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John Wayne Gacy’s Brain

On May 10, 1994, about 3 a.m., Dr. Helen Morrison received word: John Wayne Gacy, who prowled the Chicago streets preying on lonely runaways and murdered 33 young men and boys, had been executed.

Dr. Morrison headed out to a nearby hospital where she donned scrubs and Latex gloves to assist in Gacy’s autopsy.

For Morrison, it was a strange final chapter to her 14-year history with the clown-turned-killer. The forensic psychiatrist had interviewed Gacy many times, listening to his rants, raves, lies, boasts, explanations and evasions.

Now she was back for something else: Gacy’s brain. Morrison had made arrangements to have the brain examined to see if there was anything — tumors, scars, disease — that made it abnormal.

When the autopsy was over, Morrison drove home with Gacy’s brain in a glass jar on the passenger seat of her Buick.

It took several calls to find a pathologist who would do the tests, and a few weeks later an express-mail envelope arrived at her office. She was not surprised by the summary.

“Just one simple line,” she says. “Normal brain.”

(Source: criminalprofiler)

John Wayne Gacy’s Brain

On May 10, 1994, about 3 a.m., Dr. Helen Morrison received word: John Wayne Gacy, who prowled the Chicago streets preying on lonely runaways and murdered 33 young men and boys, had been executed.

Dr. Morrison headed out to a nearby hospital where she donned scrubs and Latex gloves to assist in Gacy’s autopsy.

For Morrison, it was a strange final chapter to her 14-year history with the clown-turned-killer. The forensic psychiatrist had interviewed Gacy many times, listening to his rants, raves, lies, boasts, explanations and evasions.

Now she was back for something else: Gacy’s brain. Morrison had made arrangements to have the brain examined to see if there was anything — tumors, scars, disease — that made it abnormal.

When the autopsy was over, Morrison drove home with Gacy’s brain in a glass jar on the passenger seat of her Buick.

It took several calls to find a pathologist who would do the tests, and a few weeks later an express-mail envelope arrived at her office. She was not surprised by the summary.

“Just one simple line,” she says. “Normal brain.”

Brain Injury and Serial Murder

Some researchers theorize that serial killers have brain damage or other biological abnormalities that contribute to their actions. Damage to areas like the frontal lobe, the hypothalamus and the limbic system can contribute to extreme aggression, loss of control, loss of judgment and violence. Henry Lee Lucas, who was convicted of 11 murders, was shown to have extreme brain damage in these areas, probably the result of childhood abuse, malnutrition and alcoholism. Arthur Shawcross, another 11-time serial killer, was found to have had several brain injuries, including two skull fractures. While in prison, he suffered from headaches and often blacked out. Bobby Joe Long, convicted of nine murders, stated at one point, “After I’m dead, they’re going to open up my head and find that just like we’ve been saying a part of my brain is black and dry and dead”.

Hemispatial neglect, is a neuropsychological condition in which, after damage to one hemisphere of the brain, a deficit in attention to and awareness of one side of space is observed. Hemispatial neglect is very commonly on the opposite side of the damaged hemisphere, but instances of same sided neglect have been reported.

Although most strikingly affecting visual perception (‘visual neglect’), neglect in other forms of perception can also be found, either alone, or in combination with visual neglect. A patient with neglect behaves as if one side of sensory space is nonexistent; although they can still walk and turn around to either sides. A patient with neglect might fail to eat the food on the one half of their plate, even though they complain of being hungry. If someone with neglect is asked to draw a clock, their drawing might show only the numbers 12 and 1 to 6, the other side being distorted or left blank. Neglect patients may also ignore one side of their body, shaving or adding make-up only to the non-neglected side.

bodysnatched:

Stabbed in the head. Knife penetrated through the inferior(basal) surface of the brain.

(Source: wideeyess)

(Source: ohjunkie)