邁克爾·安特菲爾德

The startling arrest of the elusive Golden State Killer， aka the East Area Rapist/Original Night Stalker/Diamond Knot Killer/Visalia Ransacker in what was arguably the most vexing and disturbing constellation of interlinked cold cases in American history， has raised more questions than answers.

One question is how a serial burglar， rapist and murderer could operate in so many jurisdictions simultaneously and， much like the case of Paul Bernardo in Canada， have law enforcement officials so myopically overlook the connections among his crimes in several different cities.

Another question is， of course， how a police officer like Joseph DeAngelo， the accused Golden State Killer， could be capable of such sadistic brutality throughout a large portion of his brief and troubled law enforcement career.

Similar questions have been raised in the past about other serial offenders， killers whose innocuous and even virtuous jobs seemed to belie the horrors they committed while hiding behind a veneer of respectability. That includes the infamous Canadian Col. Russell Williams （who once piloted a VIP aircraft whose passengers included Queen Elizabeth） and lesser-known computer store owner and prominent Nashville businessman Tom Steeples， who killed three people for thrills before committing suicide while in police custody.

But in fact， occupations and serial murders are often linked， and some specific full-time and part-time jobs are strangely over-represented among serial killers.

Serial killer job breakdown

Top 3 Skilled Serial-Killer Occupations： 1. Aircraft machinist/assembler; 2. Shoemaker/repair person; 3. Automobile upholsterer

Top 3 Semi-Skilled Serial Killer Occupations： 1. Forestry worker/arborist; 2. Truck driver; 3. Warehouse manager

Top 3 Unskilled Serial Killer Occupations： 1. General labourer （mover， landscaper， et. al.）; 2. Hotel porter; 3. Gas station attendant

Top 3 Professional/Government Serial Killer Occupations： 1. Police/security official; 2. Military personnel; 3. Religious official

Obviously， not everyone occupying these jobs is a serial killer， nor are they likely to become one.

But theres something about these jobs that is inherently appealing to offenders， or that otherwise cultivates the impulses of serial killers-in-waiting and causes them to be curiously over-represented among this rare breed of murderers.

DeAngelo， the alleged Golden State Killer， for instance， actually held down three of these jobs over the course of his lifetime： Police officer， military personnel （he was previously in the U.S. navy）， and， peripherally， truck driver， although his post-police career （he was fired in 1979 for shoplifting） was spent mostly as a mechanic for a fleet of grocery store freezer trucks.

Bygone era

A closer look at these occupations reveals a bygone era in terms of available jobs—occupations that， while once common and accessible to killers in the ‘60s， ‘70s and ‘80s—are now largely obsolete. The job market is changing; with that， so is the disturbing but legitimate nexus between murder and labour.

The shift toward a service-based， tech-driven and typically contractual economy， what is often called precarious work， along with the disappearance of once traditional career paths will obviously have profound effects not only on the jobs held by offenders but also how they acquire their victims.

As discussed in my book， Monster City， there was a precipitous surge in serial murder in Nashville with the rise of the “new” country music scene in the ‘80s and ‘90s， giving would-be killers access to new victims.

Serial killers once used the guise of their employment to stalk and acquire specific victims or types of victims. But new research suggests that leisure activities like music， including online interactions， may be the new avenue through which serial killers troll for their victims.

Its also where they mentally rehearse their crimes amid a shrinking offline public sphere and work world.

The result is that we are likely to see， returning once again to alleged Toronto serial killer Bruce McArthur， blurred occupational-recreational categories involving both online and offline dimensions—a new paradigm that will force us to adjust the list of the most common jobs among serial killers.

The caveat， of course， is that a single defining occupation is in continuous flux. Could “occupation，” for instance， denote a primary vocation， a part-time avocation or even just a paid hobby or pastime？

Pastimes as well as professions？

Might it also include an unpaid pastime by which a person defines himself or herself？

A quick perusal of top LinkedIn “influencers” and “open networkers，” for example， suggests many people actually list their passions or pastimes and not their paid jobs as their primary occupation.

In McArthurs case， we see that while he conforms to the “general labourer” category， as a landscape architect and not just a grass-cutter， as well as the owner of his own company， he also fits no clear vocational definition.

And yet， as we already know from the morbid mass grave recovered from a clients home on Mallory Crescent in Toronto， the occupation of the accused was central to his alleged offences and how he reportedly disposed of victims—it was integral to his apparent modus operandi.

