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"Undoing" (or Symbolic Reversal) at Homicide Crime Scenes
Abstract
A closed case file review of a nonrandom national sample of 975 homicides disclosed 11 cases (1.13%) of undoing, wherein offenders engaged in crime scene behavior that has been considered an attempt to symbolically reverse the murder. The frequency of the various methods of undoing involved the use of blankets to cover the victim's body (55%), positioning the body (55%), use of a bed or couch (42%), washing the body (36%), using pillows (36%), as well as removing clothing and adding other types of adornments (27%). Ten of the 11 offenders were male, and one was female; all 12 victims were female. Ten of the 12 victims were family members or relationship intimates. These findings are consistent with prior reports which concluded that the motivation for undoing behavior is an attempt to compensate for guilt or remorse for having committed the homicide.
... Like staging and posing, undoing is a form of alteration of the crime scene (Russell et al., 2018). However, in undoing the offender does not alter the crime scene in order to mislead the investigation, to gain sexual gratification, or to shock the discoverers of the body, but rather to symbolically reverse the homicide (Russell et al., 2018;Schröer & Püschel, 2007) out of their own emotional needs. ...
... Like staging and posing, undoing is a form of alteration of the crime scene (Russell et al., 2018). However, in undoing the offender does not alter the crime scene in order to mislead the investigation, to gain sexual gratification, or to shock the discoverers of the body, but rather to symbolically reverse the homicide (Russell et al., 2018;Schröer & Püschel, 2007) out of their own emotional needs. Russell et al. (2018) and Schröer and Püschel (2007) found that undoing behaviors include (but are not limited to) covering the body; washing the body; positioning the body in a "comfortable" or "sleeping" position using a bed, couch, or pillows; removing the victim's clothes; combing the victim's hair; adding adornments or jewelry to the victim's body; and placing flowers, dolls, feathers, plants, artificial butterflies, or other items next to or on the victim. ...
... However, in undoing the offender does not alter the crime scene in order to mislead the investigation, to gain sexual gratification, or to shock the discoverers of the body, but rather to symbolically reverse the homicide (Russell et al., 2018;Schröer & Püschel, 2007) out of their own emotional needs. Russell et al. (2018) and Schröer and Püschel (2007) found that undoing behaviors include (but are not limited to) covering the body; washing the body; positioning the body in a "comfortable" or "sleeping" position using a bed, couch, or pillows; removing the victim's clothes; combing the victim's hair; adding adornments or jewelry to the victim's body; and placing flowers, dolls, feathers, plants, artificial butterflies, or other items next to or on the victim. These authors concluded that undoing is done as a defense mechanism to attempt to relieve their own feelings (of guilt or remorse). ...
This exploratory study is intended to serve as a gateway to future research about the differences between sexual murderers with (HSAO) and without (N-HSAO) a recorded criminal history of sexual assault, on which there is little to no comparative literature. This study aims to extend our understanding of these groups by comparing their crime scene (and crime-related) behaviors and exploring their underlying psychological functioning. The results suggest that N-HSAO have a significantly higher tendency to murder friends or strangers, initially attack or abduct their victims from the victim’s residence, use more than one killing method in the murder, attack their victims in the context of allegedly consensual sex, and insert themselves to the investigation. Other behavioral trends suggest differences between the groups in criminal savviness, risk-taking, emotional reactions, sexual behaviors and preferences, and differences in the behavior of serial and non-serial offenders. Implications for our understanding of the underlying psychological makeup of these offenders, guidelines for criminal investigations, and directions for future research are discussed.
... Dumping them by taking the corpse away from the crime location could be viewed as more of a requirement due to the additional protection offered to the offenders by moving the victim (Beauregard and Field, 2008). With child victims there might also be some semblance of remorse or at the very least, less of a desire to humiliate them by leaving them naked; therefore, the offender alters the disposal scene as a reflection of that guilt (Russell et al., 2018). This is juxtaposed by victims who are under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol being more likely to be found naked. ...
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate whether sexual homicide offenders (SHO) who dispose of the victim’s body naked present with particular crime scene characteristics.
Design/methodology/approach
This study aims to answer this question through the use of a sequential logistic regression to test the individual effects of each set of crime scene variables against the manner of disposal using a sample of 662 solved cases of extrafamilial sexual homicide from an international database.
