My Blog

TRIUMPH

04/27/2013 08:47:00

My greatest victory as a writer will, at first glance, seem simplistic and lacking imagination. Why? Because my star achievement is that I'm able to write. I was a prolific writer between 1987-1997. During this time, a traditional publishing house helped me to birth three novels, five short story collections and a variety of articles and stories in anthologies and magazines. My muse was alive and well. The burning passion to write glowed continually. Did I take this for granted? You betcha! I'd simply sit down, put my fingers on the keyboard and whoosh, words streamed onto the page.

Day after day. Book after book. Then, in 1997, the unthinkable happened. My twenty-one-year-old son died. He was at a fraternity party, they were drinking, he passed out and asphyxiated on his vomit. Unexpected and horrific, this news slammed me against a wall, reached into my soul and robbed me of all passion. This included my ability to write. Pinned under a boulder of devastation, I felt immobilized. I was able to scratch out a few poems about the dreadful loss and then nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.

My son was one breath away. Was it that difficult to bring him back? One breath, one blink of the eye. When he left, my heart and passion were stuffed deep in his death-filled backpack. As my grieving meandered through dark nights and muddied days, I sat under a large oak tree and watched muscular hawks soar across the sky. A message from my son? Every white feather, every heads-up penny—messages? I searched for him in my dreams, I sat by his grave and waited. Every day, the same thing. No thoughts. Just empty waiting. I covered his grave in rose petals. I searched for his face wherever I went. I knew he was gone but the 'forever-ness' of it suffocated me, drowned my ability to think beyond one question, "How can this be?"

It seemed as though that one moment, when I first heard that he died, blurred and slowly stretched until I looked up to realize that two years, one relationship and all of my inspiration had disappeared. The vacancy in my heart hungered for that creative flame that had promised to burn forever. Like everything else, it had extinguished. Some days, I'd pass my computer and stop long enough to remember how it felt to write. The joy of stepping into a story and following characters into the unknown had always appealed to me on a variety of levels.

The act of writing took me away from my "self" and whatever the angst of the week was, leaving me to wander in a world where consequence was simply a matter of words. Another year passed. An overwhelming numbness had replaced my grief, making it clear that I no longer had any reason to step into my computer room. I was emotionally anesthetized. On one hand, this was good. Peaceful. Yet, the negative was that my imagination was behind a locked door. The key had disappeared with everything else. Every year, I had a small line tattooed on my wrist. Each line represented 360 days without my son. It was hard to keep track, one second becoming a minute. One hour becoming a day. Two lines and I closed the door to my computer room. Three lines. Four. Numbness peeled into misery. I wanted to write, but couldn't. Five lines. Six.

It's not that I didn't try. I have at least twenty first lines of poems and the beginning sentence of six short stories. Soon, I realized that I was completely blocked. Seven lines. Eight lines. I did nothing. My computer room was loaded with underlying anxiety. It was better to distance myself from the idea of writing. "I used to be a writer," I would say, shaking my head. "But now, there's nothing left."

When friends would tell me to just sit down and write, a fireball of unease would ricochet through me. The cycle of sitting in a chair, writing one sentence, deleting it, writing another until I finally walked away with nothing, sickened me. I understood, all too clearly, that the writer's block consuming me could exile my muse forever. Every time I sat down to write, I seemed to push her further away. I was on the brink of the thirteenth year when it happened.

Deep within me, a faint glow from a tiny flame cast a thin light across my spirit. Without thought, I opened the door of my office, sat down in front of my computer and peeked at a manuscript that I had started fourteen years before. I immediately saw a sentence that begged to be edited. Writers know how this is. No matter how many times we edit our manuscript, we always see more to change.

"The Beautiful Evil" was the first work published after my thirteen-year writer's block. So far, it's won three literary awards and has been number one in suspense on Amazon. My spirit soared. To represent the newfound freedom, I had a bird in flight tattooed over the thirteen lines.

My newest work, "Dream," published, October 2012, has won its first award, 1st runner up in The LA Book Festival Genre Category. I'm thrilled. I still have anxiety when I sit in front of my computer, nevertheless, I overcome it by believing I can.

When I write, "my greatest victory as a writer is that I'm able to write," I'm dead serious. My tremendous struggle with "forever-ness" albeit the loss of my son or the longing for my lost muse fostered a depth in my writing that I hadn't thought possible. I endured. I survived. I no longer take my creativity for granted. Each word I write is a blessing; each sentence, a joy.

