Serial Killers 2 Week 2

This is a series based on the some of the darkest of sins. It is a series intended to show the lives of certain serial killers, to show their humanity, and to highlight the things that cause this kind of death in a person that would compel them to kill another in cold blood. Be advised, there are graphic materials in his series and during the duration of my studies for this one, I have become depressed, saddened, and disheartened.





Jerry Brudos
Serial Killers 2
Week 2

Looks like Haley Joel Osment in a bunch of years doesn’t it? Hopefully they do not share the same fate.
Jerry Brudos was seventeen when the police arrived at his parents house and arrested him. They had gotten a report from a teenage girl that he had tried to kidnap her with the intention of taking pornographic photos of her. He had beaten her up and when arrested had no problem telling the police the truth. He was put in psychiatric treatment for 9 months. While in treatment, Jerry confessed some alarming things. He told about how he had dug a large hole in the ground, a place to where in his fantasies he could hide sex slaves, making them obey his every command. He admitted to breaking into women’s houses and stealing their shoes, underwear, and clothing. After 7 months of treatment, the center decided to release him back into the general public, citing him as being borderline schizophrenic and of no real harm to society. Those doctors probably should lose their licenses after what Jerry Brudos did after his release.
Jerry grew up in a very dysfunctional home. He was born of a woman who did not want another boy after having 2 prior. She treated him badly, she treated him as someone who was not wanted, loved, or valuable to the family, especially her. His development was stunted from birth. He began in time to hate his mother. He had fascinations with other woman different from him as he dreamed that his life would have started out being loved by one of these other woman who cared and loved their children. He dreamed of having a different mother and a different life, one without so much pain. His mind became warped, and at the tender age of 5 he began trying on women’s shoes after he had found a pair in a dumpster nearby his home. It was exhilarating to do this. It made him powerful, like his mother. It is very common in these killers to see that some had this kind of hate obsession relationship with their mothers. On one hand they would want nothing more but to kill them, and on the other they are to obsessed with them and controlled emotionally to break free from their grasp. So they mimic them. Jerry began at this age to wear women’s clothing, mostly shoes and underwear, and to start breaking into their homes and raping them, stealing their clothing as he left. At this point, none of the women were killed until one day, a magazine sales woman showed up at his door.
Jerry had previously found a woman opposite of his mother and married her having children as well. His wife was submissive at every turn. She was resigned to let him do what he was going to do and not make a fuss about it. Although she did not know what he was doing, she trusted and resigned herself to leave it alone, even when she found developed pictures of bound and nude women. Even when she was instructed to never go into the attic or the woodshed.
This day the sales woman was lured, with Jerry’s family inside the house, out to the woodshed. As she entered, he hit her with a board and raped and killed her. After he finished the, he cleaned up with some rags, went right in the house and asked the family if they would like to go have dinner with him at a local restaurant. After this day, he was hooked on murder and sexual deviancy. Killing at least 4 women, and raping and assaulting several more. He was remorseless. He saw his mother in ever one of these woman and took out his anger on them.
A very short account of what Jerry did to his victims:
Linda Slawson was raped, then killed, then raped again. A foot was removed, then she was tied to an engine and thrown into the river. Jerry then used her severed foot to try on shoes and to take pictures.
Jan Whitney, was killed and raped. They hung and stored for several days by a hook in the shed. One of her breasts were removed to make a plastic mold of it into a paper weight.
Karen Sprinker was killed, raped, then hung from the ceiling. Her breasts removed, then dumped into the river.
Linda Salee was killed, raped and he inserted wires into her sides to make her body dance with electrical current.
Jerry Brudos was arrested when he was identified by one of the woman he had attacked. From the jail, he insisted that his wife hide the women’s clothing and the photos and all of the awful things he had collected. She agreed, so he confessed with pride assuming they would never have any evidence to prove his claims were true. To his dismay, the wife had had enough. She found the evidence and was appalled and sickened. She removed nothing. The police came and searched the place finding everything that had gone on in this house right under his families nose. He was sentence to 3 consecutive life sentences and died in prison after serving 36 years. Even to the end, he showed no remorse for killing anyone. Only blame. He blamed his mother, an electrical accident, insanity, and police cohertion but never showed remorse.
