Serial Killers and the Sri Lankan Society

Serial killers kill for the power and control they experience during the murders and for the added ego boost they get in the aftermath from community fears, media coverage, and the police investigations.

-          Pat Brown

Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge M.D. PhD 

In 1999, I did a study with the help of Dr. A.P. Waidyasekara, Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist; Mr. Mohan Peris, PC; and Mr. Priyantha Jayakody of the Sri Lankan Police Force to find any evidence of serial killers in Sri Lankan criminal history. Although we dug into the criminal history of this country up to the 1800s, I could not find any criminal who would fit the serial murderer profile that is described by the FBI.

First, I thought Kallathhave Soysa and Kalu Albert would fit into this category, but after studying the murders that they had committed, I found that there were huge material motives behind their killings. But Kalu Albert showed numerous features of a cold-blooded killer, and he may have suffered from ASPD (Anti-Social Personality Disorder). He had no remorse for these killings, and finally, he went to the gallows without any emotional outburst. The eyewitnesses say that Kalu Albert went to the gallows with a sardonic smile on his face, even challenging his own death.

While I was doing this study, one day Mr. Priyantha Jayakody informed me about a person who had killed 16 people during the period 1988-1999. But later it was revealed that he was a contract killer and was not a serial murderer. 

In 2003, a mobile vendor was arrested by the Kandy Police for murdering several women and a child. The investigations were conducted by DIG Nimal Madiwaka, and I did contact Mr. Madiwaka to clarify the motives of these killings. The perpetrator was a resident of Madugoda-Kandy District. The said person had visited houses to sell domestic items between 10 am and 12 pm, and when he found fitting chances, he used to kill defenceless women, mostly by strangulation.  He had no specific material gain to commit these murders, and there was a certain emotional gratification derived from these senseless killings.

He was a deviant character who had had a tormented childhood and experienced paternal rejection when he was very young. He was motivated by free-floating anger and ferocious instincts. He derived sadistic satisfaction by killing these innocent women. Obviously, this person could be the first serial murderer in modern Sri Lankan criminal history. In the same year, I wrote an article revealing the psychological background of these killings that was published by the Sunday Lakbima newspaper. 

In 2002, I was working at the Military Hospital Colombo, and I was referred an army officer by Dr. Neil Fernando—Consultant Psychiatrist—to do a comprehensive psychological assessment. The subject was exposed to gruesome combat experiences and sustained a head injury. There was a grenade fragment in his frontal lobe, and he suffered from periodic attacks of headaches.  These traumatic combat experiences and the head injury may have caused drastic personality changes in him. During the assessment, I found some homicidal obsessions in him, and it was my professional obligation to inform the authorities about this impending danger.

I informed the relevant authority to get this person to our combat trauma treatment center for further observation and treatment. I specifically mentioned his current mental status and possible dangers to the society. Sadly, our request was turned down by the shortsighted bureaucrat, and the subject went free. We had to close his file. 

In less than two years, I heard the bad news. The said officer had committed a murder in a brutal manner. According to the police reports, he had invited a cab driver to the Manthhottam camp in Mannar and killed the driver by cutting his throat with a sharp weapon. Then he cut the victim’s body into pieces and burned it with gasoline.

The investigators had found that he had killed several people prior to this incident. He committed these murders after he became psychologically unbalanced. Eventually, he was caught by the Wattegama Police and charged with manslaughter. When the suspect was at the Bogambara Remand Prison, he hanged himself. This was a very unfortunate incident in my professional life, and it could have been prevented if not for the unwise administrative decision by a shortsighted bureaucrat.

The said officer was not a monster by nature. He came from a good family, and he had studied in a reputed school in Kandy. After finishing school, he joined the military to become a career officer. He successfully completed a defence degree from the Kotelawala Defence Academy. He became one of the outstanding officers of the VIR (Vijayabahu Infantry Regiment) and served as a major in the North during the war. He was married and had a child. He never had murderous intentions until he became a psychological casualty of the war. war.  Unfortunately, his combat stress-related symptoms and the traumatic brain injury were not viewed seriously by the authorities.  Therefore, he never had the opportunity to undergo effective prolonged treatment as recommended by his doctors.  

