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Mutilated Cats Turning Up in Utah, Colorado

Aired July 01, 2003 - 15:43   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: This may sound like a trivial story to people who don't really like cats, but...
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: There are some potentially dark undertones that we would like to explore a little bit.

Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Helen Morrison joining us from Chicago to talk about the case.

Dr. Morrison, good to have you with us.

DR. HELEN MORRISON, FORENSIC PSYCHIATRIST: Thank you for having me.

O'BRIEN: First of all, is it a bit odd to you that this is occurring in two western cities simultaneously?

MORRISON: Not necessarily. It -- one of the thing that we have to think about are the type of individuals who might be doing something like this. It could be a ritual-type group. It could be a lone individual who is acting on some type of a command hallucination, meaning that someone is telling them how to do this or why to do this.

And the other thing it might be just -- and I hate to say it because people don't understand -- fun. Some people might be doing this just because they want to. They want to see how this animal is going to react and they may also be doing it as a type of, oh, an initiation right for a specific group.

So whether it's a group of kids, whether it's a lone adult, whether it's a group of adults who are involved in some type of ritual, we don't know yet.

PHILLIPS: Dr. Morrison, you can't help but think of Jeffrey Dahmer. I mean, this is someone who engaged in animal mutilation before turning into a serial killer. What do you think? I mean, is animal mutilation always a direct link to human murder?

MORRISON: Not for a serial killer. The statistics are very clear that in some instances, such as Jeffrey Dahmer and I believe Wayne Williams was another -- have been involved in some type of animal mutilation or some type of animal torture. However, the majority of serial murderers have not been involved in animal mutilation. In the early days of research of criminal behavior, people thought that in the individual who killed an animal or wet the bed in that that type of combination would become a murderer. But that's really not been predictive.

O'BRIEN: Dr. Morrison, is this a person who is seeking out precisely what we're doing here, giving him or her attention?

MORRISON: Well, it might be. But the problem is that it's happening in two cities. It's happening -- well, Aurora is very close to Denver and Salt Lake, obviously. But the question would be, is there some type of a copy cat phenomena going on? Did one series begin before another series and is this individual, who may be doing this, saying, Well, gee, now I can get some attention.

But there is another point. Some of these animals have been found bloodless and the question is, has some of the blood been taken from the animal and then the type of ritual that occurs in the mutilation of these animals occurring and that would make us think that there was some type of ritual group involvement.

PHILLIPS: Well, Dr. Morrison, you're a forensic psychiatrist. I mean, you're talking a little bit of a pattern here. As you read up on this and follow up on the stories, do you see any other type of interesting patterns going on?

MORRISON: Well, the bizarre placement of internal organs in some of these cases or the fact that internal organs have been removed and placed at a certain distance would make me wonder what is the motivating factor for the individual who is doing this.

O'BRIEN: Yes, you know, we are going to tread carefully here because it's tough sledding, but in some cases what we're talking about as an animal that has been disemboweled and all the organs in a certain way, perhaps for shock value, perhaps, as you say, for ritual. Certainly, whether it's ritual or not, it certainly has the shock value, doesn't it?

MORRISON: It certainly does. And again, until we find out who the individual or individuals are who are doing this, we really are only speculating as to what we know from historical references. So we certainly don't know what the individual or individuals might be doing or why they might be doing this. But they certainly are shocking people.

PHILLIPS: Yes. And more than 40 cases is pretty shocking.

MORRISON: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Dr. Helen Morrison, forensic psychiatrist, thank you.

MORRISON: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired July 1, 2003 - 15:43   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: This may sound like a trivial story to people who don't really like cats, but...
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: There are some potentially dark undertones that we would like to explore a little bit.

Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Helen Morrison joining us from Chicago to talk about the case.

Dr. Morrison, good to have you with us.

DR. HELEN MORRISON, FORENSIC PSYCHIATRIST: Thank you for having me.

O'BRIEN: First of all, is it a bit odd to you that this is occurring in two western cities simultaneously?

MORRISON: Not necessarily. It -- one of the thing that we have to think about are the type of individuals who might be doing something like this. It could be a ritual-type group. It could be a lone individual who is acting on some type of a command hallucination, meaning that someone is telling them how to do this or why to do this.

And the other thing it might be just -- and I hate to say it because people don't understand -- fun. Some people might be doing this just because they want to. They want to see how this animal is going to react and they may also be doing it as a type of, oh, an initiation right for a specific group.

So whether it's a group of kids, whether it's a lone adult, whether it's a group of adults who are involved in some type of ritual, we don't know yet.

PHILLIPS: Dr. Morrison, you can't help but think of Jeffrey Dahmer. I mean, this is someone who engaged in animal mutilation before turning into a serial killer. What do you think? I mean, is animal mutilation always a direct link to human murder?

MORRISON: Not for a serial killer. The statistics are very clear that in some instances, such as Jeffrey Dahmer and I believe Wayne Williams was another -- have been involved in some type of animal mutilation or some type of animal torture. However, the majority of serial murderers have not been involved in animal mutilation. In the early days of research of criminal behavior, people thought that in the individual who killed an animal or wet the bed in that that type of combination would become a murderer. But that's really not been predictive.

O'BRIEN: Dr. Morrison, is this a person who is seeking out precisely what we're doing here, giving him or her attention?

MORRISON: Well, it might be. But the problem is that it's happening in two cities. It's happening -- well, Aurora is very close to Denver and Salt Lake, obviously. But the question would be, is there some type of a copy cat phenomena going on? Did one series begin before another series and is this individual, who may be doing this, saying, Well, gee, now I can get some attention.

But there is another point. Some of these animals have been found bloodless and the question is, has some of the blood been taken from the animal and then the type of ritual that occurs in the mutilation of these animals occurring and that would make us think that there was some type of ritual group involvement.

PHILLIPS: Well, Dr. Morrison, you're a forensic psychiatrist. I mean, you're talking a little bit of a pattern here. As you read up on this and follow up on the stories, do you see any other type of interesting patterns going on?

MORRISON: Well, the bizarre placement of internal organs in some of these cases or the fact that internal organs have been removed and placed at a certain distance would make me wonder what is the motivating factor for the individual who is doing this.

O'BRIEN: Yes, you know, we are going to tread carefully here because it's tough sledding, but in some cases what we're talking about as an animal that has been disemboweled and all the organs in a certain way, perhaps for shock value, perhaps, as you say, for ritual. Certainly, whether it's ritual or not, it certainly has the shock value, doesn't it?

MORRISON: It certainly does. And again, until we find out who the individual or individuals are who are doing this, we really are only speculating as to what we know from historical references. So we certainly don't know what the individual or individuals might be doing or why they might be doing this. But they certainly are shocking people.

PHILLIPS: Yes. And more than 40 cases is pretty shocking.

MORRISON: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Dr. Helen Morrison, forensic psychiatrist, thank you.

MORRISON: Thank you.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com