Posted by Jan den Breejen on July 04, 2000 at 00:34:05:
Profiling criminals - Tommy Lynn Sells
Case text:
He even killed a man, his wife, their son new born baby. When police arrested carnival worker Tommy Lynn Sells for slashing the throats of two little girls, he startled them by blurting out: "I guess you want to know about the others." Then the 35-year-old drifter calmly told cops how he'd murdered 13 men, women and children in seven states going all the way back to 1981.
"My God, the guy's a killing machine!" a shocked Tom Vinger, spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety, told. According to authorities, Sells left home at 13 and spent the next two decades traveling the country, sometimes finding jobs as a carnival worker or laborer - and leaving a trail of bodies as he went. The motives for the murders varied, said John Allen of the Texas Rangers. "Some were CONFRONTATIONS (establishing dominance; jdb). Some were ROBBERIES. Some were PURE ANGER. And some were SEXUAL ASSAULT." Little Rock, Arkansas: Sells told cops his murderous spree began in 1981 when he killed a woman after RAPING her and then killed a man during a BURGLARY. Forsyth, Missouri: In July 1985, Sells admittedly killed Ena Cordt, 29, and her 4-year-old son Rory. A witness said Ena was last seen with a carnival worker. She and her son were found in their home with their throats slashed. Ina, lllinois: In November 1987, Sells says, he befriended Russen Keith Dardeen, 29. Dardeen's body was found in a bean field. He'd been shot three times in the head and his genitals were cut off. After killing Dardeen, Sells went to his home and beat his pregnant wife Elaine to death with a baseball bat. She gave birth and Sells said he clubbed the newborn girl to death with the bat and also killed the couple's 3-year-old son Pete. Charleston, Virgina: In May 1992, Sells was sentenced to prison for the BRUTAL SEXUAL ASSAULT of a woman who took pity on him when she saw him sitting by a road holding a "will work for food" sign. She took him to her home - where he raped her, hog-tied her, slashed her throat and left her for dead. She survived.
Tucson, Arizona: Sells was released from prison in May 1997. In December 1998, he told police, he killed fellow transient Kent Lauten. Milan, Tennessee: Four months later, Sens confessed, he stabbed to death Debra Harris, 30, and her 8- year-old daughter Ambria in their mobile home. Lexington, Kentucky: On May 13, 1999, he raped and killed 13-year-old Haley McHone. "He said he was sitting by the railroad tracks, watching her play on some swings, and he decided at that moment to rape and kill her. Del Rio, Texas: Last December, Sells got to know Terry Lee Harris and his wife Chrystal, who lived in a mobile home with their four children. Sells climbed into their home through a window and went into a bedroom where 13-year-old Kaylene Harris was sleeping in a bunk bed with her friend Krystal Surles, 10. Sells reached into the lower bunk with a knife and cut Kaylene's throat, killing her. Then he slashed Krystal's throat and fled. But Krystal survived. And from her hospital bed, Krystal - unable to talk because her vocal cords had been cut -used a pad and pencil to describe her assailant. At 6 a.m. on January 2, Ranger Allen and Lt. Larry Pope of the Val Verde County Sheriff's Department went to Sells' trailer in Del Rio and arrested him.
"He was calm, almost complacent when we began to question him," said Allen. "Then he said: 'I guess you want to know about the others.' " In the days that followed, Sells spelled out how he'd drifted across America, killing as he went often in a drunken or drug-induced haze. Sells, who is now in jail in Del Rio, has already been charged with two murders - that of Haley McHone and Kaylene Harris in Del Rio. He faces the death penalty. Sells is also a suspect in the murder of a 9-year-old girl in San Antonio, Tex., and the slayings of girls in Dublin, Calif., and Lawrence, Mass.
+++ Jan's analysis
What strike me is the complete denial of weakness with regard to himself; he is arrested and shows a big grinning smike. I guess the functionality of this barbarian disorder could have been a talent for battling the enemy in pre-historic times; only an agressor that can deny his weakness is able to do the things the others fear. I don't think he's an Anti-Socially disordered person. DSMIV combines the Sadistic disorder of DSMIII and the Anti-Social disorder of DSM III into one 'Anti-Social' disorder; and -like Oldham - I don't think this is a good thing. This guy lacks the sleek cleverness and verbal cunning so typical for the Adventurous Style. The pure primitiveness in the drive to dominate the situation and apply maximal destruction, as well as sadistic joy in others fear fits better with the Sadistic Disorder. These people are more impulsive and instinctive than the Anti-Social disordered who seem to plan things well in advance and often think of intricate plans to manipulate people. The Sadistic person's mood can switch from calmness into a primitive, shark-like need of sadistic violence all of a sudden; making them very unreliable. His temper tantrums also fit more with the Sadistic disorder than the Anti-Social disorder; Oldham uses the words 'ignition of anger'; 'ferocity' and 'explosion'. This is quite different motive from the subtle word-based manipulation of the Anti Social serial killer or the image based murders of the Narcissistic disordered criminal. In essence it's all about the inability of getting what you want in a subtle way; being too impatient and direct; lack of temper control. It's about being emotionally handicapped with fatal results for their environment.
Jan