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And what creates serial killers? While they tend to be cunning and intelligent sociopaths who use charm, guile, ruses and devices to gain the trust of victims, they are "failures at life," observes Birnes, "at every single level of their life." Experts blame the creation of serial killers on the breakdown of the family and physically and sexually abusive childhoods. Of the 36 serial killers he has studied, says Ressler, "most of them had single- parent homes, and those who didn't had dysfunctional families, cold and distant fathers, inadequate mothers. We are creating a poor environment for raising normal, adjusted young males."
But not all kids of lousy parents grow up to be killers. Thus some researchers suspect that biology plays a strong role. Psychologist Robert Hare of the University of British Columbia has completed a study in which he and an associate monitored the brain waves of psychopaths as they responded to emotion-laden words, such as rape, cancer, death, and neutral words like table and chair. The team found that normal people responded quickly to emotional words; the psychopaths showed no such activity -- all words were neutral.
As for the public fascination with serial killers, it may not create the monsters but it can drive them on. Berkowitz, notes Ressler, admitted that the biggest thrill of his life was seeing his letters printed in the papers during his murderous spree. "That actually encouraged him," says Ressler. Rolling admitted in a Gainesville court that one reason he committed the slayings was that he wanted to be a "superstar in crime." Says Florida prosecutor Rod Smith: "It's frightening if someone who craves attention can get so much by doing something so horrible. How many others out there with meaningless lives are looking to get their 15 minutes of fame?"
Once apprehended, killers sometimes go to extraordinary lengths to retain their status. Donald Leroy Evans, a Mississippi murderer who is facing trial for strangling a prostitute in Florida, claims a toll of more than 70 victims. But few believe he's killed nearly that number. In fact, Evans wrote to another serial killer, Henry Lee Lucas, who is imprisoned in Texas, asking for details of some of his crimes so that Evans could take credit for them. Evans' deeds have earned him his own trading card. Notes his lawyer: "He has a card. He's real proud of that."
Lucas himself spun a wildly inflated tale of murder for police. He once claimed to have killed some 600 people in 20 states but has since recanted, claiming he had been trying to commit "legal suicide" and to get back at police. Lucas, convicted in the death of 12 and facing another murder trial later this month, readily admits he phonied confessions partly to achieve star status. "I got to really liking it," he told TIME last week. "Manson was nothing compared to me. People built me into something. I became a monument." He adds, "I got fan mail, friends . . . people that would die for me."