BY JANICE MORSE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
C. Durkin
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HAMILTON -- In the month since a dismembered torso dumped in the Great Miami River was identified as Cheryl Ann Durkin, investigators have worked feverishly to find the person who killed the 34-year-old Middletown woman.
They know this isn't just any killer.
This one didn't settle for the impersonal, detached, at-a-distance slaying that's just a trigger-pull away. This one committed the unthinkably, grisly, time-consuming act of cutting up a human body.
And this one has so far managed to blend anonymously into society. But police are pursuing him with every weapon in their investigative arsenal, including contacting a psychological profiler.
So far, Middletown and Butler County police have concluded Cheryl Durkin likely was not the victim of a serial killer. There have been other cases of dismemberment murders over the years in the Tristate, but this is one of only two that remain unsolved.
Middletown police and Butler County Sheriff's investigators have spent thousands of hours searching for clues and interviewing more than 100 neighbors, family members and acquaintances, Sheriff's Lt. Anthony Dwyer said.
As in any murder, police want justice for the victim's family, and they want to catch the killer so he won't kill again, Lt. Dwyer said. Those two reasons are particularly strong in a gruesome case in which dismemberment amplified the family's pain.
"When you're tired and it's late and you don't want to go any more, you have to have something that motivates you -- and it's those two things," said Lt. Dwyer, who has spent many 'round-the-clock workdays on Ms. Durkin's case.
Detectives have compared her case with dismemberments as far away as Chicago, and found no apparent link.
They also have tried to get a psychological snapshot of Ms. Durkin's killer.
But that picture probably is blurrier than TV shows like Profiler lead us to believe, experts say.
"I've been profiling cases even before profiling was fashionable . . . and it's not done in the manner depicted on TV or in the movies," said Pete Smerick, a forensic science consultant who spent nearly eight years in the FBI unit that specializes in criminal profiles. The profilers in TV series and movies "go to the crime scene and have these wonderful visions about what the killer was doing," he said. "God, I've never had a vision in my life. If I did, I think my colleagues would have me committed."
Despite the public's fascination with profiling, Lt. Dwyer said, "You cannot substitute profiling for good, old-fashioned interviews and legwork."
Still, he said, profiling can help narrow the field of possible suspects.
The first step is learning as much as possible about the victim, Mr. Smerick said -- no easy task in Ms. Durkin's case.
At first, investigators knew only that they had a torso of a white person, found April 13.
Some of the first key pieces to the puzzle came from Butler County Coroner Dr. Richard P. Burkhardt.
By examining the remains, he could tell the victim was female, probably tall, and about 35.
Ms. Durkin was 34 -- and had been reported missing around the victim's estimated time of death.
So investigators asked her mother to supply blood for a genetic test.
It matched.
If this case had occurred in the pre-DNA-analysis era, the victim might never have been identified, thus nullifying any chance of finding the killer, Dr. Burkhardt said.
Tracking the killer
Ms. Durkin's job in construction work and her involvement in drugs and street life put her in contact with the fringes of society, increasing her risk of becoming a crime victim -- and increasing the number of possible suspects, Mr. Smerick said.
Ms. Durkin's killer is more likely to be a man, Mr. Smerick said, given the male tendency for aggressive or violent behavior.
As for motive, it's possible that she was killed and dismembered as part of a cult ritual or to fulfill some sort of sick fantasy. But, Mr. Smerick said, it's more likely that the killer had what he considered "practical" reasons for what he did.
The killer might have had some association with Ms. Durkin and dismembered her to make it difficult for authorities to identify her -- and link her with him.
Or the killer might have slain Ms. Durkin unintentionally, then panicked and decided to cut up her 5-foot-10, 148-pound frame "for ease of transportation," Mr. Smerick said.
No figures on dismemberments were available, but experts say this type of slaying is relatively rare -- and can be very tough to solve unless someone confesses.
Agonizing while police search for her daughter's killer, Ms. Durkin's mother, Dorothy Bond, says she wonders, "What kind of person could do this to another human being? It would have to be some sort of psycho, wouldn't it?"
