连环杀手青睐什么职业？

迈克尔·安特菲尔德

The startling arrest of the elusive Golden State Killer， aka the East Area Rapist/Original Night Stalker/Diamond Knot Killer/Visalia Ransacker in what was arguably the most vexing and disturbing constellation of interlinked cold cases in American history， has raised more questions than answers.

One question is how a serial burglar， rapist and murderer could operate in so many jurisdictions simultaneously and， much like the case of Paul Bernardo in Canada， have law enforcement officials so myopically overlook the connections among his crimes in several different cities.

Another question is， of course， how a police officer like Joseph DeAngelo， the accused Golden State Killer， could be capable of such sadistic brutality throughout a large portion of his brief and troubled law enforcement career.

Similar questions have been raised in the past about other serial offenders， killers whose innocuous and even virtuous jobs seemed to belie the horrors they committed while hiding behind a veneer of respectability. That includes the infamous Canadian Col. Russell Williams （who once piloted a VIP aircraft whose passengers included Queen Elizabeth） and lesser-known computer store owner and prominent Nashville businessman Tom Steeples， who killed three people for thrills before committing suicide while in police custody.

But in fact， occupations and serial murders are often linked， and some specific full-time and part-time jobs are strangely over-represented among serial killers.

Serial killer job breakdown

Top 3 Skilled Serial-Killer Occupations： 1. Aircraft machinist/assembler; 2. Shoemaker/repair person; 3. Automobile upholsterer

Top 3 Semi-Skilled Serial Killer Occupations： 1. Forestry worker/arborist; 2. Truck driver; 3. Warehouse manager

Top 3 Unskilled Serial Killer Occupations： 1. General labourer （mover， landscaper， et. al.）; 2. Hotel porter; 3. Gas station attendant

Top 3 Professional/Government Serial Killer Occupations： 1. Police/security official; 2. Military personnel; 3. Religious official

Obviously， not everyone occupying these jobs is a serial killer， nor are they likely to become one.

But theres something about these jobs that is inherently appealing to offenders， or that otherwise cultivates the impulses of serial killers-in-waiting and causes them to be curiously over-represented among this rare breed of murderers.

DeAngelo， the alleged Golden State Killer， for instance， actually held down three of these jobs over the course of his lifetime： Police officer， military personnel （he was previously in the U.S. navy）， and， peripherally， truck driver， although his post-police career （he was fired in 1979 for shoplifting） was spent mostly as a mechanic for a fleet of grocery store freezer trucks.

Bygone era

A closer look at these occupations reveals a bygone era in terms of available jobs—occupations that， while once common and accessible to killers in the ‘60s， ‘70s and ‘80s—are now largely obsolete. The job market is changing; with that， so is the disturbing but legitimate nexus between murder and labour.

The shift toward a service-based， tech-driven and typically contractual economy， what is often called precarious work， along with the disappearance of once traditional career paths will obviously have profound effects not only on the jobs held by offenders but also how they acquire their victims.

As discussed in my book， Monster City， there was a precipitous surge in serial murder in Nashville with the rise of the “new” country music scene in the ‘80s and ‘90s， giving would-be killers access to new victims.

Serial killers once used the guise of their employment to stalk and acquire specific victims or types of victims. But new research suggests that leisure activities like music， including online interactions， may be the new avenue through which serial killers troll for their victims.

Its also where they mentally rehearse their crimes amid a shrinking offline public sphere and work world.

The result is that we are likely to see， returning once again to alleged Toronto serial killer Bruce McArthur， blurred occupational-recreational categories involving both online and offline dimensions—a new paradigm that will force us to adjust the list of the most common jobs among serial killers.

The caveat， of course， is that a single defining occupation is in continuous flux. Could “occupation，” for instance， denote a primary vocation， a part-time avocation or even just a paid hobby or pastime？

Pastimes as well as professions？

Might it also include an unpaid pastime by which a person defines himself or herself？

A quick perusal of top LinkedIn “influencers” and “open networkers，” for example， suggests many people actually list their passions or pastimes and not their paid jobs as their primary occupation.