Findings
Results demonstrated that the modus operandi behaviors of sexual penetration, asphyxiation, dismemberment and overkill were significantly associated with the body being disposed of naked. In addition, removing or destroying evidence from the scene was also significantly associated with a naked victim. In contrast, the body was more likely to be dumped clothed if the contact scene was deserted and the victim was a stranger. These results suggest that SHOs who dispose of the body naked are more in line with the sadistic sexual murderer, while clothed victims are often disposed of by angry offenders.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to examine the particular manner of disposing the victim’s body naked in cases of sexual homicide.
... Crime scene behaviours undertaken to avoid detection, particularly the staging of a crime scene, has been a recent topic of interest for various scholars (see eg., Bitton & Dayan, 2019;Ferguson, 2015;Ferguson & Petherick, 2016;Geberth, 2010;Jayanth et al., 2017;Miller et al., 2020;Pettler, 2016;Russell et al., 2017;Schlesinger et al., 2014). ...
Whilst crime scene staging in homicide, as an attempt to avoid detection, has attracted some scholarly attention in recent years, staging a body disposal site has not been similarly scrutinised. Indeed, whilst some statistical studies note moving a homicide victim's body as a distinct crime scene behaviour, there is little discussion or analysis of body disposal sites generally. This case seeks to illustrate how a body disposal site may be staged—in three different forms—and to supplement existing quantitative data on offender behaviours undertaken to avoid detection. In so doing, a new category of staging is proposed: staging a body disposal site.
... Algunas de las conductas incluidas dentro de la firma, que llama mayormente la atención de los investigadores policiales, son los actos reparatorios. Russell et al. (2018) reportaron que, en su mayoría, estos actos son realizados por un victimario hombre (10:1) con una víctima mujer, con quien -el homicida-mantenía una relación previa (familiar o vínculo íntimo). Entre los actos de mayor recurrencia se encontraron: el uso de mantas para cubrir el cuerpo de la víctima (55 %), la alteración de la disposición/ubicación del cuerpo (55 %), el uso de una cama o sofá (42 %), el lavado del cuerpo (36 %), la utilización de almohadas (36 %), desnudar a la víctima y agregar otro tipo de adornos (27%). ...
Junto al alza cuantitativa de homicidios durante los últimos años, históricamente se han registrado casos cuya investigación criminal resulta particularmente compleja. De ahí que exista una constante demanda de nuevas metodologías que permitan efectivizar los resultados del trabajo de los equipos policiales investigativos. En este escenario, la Evaluación Psicológica Reconstructiva (EPR) surge como la posibilidad de realizar una evaluación psicológica indirecta y retrospectiva, en ausencia del sujeto (víctima/victimario), orientada a explicar la posible relación entre las características psíquicas y el acto criminal. En el presente artículo se indaga sobre los aportes de la EPR dentro de la investigación criminal de homicidios; en particular, se revisan los hallazgos –reportados en la literatura científica–, que resultan de utilidad para una adecuada interpretación de la evidencia recopilada a partir de este método indirecto de evaluación. Se concluye que la EPR constituye un elemento de gran utilidad dentro de la investigación criminal de alta complejidad; además, señala la necesidad de superar las actuales barreras metodológicas, para la interpretación de la evidencia, mediante el apoyo de esta en sistemas computacionales dentro de este proceso analítico.
Previous literature suggests that covering of a homicide victim's face by an offender indicates a pre‐existing relationship. Operational definitions discriminate between three forms of victim covering (i) Masking (ii) Cloaking and (iii) Concealment. 126 UK homicide cases were examined to explore whether any evidence‐based investigative inferences could be supported in cases of victim covering viewed through an instrumental/expressive framework. No statistically significant differences were found between face covering behaviour and the relationship between victim and offender, previous convictions, and offender age, although there was a high frequency of elderly female victims of masking. The findings are discussed in relation to offender‐profiling.
Data on 552 child maltreatment cases in South Korea involving convictions, including child physical abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect, were analyzed in order to compare 259 offenses committed by male offenders with 293 offenses committed by female offenders. Relative to cases involving female offenders, male offenders both had a higher number of criminal convictions and were more likely to have previously abused their victims. By contrast, female offenders were more likely to have had financial difficulties, while their victims were significantly younger compared to male offenders. Male offenders were more likely to strike the victim, either manually or with an instrument, particularly a blunt instrument, whereas female offenders were more likely to pinch or bite their victims. The findings can aid social workers and medical personnel in recognizing the signs of child maltreatment and identifying at‐risk children more effectively, helping to employ timely interventions and prevent the reoccurrence of child maltreatment.
