Criminal Offenses

www.elsevier.com/locate/forsciint

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

al 176 (2008) 187–195

Forensic Science Internation

The relationship between serial sexual murder and autoerotic asphyxiation

Wade C. Myers a,*, Alexandr Bukhanovskiy

b , Elle Justen

c , Robert J. Morton

d ,

John Tilley e , Kenneth Adams

f , Virgil L. Vandagriff

g,1 , Robert R. Hazelwood

h,2

a Forensic Psychiatry Program, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, University of South Florida College of Medicine,

12901 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., MDC 102, Tampa, FL 33612, United States b

Psychiatry Department, Rostov State Medical University, Nahicevanskij Pereulok 29, Rostov 344700, Russia c

Department of Psychiatry, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, 125 Paterson Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08903-0019, United States d

National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime, Behavioral Analysis Unit, FBI Academy, Quantico, VA 22135, United States e State Attorney’s Office, 5th Judicial Circuit, 19 N.W. Pine Avenue, Ocala, FL 34475, United States

f Major Crimes Unit, Lake County Sheriff’s Office, 360 West Ruby Street Tavares, FL 32778, United States

g Vandagriff & Associates, Inc. and Employee Management Systems, 2338 S. Lynhurst Dr., Indianapolis, IN 46241, United States

h The Academy Group, Inc., 7542 Diplomat Drive, Manassass, VA 20109, United States

Received 20 April 2007; received in revised form 9 July 2007; accepted 11 September 2007

Available online 5 November 2007

Abstract

This case series documents and examines the association between autoerotic asphyxiation, sadomasochism, and serial sexual murderers.

Autoerotic asphyxiation, along with other paraphilias found in this population, is reviewed. Five cases of serial sexual killers who engaged in

autoerotic asphyxiation were identified worldwide: four from the United States and one from Russia. Case reports for each are provided. All

(100%) were found to have sexual sadism in addition to autoerotic asphyxiation. Furthermore, two (40%) had bondage fetishism, and two (40%)

had transvestic fetishism, consistent with these paraphilias co-occurring in those with autoerotic asphyxiation. Overall the group averaged 4.0

lifetime paraphilias. Some possible relationships were observed between the offenders’ paraphilic orientation and their modus operandi, e.g., all of

these serial killers strangled victims—suggesting an association between their sadistic and asphyxiative paraphilic interests. The overlap of

seemingly polar opposite paraphilias in this sample – sexual sadism and autoerotic asphyxiation – is explored from a historical and clinical

perspective. Multiple commonalities shared between these five offenders and serial sexual murderers in general are addressed. A primary limitation

of this study is its small sample size and empirical basis; the results may not be generalizable beyond the sample. The findings from this study

support the supposition that crime scene behaviors often reflect paraphilic disturbances in those who commit serial sexual homicides.

# 2007 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Forensic science; Serial murder; Autoerotic asphyxiation; Paraphilia; Sexual sadism; Sexual masochism

1. Introduction

‘‘It is well to remember that every sadist is a masochist, and

every masochist is sadist.’’ J. Paul de River, in The Sexual

Criminal, 1950 [1]

The paraphilias are sexual disorders involving recurrent,

deviant fantasies, urges, and behaviors. They are considered

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 813 974 0311; fax: +1 813 974 1130.

E-mail address: [email protected] (W.C. Myers). 1

Author is the Founder of Vandagriff & Associates, Inc. and Employee

Management Systems. He retired from the Marion County, Indiana Sheriffs’

Office as a First Class Detective Sergeant. 2

Author retired from the FBI as a Supervisory Agent.

0379-0738/$ – see front matter # 2007 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/j.forsciint.2007.09.005

deviant according to societal norms, falling at the outer limits of

the sexual behavior continuum, and lead to stigmatization of the

exposed practitioner. Hundreds of paraphilias have been

described [2]. Autoerotic asphyxiation is one type of paraphilia.

Although not specifically listed in the American Psychiatric

Association’s DSM-IV-TR [3], it can be classified as a

Paraphilia Not Otherwise Specified within this system. Most

persons who engage in autoerotic asphyxiation are young adult

males, although this practice also has been reported in

adolescents, the elderly, and women [4–9].

The person engaging in autoerotic asphyxiation induces

cerebral hypoxia (decreased oxygen supply to the brain) in him

or herself, typically by strangulation or suffocation, and may

masturbate concurrently. Practitioners use a variety of methods

W.C. Myers et al. / Forensic Science International 176 (2008) 187–195188

to deprive themselves of oxygen, e.g., hanging, neck ligatures,

plastic bags placed over the head, suffocating masks, chest

compression, and oxygen replacement with gas or chemicals

[4,6]. The creation of a hypoxic state is believed to heighten

sexual pleasure and orgasm [10]. Unfortunately there is a thin

line separating hypoxic euphoria from unconsciousness and

death; a slight miscalculation can prove fatal. Not surprisingly,

autoerotic asphyxiation is considered the most dangerous of

paraphilias for the practitioner [11]. Death usually results from

unintended failure of escape pathways or release mechanisms

involving the asphyxiating devices [12].