According to the police reports, police reports, he had murdered several people and sometimes stole the victims’ money and vehicles. He committed his last crime in Wattegama and was caught by the police.

What were the true intentions of these murders? According to my understanding, his intentions were not purely to rob money or other valuable items. He basically derived a sadistic satisfaction from murdering his victims. I still recall the words that he used during the clinical interview. He said, “When I find a victim, I prefer to do ‘Pashanibutha Kirema,’ which means to fossilize the victim.”

If the authorities had given us a helping hand and the opportunity to treat this officer, we could have saved at least five lives. This officer suffered from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and personality changes following a head injury.  Based on the psychological profile and his subsequent homicidal actions, I think this officer would fit into the list of Sri Lankan serial murderers.

Another serial murder outbreak was reported recently from Kahawatta. In 2011 Kahawatta in Ratnapura District came under mass fear following mysterious murders. At least seven elderly women were killed, and some of the victims had been raped by an unknown assassin. Later, the police arrested several suspects connected with these murders. The Police Department should get help from psychologists/psychiatrists to determine whether these suspects are serial murderers. 

Dr. Muditha Vidanapathirana, of the Department of Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka, provides solid evidence about a potential serial killer who committed 14 murders (12 males) in 9 towns from 2010 to 2011.

All the killings had occurred at night, and the bodies were left at the location of the killing without being moved. All the victims were killed in a similar manner. The cause of death had been blunt force trauma to the head.

In November 2011, a beggar was arrested while attempting to kill another beggar when the latter was asleep. The suspect was produced for medico-legal examination and later referred to a psychiatrist. He was diagnosed with antisocial traits. Later, he admitted that he had murdered 14 beggars altogether. In addition, he had shown all the crime scenes to the investigators. He was sent for inward psychiatric treatment and is awaiting trial. According to Dr. Muditha Vidanapathirana, the perpetrator had committed fourteen independent, planned murders with potential “cooling-off periods.” Therefore, the suspect could be the highest 'potential serial killer' in Sri Lanka.

Who are the serial killers?

A serial killer is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with downtime between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is largely based on psychological gratification.  Most of the serial killers suffer from antisocial personality disorder and could appear normal and charming. Sometimes they are highly intelligent.

Dr. Richard von Krafft-Ebing was the first clinician who wrote about serial killers in detail. Dr. Ebing, in his 1886 textbook Psychopathia Sexualis, described numerous case studies of sexual homicide, serial murder, and other areas of sexual proclivity.

There are many reasons why serial killers commit murders. The serial killers are driven by different motives. As Lee (1988) points out, serial killers commit murders following

1) Profit

2) Passion

3) Hatred

4) Power or domination

5) Revenge

6) Opportunism

7) Fear

8) Contract killing

9) Desperation

10) Compassion

11) Ritual

Generally, there is no prior relationship between the victim and the attacker. Often, the motive is not for material gain and is believed to be for the murderer’s desire to have power over his victim. For the murderer, victims may have symbolic value. 

The perpetrator has low self-esteem and increasingly violent fantasies. He might look calm and well-mannered, generally hiding his inner motives. He may not appear like a conventional criminal. He could attack the victim unexpectedly and leave no traces. After committing a murder, the serial killer is not emotionally shocked by feelings of guilt. He is apathetic to his victim’s suffering and detached from the feelings of compassion or remorse.  Traumatic experiences and feelings from the past may be dissociated from conscious feelings, and the perpetrator is emotionally numbed. 

 There are many theories that describe how a person could turn into a serial murderer. According to the Anomie Theory, serial killers lack any bonds tying them to society. They feel isolated, alienated, and rejected by society. Many psychologists believe that family history and childhood development play large roles in this. Childhood anxieties such as rejection by a parent, maternal or paternal deprivation, or childhood sexual, physical, or emotional abuse could lead to devastating outcomes. Many serial killers have experienced feelings of inadequacy, worthlessness, and powerlessness.