This represents one of several sections of "A Bibliography Related to Crime Scene Interpretation with Emphases in Geotaphonomic and Forensic Archaeological Field Techniques, Nineteenth Edition" (The complete bibliography is also included at ResearchGate.net.). This is the most recent edition of a bibliography containing resources for multiple areas of crime scene, and particularly outdoor crime scene, investigations. It replaces the prior edition and contains approximately 10,000 additional citations. As an ongoing project, additional references, as encountered, will be added to future editions.
The impact of one’s culture on daily activities is inescapable. That impact, whether conscious or not, must in some ways extend to the commission of crimes as well as victim reactions. The compiler witnessed this in the investigation of the abduction and murder of a young Bosnian girl who had resettled in the United States with more than 8,000 other refugees from the Balkan Wars of the early 1990s. The ease with which her neo-Nazi murderer was able to enter the homes of the Bosnian refugees, and ultimately kidnap this victim, was partly the result of the cultural experiences of the victimized families who feared law enforcement in their home country and so were reluctant to report the preadtor who introduced himself into their community as a health inspector. This category includes citations beyond those about death rituals and includes references about criminal psychology, cultural studies, and forensic psychiatry. A greater understanding of the psychological and cultural motivation subjects might have in committing crimes will impact approaches to searching for, and processing, evidence. One need not be a behavioral scientist or criminal profiler to realize that a subject diagnosed with paranoia might dispose of a victim in a manner different than a sociopath. An example of cultural influence in the selection of a victim’s disposal site is the case of Jeremiah James Bringsplenty. Accounts of this 1992 case included that of the abuse and murder of Jeremiah by family acquaintances who were babysitting the infant in his Clarksville, Tennessee home. Both the victim and the subjects were of Native American ancestry. The subjects left Tennessee for the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota with plans to bury Jeremiah near relatives. Because of decomposition, however, they were forced to stop outside Lincoln, Nebraska to bury the remains. This section also contains references valuable for investigators interviewing subjects and witnesses. This category and “General and Cultural Anthropology of Death” overlap to some degree. The examples or accounts examined in the resources within this section involve a spectrum of physical traumas which might befall victims of homicide or suicide. For that reason, the reader/research should also look in Taphonomy-Trauma for related citations.
(3305 citations)
Photographic surveying is fundamental to crime scene investigation. It is performed using 2D images; however, this method is limited because it does not offer a detailed view. We present a 3D (three‐dimensional) experimental model that has clarified unsolved aspects of a homicide. A woman was found dead in her home. Considering the large number of injuries on the victim, signs of the use of two weapons, and the absence of traces of the killer/s, several hypotheses about the dynamics and the number of offenders were made. The forensic surveys suggested that a single offender had used two weapons at the same time, but this hypothesis was considered to be impossible by investigators. Our 3D model allowed us to experimentally reproduce the murder and compare various dynamics. The model was used as evidence in Court to prove the hypothesis of a single killer and demonstrate that no other people were involved.
Body transportation is defined as moving the body of the victim from the scene of a homicide to another location. We analyzed data on 513 South Korean homicide cases with convictions to compare 104 homicides involving the transportation of victims’ bodies with 409 homicides that did not. Offenders who transported their victims’ bodies were significantly younger and more likely to be related to the victims and were less likely to use sharp instruments and more likely to use blunt instruments or strangle the victims than offenders who did not. Victims of homicide involving body transportation were more likely to suffer injuries to the neck and head and less likely to suffer injuries to the torso. Finally, offenders who transported victims’ bodies were more likely to have planned the offense and destroyed evidence. The present findings have practical implications for police investigations.
Ritual and signature are fantasy-driven, repetitive crime scene behaviors that have been found to occur in serial sexual homicide. Notwithstanding numerous anecdotal case reports, ritual and signature have rarely been studied empirically. In a national sample of 38 offenders and their 162 victims, we examined behavioral and thematic consistency, as well as the evolution and uniqueness of these crime scene actions. The notion that serial sexual murderers engage in the same rituals and leave unique signatures at every scene was not supported by our data. In fact, the results suggest that the crime scene conduct of this group of offenders is fairly complex and varied. Implications of these findings for forensic assessments and criminal investigations are discussed.