2 things were at play in his messed up thinking. 1. He says he was forced to dress and act like a female as a child and was deeply hated and resented because he was a boy. So his impression of what it looked like to be a normally growing and maturing boy and man, got severely distorted. This accounts for the women’s clothing. It is common for boys with overbearing mothers and i mean extremely overbearing mothers to act out in effeminate ways. 2. His anger at being hated by his mother and his inability to experience genuine love and affection, caused a lack of humanity in him. Mix the fact that he had no respect for human life with the fact that he was terribly angry at his mother, making him hate woman, and we get a cold-blooded killer who will not feel and ounce of remorse probably for the rest of his life.
The story we have looked at today is a particularly sad one. Here on one hand, we had this kid that had the misfortune of being born a boy to a psycho mother who wanted a girl. We had this kid that struggled with his identity, and longed to feel normal, but it never happened for him. He was deranged and broken, and was not getting much help from anyone. Even when all of the warning signs were spelled out for those in the institution when he was 17, they still ignored his cry for help and set him free to become a monster.
Once he took that step from fantasy to reality he could not turn back. He became something different. He became this monster who with no fear of consequence and with great arrogance randomly ending the precious lives of unsuspecting women.
It is really important to note that man has a choice regardless of the circumstances they are handed. The Israelites used to sing this song blaming their fathers and forefathers for the mistakes them made.
Jer. 31:29 “In those days people will no longer say, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’ 30 Instead, everyone will die for his own sin; whoever eats sour grapes—his own teeth will be set on edge.
This is simply telling us that we cannot blame our upbringing for the things we have done. We have a choice to change what our culture calls “sick cycles” or to follow along the same cycle and allow it to negatively change the course of our lives.
Jerry Brudos was dealing with these two issues he could not let go of. Because he had not experienced lover personally, he did see it in other people, enough to know that it was out there, that it existed, however, I don’t believe he thought it existed for him. He just could not do away with the anger he felt and hatred for the person that hurt him, he would not I should say. Could implies he had no choice and he did.
There is this book called “A Child Called It” and it is about how this little boy was beaten and tortured and made a slave by his crazy parents. It is diary of sorts written by the man who went through things far worse than Jerry Brudos. This man got up, decided not to let his parents victimize him anymore by letting them ingrain hate in him, and forgive them. He grew up, had a family and wrote a book about to help other abused people to see that there is a way out. Mr. Brudos had a way out, he chose not to take it. He chose to resign himself to his perversions and allow them full reign, which we all know leads to death. He chose to hate and to allow that hate and unforgiveness for his mother rule his life. He needed help, he needed God, yet he chose the perverse.
This is what not forgiving those that hurt you produces. Hate. You may not and you had better not go off and take a persons life, but it breeds the same hatred and anger and affects us in the same ways. it causes us to be jealous, to wish harmful things on another, and to murder in our hearts.
Matt. 5:21 “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.
Saying murderous things about another person is the same thing. Slandering another, saying horrible things about another, and cursing another is murderous. The cause death in both people, but especially you.
See, the misconception is that we are getting back at the person by hating them and not forgiving them. This is incorrect. Do you think someone who hurt you so bad cares at all that you haven’t forgiven them? Do you think they care if you burn with anger inside? It doesn’t affect them like it does you. It burns you, it makes you miserable. Forgiveness settles you.
Psa. 39:1 I said, “I will watch my ways and keep my tongue from sin; I will put a muzzle on my mouth as long as the wicked are in my presence.” 2 But when I was silent and still, not even saying anything good, my anguish increased. 3 My heart grew hot within me, and as I meditated, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue:
We can try all of the relaxation techniques we hear of. We can do Yoga twice a day to relax, but if we do not forgive, our anger will rule and we will act. Just like David describes here. We have been hurt, most of us at least, but all of us will be hurt again and again. If we do not make it our mission to practice lives of forgiveness, where we throw off what others have done, remembering they are human too and make mistakes, we will live lives in anger and act out in that anger. I chose to live in anger for the majority of my life.
I thought since I didn’t have a father, I had a right to be pissed at the world. Since the law didn’t help me, I hated the system and the government. Since I had been abandoned, I felt like everyone would abandon me, so I allowed that to make me anti-social and full of lies. It made me an actor in my own little psychotic world in which I was king. It made it me against the world and that attitude will cause nothing but pain I promise. It wasn’t until I started forgiving others that Jesus forgiveness became real to me.
It can be real to you too.