Sample Full Sentence Outline
Student Name: Ari’Ella Brimley
SPCH 1300, Section Number
Speech Outline
Serial Killers
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General Purpose: To inform
Specific Purpose: To inform/enlighten my audience about serial killers.
Thesis: A serial killer is someone who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with a cooling-off period between murders.
Introduction
I. Attention-Getter: We serial killers are your sons, we are your husbands, and we are everywhere. And there will be more of your children dead tomorrow”- Ted Bundy
If you don’t know who Ted Bundy is he is a famous American serial killer.
II. Listener Relevance Link: According to Stephen Motson a Professional Investigator. MSc. in Criminal Investigation, a person will cross paths with a serial killer on average 7 times during their lives. That’s weird to think about right?
III. Credibility: I know about this topic because I’ve watched TV shows, documentaries, read books, and I have been researching it for the past three weeks.
IV. Thesis: A serial killer is someone who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with a cooling-off period between murders.
V. Preview of Points: I will be telling you what defines serial killers, what motivates them and tell you who is considered the first American serial killer and who cultivated the term serial killer.
Transition between introduction and body: Now I will tell you about Serial Killers.
Body
I. Who are serial Killers?
sub point: Personalities, Statistics and Demographics:
? People have a common misconception about serial killers but the majority of serial killers are not anti-social misfits who live alone. Many serial killers hide in plain sight. Serial killers often have families and homes, have good jobs, and appear to be normal members of the community. Because many serial killers can blend in so effortlessly, law enforcement and the public often overlook them as suspects. Even though the majority seem normal they often come from unstable families. As children, their fathers are not present and they are raised by domineering mothers.
They often come from families that have criminal, psychiatric and/or alcoholic histories.
They were often abused emotionally, physically and or sexually by someone close to them.
? Contrary to popular belief, serial killers cover all racial groups. There are White, African-American, Asian, and Hispanic serial killers. The varied racial groups of serial killers generally mirror that of the overall U.S. population.
? Female serial killers use less conspicuous means of murder such as poisoning in order to stay under the radar and remain discrete. Female serial killers only account for almost 8 percent of all serial killers in the United States. According to statistics by the United States Bureau of Justice, in the years between 1976 and 2005 men were ten times more likely to commit murder than women. But even though there were so few the history of female serial killers in the United States can be traced back to the time of Lavinia Fisher (1793 – February 18, 1820) who is widely seen as the first female serial killer in the country. Lavinia used her characteristics of being a beautiful and charming woman to help her husband, John Fisher rob and murder male travelers. Her origins are unknown; but, she lived in the United States for most of her life.
Types of Serial killers:
In my research I found many ways people name and describe the different types of serial killers.
But I’ve decided there are 3 main types of serial killers.
sub-sub point: The Medical Killer
This type of killer is very rare. This type of killer thinks they have the perfect cover because it’s very common for people in hospitals to die. They are usually highly intelligent and know how to proficiently conceal their murders. As long as it appears that a victim has died of natural causes, there will be no reason for anyone to suspect foul play and search for a guilty party. There have been a few doctors in history who managed to kill dozens of people before others began to catch on.
sub-sub point: The Organized Killer
This type of serial killer is the most difficult to identify and catch. They are usually very intelligent and well organized to the point of being scrupulous. Every detail of the crime is planned out, and the killer takes every precaution to make sure they leave no incriminating evidence behind. It is common for this type of psychopath to watch potential victims for several days. Once the victim is chosen, the killer will pick them up, often through some sort of ploy designed to gain their sympathy, and take them to another location to commit the murder. A criminal like this usually takes great pride in what they consider to be their “work” and have a tendency to pay close attention to news stories about their deeds.
sub-sub point: The Disorganized Killer
These individuals rarely plan out their murders in any way. Most often, the people they kill just happen to be around. This type of serial killer seems to strike at random whenever an opportunity arises. They take no steps to cover up any signs of their crime, and tend to move regularly between towns and states to avoid being captured. Disorganized killers usually have low IQs and are extremely antisocial. They rarely have close friends or family. These killers often claim to have no memory of their crimes, or they confess that they were motivated by voices in their heads or some other imaginary source.