A careful reconstruction of the sequence of events and the assessment of offender behavior are playing a more important role in unsolved homicide cases. The method of behavioral analysis was developed in the United States. It is defined as a complex information-processing system for the purpose of enabling an overall view of a given criminal case and of supporting the casework in ongoing investigations. The analytical process is of central importance for further deductions (e.g., offender aims, organized/disorganized components of offender behavior, escalation). Undoing is a special form of offender behavior representing a symbolic reversal of the crime. This special form of personation occurs at a crime scene when there is a close association between the offender and the victim or when the victim represents someone of importance to the offender.
A nonrandom national U.S. sample of 946 homicide crime scenes--supplied by the FBI Behavioral Science Unit for purposes of research--was studied to delineate the prevalence, types, levels, and motives for staging in domestic, nonserial sexual, serial sexual, and general felony homicides. Stagers were found to be a relatively small group who employ a variety of methods to alter the crime scene in an attempt to redirect the investigation away from themselves as logical suspects. Results also suggest that different types of homicides have different staging rates based primarily on the relationship (or connection) between offender and victim. Implications for investigations and understanding this type of crime scene behavior are discussed.
Recent studies in social psychology are reviewed for evidence relevant to seven Freudian defense mechanisms. This work emphasizes normal populations, moderate rather than extreme forms of defense, and protection of self-esteem against threat. Reaction formation, isolation, and denial have been amply shown in studies, and they do seem to serve defensive functions. Undoing, in the sense of counterfactual thinking, is also well documented but does not serve to defend against the threat. Projection is evident, but the projection itself may be aby-product of defense rather than part of the defensive response itself. Displacement is not well supported in any meaningful sense, although emotions and physical arousal states do carry over from one situation to the next. No evidence of sublimation was found.
The literature on profiling homicide offenders was examined with regard to its underlying assumptions of offender consistency and specificity. While only moderate evidence for the behavioral consistency hypothesis was found, research did support the hypothesis of stable relationships between offense behaviors and offender characteristics (specificity hypothesis). When considering the specificity assumption, special attention has been given to the underlying concepts relating offense and offender characteristics. These underlying concepts were compared with offender profiling theories and a new model was proposed that can account for the current criticisms on offender profiling. This new model of offense pathways provides an overview of the psychological processes the offender experienced during his or her offense, emphasizes the importance of a contextualized perspective, and is consistent with the view that the homicide offense is a process that develops over time. The authors conclude that in order to derive offender profiles, offense pathways in homicide offenders should be investigated as a collection of underlying psychological concepts between offense and offender characteristics.
The author reviews the definitions, epidemiology, evolving research, offender, and offense characteristics of sexual homicide, a form of intentional killing that occurs in less than 1% of homicides in the United States. Although the extant research is limited by very few comparative studies, repetitive use of small, nonrandom samples, retrospective data, no prospective studies, and the absence of any predictive statistical analyses, the yield over the past 100 years is impressive. The author advances a clinical typology of sexual murderers. The first group of compulsive sexual murderers leaves behind organized crime scenes and are usually diagnosed with sexual sadism and antisocial/narcissistic personality disorders. They are chronically emotionally detached, often primary psychopaths, are autonomically hyporeactive, and the majority experience no early trauma. The second group of catathymic sexual murderers leave behind disorganized crime scenes and are usually diagnosed with a mood disorder and various personality disorders that may include schizoid and avoidant traits. They are hungry for attachment, only moderately psychopathic, are autonomically hyperreactive, and have a history of physical and/or sexual trauma.
Crime scene staging is a recognized phenomenon within the criminal justice field. This article defines the occurrence for staging, identifies the motives for staging, and identifies the act that precipitated the staging. It reports the results of an exploratory survey of 20 well-versed and highly trained law enforcement officers' experience with staging in fatal and nonfatal incidents, and it reports the most commonly observed forms of crime scene staging. Investigative strategies and indicators of staging are also presented.
