Couples Who Kill: Profiles of Deviant Duos - Hardcover

Davis, Carol Anne

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0749083573 ISBN 13: 9780749083571

Publisher: Allison and Busby, 2005

Synopsis

What drives attractive male cousins to rape and kill ten young women? Why does an altar girl and her boyfriend lure innocent victims into their customized torture van? Couples who kill comprise only twenty percent of killers -- but they often murder serially and are responsible for particularly inhumane deaths.

Sadistic friends, twisted sisters, monstrous couples, and an increasingly pathological mother-son team are amongst those profiled in this exploration of the world’s most deviant duos. There are eleven American cases, numerous British cases, and other countries represented in this study detailing depraved criminal behavior. The profiles include California serial killers Leonard Lake and Charles Ng, Laurence Bittaker and Roy Norris, infanticide by New Jersey teenagers Amy Grossberg and Brian Peterson, the British "Moors Murderers", and other profiles of equally scandalous but less publicized murders.

Carol Anne Davis explores the formative influences of these killers and their deadly dynamics. She also interviews one of the Wests’ surviving female victims and a man who spent time with a serial co-killer now on Death Row.

About this title

From the Author:

Couples Who Kill profiles twenty six British and American murderers, many of them serial killers. Each profile explores the killer's background, the relationship with their co-killer, the homicides, and what has happened since the trial.

There are also fifteen case studies in themed chapters such as British Couples Who Kill Children and Bizarre Couples Who Kill, the latter including cases from Germany, Mexico and France.

Several of the couples were sadistic lovers, others were friends or close relatives. Yet even those who swore undying love had often turned on each other by the time they went to trial.

Because couples who kill are often lust murderers, the victims were mainly in their teens or early twenties. But there are exceptions - the oldest victim was seventy seven, the youngest only a few minutes old.

Though the cases are harrowing, there is occasionally hope: one teenage killer, hugely influenced by his much more damaged girlfriend, has studied psychology in prison for many years now, apparently understands his earlier pathology and genuinely seems to have turned his life around.

Once again I'm grateful to the authority figures I consulted, including a man who met serial killer Charles Ng and a woman who was abducted by Rose & Fred West. I also interviewed a crime writer who'd co-authored a book with a Home Office pathologist who autopsied one of the victims of a particularly vicious and largely forgotten British triple killer.

About the Author:

Carol Anne Davis left school at fifteen and was everything from an artist’s model to an editorial assistant before going to university. She has been a full time writer since graduating and is the author of four crime novels as well as non-fiction titles.

About this edition

• Publisher: Allison and Busby
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0749083573
• ISBN 13: 9780749083571
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288