Behavioral Characteristics of Stalkers Who Kill

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to identify behavioral characteristics of stalkers who ultimately kill their targets, with the goal of creating a risk factor checklist to help identify current offenders most at risk for escalating to homicide. The study involved case comparisons of stalking-homicide cases from the United States, United Kingdom, and other Western cultures. This study examines twenty cases involving stalkers who killed or attempted to kill their victims. Stalking has evolved considerably with the introduction of new technology, yet the dangers posed by stalkers who ultimately kill their targeted victims, the data was coded, compared and analyzed to create a risk factor checklist to identify those types of offenders most likely to resort to homicide. The data was gathered from public resources and news articles. The study examined, age, race, gender, the type of stalker, the relationship between the stalker and the victim, as well as other factors preceding the death of the victims. Not surprisingly, males were found to be the most dangerous offenders the majority of the time. Of the known typologies of stalkers, only one case of the predatory stalker was found, and no cases of the intimacy seeker were found within the cases examined.