Springtime And Writer's Block

02/02/2013 08:30:00

Winter is a dormant time; a time when we relish the blessing of a warm home, sheltered from storms and brisk evening air. As winter drifts and spring finds its way, the first twinges of the new season reawakens us.

Orange butterflies bow to curtsying roses and bees court honeysuckle. I watch the leaves of the willow tree cha-cha with the breeze. A sense of renewal and growth are right around the corner. Women wear their flirty skirts and men play football in shorts. Yet, for those of us with writer’s block, a thick wall of ice isolates us from the new season.

I am one who hopes that spring will touch me soon. Ennui has settled in my heart and nothing sparks my imagination. Worried I might never write again, I watch spring tease others but the deadness of winter resides within my soul.

In a cold, empty room surrounded by beams of radiation, my body battles cancer. Lying perfectly still, monster machines blast me. I tried to meditate. I tried to block the fear and join the silence. Just like writer’s block, it’s tough to sit in nothingness and hold the faith.

As writer’s, we take our experiences and spin them into stories. We all dread the iciness of writer’s block. It’s like being stuck in a snowstorm. Our ideas are there, it’s just difficult to find them. Sitting in the snow takes courage. Writer’s block, like winter, can be stubborn and cold. But in the silence, I learned to stop waiting for spring. Instead, I tried to find a single snowflake. To contemplate what is: the tiny flake’s shape, its individuality, its separateness, yet its profound connection to all.

What I learned about writer’s block and myself is this: blanketed by millions of flakes, inspiration and ideas await us. It’s only a matter of being quiet enough to hear the snow and what it has to say.

Part 2 Interview With Serial Killer Expert Peter Vronsky

12/27/2012 06:39:00

6.Have you ever heard of an exorcism being performed on a psychopath? Do you think this might be a viable option to try? (I mean in jail and not used as rehabilitation for possible release.)

I have never heard any case of psychopathy being “cured” by any means. Since psychopaths are not delusional, I do not believe that psychopathy can be “cured” through an exorcism. Although there are occasional cases, psychopaths normally do not report being “possessed” by entities, and even those that do, like Son of Sam, the Night Stalker, or Danny Rolling, the sincerity of their claim of possession is in question. These kinds of “possessions” are more appropriate to psychotics, but they rarely are functional enough to sustain an organized serial killing career. Most psychotics are a danger to themselves long before they might endanger others. At the moment psychopathy appears to be hardwired in the behavioral part of the human brain and in males seems to diminish on its own with middle-age. Why that is we still do not understand.

7. Do most serial killers report that they've had head injuries as a child?

A significant number (although I could not give you the exact percentage) report head injuries as children. The classic 1980s FBI Behavioral Sciences Unit study of incarcerated serial killers found that 29 percent of serial killers were “accident prone” in their childhood, but did not specify head injuries. The problem here again, is kids run around and fall and hit their heads all the time. I suspect that a large portion of adults have suffered a knock to the head as kids without becoming serial killers. That is the daunting thing about serial killers—their childhood histories are shared by more non-killers than killers, thus again, that elusive X-factor is left unexplained.

8. Do you consider serial killing an addiction?

Yes in the case of fantasy driven murders, especially sexual fantasy driven murder. The fantasy is that of total control but it never is as satisfactory in reality as in the fantasy. That is why many serial killers achieve a sexual climax after their act, rather than during it. The climax is triggered by the serial killer fantasizing the completion of the murderous act as fantasized rather than as actually executed. The serial killer is cyclically driven to “perfect” his fantasy in reality, but is constantly disappointed either by the victims’ refusal or circumstance to comply exactly with the fantasy or his own ability to stage the fantasy in reality. The drive to merge fantasy with reality, mediated by disappointment and the need to perfect the transcendence from fantasy to reality, is the addictive key.

9. Do you think there is always a sexual release before, during or after a kill?

It ranges from serial killer to serial killer, but many serial killers are unable to achieve the necessary level of control during the homicide to come to a sexual release. That level of control may come only after the victim is dead or when the serial killer returns to a safe and controlled environment, perhaps with souvenirs, photos or videos, and achieves a sexual release at that point, often fantasizing that the murder they had just committed had actually occurred as they planned and fantasized it would.

10.Can a serial killer ever fall in love or have an addiction to another person? When they marry and have families can a serial killer give love? Do they fake it? What's the reason for marrying and having children? To pass?