So while many killers use their employment as a pretext to acquire vulnerable victims， obtain information or cultivate violent fantasies for reasons we still dont fully understand （“Milwaukee Cannibal” Jeffrey Dahmer once admitted that his work as a chocolate factory machinist awakened homicidal and necrophilic urges he had otherwise suppressed）， in McArthurs case， occupation was the back-end to his alleged crimes， not the inspiration for them.

What about the psychopaths？

As we begin to redraw the map of serial murder and career paths， it might also be useful to look at the otherwise better-known index of occupations over-represented among psychopaths.

While not all psychopaths are serial killers， psychopathy—or at the very least， the possession of psychopathic traits—is a common denominator among serial killers， sex offenders and most violent criminals. Have a look at the Top 10 occupations according to an Oxford University psychologist：

1. CEO or business executive

2. Lawyer

3. Media personality

4. Salesperson

5. Surgeon

6. Journalist or news anchor

7. Police officer

8. Religious official

9. Chef

10. Miscellaneous civil servant （military， city council， corrections， etc.）

In overlaying the two lists， we can see that even amid a perpetually changing economy， certain jobs are always likely to appeal to those people we will later be stunned to learn managed to carry on that type of work while also being monsters in our midst.

行蹤難辨的金州殺手，又名東區(qū)強奸犯/原夜跟蹤者/鉆石結(jié)殺手/維薩利亞洗劫者，曾犯下或許是美國歷史上最令人惱火和不安的一系列陳年積案，他意外被捕帶來了更多疑問，而非答案。

一個疑問是，一個連環(huán)竊賊、強奸犯和殺人犯如何能同時在眾多司法管轄區(qū)內(nèi)活動，就像加拿大的保羅·貝爾納多案，如此輕易地讓執(zhí)法官員忽略了其在不同城市所犯罪行之間的聯(lián)系。

另一個疑問當然是，被指控為金州殺手的約瑟夫·德安杰羅，作為一名警察，在他短暫而麻煩不斷的執(zhí)法生涯的大部分時間里，又是如何犯下如此暴虐的罪行的。

曾有人針對其他連環(huán)犯罪者提出過類似的疑問，那些殺手從事著全然無害甚至是高尚的工作，將他們犯下的恐怖罪行隱藏于體面的外表之下。其中包括聲名狼藉的加拿大上校拉塞爾·威廉姆斯（他曾是貴賓專機駕駛員，乘客包括伊麗莎白女王），以及鮮為人知的納什維爾杰出商人湯姆·斯蒂普爾斯，后者擁有一間電腦商店，曾為追求刺激殺死3人，后在警方拘押期間自殺。

但事實上，職業(yè)和連環(huán)謀殺往往有一定關聯(lián)，某些特定職業(yè)（包括全職和兼職）在連環(huán)殺手中占比出奇地高。

連環(huán)殺手職業(yè)細分

熟練的連環(huán)殺手職業(yè)前三位：1）飛機機械師/裝配師;2）制鞋匠/修鞋匠;3）汽車改裝工人。

半熟練的連環(huán)殺手職業(yè)前三位：1）林業(yè)工人/樹木種植者;2）卡車司機;3）倉庫管理員。

不熟練的連環(huán)殺手職業(yè)前三位：1）普通體力勞動者（搬家工人，園藝工人等）;2）行李搬運工;3）加油站工人。

從事專業(yè)及政府工作的連環(huán)殺手職業(yè)前三位：1）警察/安保人員;2）軍人;3）神職人員。

顯然，不是所有從事上述職業(yè)者都是連環(huán)殺手，他們也不是個個都可能成為連環(huán)殺手。

但這些工作本身確有一些吸引連環(huán)殺手之處，或者是它們培養(yǎng)了潛在殺手的犯罪沖動，從而令它們在這類罕見的殺人犯中占比出奇地高。

例如，被指控為金州殺手的德安杰羅，在其生涯中曾從事過上述工作中的三項：警察、軍人（他曾在美國海軍服役），以及1979年因盜竊被警方解雇后轉(zhuǎn)而做超市冷凍車隊的機修工，其間偶爾也充當卡車司機。