Internal transition: The motives of a killer are unknown but over the year’s law enforcement, criminal psychologist and analyst have put together a list. The motives of serial killers are generally placed into four categories: visionary, mission-oriented, hedonistic and power or control; however, the motives of killers may display considerable overlap.
What are their motives?
Visionary
Visionary serial killers suffer from psychotic breaks, sometimes believing they are another person or are compelled to murder by entities such as the Devil or God. The two most common subgroups are “demon mandated” and “God mandated.”
Mission-oriented
Mission-oriented killers try to justify their actions as “ridding the world” of a certain type of person perceived as undesirable, such as prostitutes, homosexuals, or people of different ethnicity or religion; but, they are generally not psychotic. Some see themselves as attempting to change society, often to cure an “illness” that society might have.
Hedonistic
This type of serial killer seeks thrills and receives pleasure from killing. Forensic psychologists have identified three subtypes of the hedonistic killer: “lust”, “thrill” and “comfort”.
Lust
Sex is the primary motive of lust killers, whether or not the victims are dead, and fantasy plays a large role in their killings. Their sexual gratification depends on the amount of torture and mutilation they perform on their victims. They usually use weapons that require close contact with the victims, such as knives or hands. As lust killers continue with their murders, the time between killings decreases or the required level of stimulation increases, sometimes both.
Thrill
The primary motive of a thrill killer is to induce pain or terror in their victims, which provides stimulation and excitement for the killer. They seek the adrenaline rush provided by hunting and killing victims. Thrill killers murder only for the kill; usually the attack is not prolonged, and there is no sexual aspect. Usually the victims are strangers, although the killer may have followed them for a period of time. Thrill killers can abstain from killing for long periods of time and become more successful at killing as they refine their murder methods. Many attempt to commit the perfect crime and believe they will not be caught.
Comfort (profit)
Material gain and a comfortable lifestyle are the primary motives of comfort killers. Usually, the victims are family members and close acquaintances. After a murder, a comfort killer will usually wait for a period of time before killing again to allow any suspicions by family or authorities to subside. They often use poison, most notably arsenic to kill their victims. Female serial killers are often comfort killers, but not all comfort killers are female.
Power/control
The main objective for this type of serial killer is to gain and exert power over their victim. Such killers are sometimes abused as children, leaving them with feelings of powerlessness as adults. Many power- or control-motivated killers sexually abuse their victims, but they differ from hedonistic killers in that rape is not motivated by lust but as simply another form of dominating the victim.
Internal transition: There is a vast history of serial killers but it all started with one person and they weren’t always called serial killers.
III. History.
A. Robert Kenneth Ressler (February 21, 1937 – May 5, 2013) was an FBI agent and author. He played a significant role in the development of the psychological profiling of violent offenders in the 1970s and is often credited with coining the term “serial killer.” But the first serial killer was way before his time.
B. Herman Webster Mudgett (May 16, 1861 – May 7, 1896), better known as Dr. Henry Howard Holmes or more commonly known as H. H. Holmes. He is considered America’s first serial killer.
Transition between body and conclusion: Now that we have learned about serial killers let’s recap.
Conclusion
Thesis Re-statement: A serial killer is someone who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with a cooling-off period between murders.
Summary of points: Most serial killers seem like regular people and the majority of them are white males. The motive is usually based on psychological (often-sexual) gratification, but the motives may also include anger, thrill, money, and attention seeking. They were not called serial killers until the 1970s.
Clincher (ties everything together):
In Marco Abel’s 1998 Paper, Ronald M. Holmes and Stephen T. Holmes, Serial Murder, he says that “although most serial killers are judged ‘sick’, by the public these sick minds are nevertheless more interesting and exciting than those that perform the perfunctory functions necessary for the survival of American society”. And I don’t know if you agree with him but I do.
?
Work Cited
Abel, M. (n.d.). Ronald M. Holmes and Stephen T. Holmes, Serial Murder. Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/9427492/Ronald_M._Holmes_and_Stephen_T._Holmes_Serial_Murder
H. H. Holmes. (2018, October 29). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._H._Holmes
Retrieved from https://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/serial-murder
Retrieved from https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/7346992-we-serial-killers-are-your-sons-we-are-your-husbands
Types Of Serial Killers. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.crimemuseum.org/crime-library/serial-killers/types-of-serial-killers/
