A Conversation About the Riverman, Part 8
Added 2022-02-11 03:57:10 +0000 UTCKeppel: You don’t believe in this theory that some people have, that they [serial killers] have no remorse?
TB: Oh no. No. I don’t believe that. I don’t believe that theory at all. Alcoholics who I’ve known suffer a great deal of remorse. That doesn’t stop them from drinking. Some alcoholics can’t hold a job, and their families are falling apart. They know they’re being mean and cruel to people, yet they still drink. And they feel very bad about it, but can’t stop themselves.
And I’m sure there are some people who kill who feel no remorse. But I think it’s very accurate to say that just cause a man feels remorse doesn’t mean he wants to turn himself in and be executed by the state. Because a man feels remorse doesn’t mean he can control the deep drive or compulsion that causes him to kill. So I think there very well may be gaps, periods in here between victims, where the reason he doesn’t do anything is because he’s just despondent over his inability to control his behavior.
Who knows? You can’t stereotype this kind of individual. Most anything is possible, and unfortunately there’s only one individual. There is one person who is a real person. And he’s quite capable of feeling all the ranges of emotion as you do. And don’t overlook the fact that he can come off, and in many respects is, as normal as anybody else. He may not be, but this guy has lasted long enough that he’s not a raving… he’s not obviously disturbed, in my opinion, or else I think that he would have come apart. He would have made a more serious mistake. He would have made himself more obvious to you.