In McArthurs case， we see that while he conforms to the “general labourer” category， as a landscape architect and not just a grass-cutter， as well as the owner of his own company， he also fits no clear vocational definition.

And yet， as we already know from the morbid mass grave recovered from a clients home on Mallory Crescent in Toronto， the occupation of the accused was central to his alleged offences and how he reportedly disposed of victims—it was integral to his apparent modus operandi.

So while many killers use their employment as a pretext to acquire vulnerable victims， obtain information or cultivate violent fantasies for reasons we still dont fully understand （“Milwaukee Cannibal” Jeffrey Dahmer once admitted that his work as a chocolate factory machinist awakened homicidal and necrophilic urges he had otherwise suppressed）， in McArthurs case， occupation was the back-end to his alleged crimes， not the inspiration for them.

What about the psychopaths？

As we begin to redraw the map of serial murder and career paths， it might also be useful to look at the otherwise better-known index of occupations over-represented among psychopaths.

While not all psychopaths are serial killers， psychopathy—or at the very least， the possession of psychopathic traits—is a common denominator among serial killers， sex offenders and most violent criminals. Have a look at the Top 10 occupations according to an Oxford University psychologist：

1. CEO or business executive

2. Lawyer

3. Media personality

4. Salesperson

5. Surgeon

6. Journalist or news anchor

7. Police officer

8. Religious official

9. Chef

10. Miscellaneous civil servant （military， city council， corrections， etc.）

In overlaying the two lists， we can see that even amid a perpetually changing economy， certain jobs are always likely to appeal to those people we will later be stunned to learn managed to carry on that type of work while also being monsters in our midst.

行踪难辨的金州杀手，又名东区强奸犯/原夜跟踪者/钻石结杀手/维萨利亚洗劫者，曾犯下或许是美国历史上最令人恼火和不安的一系列陈年积案，他意外被捕带来了更多疑问，而非答案。

一个疑问是，一个连环窃贼、强奸犯和杀人犯如何能同时在众多司法管辖区内活动，就像加拿大的保罗·贝尔纳多案，如此轻易地让执法官员忽略了其在不同城市所犯罪行之间的联系。

另一个疑问当然是，被指控为金州杀手的约瑟夫·德安杰罗，作为一名警察，在他短暂而麻煩不断的执法生涯的大部分时间里，又是如何犯下如此暴虐的罪行的。

曾有人针对其他连环犯罪者提出过类似的疑问，那些杀手从事着全然无害甚至是高尚的工作，将他们犯下的恐怖罪行隐藏于体面的外表之下。其中包括声名狼藉的加拿大上校拉塞尔·威廉姆斯（他曾是贵宾专机驾驶员，乘客包括伊丽莎白女王），以及鲜为人知的纳什维尔杰出商人汤姆·斯蒂普尔斯，后者拥有一间电脑商店，曾为追求刺激杀死3人，后在警方拘押期间自杀。

但事实上，职业和连环谋杀往往有一定关联，某些特定职业（包括全职和兼职）在连环杀手中占比出奇地高。

连环杀手职业细分

熟练的连环杀手职业前三位：1）飞机机械师/装配师;2）制鞋匠/修鞋匠;3）汽车改装工人。

半熟练的连环杀手职业前三位：1）林业工人/树木种植者;2）卡车司机;3）仓库管理员。

不熟练的连环杀手职业前三位：1）普通体力劳动者（搬家工人，园艺工人等）;2）行李搬运工;3）加油站工人。

从事专业及政府工作的连环杀手职业前三位：1）警察/安保人员;2）军人;3）神职人员。

显然，不是所有从事上述职业者都是连环杀手，他们也不是个个都可能成为连环杀手。

但这些工作本身确有一些吸引连环杀手之处，或者是它们培养了潜在杀手的犯罪冲动，从而令它们在这类罕见的杀人犯中占比出奇地高。

例如，被指控为金州杀手的德安杰罗，在其生涯中曾从事过上述工作中的三项：警察、军人（他曾在美国海军服役），以及1979年因盗窃被警方解雇后转而做超市冷冻车队的机修工，其间偶尔也充当卡车司机。

