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October 24th, 2002
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Special Report: Sniper Thrives on Media Attention, Experts Say |
Excessive Coverage Plays Into Psychopath’s Homicidal Vanity
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The Beltway Sniper, who has killed 10 victims in a terrifying month-long shooting spree, is probably paying close attention to the extensive media coverage of the case, and is likely even enjoying and feeding off the attention, criminologists and FBI profilers say.
"What's important to understand is, this killer sees himself as a celebrity," says John Crawford, chief of the FBI's Behavioral Science division. "To him, every news story, every 'special report,' represents further glorification and reinforcement of his exalted status. The attention is the very reward he seeks."
George Lockhorn, director of Killer in the Distance, the upcoming Paramount feature film on the sniper, agrees. "Killers come in many forms," he explains. "Some people kill out of anger, some out of lust, some out of fear. Not this guy. This guy kills as a form of ego gratification. Anything that adds to that gratification makes him that much more dangerous."
The film will star Vin Diesel in the role of the sniper.
Gerald Rivers, Ph.D., a psychologist and consultant on the Fox special When Snipers Attack, goes even further. "This particular serial killer may be doing what he's doing solely for the media attention," he claims. "Other murderers often want something from their victims - affection, perhaps, or respect - and their violent acts represent the killer's twisted way of getting what they want. In this case, the killer has no contact with the victims whatsoever. What the killer wants is something else, and that is the attention and notoriety that constant media saturation provides."
Experts point to other signs of the killer's egotism and self-obsession, such the cryptic messages left at some of the crime scenes and the mysterious phone calls made to the police. Although these actions are self-destructive, in that they may eventually provide clues that lead police to his capture, the killer considers them worth the risk, because he feels they make him more mysterious and intriguing. The more the rest of the world tries to probe and understand his psyche, the more he enjoys the very acts that the world seeks to understand.
This is the first of a twelve-part series describing the psychology, upbringing, attitudes and lifestyle of the Beltway Sniper.
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