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Friday, February 05, 2010 - 5:51 PM
Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire. Most acts of cannibalism are, to a degree, motivated by a desire to
express power or control over the victim. Cannibalism is the ultimate
expression of dominance over another person. Aggression cannibalism
includes acts of cannibalism that are motivated by feelings of
hostility and/or fear, creating an overriding need to exert power,
revenge or control over the victim by murdering and then consuming him. Aggression
cannibalism is one of the more common forms of cannibalism and often
overlaps with other types of anthropophagy, especially spiritual,
ritualistic and sexual cannibalism. Some forms of aggression
cannibalism have recently gained worldwide media attention. The most
recent cases include, Anna Zimmerman and Ed Kemper. In 1981 Anna
Zimmerman, 26, a German mother of two, murdered her boyfriend out of
anger and revenge and then dismembered his body. She froze his remains
and over-time defrosted portions of his body and consumed them with her
unsuspecting children. She represents one of the few known cases of
female criminal cannibals.
Edmund Kemper was found guilty of the murders of six young women, his
two grandparents, his mother and mother's friend. Kemper's killing
spree and cannibalism was believed to be the result of his disdain for
his mother and an unhappy childhood. According to Kemper, his mother
psychologically abused him and at one point forced him to sleep in the
cold and dark basement when he was a child. While in the basement, his
hate for his mother began to fester. In order to release the pent up
anger he would often entertain murderous fantasies. Many of the
murders Kemper committed had a large sexual component to them: he raped
some of his victims, killed them and then sexually molested the
corpses. However, it is believed that the murders were primarily
motivated by his feelings of anger and revenge, directly and indirectly
towards his mother. In fact, Kemper claimed that the unpleasant
relationship with his mother was what influenced him to act out his
violent fantasies, which included cannibalism.
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