That is a recent debate I saw on the internet as to whether married serial killers actually loved their wives. If fifty-percent of marriages are said to fail within 5 years, then you do not have to be a serial killer to marry for the wrong reasons. People marry for secure companionship or because they feel they need to marry by a certain age to be like “everyone else.” Psychopaths not only ‘manifest’ contrived outward behavioral and emotional responses that they think they ‘should’ but as well manifest certain conventional modes of life if they are to appear (or be) normal, a pressure that we all feel.

Many serial killers are capable of keeping a job and maintaining a marriage outwardly because that is what they feel is required of them by society. They “fake it” to the extent they can, going “through the motions” so to speak. Serial killers with wives and children in a compartmentalized part of their life, although not a majority, are not unusual either.

As far as I know, no concerted study of serial killer spouses and children has been conducted, and the difficulty there is discerning the serial killer’s capacity of deceiving their partner with any spouse to recognize or auto-deceive themselves about the context of their partner’s behavior. I always remember what Marina Oswald, Lee Harvey Oswald’s widow once said to me, “The wife is always the last to find out.”

Guest Minnie Lahongrais Blogs About Her New Release

12/11/2012 23:23:00

Life Events And The Criminal Mind

A lone child is balled in a corner squinting against relentless sunlight at a flock of birds that pass overhead. The boy’s hands move up to crowd his ears against the violent rasp of children mocking him in the nearby schoolyard. Does he imagine reaching up to snatch a bird from the sky, snatch a child from the crowd, or snatch himself from the arms of an abusive father? What’s going through his mind? Maybe he’s thinking he wants to hurt something or someone because inflicting pain will make him feel better. Maybe it will help him feel powerful in a way.

What happens to a child to trigger these feelings? I’m not a psychologist or anything of the sort. There are many fascinating scientific theories. They boggle the mind. Being someone with a vivid imagination, this is what I imagine: This child may have been bullied either by other classmates or an authority figure. He feels as though he can’t control what happens to him. Inflicting pain gives him not only the illusion of control but also a sense of power. Maybe there’s autism or a genetic mental disorder. What about bullying or sexual abuse? Nature or nurture?

Divergent Lives releases today. It is my fictional, extreme and often graphic take on what happens when a child grows up and never finds himself in control over situations that trigger feelings of inadequacy or insecurity. It is the story of fraternal twins separated at birth – one is kept, the other is sold on the black market.

Adina, who is seemingly normal, grows up with her biological parents in a section of New York City called “El Barrio.” RJ is born with a physical abnormality and is sold on the black market to a couple in Pennsylvania. Though separated, they both grow up as sociopaths – one becomes prone to rages, the other to sexual conquests and power trips.

The story is told in parallel. I try to show how both nature and nurture – or lack thereof – can trigger a psychotic break. It is a question that I have often asked myself: Are serial killers made or are they born? If I am interpreting studies correctly, the answer lies in an irregularity in the brain. If that is true, what happens when the environment exacerbates such an anomaly?

For example, as teenagers, both Adina and RJ have major life events that awaken their inner sociopathic demons. One is power hungry and self-absorbed but charming and hard working. The other kills but is remorseful for having lost control. They are people with light and dark, very dark, sides. Why? What made them this way? I can’t answer that question for them, or for anyone, real or fictional.

To give you a taste of the deviance of the two main characters in Divergent Lives, go here for the complete first chapter. Then, join me as we celebrate what would have been these characters’ 50 birthday with a 12-day virtual party on my Facebook page.

Rather than give RJ and Adina gifts, I’m holding a contest. Details are on the event page.

Divergent Lives is available now in ebook format at http://amzn.to/UT6oas

Author Minnie Lahongrais

Interview With Serial Killer Expert, Peter Vronsky, Author of Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters

12/06/2012 06:48:00

Part l

1. RSB: I've read different answers to the question, "What is the difference between a sociopath and a psychopath." Some say they are the same. Do you agree? My understanding is that a sociopath can be a psychopath, but not always, yet a psychopath is always a sociopath. Is this incorrect?

PV: I would not agree that a psychopath is always a sociopath, although many sociopaths are indeed psychopaths. Nobody seems to be in agreement on this issue and the current standard diagnostic manual in American psychiatry, the DSM-IVTR categorizes both terms as misnomers preferring instead the term: “antisocial personality disorder.” There is the argument that psychopathy is a psychological disorder characterized by a lack of genuine emotional response, lack of empathy with others and a disregard to other’s wellbeing.