Some research points to brain anomalies in serial killers, possibly due to abnormal development during gestation or the result of an injury. A large number of serial murder studies have shown severe damage to the frontal lobe that could lead to violent behavior. There is also some evidence that abnormalities in the nervous system may play a role. Altered brain chemistry is another hypothesis. For instance, low levels of serotonin in the brain have been associated with an increased susceptibility to impulsive behavior, aggression, and possible violent crimes. 

In 2014, Simkin and Roychowdhury (University of California, Los Angeles) hypothesized that a serial killer commits murders when neuronal excitation in his brain exceeds a certain threshold.

Castle and Hensley (2002) examined the possible link between serial killers and military service.  Using social learning theory for the study of murder, they studied how potential serial killers learn to reinforce violence, aggression, and murder in military boot camps. Anyhow, they highlight that, as with other variables considered in serial killer research, military experience alone cannot account for all cases of serial murder. Lester and White (2012) report that in a sample of 483 serial killers, 6.2% were documented to have committed suicide.

 Serial Sexual Homicide

Myers and colleagues (2006) consider that seeking sexual gratification, power and control, and expressing anger motivate serial sexual killers to commit their crimes.  They commit their crimes in pursuit of sadistic pleasure. A significant proportion of them appear to have paraphilic disorders within the spectrum of sexual sadism. Chan and colleagues (2014) state that serial sexual homicide offenders were more likely than the single offenders to report deviant sexual fantasies, to have selected victims with distinctive characteristics, to have targeted strangers, and to have structured premeditation and/or verbal humiliation of their victims during the offences. In my opinion, Cpl. Somarathne, who raped and murdered Krishanthi Kumaraswami, would fit into the serial sexual homicide offender category.

Serial Murder by Healthcare Professionals

Dr. Harold Frederick Shipman was the most notorious serial killer in British history. On January 31, 2000, Dr. Harold Shipman was convicted at Preston, England, of murdering 15 of his patients by administering lethal doses of diamorphine (pharmaceutical heroin). Most victims were elderly and had histories of natural disease.  Analysis of skeletal muscle disclosed significant quantities of morphine, to which the deaths were attributed (Pounder, 2003).

Dr. Shipman killed at least 215 patients and may have begun his murderous career at the age of 25, within a year of finishing his medical training. His case has had a profound impact on the practice of medicine in the United Kingdom (Gunn, 2010).  

Yorker (2006) states that the prosecution of Charles Cullen, a nurse who killed at least 40 patients over a 16-year period, highlights the need to better understand the phenomenon of serial murder by healthcare professionals.  

Famous Serial Killers in Criminal History 

Jack the Ripper

The British serial killer Jack the Ripper operated in 1888 in Whitechapel, the East End of London. His victims were sex workers who were affected by extreme poverty. Although he had eliminated only five victims, the name of Jack the Ripper became prominent worldwide. His murders shocked Victorian society, and Jack the Ripper was seen as the personification of all the evils. At the time he committed these murders, London society fought a daily battle against poverty and starvation. Many conspiracy theories were associated with these Whitechapel murders. The entire Scotland Yard was against a lone assassin who was hiding among London's most densely populated and crime-ridden areas. 

 Ripper mutilated most of his victims and used to remove the internal organs, such as intestines, uterus, etc. After committing the murders, the killer signed his name as Jack the Ripper in blood. Some criminal historians believe that Jack the Ripper was collecting trophies from his victims. This is a common practice among serial killers.  Although numerous investigations were launched, no one was ever brought to justice or charged with the crimes. The true murderer remains an unresolved mystery. (In 2006, I met a psychology lecturer at Washburn University in Kansas who showed me compelling evidence of Jack the Ripper. According to him, Ripper was a butcher working in the White Chapel area. He may have contracted a venereal disease from a sex worker in the White Chapel area and was seeking revenge.  He became delusional, maybe due to neurosyphilis, and thought he was implementing God's punishment on sinners—the prostitutes.  Hence, he killed a number of prostitutes, creating a mass fear psychosis.