时代变迁

仔细观察这些职业会发现，连环杀手可以从事的职业在随时代而变化——连环杀手60、70和80年代曾普遍从事的职业今天大多已过时。就业市场在变化，杀手和工种之间令人不安却合情合理的关联性也随之而变。

經济向着以服务为基础、以技术为驱动力及以合同为典型形式的方向转型（即通常所谓的不稳定工作），伴随早前一些传统职业的消亡——这样的转型显然会对罪犯的职业选择和他们猎取受害者的方式都产生深远影响。

正如我在《怪物城》一书中所讨论的，80年代和90年代“新”乡村音乐在纳什维尔的兴起使得准杀手们可以接触到新的受害者，从而令该地连环谋杀案急剧增加。

连环杀手曾以工作为伪装，跟踪和捕获某一特定受害者或某些类型的受害者。但新的研究表明，像音乐这样的休闲活动，包括在线互动，或许是连环杀手吸引受害者上钩的新途径。

随着线下公众活动范围和职场不断收缩，线上也成了杀手为其罪行进行心理排练的地方。

其结果就是——让我们再次回到传说中的多伦多连环杀手布鲁斯·麦克阿瑟的例子——我们可能会发现，工作与娱乐的界限日渐模糊，且涵盖线上和线下两个层面。这一新趋势迫使我们调整连环杀手最常见职业清单。

自然，这是警示我们，单一职业的定义在不断变化。例如，occupation这个词，是指主要职业还是业余爱好，甚或某一带薪的兴趣或消遣？

是消遣也是职业？

一个人的职业是否也可以包括他/她借以界定自身的无收入纯消遣活动？

例如，快速浏览领英的“影响者”和“开放网络沟通者”这两个版块就会发现，很多人其实都会把他们的爱好或消遣而非有收入的工作列为他们的主要职业。

在麦克阿瑟的案例中，我们可以看到，虽然他可以列入“普通体力劳动者”的范畴，但他是一名景观建筑师而不是简单的剪草工人，并拥有自己的公司，所以很难适用于某一明确的职业定义。

然而，在多伦多马洛里新月街麦克阿瑟一个客户家中找到了恐怖的多人葬坑，那向我们揭示了，被告从事的职业对于他所控罪行及处理被害人的方式至关重要——这是他显而易见的作案手法所不可或缺的一部分。

因此，尽管许多杀手利用他们的工作找借口接近容易上当的受害者，获取相关信息或培养暴力幻想——个中缘由我们仍无法完全理解（“密尔沃基食人族”杰弗里·达默曾承认，他在巧克力工厂当机械师的工作唤起了他压制已久的谋杀和恋尸癖的欲望）——在麦克阿瑟一案中，职业是他犯下那些被控罪行的终极手段，而不是它们的灵感来源。

那些精神病患者呢？

当我们开始重新绘制系列杀手及其职业道路的关联图时，看看精神病患者占比较大的职业也许会有所帮助，我们对这一指标了解更多。

虽然并非所有的精神病患者都是连环杀手，但精神疾患——或至少拥有精神病特征——是连环杀手、性犯罪者和大多数暴力犯罪者的共同特征。我们来看看牛津大学的一位心理学家列出的十大职业：

1. 首席执行官或企业高管

2. 律师

3. 媒体工作者

4. 销售人员

5. 外科医生

6. 记者或新闻主播

7. 警察

8. 神职人员

9. 主厨

10.各类公职人员（军队、市议会、监狱管理者等）

交叉比对两份清单会看到，即使经济不断变化，某些工作可能始终对一些人充满吸引力，而总有一天我们会震惊地发现，那些人在从事这些工作的同时，也成为了我们身边的恶魔。