Not all psychopaths are serial killers and many are corporate CEO’s, congressmen, artists, and other prominent functioning members of society. Most of us have encountered a psychopath in the workplace, school, or in our personal lives. Professional, political or artistic ‘success’ often has to do with “not giving a damn about what others think or feel.”
Sociopathy on the other hand is considered a behavioral disorder defined by a specific set of destructive and unacceptable anti-social behaviors, rather than necessarily a state of mind. These behaviors range from habitual lying, promiscuity, to petty and serious criminal behavior, including serial murder.

We define psychopaths by the way they think and emote; we define sociopaths by what they do and how they act out. The two definitions do not always come to the same conclusion. Psychiatric illness are in many ways a historical construct and undergo change and evolution over time reflecting current developments in human society, as do behaviors that can become more acceptable as social norms evolve. This makes both psychopathy and sociopathy elusive terms that are still inconclusive.

2. RSB: Do you believe in the concept of evil? How does this relate to your thoughts on serial killers?

PV: I do not believe in evil as an autonomous supernatural force and suspect that we perceive a high degree of psychopathy as “evil.” Perhaps because psychopaths are so disconnected from the typical human emotional condition and are so affected that they may give the impression of being ‘possessed’ by a malevolent force, or themselves imbuing a destructive force of supernatural dimensions.

Evil is a very convenient concept when we run out of rational or scientific explanations for destructive behavior. Perhaps “evil” is a highly developed degree of psychopathy or something similar that we have so far been unable to measure and explain through scientific criteria—the anti-norm so to speak.

3. RSB:I've read that brain scans of psychopaths show neurological differences then "normal" brains in which the receptors for compassion and empathy don't "light up" as they should when viewing horrific pictures (for example). Do you believe all psychopaths have this limitation?

PV: As a historian, rather than a psychologist, I am not really qualified to comment on this, but as I understand it, psychopaths are not capable of genuine compassion or empathy and all physiological characteristics like cortical underarousal, high CSF free testosterone, EEG abnormalities, high level of urine kryptopyrrole and an extra Y chromosome have also been identified as possible factors in the violent behavior of psychopaths, but in the end with no conclusive finality.

Whether psychopathy-sociopathy is primarily a behavioral condition, a psychological one or whether there is an organic physiological dimension to it in the human brain, is a debate that psychologists and physicians have not yet resolved.

4. RSB: Do you believe that environment plays a strong part in the development of a serial killer? That the tendency lies dormant and that being raised in a "harsh" environment awakens it?

PV: An autonomous “dormant tendency” or the “homicidal sleeper” would call for an explanation or definition of the nature of this dormancy and its prevalence. In studies of war criminals, a species of ‘missionary’ class of serial killer, the capacity of “ordinary people” to commit repeated murders under certain social-environmental circumstances has been tested by experiments in the US like the Stanley Milgram “Obedience Tests” at Yale and the Philip Zimabardo “Lucifer Effect” tests at Stanford. These tests confirm psychologist Ervin Staub’s assertion that, “Evil that arises out of ordinary thinking and is committed by ordinary people is the norm, not the exception.”

There is no doubt that social-environmental issues contribute to the formation of a serial killer; the question is why similar environmental issues fail to do the same for everybody. Most abused children do not become serial killers, yet most serial killers have abuse in their childhood history. So the question becomes what is that ‘dormant tendency”—the elusive X-factor?

Everybody is searching for the Holy Grail of serial murder – that one factor that makes a serial killer and we have proposed a range of x-factors from genetic or physical factors like chromosome count, head injuries, acidic content in urine, sociological factors like family structure, media, culture, to psychological issues like infantile non-tactility, abuse, parental dysfunction, bedwetting, etc.

Every serial killer seems to defy a definitive explanation as to why they in particular perpetrated, but not other individuals having had similar backgrounds. That X-factor is the daunting mystery. I think it is a combination of things, family, genetics, environment, society, circumstances, but that final X-factor that “seals the deal” if there is one, remains to be identified.I think our capacity to kill is a defensive mechanism that lies deeply wired in the primordial part of our brain. At one time, humanoids were all serial killers killing each other for women and territory and even for nutritional cannibalism (as opposed to ritual cannibalism.)

