When it comes to serial killers, things go binary. There are those who ignore the pull force of the melodrama and those who feed it. The media is usually among the latter.
NEW YORK MAGAZINE carries a major article on the families of the young women allegedly murdered by the Long Island serial killer or killers. If the LI killer or killers are arrested then NEW YORK MAGAZINE will likely focus on their families. There are likely to be tales of pets which disappeared while dad was still living at home and how he never let anyone into that one chest he kept in the attic. We have the profile down cold, don't me.
We learned what we know from "Criminal Minds." That iconic series knows that to exploit the full potential of a serial killer, families must be brought into the loop. Replacing JJ on the elite team is the daughter of a serial killer who snuffed out the lives of many women in the west. She struggles with her inability to forgive him. On one case she took too big a risk. The team told her she was doing that to make up for what her father had done and not to do it again. During the past several episodes she has been playing it by the book.
Me? Since I have so many internal demons to deal with daily, I never have paid attention to serial killers. In university town Ann Arbor, Michigan during the late 1960s, the ANN ARBOR NEWS [which no longer exists] had front page stories of the serial killer of young girls. My family in Jersey City, New Jersey got fully into it and organized a prayer group at Our Lady of Sorrows parish to keep me safe. When John Norman Collins was arrested and convicted I felt no sense of relief. Then as well as now I recognize that serial killing is a continuum. At the extreme is loss of life. More common is soul death through unkind criticism, not paying attention, and moral certitude.
We watch "Criminal Minds" because it's guaranteed the serial killer is apprehended. Would the powers-that-be dare experiment with the killer eluding the great profilers?
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