Peter Kurten

A detailed Summary of Peter Kurten

Peter Kurten was a serial killer in Dusseldorf, Germany. Also know as the "Dusseldorf Vampire," Kurten terrified civilians from the late 1800's until in the early 1900's when he was captured. He was born may 26th, 1883. His first murder occurred in 1892 when Peter was only five years old. His rein of terror ended in May of 1930, when police finally captured him. He confessed to sixty-eight murders in the thirty-seven years he remained at large (Schechter & Everitt, 1997). Peter Kurten was labeled the "Dusseldorf Vampire or Monster" because of the sadistic manner of his crimes.

This serial killer is especially interesting because Peter's methods of operation did not comply with the original profile of a serial killer (Schechter & Everitt, 1997). There was no efficient, systematic approach used to target his victims. The majority of serial killers have a certain profile that their victims fit into, Peter's victims did not show any relation in race, sex or other physical characteristics (Sutherland, Luckenbill & Cressey, 1992). Unusually, his victims were not all women, since his motivation was not always for self-sexual gratification. Kurten did not have a preferred method to kill or torture his victims.

at Peter indulged in frequently, he also had a list of secondary crimes committed during his acts, such as kidnapping, rape and mutilation (Schechter & Everitt, 1997).

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Siegel, L. J. (2000). Criminology (7th Ed)

Chitolie R. (1997) Serial killer case files. The world wide serial killer homepage [online]

Peter Kurten's started his criminal course when he was young, starting with arson. Peter told a psychiatrist, " I got sexual pleasure from the glow of the fire. It gave me so much pleasure that I got sexual satisfaction in those cases (Ressler & Shacntman, 1997)." Peter confided also told them that he was to expand from individual murders and exterminate entire communities by the means of fire or dynamite. By the age of nine Peter mutilated swans and other small animals and drank the blood that fell from their necks after decapitating them. As a child Peter also experimented in bestiality. He was taught how to masturbate dogs and torture them by a lodger that stayed with his family while his father was in jail. Peter committed his first sadistic murder in 1900, his victim was a 9- year old girl whom he stabbed, raped, and then partially burnt. When Peter was almost an adult, he was arrested for theft and sentenced to two years in jail. While in jail Peter would purp!

Schechter, H. & Everitt, D. (1997). A a to z encyclopedia of serial killers

Criminology best explains Peter Kurten's behavior through the social learning theory type. This theory suggests that people learn the techniques and attitudes of crime from a close relationship with criminal behavior (Siegel, 2000). In the cases of Peter Kurten, he learned his criminal behavior from his violently drunken father and the man who had moved in as a lodger while Peter's father was in jail. In some instances Kur

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