Watts 1993: 37).
Oral sadism is the first phase in which fantasies become prominent in the mind of the infant. If teething has started, fantasies of cannibalism (eating the mother’s breast) commence. Until the ego is developed to an extent where part objects can be integrated into wholes, the infant is said to be in a “Paranoid Schizoid” state (Moes 1991: 63). As development continues, urethral, anal and oral functions become known in which the desire for urine, feces and sexual fluids attach themselves to the mother which is also unconsciously fantasized about. These thought of destruction rebound onto the infant so that the infant fears being controlled. If these fears persist for a prolonged period of time, depersonalization and disassociation occur (Moes 1991: 64). Therefore the development of a cohesive ego is next to impossible. So what does this have to do with Bundy, DeSalvo or any other serial killer out there?
One must realize that through fantasy, an action is warranted in the mind of the serial killer. Through disassociation and depersonalization, the stalker has control over his victim, not as a person, but as an object devoid of feeling or personality. This makes the task of personal gratification easier for the serial killer because in his mind, no one is getting hurt. In both cases of Bundy and DeSalvo, neither were coddled as children or loved. Therefore, this lack of gratification gave rise to an envy of sorts and a longing to have what could not be enjoyed, the breast of the mother (Moes 1991: 64). According to Klein “...adults who have not established a good object for which they can feel gratitude and love are more susceptible to persecutory feelings of insecurity and loss...” (Moes 1991: 65). In this respect, one can see that Bundy follows this pattern. As he grew older, he felt like an outcast and retreated into an alternate world in an attempt to cut himself off from the real world. DeSalvo on the other hand, projected his feelings of anger outwardly and acted flamboyantly toward women in an attempt to gain the trust that he had never himself bestowed upon his parents.
In the case of Bundy, according to Klein’s theory, the transference of oral gratification (sucking on the mother’s breast) to genital gratification leads to compulsive masturbation in an attempt to act out against the persecuting superego. Kleinian theory also explains that the destruction of the superego or the conscience causes one to gain the mentality of criminal type behavior. This holds true for both Bundy and DeSalvo, as both were chronic masturbators and obsessed with women. However, their obsession with women was hindered by the fear that they would be rejected. This may possibly be the case for many other serial killers as well. While Bundy portrayed three separate personalities; shy, cruel, remorseful, DeSalvo did not. While Bundy chose his victims carefully, used restraint and pre-planned his attacks, DeSalvo did not. Both killers desired to be loved, coveted social status and wanted wealth. Their fame came from the murders that they committed. Seeing the news or as Bundy did, returning to the scene of the crime, gave them personal gratification. Moreover, it is believed that both Bundy and DeSalvo’s break and enter habits stem from their greed and envy developed in early childhood (Moes 1991: 65). I personally feel that DeSalvo’s marriage to a lower class female was his attempt at reliving his past and taking from what he had come from. His wife appears to have been a very solemn women with whom DeSalvo could have his way just as his father had his way with his mother. Just as his father brought home prostitutes in front of his mother, DeSalvo felt that his murdering of women was somewhat the same only difference because he murdered and defiled rather than humiliated his wife.
However, unlike Bundy, DeSalvo showed remorse for his victims when apprehended (Watts 1991: 35). One may ask what difference that makes. In my opinion, it makes a world of difference because it shows that while Bundy was completely separated from reality at times, DeSalvo had a link to the real world in which he could refer to at any given period. Enlightenment environmentalists (those that study surrounding environmental factors in an individuals life (for example: upbringing of a child, socioeconomic structure, education etc.) believe that these conditions are simply caused by our experiences with inadequate education, bad institutions and bad example (Fromm 1973: 33). However, B.F. Skinner’s Neobehaviourism teaches that unconditioned behavior is rewarded when conditioned and followed by pleasure (Fromm 1973: 35). If this is true could it not be said that the mind of a serial killer is conditioned in the sense that through fantasy, he believes his actions to be righteous and in turn receives a certain amount of pleasure? I would think so. In other words, his murder is the action of the physical self which in turn provides a reward for the mind. The victimization of the objects that Bundy and DeSalvo exploited led to their gratification and pleasure.
Strikingly similar were the processes followed by both men in their hunt for pleasure and fulfillment. Both men relished dismembering the breasts of their victims, inserting objects into the vagina and examining the genitalia. Many times DeSalvo left his victim in a fetal position. Klein believes that this act is an attempt to return to the womb (Watts 1993: 50). Bundy, who committed multiple murders on more than one occasion would masturbate at the time of death and then probe the vagina as his way of exploring the female anatomy.
What is most horrifying about serial killers in general is that they seem nice, neat, refined, articulate and act like the “guy next door”, but it was that attitude that allowed Bundy, and DeSalvo to manipulate dozens of women. Bundy with his crutches and fake broken arm, DeSalvo with his camera and big smile. The method to their madness may be a hard pill to swallow, but it is one that we have to cope with and observe without apprehension. The question still remains...what do we do with these men? There are several solution to the problem. We can either dismiss their disease as a conscious personal choice to inflict pain on other and institute capital punishment on them. We can let them rot in jail for the rest of their lives. Or we can give them the help that they need. These men need to feel loved and understood by mankind. It is not their direct intention to harm a person, in the case of Bundy and DeSalvo, it was their only outlet to gain a sense of reward and gratification. We need to address each individual situation with cures and answers not condemnation and criticism. By letting these men perish, we only solidify their idea that the world is cruel, cold and uncaring, just like their childhood’s. Not only can these men be treated for their illness, but we too can learn about their disease and perhaps spot potential serial killers before they strike. However I fear that the sympathy extended to the misunderstood serial killer will never be felt by more than a few.
The serial killer is someone that must not be censured for their inability to separate reality from fantasy. Suffering from somewhat the same effects of a schizophrenic's affliction, it must be made clear that the serial killer does not choose to be this way, he is conditioned to be this way. Inadequate caring in infancy leads to superego destruction in the adult life which in turn leads to an escape from the world of reality to a world of fantasy. While the media will continue to play on this topic until the end of time, it must be addressed seriously and firmly within the public eye. We must educate ourselves of the signs of psychotic behavior, if not for ourselves, at least for the ones we love. Once society stops condemning and begins acknowledging serial murder as a real disease that afflicts more people than we are led to believe, maybe we can prevent it and even find a cure for it before it manifests and destroys the crucially irreplaceable superego as in the cases of Ted Bundy and Albert DeSalvo’s. In the words of Sabrina Watts “The actions of a serial killer are too instinctive and too primitive to be dismissed as mere crime. They are indeed something else.” (Watts 1993: 36).
Reference List
Abelin, Ernest L. 1971. “The Role of the Father in the
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Separation-Individuation. 229-253.
Apsche, Jack. 1993. Probing the Mind of a Serial Killer. Morrisville:
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Fromm, Erich. 1973. The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness. New York:
Holt, Rinehart and Winston
Hickey, Eric W. 1991. Serial Murderers and Their Victims. Pacific Grove:
Brooks/Cole Publishing Company.
Pruett, Kyle D. 1983. “Infants of Primary Nurturing Fathers.” The
Psychoanalytic Study of the Child.
Moes, Elizabeth C. “Ted Bundy; A Case of Schizoid Necrophelia.” Melanie
Klein and Object Relations. 54-72.
Watts, Sabrina. 1993. “Investigation into the Psyches of Serial Killers.”
National Library of Canada. Toronto.
www.easynet.co.uk/ray.serial-killers/
www.oocities.org/SunsetStrip/Towers/9590/moniker.html
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