One theory about what makes our species of humanoid Homo Sapiens different from say Neanderthal Man or other forms of extinct homo erectus species is that we developed “necrophobia”—a fear of the dead, unlike the other species that basically serial killed each other out of existence. Necrophobia not only lead to taboos on killing and eating each other but as well norms of compassion and care for the elderly, weak and sick in an attempt to forestall death. While our humanoid brain has been developing over a period of 1 million years, the necrophobic Homo Sapiens’ brain has developed only over the last 100,000 years—ten percent of the time scale. Imagine how much weird shit is still wired into our primitive brain from the 900,000 years previously when we were serial killing cannibal eating machines.

I think our current obsession with zombies is a primordial echo of those parts of our brains still wired up that way. Most of the time the circuitry lies dormant, but occasionally a ‘spark’ flies down that part of the brain and wakes something up. Maybe that is “evil”—the part of us that we fear, the auto destructive primordial part that killed off our ancestors from the first 900,000 years of our humanoid part.

5. RSB: How does the concept of soul fit in with psychopathy? Do you think, perhaps, that when a weak soul is being born, it is invaded by entities?

PV: Again, like your question on evil, I think we give supernatural qualities to things we are unable to explain today scientifically, soul being one them. Whatever soul is, or the psyche, certainly its ‘weakness’ could make one susceptible to psychopathy. I do not, however, believe there are sentient evil “invading entities.”

Addicted To Infatuation?

11/27/2012 08:30:00

My just released novella, Dream, explores the life of Veronica Armatti, a married, infatuation addict. Infatuation addiction falls in the same category as food addiction, sex addiction, love addiction and other addictions that are normally a healthy part of life. What's the difference in, let's say, being infatuated with someone and being an infatuation addict?

The infatuation addict lives to be engulfed in the titillation and newness of an affair. It's an escape away from problems--those buried deep, and those as simple as a feeling anxiety. When times are tough, the best way for an infatuation addict to distract themselves is with a new lover.

What's wrong with infatuation, you might wonder? This question can be asked in regards to all of the addictions listed above. The answer. Nothing...when experienced in a healthy way. When food, sex, love, infatuation are a means to "fill up" the emptiness within," are out of control or are acted out even when the addict doesn't want to--it becomes problematic.

Those without addiction often have difficulty understanding how something other than drugs or alcohol can be addicting. Physical addiction like that of heroin or methamphetamine often can be understood. We've all seen withdrawal on TV or in the news, and understand the horrors of it. But what about if that addiction is something that we do in ordinary life.

An excellent example of this is food addiction. We need food to eat. We have to have it to exist. But what if you couldn't stop?If your need for food is out of control.

These are the people who sneak, lie, hide their their eating. Especially when surrounded by those that say, "Why don't you just stop?"

Although not physically addicting, withdrawal in other addictions can be as physically and emotionally as grueling is withdrawal from crack cocaine. The fear of the deep pain we carry always lies waiting until withdrawal.

An infatuation addict myself, I spent many days in bed, physically knotted and emotionally drowning while trying not to "act out." Relief was just a simple phone call away. What harm? Ask any of my ex-husbands.

It's like having a huge hole in your soul and trying to fill it to no avail. For after finally getting a"fix," the ritual repeats. The initial desire to act out, the mounting pressure, the edginess, the sickness and finally, the acting out. Momentarily filled, it 's not long before the need starts to build again.

So the bottom line is this. Addiction is addiction. Withdrawal is withdrawal. No matter if the drug is oxycotin or sex.. Without the fix, the addict will suffer.

DREAM: http://bit.ly/SaOMEB

The Criminal Mind Is Different, by Guest Blogger, Jennifer Chase

09/28/2012 06:30:00

By Jennifer Chase @jchasenovelist

You probably have seen an episode of Law and Order: SVU or Criminal Minds during which the police psychologist explains a brain scan of an accused criminal to a packed courtroom. It makes for great television, but does this premise reflect real science? The answer appears to be yes. With that affirmation comes perhaps the more difficult question – what do we do with that information?Research published over the last several years shows both physical and behavioral indicators of likely criminal activity. Scans done on a group of men and women withantisocial personality disorder, a trait that has shown some correlation with criminal conduct, have revealed reductions in two areas of the brain’s frontal lobe and in the amygdala, which is the part of the brain that controls emotion. A long-term study that followed young children into adulthood showed that those who displayed a lack of fear and a callous or detached attitude when kids more often earned a criminal record as they grew into teens and young adults.So, what should law enforcement, and medical professionals, do with this evaluation? Can pediatricians suggest early brain scans and then put certain kids on a watch list? If a serial murderer kills women across several states before finally being captured, can he show a picture of his brain to the jury and claim that he just couldn’t help it?It is fascinating and helpful to be able to study a criminal’s mind and hopefully use what we learn to prevent violence in the future. But, we must be careful to balance these discoveries with the need to maintain privacy and a sense of responsibility for one’s own actions.What do you think? How should knowledge about the likely differences in a criminal’s brain be used by attorneys, police officers, educators, etc.?