Research findings show that a person afflicted with a

paraphilia commonly will have one or more additional

paraphilias during his or her lifetime [3,13]. Autoerotic

asphyxiation is no exception, as it regularly co-occurs with

other sexually deviant interests. Masochism and transvestic

fetishism, or cross-dressing, are some of the more commonly

associated paraphilias [4,5,7]. In fact, 20–25% of autoerotic

asphyxiation death scenes demonstrate evidence of transvestic

fetishism [6,9,14]. Bondage fetishism is another paraphilia

frequently associated with autoerotic asphyxiation [15].

Sexual sadism is believed to be the paraphilia most

frequently associated with the serial sexual murderer (16,

18). Some authors have proposed that a significant proportion

of serial sexual killers have a subtype of sexual sadism, the

‘‘Homicidal Type’’ [16]. Numerous other paraphilias also have

been reported in serial sexual killers. For instance, in a sample

of 25 serial murderers, Prentky et al. [17] found that voyeurism

was present in 75%, fetishism in 71%, cross-dressing in 25%,

and indecent exposure in 25%. Likewise, in a study by Dietz

et al. [18] on sadistic murderers, many of whom were serial

offenders, there was an average of 2.7 paraphilias per offender.

Given what is known about the overlapping nature of

paraphilias, this panoply of comorbidity is not unexpected,

and further examples of this comorbidity are listed below

[1,16,17,19–23]. This list is meant for illustrative purposes only

and not meant to be inclusive of all paraphilias ever reported in

serial sexual killers:

� b

estiality;

� c

annibalism;

� e

xhibitionism;

� f

etishism;

� f

etish burglary;

� g

erontophilia;

� n

ecrophilia;

� p

edophilia;

� p

iquerism;

� s

exual masochism;

� s

exual sadism;

� te

lephone scatologia;

� tr

ansvestic fetishism;

� v

oyeurism.

The purpose of this work at hand is two-fold: (1) to

document the co-occurrence between autoerotic asphyxiation

and serial sexual murder, and (2) to explore what relationships

might exist between autoerotic asphyxiation, sadomasochism,

and modus operandi in this case series of serial sexual killers.

For example, would paraphilic themes from their autoerotic

asphyxiation practices be reflected in their sexual homicide

behaviors and crime scenes?

2. Method

A survey of the literature on these topics was performed using the search

engines PubMed and Psycinfo. Additionally, the authors consulted historic and

recent crime books, and queried colleagues with relevant forensic and law

enforcement backgrounds, to locate additional cases of serial sexual murderers

with concomitant autoerotic asphyxiation. A total of five cases were identified,

and data were gathered from all available sources. In four of five cases crime

data was verified and augmented by law enforcement personnel who were

involved in the investigations. In the fifth case, from Russia, the data was

provided by a criminal psychiatrist who regularly consults with law enforce-

ment and who had evaluated the offender in depth. Case histories for each of

these individuals are presented in the next section. Following that, offender,

victim, modus operandi, and paraphilic characteristics are summarized

in Table 1. The possible significance of these findings is examined in the

Section 4.

3. Case histories

3.1. Harvey Glatman

Glatman was born in New York in 1927. He had signs of a

personality disturbance from the time he was a young boy. He

experienced mood swings, sulked, was a loner, and had an

inappropriate affect (e.g., laughing without reason). Neighbors

described him as shy. Although his attention span was

reportedly poor, he did well in school, excelling in some

subjects. His IQ score was 130, placing him the very superior

range. Schoolmates called him names and teased him about his

buckteeth and large ears.

When Glatman was 3 or 4 years old his mother discovered

him leaning backward with a string tied around his penis; the

other end was closed in a drawer. At the age of 12 his parents

noticed he had a red, swollen neck. His mother reported that he

described being in a bathtub and placing a rope around his neck,

running it through the tub drain, and pulling it tight against his

neck. He told her that he achieved ‘‘some sexual pleasure from

this act.’’ She took him to the family physician and was told he

would ‘‘grow out of it.’’

In early adolescence, Glatman’s father caught him

masturbating and told him that he would go ‘‘insane’’ from

the activity. He developed a great bitterness toward his father,

and called his mother ‘‘soft’’ for what he described as being

‘‘too maternal’’ toward him.

He began breaking into homes and stealing items as a

teenager. This progressed to him following women home and

sexually assaulting them. He would break into their homes,

force them into the bedroom, bind them with a cord, and gag

them. Then he would partially undress them, fondle them, and

masturbate. He carried a pilfered pistol to ensure their

cooperation.

He was first arrested at the age of 17 for breaking into a

woman’s apartment. He had a pistol and piece of rope on his

Table 1

Descriptive characteristics of sample

Name Birth date Killing career age Length of

killing

career

Known murder

victims

(and suspected)

Victim ages and sex Modus operandi Murder souvenirs History of

paraphilia

diagnoses

AA a

paraphilia reflected

in modus operandi?