Approximately 10% of the homicides in Finland are committed by females. This study was designed to compare offence circumstances and crime scene behaviour among female and male homicide offenders. The forensic examination reports and crime reports of all female offenders prosecuted for a homicide between 1995 and 2004 were collected and content analysed (n=91). A sample of male offenders was selected for a comparison group. In addition to several bivariate analyses, two multidimensional scaling analyses were conducted to identify the underlying structure of the offence characteristics-related variables in male and female offenders. The results showed that family members were the victims of female offenders more frequently than of male offenders. Child victims were almost always killed by females. No significant difference emerged between the gender groups in the proportion of victims being former intimate partners. The results also showed that different offence characteristics relate to offender gender and type of victim. In male offenders, covering the body relates to moving and hiding an acquaintance victim's body, while in females it relates to emotional detachment and family member victim. For females, post-offence behaviours that relate to seek for help and regret were more frequent than for males. There were only marginal differences in the use of violence between females and males.
This paper presents a general statistical methodology for the analysis of multivariate categorical data arising from observer reliability studies. The procedure essentially involves the construction of functions of the observed proportions which are directed at the extent to which the observers agree among themselves and the construction of test statistics for hypotheses involving these functions. Tests for interobserver bias are presented in terms of first-order marginal homogeneity and measures of interobserver agreement are developed as generalized kappa-type statistics. These procedures are illustrated with a clinical diagnosis example from the epidemiological literature.
This article explores characteristics and crime scene behavior of 20 sexually sadistic serial murderers. The pairing of character pathology with paraphilic arousal to the control and degradation of others is examined as it manifests itself in their murders. Commonalities across murders and across murderers are highlighted, i.e., the execution of murders that are well-planned, the use of preselected locations, captivity, a variety of painful sexual acts, sexual bondage, intentional torture, and death by means of strangulation and stabbing.
A case of an independent professional contract murderer, who killed over 100 people, is reported. After eluding law enforcement for 30 years, the subject killed several associates who he believed could implicate him in various crimes. These homicides eventually led to his arrest, since the victims were individuals who could be linked to him. This hit man had a background of poverty and childhood abuse but, as an adult, had pursued a middle-class lifestyle and kept his family totally separate from his criminal career. In addition, he had a number of characteristics that helped him carry out his crimes in a highly planned, methodical, and organized manner: he had adept social judgment; personality traits of orderliness, control, and paranoid vigilance; useful defense mechanisms of rationalization and reframing; and an exceptional ability to encapsulate emotions. This case is discussed within the context of contract murder, a crime that occurs relatively frequently and is probably increasing; yet it often goes undetected, the arrest rate is low, and the offender is rarely studied.
The act of leaving a victim's body in an unusual position is a conscious criminal action by an offender to thwart an investigation, shock the finder and investigators of the crime scene, or give perverted pleasure to the killer. The unusual position concepts of posing and staging a murder victim have been documented thoroughly and have been accepted by the courts as a definable phenomenon. One staging case and one posing case are outlined and reveal characteristics of those homicides. From the Washington State Attorney General's Homicide Investigation and Tracking System's database on murder covering the years 1981-2000 (a total of 5,224 cases), the relative frequency of unusual body dispositions is revealed as a very rare occurrence. Only 1.3% of victims are left in an unusual position, with 0.3% being posed and 0.1% being staged. The characteristics of these types of murders also set them apart: compared to all other murders, in staged murders the victims and killers are, on average, older. All victims and offenders in the staged murders are white, with victims being disproportionately white in murders with any kind of unusual body disposition. Likewise, females stand out as victims when the body is posed, staged, or left in other unusual positions. Whereas posed bodies are more likely to include sexual assault, often in serial murders, there is no evidence of either in the staged cases. Lastly, when a body is left in an unusual position, binding is more likely, as well as the use of more "hands on" means of killing the victim, such as stabbing or cutting weapons, bludgeons, ligatures, or hands and feet.
Special aspects of crime scene interpretation and behavioral analysis: the phenomenon of “undoing”
- Schröer
Staged crime scenes: crime scene clues to suspect misdirection of the investigation
- Chancellor AS
Sexualmord in Bayern: Opfer, Tatverlauf, Täter
- Litzcke SM
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- Schinke D
Psychoanalytic theory of neurosis
- Fenichel D
Catch me before I kill more
- Freeman L
The language of psychoanalysis
- La Planche J
- Pontalis J
I have lived in the monster
- Ressler RK
- Schachtman T