Andre Chikatilo, alias the Citizen X 

Way back in 1991 when I was a medical student, our professor of psychiatry, Dr. Ludmila Wevskaya of the Vinnitsa National Medical University, informed us that a psychopath was arrested in Rostov in connection with a series of murders. The name of this man was Andre Chikatilo. By the time he was captured, Chikatilo had murdered 53 people over the period of 15 years. The Rostov police had no clue about these brutal murders. Eventually, they got help from a renowned psychiatrist of the Rostov Medical University, Dr. Alexander Bukhanovsky. Alexander Bukhanovsky made the psychological profile of the killer, his external appearance, and his behavior pattern.

The chief investigator, Lt. Viktor Burakov, was on the trail of the Rostov killer for over a decade, and he used the psychological profile of the killer that was compiled by Dr. Alexander Bukhanovsky to capture the serial murderer. The FBI later admired the chief investigator, Lt. Viktor Burakov’s laborious work to capture Andrei Chikatilo. Today every FBI agent studies the investigative methods used by Lt. Viktor Burakov to capture Andrei Chikatilo, alias the Citizen X.

Andre Chikatilo was born shortly after the Ukrainian famine that was artificially organized under the Stalinist collectivization. Some claim that during the Ukrainian famine, which was called Holodomor, young Chikatilo’s elder brother, Stephan, had been cannibalized by the hungry neighbors. Young Chikatilo was constantly surrounded by horror and destitution. 

He was a bright student and became a schoolteacher after finishing his formal education. He was an introvert with gentle behavior.  Although externally Chikatilo looked calm and well-mannered, his psyche was severely damaged due to the horror and childhood anxieties that he experienced. Deep down, Chikatilo felt lonely and alienated. He got married and had two children. For the outside world, Andre Chikatilo was a model citizen. He did not smoke or drink and even became a Communist Party member. He obtained a university degree in Marxism. 

In his middle life, Andre Chikatilo suffered from sexual dysfunction and did not wish to get any treatment. Chikatilo became more and more isolated and projected his hate onto society. He committed his first killing in 1978.  He took a little girl to an abandoned house, raped her and later murdered her with a knife. While committing the murder, he felt a sense of dominance and empowerment. Later, Chikatilo confessed, "What I did was not for sexual pleasure. Rather, it brought me some peace of mind."

Hence, he derived great satisfaction from killing innocent, defenseless victims. He committed nearly 52 murders over the period of 15 years, and the Soviet Police could not catch him because of his calm, well-mannered, and orderly behavior. 

  Andre Chikatilo preyed on adolescent boys and girls, sometimes on prostitutes. He used to take them to the woods and then would stab them suddenly and unexpectedly.  Often, he used to eat the body parts of his victims. The autopsy reports of Chikatilo’s victims revealed that the killer used to stab their eyes and destroy the pupil. It was a form of his criminal signature. As the psychiatrist Dr. Alexander Bukhanovsky pointed out, Chikatilo had a fear that his image was preserved on his victim's retina, and therefore he used to stab the victim’s eyes. 

Andre Chikatilo became a well-known character in the West, and his killer story inspired several Hollywood movies. Chris Gerolmo’s Citizen X (starring Donald Sutherland and Stephen Rea) was based on how Andre Chikatilo was brought to justice. According to Scott Christianson (2006), Chikatilo was so impressed by the psychiatrist Dr. Alexander Bukhanovsky's profile that he asked the doctor to attend his execution.

Professor Alexander Bukhanovsky on Kahawatta Murders

When Kahawatta murdered terrified Sri Lankans, I contacted Professor Alexander Bukhanovsky and informed him about the nature of these killings. I emailed him the newspaper reports, etc., about the Kahawatta murders and gave him a basic idea of how the killings had been done.