Harvey Glatman 12/10/1927 29–30 11 months 3 Adult females Posed as professional

photographer; bound,

raped, and strangled

victims; photographed

crime activities

Photographs of victims posed

before death

Sexual sadism:

autoerotic

asphyxiation;

bondage

fetishism;

voyeurism

Yes: victims bound

and strangled with rope

Dennis Rader 3/9/1945 29–46 17 years 10 Adult females (7),

one adult

male, one girl,

one boy

Studied victim’s life

habits, then attacked

them in their residences.

Victims bound,

repeatedly strangled.

Masturbated after they

died

Photographs of at least

one victim after death

Sexual sadism;

autoerotic

asphyxiation;

transvestism;

necrophilia;

voyeurism;

bondage

fetishism

Yes: victims bound,

hung and strangled

Gerard Schaefer 4/25/46 16/19/20 (?)–26 6–7 years 2 (41) Adult and teenage

females

Some victims procured

while on duty as police

officer; others duped

into thinking he wanted

relationship with them

Teeth, jewelry, clothing,

diaries, written accounts

of crimes

Sexual sadism:

autoerotic

asphyxiation;

transvestism;

bestiality;

necrophilia;

cannibalism

Yes: victims bound,

hung, and strangled

Herb Baumeister 4/7/1947 38–47 (?) �9 years 17 (suspected in others)

Adult males Victims procured from

gay bars; strangled

Evidence he videotaped

homicides—tapes never

recovered

Sexual sadism;

autoerotic

asphyxiation

‘‘by proxy’’ b

Yes: he and one or

more victims engaged

in mutual erotic

asphyxiation

Khomiakov

Victor Yu

12/21/62 20s � several years?

3 Adult males Fellow prisoners chosen;

some naively

participated in AA

with him

None known Sexual sadism;

autoerotic

asphyxiation

Yes: victims strangled,

and one or more bound

a Autoerotic asphyxiation.

b Baumeister had at least one victim strangle him first.

W .C

. M

y e rs

e t

a l./

F o

re n

sic S

c ie

n c e

In te

rn a

tio n a

l 1

7 6

(2 0

0 8

) 1

8 7

– 1

9 5

1 8

9

W.C. Myers et al. / Forensic Science International 176 (2008) 187–195190

person. While awaiting trial he was arrested for kidnapping and

sexually assaulting a woman. Glatman confessed to burglary

but not sexual assault, and was sentenced to 1 year in prison.

Following his release from prison at 18, Glatman promptly

resumed his previous activities. He used toy guns for a while.

On one occasion, he captured a male and female using a toy

gun, and tied up both of them. The male got loose and Glatman

‘‘impulsively’’ stabbed him with a knife. He was again arrested,

sentenced, and returned to prison. He was diagnosed as having a

‘‘psychopathic personality—schizophrenic type,’’ and ‘‘sexu-

ally perverted impulses.’’ He was released after less than 2 years

for good behavior. (As is also true for the later Baumeister case,

this diagnosis of ‘‘schizophrenia’’ in Glatman, according to the

contemporary definition, is not supported by his psychosis-free

adjustment in adulthood. ‘‘Schizophrenia’’ in the 1940s and

1960s encompassed a broader range of psychopathology than

currently.)

Glatman moved to Los Angeles when he was 29. His

sexually deviant behavior escalated, and he began using

photography to memorialize his crimes. To the best of the

authors’ knowledge, Glatman was the first serial killer to

photograph his murder victims. His modus operandi had

evolved to him posing as a photographer and using an alias to

procure victims for photo assignments; he used this ruse with

two of his three murder victims. Over the ensuing year, he raped

and killed three women, strangling each with a segment of rope.

In one instance he hired and convinced a female model to pose

bound and gagged, telling her it was part of the shoot’s script for

a detective magazine. On another occasion he used his handgun

to take control of a model he had hired. Photographs

documented the unfolding of events. A fourth victim narrowly

escaped when a law enforcement officer observed Glatman

struggling with a woman on a roadside—here his crime career

ended.

Glatman was executed on September 18, 1959 in the San

Quentin gas chamber. His last words: ‘‘I knew this is the way it

would be.’’

3.2. Dennis Rader

Rader was born in Wichita, Kansas in 1945. He was the

eldest of four brothers, and seemingly had an uneventful

childhood. Nonetheless, by the time he was in grade school he

had experienced the onset of fantasies about bondage, control

and torture. He also recalled that when he was a boy he watched

his grandparents strangle chickens on their farm. Soon

afterward he began killing animals; for instance, he hanged

cats and dogs. Peers described him as quiet, polite, preferring to

stay by himself, and lacking a sense of humor. He graduated

from high school in 1963, and briefly attended Wichita State

University.

Rader joined the Air Force in 1966 where he worked as a

mechanic. His first sexual experience was with a prostitute

overseas, and he engaged in bondage with her. He continued to

patronize prostitutes and practice bondage during his time in

the service. He was honorably discharged from the service in

1970. Rader married in 1971, and he and his wife had

reportedly had ‘‘normal’’ sexual relations. They produced two

children.

In 1974 Rader committed the first of his murders, killing

four members of a family. He suffocated and/or strangled the

father, mother, and their 9-year-old son before taking their 11-

year-old daughter to the basement where he elaborately bound

her and hung her from an overhead pipe. Prior to killing her, he

asked the young girl where to find a camera, but she did not

know. He partially undressed the girl and masturbated, finally

ejaculating onto the victim.

