Coming close to a terrifying serial killer is a staple of horror movies, but for Dr Rachel Toles, meeting some of the world’s most dangerous killers is all in a day’s work.
“I’ve come face to face with a lot of people who have murdered and the most frightening ones are the ones you’d least expect to be killers,” she shares with Woman’s Day.
“A lot of people who’ve been around a serial killer will say the killer’s eyes would glaze over as they go in-between these friendly and disassociative states.”
For the last 12 years Rachel has worked with some of the world’s worst serial killers to find out what behaviours and factors make a murderer.
“There’s something about death that always drew me in,” she shares.
“I’ve always wondered how a human could become like Jeffrey Dahmer.”
Rachel’s fascination with death and murderers began while visiting a movie set with her parents when she was just five years old.
“On this set there was a person playing dead all day, then when I left the movie set, I witnessed a young girl get hit and killed by a car,” says the Canadian, who now lives in the US in South Carolina.
“Then when I learned about real life boogiemen like Dahmer existed when I was 14, it really solidified everything for me.”
CHARMING KILLERS
After 10 years of studying at various colleges in Canada and the US to earn her doctorate in psychology, Rachel began her career as a case worker in a women’s prison in California.
While she can’t name the killers she’s worked with for privacy reasons, she says female killers “frighten me more”.
“Manling Williams smothered her two little boys and stabbed her husband 95 times with a samurai sword,” says Rachel.
“[Williams] came across like she had no remorse. Killers like her tend to be raised in environments where they have to build up defences to seem like they don’t care.”
While she didn’t work with Williams before she was sentenced to death in 2010, Rachel says it fascinates her how killers can compartmentalise their lives.
Rachel’s also been in the company of killers who are socially very different from how people might imagine.
“A lot of the time killers can be quite charming to be around,” she says.
“But it’s also spooky because all of a sudden you see their eyes glaze over and they want to choke you!”
MAKING A MURDERER
In her masterclass The Psychology Of Serial Killers, which is touring across Australia in May, Rachel will share her insights into some of the world’s most notorious serial killers.
She says much of what she’s learned over the years about killers in general will surprise true crime fanatics.
“A lot of people who kill will describe it like they’re possessed,” Rachel explains.
“They tend to feel like they’re at the mercy of outside forces, which puts them perpetually in the role of a victim.”
Rachel believes factors like a person’s parents, upbringing, brain injuries and a history of being bullied are also key ingredients that can create a serial killer.
“A little over three per cent of murders are planned, and most are burglaries and assaults that go wrong,” explains Rachel.
“These circumstances can go one of two ways for the serial killer – the person cleans up their act or it ignites an addiction in them and they want to do it again to chase the dragon.”
EXPERT OPINION
AILEEN WUORNOS
Aileen Wuornos, played by Charlize Theron in Monster, killed seven men while working as a sex worker in Florida between 1989 and 90 and sentenced to death, she was executed in 2002.
Rachel says Wuornos snapped after years of trauma and hardship.
“[Wuornos] went through so much, and was clearly mentally ill and we still executed her,” she says.
JEFFREY DAHMER
Best known as the Milwaukee Cannibal and for his good looks, Jeffrey Dahmer killed 17 people between 1978 and 1991.
His case ignited Rachel’s fascination for killers.
“I was 14 when I discovered real boogiemen like Dahmer exist, and that got me interested in how people can do inhumane things,” she says.
IVAN MILAT
Australia’s most notorious serial killer, Ivan Milat was convicted for killing seven backpackers between 1989 and 1993, but Rachel believes there were undoubtably more victims.
“Authorities can’t pinpoint locations, so this is how truck drivers get away with so many murders.”
“Plus the killers have no emotional connection to their victims.”
LUCY LETBY
English neonatal nurse Lucy Letby is currently serving a life sentence for killing seven children, but Rachel believes she was wrongly convicted.
“She’s not an angel of death,” Rachel says.
“From what I’ve read, the conditions in the hospital were horrific, and I think she felt guilty because these babies died under her care.”
“But that doesn’t mean she did it.”
The Psychology of Serial Killers – for bookings go to www.tegdainty.com
