Well since the last study I quoted went down like a cup of cold sick among the sceptics.... how about another!? Huzza!
This is taken from oft-cited Hanfland et al 1997 study - "Case Management for Missing Children Homicide Investigation". It looked at over 600 cases where a child was specifically abducted and then subsequently murdered, so it's relevance is even more significant to the particular scenario we are discussing here.
The following is a summary of findings relating to characteristics of the perpetrators of said crimes. It's a bit long but the original report is over 100 pages so I'm summarising as best I can. Let's see how many boxes CB ticks here:
Killers of abducted children are somewhat unique among murderers in general, above and beyond their choice of victims. They can be characterized as social marginals: They are not active, successful participants in mainstream, conventional social life, but, rather, they occupy a position in society that is, indeed, on the "edge, brink, border, precipice, or margin." They are not integrated, personally or socially, into the kinds of relationships or activities that produce and sustain effective self or social controls. Their personal and social attributes establish and define their social marginality.
In terms of their sociodemographic attributes, these killers can be typified as white males who, on average, are about 27 years old. Only 15 percent of these killers are married at the time of the murder. This is very different than for young adult males in the general population, as well as for murderers in general, where the pattern is almost the opposite, with the great majority of them being married.
50 percent of the child abduction killers were unemployed at the time they committed the murder. This rate of unemployment is at least five times greater than the national unemployment rate for the general population. When they are working, they are primarily employed in "unskilled" and "semiskilled" labor occupations. They tend to work in what economists refer to as "secondary sector" occupations, which require little formal education, produce low wages, are characteristically unstable, indicate lower status, do not lend themselves to career commitments, and so on.
They may not truly be loners, but they are more likely to be "social isolates," particularly from their peers, both male and female. They are also quite mobile--they change their residences quite often, more than most people. Seventy-nine percent of these killers moved at least once within the past five years. This may not be that unusual, but 43 percent of them changed residences three or more times, and 21 percent moved five or more times during the five years preceding the murder. They do not seem to stay anywhere very long, where they could (or would) connect themselves to others or to a place. Or, vice versa, because they are less attached to significant others, they are more free and, therefore, more likely to move often. It is also likely that for many of them, their criminal activity makes it more necessary to move around, either seeking out more fertile grounds for victims and/or avoiding apprehension.
Their prior criminal acts, against adults and juveniles, also indicate a predisposition to violence, including murder and sexual assaults. Based on a search of their criminal records, it was discovered that the majority of child abduction killers have histories of violence. Sixty percent of them had prior arrests for violent crimes. And, alarmingly, their crimes of violence are being perpetrated at a high rate against child victims. The majority (53%) of the killers had committed prior crimes against children, and the most frequent of those crimes were assaults and/or sexual assaults. Almost two-thirds (64%) of the killers who are strangers to their victims have committed prior crimes against children, which is twice as likely as a killer who is a family member or intimate (32%).
Surprisingly, two-thirds (67%) of the prior crimes committed had an M.O. that was similar to that in the abduction murder that was committed by the same offender. They were most alike, by a large margin, in the "commission of the offense," or the way the crimes were committed. In 70 percent of the cases that had similar M.O.s, the priors were committed in similar ways. These findings regarding the similarity of M.O.s across the great majority of crimes committed by child abduction killers show that there is more consistency in the M.O.s of these types of killers than expected and as compared to other types of murderers. The data also suggest that there may be a greater predisposition to serial offending among child abduction killers.
In the case of child abduction murders, the overwhelming majority--69 percent--of the cases involve a sexual motive, compared to only 5 percent of all murders, and 14 percent of child murders.
A theoretical perspective in criminology--"lifestyle" or "routine activities" theory--proposes that there are three basic elements in a crime: a motivated offender, the opportunity to commit the crime, and ineffective guardians. In keeping with the prior observation that most of these child abduction killers seem to be predisposed or "ready" to kill, if they are given the opportunity, and the risk of identification or apprehension is minimized because the potential victim is not being monitored, the probability of an abduction and murder increases. Absent any one of the elements, the chances of murder decline. However, given this kind of group of motivated offenders, it should not be surprising that 57 percent of the murder victims are simply "victims of opportunity". They were killed because of the opportunity to act on a general predisposition to commit violence against children (only 13% had a "specific motivation" to kill a particular victim).