Not necessarily, experts say.
"I'm afraid there isn't any one pat answer," Mr. Smerick said. "There could be someone who was psychotic, someone under the influence of drugs or alcohol -- or even someone who could be a pillar of society." Many factors affect human behavior and make it difficult to predict.
However, people who commit "raw violence" -- dismemberments, mass murders, serial killings and "Jeffrey Dahmer sorts of works" -- often possess something in common, said Dr. Mark Meadows, a social psychologist with the Union Institute's San Diego campus.
"The reason the rest of us can't make sense of what these people do is because of this extreme "magical thinking' that they have," Dr. Meadows said.
Magical thinking is a set of irrational ideas and beliefs. This type of thinking can serve to justify raw violence in the offender's own mind.
Magical thinking, Dr. Meadows said, includes ideas such as: Redundancy: There are too many people on the Earth all serving the same purpose; one fewer won't matter.
Equivalency: One person is the same as another; if a blond woman, for instance, wronged the offender, he might seek to harm a blonde -- any blonde -- as a suitable target for his revenge.
Insignificance: There's nothing special about any one person; it's not a problem when people disappear.
A person with such disturbing beliefs could remain undetected, Dr. Meadows said.
That's because others don't know what signs to look for, Dr. Meadows said. Such people "weren't socialized morally like the rest of us," he said.
Even if others know what signs to look for, a skilled charlatan could keep those signs hidden. "It's easy to feign intelligence and charm and compassion," Dr. Meadows said.
Once a person harbors such thoughts, any number of triggers could push him to commit raw violence, Dr. Meadows said.
Sometimes the person has fantasized for years about a certain scenario -- often sexual in nature. Then, when the time seems right, he finally acts it out, said Dr. Chuck Giles, director of psychology at a maximum-security psychiatric hospital in Lubbock, Texas. "They've rehearsed this thing over and over in their mind for so long -- and they're able to accomplish it because they've planned it for so long," Dr. Giles said, referring to heinous crimes in general because he has no direct knowledge of Ms. Durkin's case. Often, the offender has planned every detail, including how to tidy up afterward and destroy the evidence. As a result, the crime may be committed in a "very crafty" manner that makes it "very easy to get away with," Dr. Giles said.
Some offenders are caught, however, because they feel depressed and admit their crimes. Others admit their crimes or fantasies, only to be disbelieved because they're so shocking.
"If somebody tells you face to face they have fantasies about dismembering people, or says he wants to have sex with a stranger and cut that person's head off -- if you hear something like that, you should tell somebody," he said. "They might not be joking."
Could killer hit again?
Once an offender has escalated his violence to murder or attempted murder, "it's pretty likely it will happen again," Dr. Giles said.
That's why there's reason for concern that Ms. Durkin's killer hasn't been caught, he said, adding the public can look for certain "warning signs" that someone could be capable of extreme violence. While cautioning people to avoid letting fear paralyze them, Dr. Giles said, "There's a certain level of anxiety that's appropriate for everybody -- and that sense of anxiety protects us."
"It's OK to feel a little bit alarmed and take precautions that we should be doing anyway," he said. "It's kind of a reminder that the world isn't a good place all of the time."
Warning signs of extreme violence
Someone may be capable of extreme violence if he or she possesses many of the following behaviors:
Describes violent fantasies, possibly involving sex.
Talks about "being on edge" and lacking ability to control impulses.
Reports hearing voices telling him to kill someone.
Goes on a weapons-gathering binge, buying lots of rope or other items that could be used for torture.
Has a repeated history of arson, animal torture or hurting children. Exhibits tremendous rage and - or mood swings.
Has an insatiable sexual appetite.
Uses alcohol and - or drugs chronically, thus lowering inhibitions and making him more likely to act on impulses.
Admits he committed a violent or depraved act, then becomes depressed and - or increases alcohol and drug use.
Source: Dr. Chuck Giles, director of psychology, Montford Psychiatric Medical Unit, Lubbock, Texas.