The police arrested three men for the murders, and this

caused Rader to write to the newspaper, explaining that he had

killed the family. He described the crime scene in detail,

including the type of bindings he used. He then arrogantly titled

himself Bind, Torture and Kill (BTK), and bragged that there

would be more murders to follow.

Over the next 17 years, Rader committed six more murders.

He used what he termed a ‘‘hit kit’’ for the homicides. The ‘‘hit

kit’’ was a bowling bag or briefcase which contained his tools,

e.g., tape, rope, handcuffs, and guns. During his crimes he

elaborately bound the victims. He then repeated the cycle of

strangling the victims, allowing them to recover, and finally

killing them. He would then pose them postmortem and

masturbate onto an article of their clothing. One of his victims

was a neighbor who lived only six doors away. After entering

her residence and killing her, he transported her to the vestibule

of his church. There he costumed her in lingerie, posed her, and

then photographed her in a variety of bound positions.

Throughout his murder career, Dennis Rader documented

his autoerotic involvement through photographs. That involve-

ment included sexual bondage and transvestic fetishism. After

the last murder in 1991, Rader increased his autoerotic

practices, explaining they were a substitute for the murders. He

engaged in these activities in the woods, hotel rooms, and even

in his mother’s basement. He posed himself in positions

strikingly similar to his murder victims, and photographed

himself in a variety of poses. He sometimes wore masks, and

noted that such posing and wearing of the masks allowed him

feel the fear his victim’s felt. His practice of transvestic

fetishism was intricate—he possessed and wore numerous pairs

of panty hose, underwear, and bras. The bindings he utilized

were likewise complicated. He described these activities and

the murders as ‘‘fantasy out of control.’’

3.3. John Gerard Shaefer

Schaefer was born in Wisconsin in 1946. While there are no

reports of problems in his family, one of his girlfriends

allegedly witnessed violent fights between Schaefer and his

father. In high school he was viewed as a loner and odd.

Schaefer expressed a range of paraphilias as a teenager. He

peeped into windows, and sometimes snuck into the house of a

neighborhood girl to masturbate while watching her undress

(she is believed to have become one of his murder victims years

later). He was attracted to women’s panties, and he sometimes

dressed in women’s underwear and masturbated. He also sought

out sexual excitement by tying himself to trees in the woods and

W.C. Myers et al. / Forensic Science International 176 (2008) 187–195 191

then struggling to get free. Additionally, he alleged that he

beheaded livestock with a machete and raped their carcasses.

Also when he was a teenager, he played out bondage rape

scenes with his girlfriend.

His anger toward women was first evidenced when he was

16 years of age. After having sex with his 15-year-old girlfriend

(his first sexual partner), he looked out his bedroom window,

observed his female neighbor sunbathing and began saying,

‘‘That bitch, look at that bitch.’’ His girlfriend walked to the

window, looked down, and saw a bikini clad woman sunbathing

in her yard which was surrounded by a stockade fence. She

asked Schaefer what he was talking about. He replied, ‘‘She

knows I’m looking. She’s taunting me.’’ This same girlfriend

advised that she saw Schaefer change from a normal mood into

a morose, depressed one, and related how he would take her to a

swamp area and begin to cry. When asked what was wrong, he

told her that he was having terrible fantasies about capturing

and hanging women.

He married his first wife in 1968. Two years later she

divorced him due to ‘‘extreme cruelty.’’ Schaefer attended

college on a golf scholarship and obtained a Bachelor of Arts

degree in Social Science. After graduating, he enrolled in a

community college criminal justice program and earned an

Associate of Science degree. He completed of 600 h of training

in a police academy course as part of this additional education.

He remarried in 1971 and went to work as a police officer the

same year. While on duty he arrested two female teenagers who

had been hitchhiking. He took them into a wooded area, bound

them to trees, and put ropes around their necks. Fortunately for

the young women, Schaefer had to leave to respond to a police

call. The girls were able to escape and he was arrested. He

provided the rationale that he had stopped these girls to explain

the dangers of hitchhiking to them, but they did not take him

seriously, so he took them to the woods to convince them. He

was sentenced to a year of imprisonment for these crimes.

Schaefer claimed he first killed at 16. Two girls in their early

20s who disappeared from a picnic in 1966 were among his

earlier victims. He was 20 at the time. Their bodies were never

found, but it is assumed they were hidden in a surrounding

national forest. He confessed in a roundabout way to these

killings in a letter to his girlfriend. Many other women

suspected of being his victims disappeared between 1966 and

1972. He bragged of killing women by hanging them,

repeatedly returning to sexually assault them, and even

engaging in cannibalism. His youngest victims were believed

to have been two girls, ages 8 and 9. In a letter to one of the

authors (RRH), Schaefer wrote, ‘‘Killing and sadism. That’s

what you want to talk about, right? How one has to watch while

the other one is killed, knowing she is next.’’