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Author Blog: http://authorjenniferchase.com/Crime Watch Blog: http://emilystonecrimewatch.wordpress.com/Book & Crime Talk: http://blogtalkradio.com/jennifer-chaseBooks: Compulsion Dead Game Dark Mind Silent Partner Screenwriting

jchasenovelist | September 28, 2012 at 3:00 am | Tags: award winning dark mind, behavioral, brain scan, crime, crime thriller, criminal brain research, criminal mind, emily stone series, forensic investigation, jennifer chase author, psychological thriller, suspense, thriller | Categories: Criminology,Forensic | URL: http://wp.me/p1wDmU-AS

Surviving A Serial Killer

09/14/2012 07:10:00

From: Peter Vronsky's "Serial Killers, The Method and Madness of Monsters."

People should learn to see and so avoid all danger.Just as a wise man keeps away from mad dogs,one should not make friends with an evil man. --Buddha

Caution: This is not a how to guide to survival, but more so information based on FBI interviews with serial killers and those who managed to survive. The following information presents some of the options available. All have risks involved, are not fool proof methods, are not recommendations from either the myself or Peter Vronsky, the author of "Serial Killers. The Method and Madness of Monsters."

1) Avoiding The Serial Killer:You might have survived a serial killer and not even known it. You may have been in line next to one in the grocery store. Perhaps the stranger next to you in a movie theater kills later that evening. One may have approached you asking for help. Or asked you to dance in a bar. Perhaps the guy you chatted with in the grocery line? Serial killers are frequently mobile and the chances of passing one on the street or having casual contact with one might not be all that astronomical. Your own deeds and actions, however, cand dramatically increase those chances. Serial killer victims can either be "high" or "low risk" based on a series of factors. This is what they found the survey of serial killers and their victims.

Being in the United States immediately increases your risk.
92% of victims were white
being female 83%
unmarried 80%
being between the ages fifteen to twenty-eight. 73%

All put you at a higher risk. Other factors include: living in a bad neighborhood, activity as a prostitute, sex-industry employment, hitchhiking or picking up hitchhikers.night job, employment serving casual customers (a waitress) add an addition 11-13%Beyond this being at the wrong place at the wrong time is a factor as well.

2) Trust Your Intuition.Never underestimate your instincts or your intuition. Numerous accounts are given by women who, for no other reason than a"a bad feeling," refused to walk into a serial killer's trap. Ted Bundy, a nice-looking, all American guy, lured woman with the ruse of needing help. One woman he approached walked to his car to help him, noticed the passenger seat of his car was missing. For some reason she can't explain, she got a bad feeling and hurried off. This probably saved her life. If something doesn't feel right,, then it probably isn't. Better rude then dead.

3) Never Get In The Car.It's as simple as that. DON"T GET IN THE CAR. Few victims who get in the car return alive. In 78% of cases studied, the killer used a vehicle directly or indirectly in the murder. 50% of the serial killers who did use a vehicle used it to offer their victims a ride.

4) Dealing With Strangers & Recognizing Warning Signs Of Duplicity.According to Gavin de Becker, a threat prediction expert, when a stranger approaches you with ulterior motives, there can be underlying signs of duplicity. Here are a few of these signs:

Feigned Weakness
Too Much Information/ Details. When someone is lying, they tend to give you more details for credibility.
The Unrequested Promise. "Just one more dance and I promise I'll take you home."
Friendly Authority. "You shouldn't be walking out here alone. Get in and I'll drive you out of here," says the police officer. Some serial killers are equiped with police idenification and police-like vehicles. If you are being "arrested" and haven't done anything wrong, insist that the officer call for back up.
Challenging Your Ego. The stranger labels you in a subtly critical way hoping you will be challenged to prove them wrong.
Teaming. Often a manipulative stranger will try to team up with you. You and he suddenly become "we." This is an attempt to quickly establish a familiarity.
Feminine Referencing. References to other females or children to reassure you he's not interested in you and is harmless. Childrens toys, baby seat in car, etc.
Imposed Obligation. A stranger imposes his help on you and thus you feel obligated.
An Appeal To A Vulnerable Third Party. "My little girl is missing, can you help me find her?"
Never Taking No For An Answer. A classic. No matter how many times you say, "No, I don't need your help, the stranger keeps insisting. Don't be afraid to be blunt and rude.