Professor Bukhanovsky further told me that a similar murder pattern like Kahawatta's had occurred in Southern Italy between 1995 and 1997.  There were fifteen murders of elderly women over the age of 70 years old.  According to Campobasso (2009), not all the murders were attributed to a single serial killer. The majority of the victims were stabbed multiple times in the neck, except for three cases in which the cause of death was manual strangulation. There was evidence of sexual assault in only one of the cases. All the victims were discovered in their own apartments, which were located on the ground level, with no signs of forced entry.

Professor Bukhanovsky had a great interest in the Kahawatta murders, and he surmised that these killings were done by a psychologically deviant person (or persons) who had a tormented childhood, and the perpetrator (or perpetrators) gained abnormal satisfaction by killing these old women.  Before making a comprehensive profile, Professor Bukhanovsky passed away. Hence, I lost a mentor who could give us valuable insights.

Charles Sobhraj, or the Bikini Killer 

Charles Sobhraj (born in 1944) is a French serial killer of Indian and Vietnamese origin. Charles Sobhraj had a problematic childhood and grew up on the streets of Saigon and in juvenile prisons in France.  Sobhraj preyed on Western tourists throughout Southeast Asia during the 1970s.

Sobhraj was an intelligent, articulate, and manipulative character. He committed his first known murder in 1975. The victim was a young woman from Seattle. He had killed a number of American, French, Dutch, and Canadian tourists who came to Southeast Asia seeking mystic experiences and inner tranquility. Most of the victims used drugs such as LSD, marijuana, and cocaine. Therefore, it was easy for him to deceive the victims and then subsequently poison them. Sometimes he used to drown his female victims after making them unconscious with drug overdoses.  On one occasion, Charles Sobhraj drugged two of his victims, then stabbed them and partially burned them before dumping the bodies in two separate locations. One time, he operated in Pattaya Beach in Thailand, killing two female tourists. 

The journalist Richard Neville interviewed Sobhraj and published a book titled ‘The Life and Crimes of Charles Sobhraj’ that narrates the intricate methods that he used to kill his victims. As Richard Neville highlights, Sobhraj was famous for his mastery of disguise, his multiple identities, and his ability to deceive. At present Charles Sobraj is in custody serving a prison term. 

Serial Killers and the Sri Lankan Society

Sri Lankan society experienced the repercussions of an armed conflict for over three decades, which negatively affected the mental health of the combatants, militants, and civilians. War trauma still hounds the Sri Lankan society. Social violence, alcoholism and substance abuse, suicides, self-harm, deep mistrust, and degradation of communities have increased in the recent past. These circumstances can increase law-breaking in society.

The war trauma should be identified among the combatants, ex-militants (members of the LTTE), and the civilians who were exposed to traumatic war situations. The affected people should be treated appropriately. The police indicate that one of the perpetrators who killed the old woman in Kahawaththa was a disabled soldier. If these accusations are true, this soldier may have been suffering from undiagnosed posttraumatic conditions. He cannot be held fully responsible for his actions since he is being psychologically traumatized by the war. There may be hundreds of such individuals walking free in our society, and it could be an impending danger to the civil society. Therefore, systematic case identification and effective psychological treatment for combat trauma would be essentially needed. 

We should not forget that war can create heroes as well as slayers.  After the Vietnam War, some distinguished soldiers became deviant characters as a result of combat trauma and committed crimes. For instance, Sgt. Dwight H. Johnson, who was awarded the Medal of Honour for his bravery and distinguished service, became antisocial.

After coming from Vietnam, he suffered from post-combat depression and committed several crimes. In 1971, he was shot during an armed robbery by the police in Detroit. The DC Sniper (John Allen Muhammad) had served in the Louisiana Army National Guard for seven years before he became a serial killer. The Gulf War veteran Timothy McVeigh received a Bronze Star for his military services. After his military career, McVeigh became an isolated character and probably suffered from PCS (Post Combat Syndrome).  In 1995, Timothy McVeigh planted a bomb in the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 167 people.