Schaefer’s downfall came when he abducted two teenage

girls in 1972—one of the girls’ mothers copied most of his

license plate number down, but the numbers were incorrectly

entered into the system. This error was eventually discovered

and he was arrested, but not before he probably killed two other

teenage girls.

While incarcerated he wrote stories of torturing, raping, and

killing women, and he read these stories to other detainees. He

destroyed these stories upon learning that the decomposed

bodies of the two women he had captured, bound to trees,

killed, and buried had been discovered in 1973, 6 months after

their deaths. The house he shared with his wife and mother was

searched, and extensive evidence (hundreds of souvenirs from

victims) connecting him to at least eight missing females was

discovered. Also among the items found were his sexually

sadistic stories of torturing and killing women, and photos he

took of himself wearing women’s underwear and bound with

rope. Additionally, the photographic evidence revealed he

positioned a mirror to watch his self-directed masochistic

behavior. He was convicted of murdering the two girls and

given two life sentences.

A high school girlfriend, Sandra London, reinitiated contact

with him when he was in prison. His letters to her indicated he

first killed at the age of 19 and had a total of 34 victims (he is

now suspected in 41 murders). Together they published his

sadistic stories under the title Killer Fiction [24] (see

Appendix A for a sample of Schaefer’s writings from this

book). It is now believed these supposed fiction tales are in

actuality a recounting of his murders based on findings from

ongoing investigative efforts.

While in prison Schaefer became a ‘‘jailhouse lawyer.’’ He

was murdered in 1995, either for being an informant or by a

disgruntled prison client.

3.4. Herb Baumeister

Baumeister was born in Indianapolis in 1947. His parents

were allegedly domineering; the mother’s domination con-

tinued when he was an adult. His father, an anesthesiologist,

was demanding of him and took verbal and physical action

when he did not meet expectations. In adolescence Baumeister

had odd beliefs and behavior, evidenced by such acts as his

playing with dead animals and daydreaming about tasting

urine. He reportedly put a dead bird on his teacher’s desk to

shock her. He also was described as being irresponsible, having

a bad temper, and being a loner. In early adulthood he was

evaluated by a mental health professional and given a diagnosis

of schizophrenia.

Baumeister had trouble fitting in socially throughout school,

although he did graduate from high school. He took college

courses for several years, but did not obtain a degree. His

college major was Anatomy. He worked at a newspaper office

and then for the Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV). At the

newspaper he was called ‘‘eager, helpful, and a driven

perfectionist,’’ and was also described as a ‘‘meticulous

dresser.’’ He surprised his fellow newspaper coworkers 1 day by

arriving in a hearse, wearing a chauffeur’s hat, and offering to

take them to a college football game. At the BMV job he sent

his coworkers a Christmas card with a picture of himself and a

friend dressed in drag. He ended up getting fired from this job

for urinating on a letter addressed to the Governor.

At the age of 24 Baumeister married. He and his wife had

three children, although they rarely had sex during their

emotionally distant marriage. Nonetheless they worked

together with a loan of US$ 350,000 from Herb’s mother to

W.C. Myers et al. / Forensic Science International 176 (2008) 187–195192

build a temporarily successful thrift store business. Videotape

of family holiday activities revealed a happy, smiling

Baumeister who appeared to be a caring father. His wife had

no cause to suspect that her husband was killing people as a

pastime, even when their son found a skeleton in the backyard

of the family home. Baumeister provided an excuse that allayed

his wife’s concerns: the bones had been in the possession of his

physician father, and he had disposed of them out back.

In the early 1990s gay men in the Indianapolis area began

disappearing, many from gay bars. The eventual capture of

Baumeister began with a missing person’s reports to author

VLV, a retired ‘‘major crime’’ investigator for the Sheriff’s

Department. His investigation led authorities to one of

Baumeister’s victims who had survived. This man had been

to Baumeister’s home where they had engaged in erotic

asphyxiation. First Baumeister had stripped and masturbated

while having this man choke him with a garrote made from a

hose. Baumeister in turn choked him, but stopped after the

victim feigned unconsciousness. He was later taken home by

Baumeister, but not before being told by Baumeister there had

been ‘‘accidents’’ during previous asphyxiation encounters.

This witness provided the police with helpful leads,

including Baumeister’s license plate number, and now the

police had a solid suspect. When they searched his estate they

found innumerable burnt bone fragments and teeth scattered

about the grounds. To date enough bone evidence has been

found to confirm the remains of 17 male victims. Inside the

home a partially hidden video camera was discovered that

apparently had been used to record murders. No tapes were ever

found.

Baumeister was aware his arrest for the murders was

imminent. He drove to Canada where he committed suicide by

shooting himself in the head with a pistol. With his death many

of the details of his killings and sexual life disappeared. The

report of the surviving victim makes it reasonable to assume he

engaged in mutual erotic asphyxiation with at least some of his

victims, and justified it to them by explaining that strangulation

increases sexual pleasure. Further investigation has made

Baumeister a suspect in the strangulation murders of

homosexual men whose bodies were discarded in Ohio along

I-70 in the 1980s and 1990. Whether Baumeister was the ‘‘I-70

Strangler’’ remains unknown. Interestingly, these homicides

ceased after Baumeister committed suicide.

