How to write

 What draws two damaged souls together, to commit crimes and feed each other’s pathology?

The Ken and Barbie killers, Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka killed 3 young women and were responsible for the rape and torture of several others. Karla was a willing accomplice to Paul’s crimes. She was obsessed with the handsome young man, submitting to all his sadistic demands, including drugging and raping her younger sister. The girl died of an accidental overdose which began their deadly rampage. 

Love clouds judgment, creates dopamine production similar to a narcotic rush and inhibits impulse control.  As these women become more submissive to their abusive partners, the men often lose interest. The game is only fun while they are breaking their toys; once broken the women are discarded.  ”Since the female half of such couples fears losing the man’s love if she does not go along, and since she also spots an opportunity to diminish her burden of abuse by having his attentions on someone else, she often agrees to the arrangement.” 1

Ian Brady and Myra Henley kidnapped and murdered 5 children in the Moors.  Brady adopted Nazi ideals during his teenage years, absorbing sadistic and racist literature. Until meeting Brady, Myra was a sweet, sensitive girl, however, her personality completely transformed under the tutelage of Ian Brady.

In each of these cases, the female partner was controlled and completely subservient.  They were seemingly well adjusted young women from loving homes and the most unlikely to commit such brutal crimes.  Their male partners were troubled, sadistic men who had displayed anti social behaviors throughout childhood. According to a study conducted by Roy Hazelwood and Ann Burgess, the male’s fantasy often becomes a shared event.  

“It is important to understand,” Hazelwood writes, “that the ritualistic and heterosexual sadist inherently believes that all women are evil consequently, if and when these men set out to prove this hypothesis they select nice, middle-class women who are apparently normal.”  They use a process that exploited the woman’s vulnerability to turn her into a compliant accomplice.” 1

David Parker Ray was a sexual torturer, brutalizing women for days with the help of Cindy Hendy. 

They shared a fantasy that spilled into real life.  Ray confessed he had murdered several women and Hendy was curious and cautious of her live in boyfriend.  Ray had a trailer set up, called the Toy Box, with devices and instructions for torturing victims. Hendy helped Ray abduct a prostitute and watched while he brutalized her.  

Not all of the cases involving multiple murders are a male/female pair. There are cases where two or more dominate, sadistic killers bond over a common goals.  This was the case with Leonard Lake and Charles Ng.  These men devised a savage plan: they constructed a bunker to kidnap and keep human slaves. Fueled by paranoia, the two believe in an apocalypse, which they planned to survive in an underground bunker.  Lake and Ng formed a bond with their common interests in weapons and sadistic desires.  Together they murdered 11 people, but only Ng would live to face justice.  Lake committed suicide before he could be tried for the crimes.

1. Ramsland, Katherine: THE CASE OF THE SEVEN-YEAR SEX SLAVE Retrieved January 2008