These tragedies teach us a huge lesson. During the Eelam War, over 150,000 combatants were in active combat, and some were exposed to traumatic and gruesome realities of the war. A considerable percentage of soldiers (including members of the Navy, Air Force, and Police) are suffering from combat-related PTSD. Similarly, there are a large number of ex-LTTE members in the northern part of the country and a vast number of civilians from the North and South who suffer from war trauma. Their emotional scars are not yet diagnosed and are untreated. Many use negative stress coping methods to deal with their past war traumas. This could be a time bomb in Sri Lankan society. Our health system should take necessary steps to identify war trauma and treat it appropriately. The affected combatants should be provided with appropriate psychosocial support, and their mental health must be uplifted. 

From 2002 to 2006, Dr. Neil Fernando and I treated a large number of patients who were affected by war trauma. Some individuals suffered from malignant PTSD and DESNOS (Disorders of Extreme Stress, Not Otherwise Specified). Some of these war victims had a grandiose urge to see/touch human blood and kill people by stabbing, manual throttling, shooting, etc. These homicidal urges were part of their illness, and we were able to treat them successfully, evading social calamities. Unfortunately, in 2006, this center was closed, and today we don’t know what happened to some of our patients who suffered from malignant PTSD. I hope and pray that these individuals are still receiving adequate treatment and that they are under medical monitoring. Also hope that they will not be a threat to society.

Recent social unrest connected with Grease Yaka (Grease Devil) indicates frustration and deviant behavior of individuals and groups who get satisfaction by attacking people and disrupting the civil order. People with antisocial personality disorder and sexual deviant behaviors such as voyeurism, exhibitionism, etc., have an inclination toward such forms of behavior, and these individuals need treatment. Extremist and fundamental groups can always make use of these types of people to satisfy their egoistic and petty needs. Therefore, the society has an obligation to prevent such catastrophes, helping to maintain law and order. 

The Sri Lankan Police Department needs knowledge and skills to handle crimes committed by these deviant personalities and especially by the serial killers.  As a matter of fact, higher numbers of serial killers do not exhibit the conventional criminal behavior pattern. Therefore, the police officers should be educated and equipped with knowledge and skills to deal with such people and situations. 

Sri Lankans are warm and compassionate people. Sri Lankan communities are interconnected, and people help each other. This allows the people to know about each other and everyone's movements. This is one of the positive factors in our society that prevents the actions of secretive murderers. We had an innate social buffer against serial killers.

In some countries, neighbours do not know about each other, and people have secluded and isolated lives, and such situations help a serial murderer to strike easily. Nowadays, countries introduce neighbourhood watch systems to protect people.  But these social protective systems have prevailed in our Sri Lankan society since ancient times. Unfortunately, manmade disasters like war and civil unrest in 1971 and 1988 disintegrated the communities and their positive human touch. People became hostile to one another, and suspicion and mistrust started to grow. Disintegration of extended family systems and the breaking of neighbourhood collaboration have endangered people like never before.

Today, many mothers go to the Middle East countries, leaving their children behind. The Middle East Syndrome has caused maternal deprivation, creating a deep void in children. Many children grow up with severe, unbearable stressors and in unsafe environments.  According to Professor Harendra De Silva, former Chairman of the National Child Protection Authority, a large number of children undergo physical, sexual, and emotional trauma annually. There is no appropriate safety net to protect these children. Unfortunately, these social upheavals have become fertile ground to breed future serial murderers. Therefore, mental health experts should take appropriate measures to prevent such social problems. 

The public must work as crime stoppers and start to build positive communities and healthy relationships with the help of community leaders and religious leaders. It is an effective measure to combat crime.  Awareness plays a key role in preventing crimes committed by conventional criminals and especially by the deviant killers. Most of the victims who knew how to avoid or defend themselves from traditional criminals had no clue how to protect themselves from deviant murderers such as serial killers. Therefore, they became potential victims.  It is everyone’s duty to be cautious and vigilant and maintain the optimal social equilibrium to prevent such crimes.