3.5. Khomiakov Victor Yu

Yu was born in the Rostov Region of Russia in 1962. His

parents were young. The father abused alcohol and committed a

cruel murder while intoxicated. When Yu was 6, his mother

caused grievous bodily harm to another. Both his parents were

convicted for their crimes and Yu was raised in orphanages. He

attended 8 years of secondary school.

Yu had serious, chronic adjustment problems in the

orphanage setting. His presentation was consistent with a

Non-socialized Behavior Disorder (ICD-10). He was unable to

maintain peer relationships, misbehaved regularly, was

excitable and bellicose, showed no interest in school lessons,

studied poorly, skipped classes, stole, and ran away. Over time

he developed substance dependence with marijuana and inhaled

acetone. Perhaps adding to Yu’s behavioral dyscontrol was his

history of repeated closed head injuries with loss of

consciousness. Admissions to psychiatric hospitals did not

prove helpful.

At 12 Yu was raped by a group of older juveniles. Afterward

he began to engage in homosexual behavior, and he became an

active participant in, and organizer of, such contact. He never

had normative sexual experiences. On one occasion Yu

witnessed some of his delinquent peers engaging in self and

mutual strangulation by way of carotid compression coupled

with sexual behavior. Their sexual exhilaration was apparent to

him and he subsequently joined them in these acts. With time he

was able to achieve orgasm while in a state of asphyxia without

any genital stimulation.

As an older youth Yu progressed from stealing things to

robbing victims, typically other teenage boys. He was

unnecessarily violent toward his victims at times, and this

included threats to kill them. He was first arrested at the age of

18. The investigators asked him about his use of excessive

violence. He explained that he had robbed not so much for ‘‘the

livelihood, but rather for the sake of the violence which brought

satisfaction (translated from Russian).’’ Yu was sentenced to

prison.

In prison Yu rebelled against order and discipline and

refused to work. He was characterized as ‘‘. . . unbalanced, cruel, mendacious, inclined to sodomy.’’ He used drugs with

other prisoners and participated in erotic asphyxiation with

them. He was treated at the prison hospital, and a psychiatric

examination noted he had been ‘‘compressing his own carotids

and thus reaching anoesis (a state of consciousness with

sensation but without thought).’’ One prisoner with whom Yu

participated in mutual erotic asphyxiation activities allowed Yu

to tie his hands behind his back. As Yu strangled him he

unexpectedly felt exaltation, triumph, and sexual agitation that

culminated in orgasm. Afterward Yu realized his partner had

died in the process, and he was unsuccessful in his attempt to

revive him. Yu was subsequently diagnosed as suffering from

‘‘Psychopathy, Excitable Type’’ and categorized as a special

and dangerous recidivist.

Yu later strangled to death two more male prisoners, and

another one almost died in his hands. Yu fantasized with delight

about the stranglings. He discussed how asphyxiation in

himself led to ‘‘color dreams,’’ and when he strangled others he

had the same type of dreams. (Hazelwood et al. [6] describe

subjective sensations of odors and visualized colors recorded by

a practitioner of autoerotic asphyxiation.) Strangling others

became more erotically rewarding for him than self-strangula-

tion. Yu, in talking with prison officials, admitted he was unable

to rid himself of the urge to strangle others. His cellmates

testified in court that they had witnessed Yu deriving pleasure

from the strangulation of others.

Author A.B. examined Yu when he was 28. He noted Yu had

never married, held a job, or served in the military. He found Yu

to have an obsessive-compulsive character to his deviant sexual

drive, and determined that over time Yu had lost control of it. A

W.C. Myers et al. / Forensic Science International 176 (2008) 187–195 193

compulsory component of his paraphilia was the victim’s agony

punctuated by ensuing convulsions, death-rattle, and demise.

After he crossed over into the domain of homicidal sexual

asphyxiation, Yu discovered he could achieve orgasm solely

through the mental stimulation that came with strangling the

victim—no other physical stimulus was necessary. Author

A.B.’s diagnoses were Sexual Asphyxia of Homosexual

Orientation, Sadistic Type (ICD-10). Comorbid disorders

included Dissocial Personality Disorder and a history of

Chemical Dependence.

4. Results and discussion

This paper has described five serial sexual murderers who

also practiced autoerotic asphyxiation. In the case of

Baumeister, his autoerotic practice was only verified as

occurring ‘‘by proxy.’’ Whether he regularly practiced it on

his own will likely never be known. Four of these cases were

from the United States and one was from Russia. No other cases

worldwide could be identified. A primary limitation of this case

series is that it may represent only a fraction of serial sexual

murderers that also engaged in autoerotic asphyxiation. While

every effort was made to identify those serial killers fitting the

study inclusion criteria, it is quite possible there have been

others whose autoerotic asphyxiation proclivities escaped

detection. Therefore, this case series may not necessarily be

representative of the population as a whole, and caution is urged

in its interpretation. Nonetheless, we believe it to be the first

case series to examine the relationship between serial murder,

autoerotic asphyxiation, sadomasochism, and the merging of

these behaviors into the modus operandi.

There are a number of modus operandi findings that we

believe merit discussion. One of these pertains to victimology.

