Serial killers have knack for macabre memory of their crimes

WICHITA, Kan. -- The Baton Rouge Serial Killer made off with a simple silver toe ring from one of his victims. Jeffrey Dahmer kept rotting body parts in his Milwaukee apartment. And BTK held onto jewelry, drivers' licenses and photographs to remember those he killed.

The things serial killers take away from crime scenes are not meaningless mementos. Those who study the cases say such trophies are important in understanding how BTK may have gone years without satisfying his hunger to kill.

Dennis L. Rader, 59, a churchgoing Scout leader who is married with two children, is charged in the killings of 10 people beginning in 1974.

Rader's alleged timeline of killing stretches to 1991, with gaps as long as eight years between the victims, and a 14-year reprieve between the last linked death and his arrest.

Many contend BTK is responsible for additional killings. But experts agree that regardless of the time between a serial killer's murders, fantasies can be satisfied with a glimpse of his trophies.

"That is why they take trophies and photos," said Marilyn Bardsley, a serial killer expert who edits CourtTV's online crime library. "They can try to recreate that thrill of dominating and killing somebody."

Police haven't said if they've confiscated anything from Rader's house that may have belonged to a BTK victim. But over the years, BTK's mailings to authorities and the media have included tokens from his victims' homes.

From Nancy Fox, a 1977 victim, the killer lifted a driver's license. At other crime scenes, he filched jewelry, some of which he later sent to a local television station. When Vicki Wegerle was killed in 1986, BTK snapped pictures of her body in various positions.

"The way he was taunting police, he was reliving the killing from a long time ago," said Steven Egger, a criminologist at the University of Houston-Clear Lake.

Egger wrote a book on serial murderers, "The Killers Among Us."

Serial killers are often products of dysfunctional homes or have other bad experiences in childhood or adolescence. Experts say they often direct their violence toward individuals who, in some way, represent the original source of their frustrations.

In the beginning, it could just be fantasizing about retaliation. But eventually they succumb to their desire.

"They try to escape from the world that they're living in because they feel so frustrated," said Scott Thornsley, a Mansfield University professor who teaches a course on serial killers.

Murderers who take so-called trophies from their victims typically come away with things like underwear or a photograph, though others -- like the human hearts in Dahmer's freezer and skulls in his filing cabinet -- have been far more macabre.

The souvenirs killers including BTK take from their dead allow them to relive their actions in their mind. It's often a sexually gratifying experience.

Still, Bardsley said the enjoyment such trophies can bring is no replacement for actually killing again.

"That thrill wears off," she said.