I don't know what most (TV) serial killers think of what they're doing. However, the trophy-keeping (and subsequent discovery by investigators) is standard enough (and perhaps groundless enough) that I don't think it bears dissection.
Welcome to the Hellmouth petting zoo.
Buffy ,'Beneath You'
The Minearverse 3: The Network Is a Harsh Mistress
[NAFDA] "There will be an occasional happy, so that it might be crushed under the boot of the writer." From Zorro to Angel (including Wonderfalls and The Inside), this is where Buffistas come to anoint themselves in the bloodbath.
§ ita § - Jun 18, 2005 7:17:49 am PDT #9613 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
David M - Jun 18, 2005 7:20:09 am PDT #9614 of 10001
Putting the plain in plainclothes.
Do serial killers ever think of themselves as serial killers rather than avengers or something? At least on TV killing mommy over and over seems one of their favourites. Though keeping the hair is a puzzle as you say. Maybe he just liked it.
Matt the Bruins fan - Jun 18, 2005 7:29:53 am PDT #9615 of 10001
"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand
I think that gets over-dramatized a bit in fiction. A LOT of them just seem to do it for sexual thrills and the sense of godlike power ending another life gives them.
edit: So, not terribly different from Detective Strong's situation.
§ ita § - Jun 18, 2005 7:34:29 am PDT #9616 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
Wikipedia lists a number of motives:
- Visionary (rarer than you'd think from fiction)
- Power/control
- Hedonistic
- Mission-oriented
- Gain-oriented
Further reading: The Aetiology of Serial Murder: Towards an Integrated Model
aurelia - Jun 18, 2005 7:51:59 am PDT #9617 of 10001
All sorrows can be borne if you put them into a story. Tell me a story.
He kept the hair because serial killers are supposed to be trophy keepers. This is TV received wisdom -- I have no idea about real life.
Yep. I'd say it's more about having evidence to find than about Strong's psyche.
DCJensen - Jun 18, 2005 8:15:33 am PDT #9618 of 10001
All is well that ends in pizza.
Maybe he was split, part of him wanted to be the good cop, holding onto evidence of his own crimes.
Allyson - Jun 18, 2005 8:17:33 am PDT #9619 of 10001
Wait, is this real-world child support, where the money goes to buy food for the kids, or MRA fantasyland child support where the women just buy Ferraris and cocaine? -Jessica
I just thought he was cutting the hair and spilling the cologne on them so that they would look and smell more like Brandt, since he was building to do that deed to him.
§ ita § - Jun 18, 2005 8:22:46 am PDT #9620 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
I think the question is more "why keep the hair?"
I think it's because he'd be laughed out of the serial club without them.
Steph L. - Jun 18, 2005 8:38:33 am PDT #9621 of 10001
the hardest to learn / was the least complicated
the serial club
Boy, I bet *their* meetings are fun....
§ ita § - Jun 18, 2005 8:44:20 am PDT #9622 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
Just ask Neil Gaiman.