Unexpectedly, three out of the five offenders (60%) had at least

one male victim, and two of these three selected male victims

exclusively (40% of the sample). Most serial sexual killers

target primarily female victims [16,20]. The tendency for male

victims to be over-represented in this series may coincidentally

be due to the small N. An alternative explanation may stem

from the relationship between homosexual orientation and a

higher prevalence of masochistic interest [21,25–27]. It can be

theorized that those serial sexual murderers who engage in

autoerotic asphyxiation will have a heightened masochistic

interest, and this masochistic interest in turn will be associated

with a greater likelihood of homosexual orientation. Although

beyond the scope of this work, different etiological pathways

could be offered as explanatory for these complex associations

(e.g., psychoanalytic, social learning, genetic).

Another observation related to modus operandi involved: (1)

the offenders’ history of autoerotic asphyxiation, and (2) their

choice of sadistic asphyxiation, i.e., strangulation, to kill their

victims. There was evidence that each of these killers

dispatched their victims in this manner. While strangulation

is one of the more common methods relied upon by serial

sexual murderers to kill their victims, it is still only used in

about one-half of these crimes [18,28]. In the present sample,

each of the offenders (100%) killed victims through

strangulation (in two of the five cases it was not possible to

know if all their victims had been strangled due to the remains

either being severely decomposed at discovery, e.g., skeleto-

nized, or never located). This finding might imply that their

sexually sadistic need to asphyxiate victims through the act of

strangulation – when the procurement of victims was not

feasible – could be transformed and expressed instead through

the masochistic pathway of autoerotic asphyxiation. A closer

look at this theoretical alternative masochistic pathway for the

expression of sadistic urges and fantasy follows.

We found one of the most intriguing aspects of this case

series to be the co-occurrence of seemingly polar opposite,

extreme paraphilias – extreme in the sense that these are the

most lethal of paraphilias in terms of danger to victims (sexual

sadism) and practitioners (autoerotic asphyxiation) – within the

same population. The overlap of these two seemingly unrelated

paraphilias has been recognized for over a century. For

instance, in 1913 the English physician and sexologist

Havelock Ellis [29] wrote:

‘‘The investigation of histories of sadism and masochism,

even those given by Krafft-Ebing, constantly reveals traces

of both groups of phenomena in the same individual.’’

Likewise in the writings of Freud [30] from 1905 we find:

It can often be shown that masochism is nothing more than

an extension of sadism turned round upon the subject’s own

self, which thus, to begin with, takes the place of the sexual

object . . .. A sadist is always at the same time a masochist, although the active or the passive aspect of the perversion

may be more strongly developed in him and may represent

his predominant sexual activity.

How might one reconcile historical theories on the nexus

between sadism and masochism with clinical information from

serial murderers who have sexual sadism and autoerotic

asphyxiation? One way is to view it as a process in which the

offender drafts himself as a substitute for the fantasized victim

when an external victim is not available. He assumes the

identity of the victim thought such mechanisms as wearing

women’s undergarments and placing himself in bondage, as did

Rader and Shaefer. Next he asphyxiates ‘‘the victim.’’ (Not

surprisingly, two of five [40%] in this sample had transvestic

fetishism, consistent with this paraphilia commonly co-

occurring in those with autoerotic asphyxiation.) Similarly,

Baumeister and Yu engaged in mutual erotic asphxyiation,

allowing them to experience the victim’s role of dying at the

hands of another.

In the above scenario the offender has produced a play in

which he assumes the role of the suffering masochist and the

torturing sadist simultaneously. For some offenders, having the

chance to personally feel the pain and anguish of the victim

might also allow them to attain heightened sadistic pleasure

from the future abuse of victims. They would then know from

personal experience the victim’s suffering and be able to more

genuinely experience it vicariously. Rader confirmed this

psychic process as documented in his case history. Likewise,

Schaefer is reported to have engaged in autoerotic asphyxiation

W.C. Myers et al. / Forensic Science International 176 (2008) 187–195194

when he could not get a victim. Of possible relevance is the fact

that Rader and Schaefer engaged in autoerotic activities in the

woods; certainly doing so in wooded areas was not an

obligatory environment that they needed to carry out their

activities. This choice of location might reflect their desire to

vicariously enjoy the terror such an isolated environment away

from the safety of civilization would impart to the victim. Or it

could be related to behavioral tryouts for application to future

victims.

Several other findings consistent with the serial murder

literature – and not necessarily spotlighting this sample as

unique – were noted:

� F

irst, these offenders averaged 4.8 known victims during their killing career, and this is in all likelihood an underestimate.

For example, in the case of Schaefer, law enforcement is still

following leads potentially connecting him to additional

unsolved murders, and his estimated victim count has risen

over the years through investigative efforts to 41. The same

scenario applies to Baumeister, with his documented victim

tally at 17. Moreover, he is suspected in a number of other

unsolved murders that occurred on or near routes he used for

interstate travel during business trips, and it is possible he will

be linked to additional homicides in the future.

� S

econd, the killing careers of this group averaged about 7 years, with an approximate range of 1–17 years.