時代變遷

仔細觀察這些職業(yè)會發(fā)現(xiàn)，連環(huán)殺手可以從事的職業(yè)在隨時代而變化——連環(huán)殺手60、70和80年代曾普遍從事的職業(yè)今天大多已過時。就業(yè)市場在變化，殺手和工種之間令人不安卻合情合理的關聯(lián)性也隨之而變。

經(jīng)濟向著以服務為基礎、以技術為驅(qū)動力及以合同為典型形式的方向轉(zhuǎn)型（即通常所謂的不穩(wěn)定工作），伴隨早前一些傳統(tǒng)職業(yè)的消亡——這樣的轉(zhuǎn)型顯然會對罪犯的職業(yè)選擇和他們獵取受害者的方式都產(chǎn)生深遠影響。

正如我在《怪物城》一書中所討論的，80年代和90年代“新”鄉(xiāng)村音樂在納什維爾的興起使得準殺手們可以接觸到新的受害者，從而令該地連環(huán)謀殺案急劇增加。

連環(huán)殺手曾以工作為偽裝，跟蹤和捕獲某一特定受害者或某些類型的受害者。但新的研究表明，像音樂這樣的休閑活動，包括在線互動，或許是連環(huán)殺手吸引受害者上鉤的新途徑。

隨著線下公眾活動范圍和職場不斷收縮，線上也成了殺手為其罪行進行心理排練的地方。

其結(jié)果就是——讓我們再次回到傳說中的多倫多連環(huán)殺手布魯斯·麥克阿瑟的例子——我們可能會發(fā)現(xiàn)，工作與娛樂的界限日漸模糊，且涵蓋線上和線下兩個層面。這一新趨勢迫使我們調(diào)整連環(huán)殺手最常見職業(yè)清單。

自然，這是警示我們，單一職業(yè)的定義在不斷變化。例如，occupation這個詞，是指主要職業(yè)還是業(yè)余愛好，甚或某一帶薪的興趣或消遣？

是消遣也是職業(yè)？

一個人的職業(yè)是否也可以包括他/她借以界定自身的無收入純消遣活動？

例如，快速瀏覽領英的“影響者”和“開放網(wǎng)絡溝通者”這兩個版塊就會發(fā)現(xiàn)，很多人其實都會把他們的愛好或消遣而非有收入的工作列為他們的主要職業(yè)。

在麥克阿瑟的案例中，我們可以看到，雖然他可以列入“普通體力勞動者”的范疇，但他是一名景觀建筑師而不是簡單的剪草工人，并擁有自己的公司，所以很難適用于某一明確的職業(yè)定義。

然而，在多倫多馬洛里新月街麥克阿瑟一個客戶家中找到了恐怖的多人葬坑，那向我們揭示了，被告從事的職業(yè)對于他所控罪行及處理被害人的方式至關重要——這是他顯而易見的作案手法所不可或缺的一部分。

因此，盡管許多殺手利用他們的工作找借口接近容易上當?shù)氖芎φ?，獲取相關信息或培養(yǎng)暴力幻想——個中緣由我們?nèi)詿o法完全理解（“密爾沃基食人族”杰弗里·達默曾承認，他在巧克力工廠當機械師的工作喚起了他壓制已久的謀殺和戀尸癖的欲望）——在麥克阿瑟一案中，職業(yè)是他犯下那些被控罪行的終極手段，而不是它們的靈感來源。

那些精神病患者呢？

當我們開始重新繪制系列殺手及其職業(yè)道路的關聯(lián)圖時，看看精神病患者占比較大的職業(yè)也許會有所幫助，我們對這一指標了解更多。

雖然并非所有的精神病患者都是連環(huán)殺手，但精神疾患——或至少擁有精神病特征——是連環(huán)殺手、性犯罪者和大多數(shù)暴力犯罪者的共同特征。我們來看看牛津大學的一位心理學家列出的十大職業(yè)：

1. 首席執(zhí)行官或企業(yè)高管

2. 律師

3. 媒體工作者

4. 銷售人員

5. 外科醫(yī)生

6. 記者或新聞主播

7. 警察

8. 神職人員

9. 主廚

10.各類公職人員（軍隊、市議會、監(jiān)獄管理者等）

交叉比對兩份清單會看到，即使經(jīng)濟不斷變化，某些工作可能始終對一些人充滿吸引力，而總有一天我們會震驚地發(fā)現(xiàn)，那些人在從事這些工作的同時，也成為了我們身邊的惡魔。