One's first line of defense is to not risk attracting or exposing oneself to a predator. Second line is the "brush-off" or ignoring unanticipated suspicious or unwanted attention. If however you are unfortunate enough to find yourself part of the 75% who were in the wrong place at the wrong time and you weren't able to disengage or evade the serial killer, there are still things you can do.

STAY TUNED FOR NEXT BLOG:

The Unlucky 75%

13 Rules For Dealing With Sociopaths In Everyday Life Rules 10-13

09/06/2012 07:57:00

Rules 1-9 Review Check out thecriminalmind.us

From “The Sociopath Next Door,” Martha Stout, PHD

1. Accept that some people literally have no conscience.

2. In a contest between your instincts and what is implied by the role a person has taken on–educator, doctor, leader, animal lover, humanist, parent–go with your instincts.

3. When considering a new relationship of any kind, practice the Rules Of Threes regarding the claims and promises a person makes, and the responsibilities he or she has. Make the Rule Of Threes your personal policy.

4. Question Authority.

5. Suspect Flattery.

6. If necessary, redefine your concept of respect.

7. Do not join the game.

8. Don’t try to redeem the unredeemable.

9. Never agree, out of pity or far any other reason, to help a sociopath conceal his/her true nature.

10. The best way to protect yourself from a sociopath is to avoid him, to refuse any kind of contact or communication.Sociopaths live completely outside of the social contract and to include them in your life is perilous. Although they may seem hurt by your boundaries, the sociopath really has no feelings to hurt. People may not understand why you have to cut this person off as sociopathy can be difficult to detect amd even more difficult to explain. If total avoidance is impossible, try to come as close as you can to keeping your distance from the sociopath. Once you engage with a sociopath, the destructiveness in their psyche can undermine your own life.

11. Question your tendency to pity too easily.Pity should be reserved for innocent people who are in genuine pain or who have fallen upon misfortune. If you find yourself often pitying someone who consistently hurts you or other people, who actively campaigns for your sympathy, the chances are close to 100% that you are dealing with a sociopath. Don’t be afraid to reserve your sympathy for those that truly deserve it. Don ‘t be afraid to be unsmiling and calmly to the point. Contrary to what many of us have been taught, we don’t have to be caring to everyone.

12. Defend Your Psyche.Don’t allow someone without a conscience convince you that there is no hope for humanity. Most humans do possess a conscience and are able to love.

13. The Best Revenge is living well.No explanation is needed. As Confucius said, “If you plan to embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.”

Thirteen Rules For Dealing With Sociopaths: Rules 7-10

08/28/2012 07:06:00

Review Of first six rules:

1) Accept that some people have no conscience.

2) Trust your instincts.

3) Practice the Rule of Threes.

4) Question authority.

5) Suspect flattery

6) If necessary, redefine your concept of respect.

Rules 7-9

7) Don’t Join The Game. Intrigue is a sociopath’s tool. Resist the temptation to compete with a seductive sociopath. Trying to outsmart, psychoanalyze or even banter with a sociopath can easily draw you in and distract you from protecting yourself.

8) Don’t Try To Redeem The Unredeemable. Giving people the opportunity to redeem themselves will not work with sociopaths. If a person possesses no conscience, they are not redeemable. No matter how good our intentions, we can’t control the behavior, nor the character structures of others. If you want to help (not control) another person, be sure to help only those who truly want to be helped. A sociopath’s own need to control may suck you in while you think you are simply helping, or controlling) them.

9) Never Agree To Help A Sociopath Conceal His/Her True Character. Sociopaths can make tearful pleas begging you not to tell or can try to break your resolve with the idea that you “owe” them. Possible victims benefit from the the favor of you warning them. Protecting the secrets of a sociopath only allows for the abuse to continue. The sociopath’s behavior is not your fault. It is also not your mission.

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