The Bethboro-Danville Daily Standard

December 19

The number of known Christmas Killer victims hovers at four but local police say it could climb higher in the weeks to come. The body of a sixteen-year-old Danville Heights girl was exhumed yesterday to determine if the pattern of injuries match those on recent victims. The dead woman, Barbra Jean Lemmars, was found three years ago on December 24, in water beneath the Cabin River bridge. At the time, no foul play was suspected. Death was attributed to an accidental fall, or suicide. All reported cases of girls missing from the Bethboro-Danville area in November and December for the last six years are being reopened for further investigation.

The victims are Nancy Emerson, 14, Bethboro; Cynthia A. Merley, 14, Bethboro; and Carla Fentesso, 16, Westley Village. The remains of Helen Klout, reported as a runaway five years ago, were found in Danville auto yard. A signature red flower left by the killer on his victims was found near the skeleton. All victims had been stabbed or suffered fatal blows to the head. Merley was also strangled.

“There is no doubt in my mind that these killings are the work of a single individual,” Bethboro police chief, Silver Henning, said in a recent interview. “This is the sickest type of perpetrator, what we call a serial killer. These girls were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Feature Story

The Bethboro-Danville Daily Standard

December 19

What Is a Serial Killer?

An exclusive interview

with Angus V. Candacy, Ph.D.

by Gary Longman, Staff Writer

He may have suffered a childhood trauma during the holiday season. Now, he kills during late November and throughout December to vent his anger at the injustices of the past. The Christmas Killer lives in a world of delusion which to him is very real. These are just some of the insights offered by Dr. Angus V. Candacy, professor of Psychology at Downstate College and author of a book on serial murderers.

Dr. Candacy believes that the Christmas Killer has revealed more than he intended in the two letters he has written to this newspaper. “He’s a man with a fragile, childish ego,” Candacy says. “And he’s angry that he is misunderstood. He hopes to set the record straight. At the same time, he is enamored of his own importance, a dangerous combination. He’s sociopathic, psychopathic but not psychotic.”

Dr. Candacy explained that a serial killer is an organized, calculating person who has a time bomb of violence ticking inside. “This is not impetuous crime,” Candacy says. “The serial killer plans well and derives pleasure from the crime.” A serial killer usually uses the same method for all his victims and leaves some kind of message, in this case a red flower.