� T

hird, all five of these offenders (100%) met criteria for sexual sadism in adulthood, the paraphilia most commonly

associated with serial sexual homicide. Interestingly, four of

five (80%) had developed signs of sexual sadism by

adolescence. It may be that the earlier the onset of sexual

sadism, the more virulent the course.

� F

ourth, the range of paraphilic diagnoses by history in this case series varied from 2 to 6 with a mean of 4.0 per offender.

This is probably an underestimate given the challenges in

fully uncovering the extent of a serial murderer’s deviant

interests, and the hints of other paraphilias being present in

several of the sample.

� F

ifth, victim bondage was used by four of five (80%) in the sample. Bondage of victims by serial sexual killers is present

in the majority of their crimes.

� S

ixth, four of five (80%) appeared to have kept souvenirs – sometimes also referred to as ‘‘trophies’’ – of their murderous

exploits. This latter finding is presumed to be related to their

having sexual sadism. Sadists not uncommonly keep

souvenirs of their crimes for reminiscing, as evidence of a

successful endeavor, enhancing deviant fantasies, and

masturbating. Schaefer, for instance, was found to have

about 150 pairs of women’s underpants and 200 jewelry items

amongst his belongings at the time of his arrest.

Bukhanovskiy [31] described how individuals with serious

paraphilias often end up in state of sexual impoverishment

where autoeroticism becomes the leading or only outlet for the

sexual drive. A common pattern unfolds whereby there is a

gradual abbreviation of erotic situations and stimuli, reduction

in the number of sexual contacts, extinction of partnership

relations, impairment of normal sexual functioning, and

reversal of sexual diversity as the paraphilic interests take

dominion. As in the case of Khomiakov Victor Yu, and other

Russian cases Bukhanovskiy has worked with, the autoerotic

asphyxiation paraphilia at times mutated beyond threatening

the life of the individual, and took on a form that threatened the

life of others by becoming a variant of sexual sadism.

Ultimately it was Bukhanovskiy’s observation that this

paraphilic evolutionary process, combined with the compulsive

nature of Yu’s perverse sexual urges, led him to become a serial

murderer. Over time Yu had begun to stimulate himself though

autoerotic aphyxiation activities up to 10 times a day. Likewise,

when Yu was sexually engaged with a partner in asphyxiation

activity, observers described him as becoming so emotionally

charged with sexual exhilaration that he lost the ability to

control himself and ended up strangling them to death.

5. Conclusion

This study has documented and explored the association

between autoerotic asphyxiation and serial sexual murder. Five

cases identified worldwide have been presented. All of these

murderers had sexual sadism in addition to histories of

autoerotic asphyxiation. Some possible relationships were

observed between the offenders’ paraphilic orientation and

their modus operandi. In particular, there were a higher

proportion of male victims than would have been predicted, and

all of these serial killers strangled victims, consistent with an

overlap between their sadistic and asphyxiative paraphilic

interests. There were also multiple commonalities between this

sample and serial murderers in general. The findings from this

study add support to the supposition that crime scene behaviors

often reflect paraphilic disorders in serial sexual killers.

Appendix A. An excerpt from ‘‘Murder Demons,’’ a

chapter in Killer Fiction

Torture for the sake of torture did not interest me. It was, in

those days, important to me to feel good about what I was

doing. Whores were agents of evil, and as a good Catholic

young man I had no difficulty with what one might consider

philosophical grey areas. There was good and evil; a well-

defined line ran between the two. Whores were evil.

Whores were to be killed. Once that decision was made, the

problem became how to do it successfully. A great deal of

practical study went into the matter. The whore had to be

selected, transported, killed and disposed of. The best way to

kill them was to hang them. It was convenient, quick, effective,

silent and tidy — except for the excrements . . .. Many kills were completely impersonal. The victim had

revealed herself to be a whore and my responsibility, as I saw it,

was to kill her. The killing was usually done quickly without

any sexual molestation, rape or brutality. I knew how to set the

noose so that the victim would be rendered almost instantly

unconscious. I’d read the journals of the nineteenth century

hangmen and knew exactly the point to apply pressure to cut off

oxygen to the victim’s brain. Some killings were almost

W.C. Myers et al. / Forensic Science International 176 (2008) 187–195 195

peaceful. The whore would shiver, convulse, kick a bit and then

be still.

As you might expect, this sort of kill was fairly boring. There

was no stalking, no challenging ruse, no fun. The real

enjoyment was in the hunt. The kill was satisfying, but the

clean-up was work . . .. There came a time when I decided to make the game more

interesting. I did this by introducing the concept that it would be

better if the whore understood she was to be hanged and

concurred in my decision to destroy her and what she stood for.

I felt that if she understood what the ultimate good purpose was,

that our experience would be a fulfilling one of shared intimacy.

I’d read a number of accounts where the hangmen had sex

with condemned females; the women were agreeable to the

intimacy and acquiescent on the scaffold. I wondered how that

might be: fuck the whore, then hang her, with the whore

knowing she would die at the conclusion of the sex. It was a

remarkable concept, and certainly not unique to the world, so I

decided to try it. Let me tell you here about one very special

experience . . ..

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