Talking with Psychopaths and Savages

Berry-Dee argues narcissistic personality disorder is inextricably linked to psychopathy, though this connection is rarely discussed in psychiatric literature. Both affect roughly 1% of the population and share a defense mechanism he calls "splitting" — the internal tug-of-war between grandiose fantasies of unlimited success and a paralyzing fear of failure.

Every killer profiled displayed this pattern. Kenneth Bianchi's adoptive mother said catching him in lies made you feel like the crazy one. John Cannan's ego crumbled each time a lover left him, triggering escalating violence across 11 documented steps. Pistorius snapped when he imagined his faithful girlfriend cheating on him. The diagnostic warning sign: when someone's charm is magnetic but their self-esteem is fragile, criticism doesn't produce growth — it produces rage.

Berry-Dee developed a "fishing" technique over decades of prison interviews. First, identify the killer's ego vulnerability. Then cast irresistible bait: Chanel perfume sprayed on cream Conqueror stationery for vain Melanie McGuire, talk of Jaguars and Aston Martins for status-obsessed John Cannan, the promise of being Best Man at his wedding for child-killer Arthur Shawcross.

Once hooked, control the conversation. Mirror the killer's coldness and strategically withhold the validation they crave. With Shawcross, invoking his girlfriend Clara's name flipped a switch that produced an on-camera confession to the murder of ten-year-old Jack Blake — a case police had failed to close for over two decades. With Michael Ross, belittling his kill count ("Just six victims?") provoked admissions to two additional murders. Psychopaths cannot resist an audience.

Berry-Dee documents psychiatric failure with darkly comic regularity. Kenneth Bianchi faked multiple personality disorder so convincingly that three eminent psychiatrists confirmed it — until Dr. Martin Orne devised a trap. He casually mentioned MPD rarely involves just two personalities. Bianchi immediately invented a third, "Billy." When asked to shake hands with a lawyer who wasn't in the room, Bianchi reached out to shake an invisible hand — exposing the performance.

The problem is systemic. During Peter Sutcliffe's trial, Dr. McCulloch admitted spending just 30 minutes with the defendant before diagnosing paranoid schizophrenia and hadn't read Sutcliffe's own statement until the day before trial. In the Lee Baker case, one prosecution psychiatrist based her "corroborating expert testimony" entirely on what a colleague had told her, having merely popped into the defendant's cell to say hello.

Berry-Dee traces a "graduation process" in every killer's history — a predictable escalation from minor offenses to homicide. John Cannan's criminal career spanned 11 documented steps:
1. Menial job frustration and narcissistic injury
2. Marriage collapse blamed on everyone else
3. Domestic violence against a partner
4. Armed robbery wearing a crash helmet
5. Savage rape of a pregnant woman in front of her toddler

Each step was triggered by a blow to his ego — being fired, dumped, or outperformed. The same pattern appears in Kenneth McDuff (teenage burglary to triple murder to parole to more murders) and Michael Ross (campus voyeurism to serial rape to serial murder). Escalating patterns of control, deception, and boundary violations are not phases people grow out of.

The book's most damning indictment targets systems that return killers to the streets. Mass murderer Paul Beecham was released from Broadmoor Hospital after just 16 years, declared "unlikely to kill again." He shot his partner and then himself. Child killer Arthur Shawcross served 14 of 25 years despite one psychiatrist warning he was "possibly the most dangerous individual to have been released." He murdered at least nine more women.

Kenneth McDuff was paroled from Death Row during Texas prison overcrowding — one of 20 former Death Row inmates and 127 murderers released in a single sweep. Three days later, he killed again. Berry-Dee's conclusion: psychopathy has no cure. No drug, no therapy, no rehabilitation program works. The only practical purpose of studying incarcerated killers is to help catch the next one faster.

Berry-Dee's "walk around" technique involves mentally examining someone as if they were a wax figure on a plinth — studying their appearance, claims, and behavior for contradictions. John Cannan drove a bottom-of-the-range BMW on hire purchase while claiming to be a high-flying sales executive. His boot was stuffed with junk, handcuffs, and rope. His mother confirmed he'd been fired from his father's garage for failing to properly wash cars.

John Robinson's glittering CV fooled everyone: Eagle Scout, Man of the Year, Mobil Corporation director. Every credential was fabricated — yet a brigadier general and former White House physician hired him without checking. Robinson even wrote his own "Man of the Year" recommendation letters. The tell is always in the details nobody bothers to verify: the frayed collar beneath the flashy suit, the empty bank account behind the expensive car.

John Robinson — "The Slave Master" — was among the first Internet serial killers, using BDSM websites and fake job postings to lure victims. He convinced women to sign "Slave Contracts" granting him total physical and financial control. Several victims ended up decomposing in 55-gallon steel barrels on his property while Robinson continued cashing their government benefit checks.

The predatory patterns are ancient; the scale is new. Berry-Dee notes that the same tactics once confined to newspaper personal ads now operate across countless platforms. Robinson's fabricated online persona — consultancy CEO, charitable fundraiser, devoted family man — was indistinguishable from a legitimate businessman's profile. Berry-Dee's advice is blunt: the moment anyone you've met online asks for money or seeks to isolate you from your support network, cut contact immediately.

Chemical castration was attempted on Michael Ross using massive doses of the contraceptive Depo-Provera. His weight ballooned, his liver failed, depression returned — but the psychopathy remained untouched. He warned staff he'd kill any female officer left alone with him. Electroconvulsive therapy, ice baths, Victorian-era leeches — all tried historically on psychopaths. None worked.

The practical value of this grim research lies not in prevention — Berry-Dee insists no one can prevent a first kill — but in pattern recognition. Understanding Ross's methods helps profile campus predators. Mapping Cannan's 11-step escalation helps identify someone mid-spiral. The Hare PCL-R Checklist gives investigators a structured assessment tool, though Hare himself warns it must never be applied by amateurs or used to pre-emptively punish anyone.