“Drop the Body”: Body Disposal Patterns in Sexual Homicide

• Author: April Miin Miin Chai,Eric Beauregard,Julien Chopin
• DOI: 10.1177/0306624X20931436
• Date: 01 May 2021
• Published date: 01 May 2021
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X20931436

International Journal of

Offender Therapy and

Comparative Criminology

2021, Vol. 65(6-7) 692 –714

© The Author(s) 2020

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DOI: 10.1177/0306624X20931436

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Article

“Drop the Body”: Body

Disposal Patterns in

Sexual Homicide

April Miin Miin Chai1, Eric Beauregard1,

and Julien Chopin1

Abstract

The current study investigates body disposal patterns in sexual homicide and

examines whether offender’s behavior differ between solved and unsolved cases. To

address these two research questions in line with rational choice perspective, a series

of logistic regression analyses was conducted on a sample of 250 solved, and 100

unsolved sexual homicide cases in Canada. Within solved cases, results show that

if victim is a prostitute, body found concealed, and found lying face down, it is likely

the body was moved. For unsolved cases, the role of victim as a prostitute, and body

recovered outdoors suggest that the body was moved. Further, results indicate that

post-crime phase factors predicted the most whether the victim’s body was moved

in solved cases. Whereas within unsolved cases, crime-phase factors contributed the

most at predicting whether the body was moved post-homicide. Theoretical and

practical implications from this study are discussed.

Keywords

sexual homicide, crime-commission process, body disposal patterns, rational choice,

Modus operandi

Sexual homicide (SH) cases have long fascinated the public and the media ever since

Jack the Ripper claimed his first victim in Whitechapel in 1888. This type of crime is

rare; only 1% to 4% of all homicides could be classified as sexual (Beauregard, 2018).

Consequently, the disproportionate representation of sexual homicide offenders creates

1Simon Fraser University, Canada

Corresponding Author:

Julien Chopin, School of Criminology, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC V5A

1S6, Canada.

Email: julien_chopin@sfu.ca

931436IJOXXX10.1177/0306624X20931436International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative CriminologyChai et al.

research-article2020

Chai et al. 693

public fear, and even moral panic (James & Proulx, 2014). In effect, the disproportion-

ate public fear and media sensationalism SH create has had substantial implications for

criminal justice systems. First, the cost of a sexual homicide investigation and prosecu-

tion has been estimated to be nearly $20 million per incident (DeLisi et al., 2010).

Second, media coverage causes debilitating fear among the most vulnerable groups

(e.g., marginalized women). Third, the low base rate occurrence of these crimes poses

challenges for the assessment of effective investigation policies (Beauregard &

Martineau, 2017). Regarding the latter, policy makers and law enforcement planners

typically resort to academic research to assist in identifying offenders.

Sex offenders have been traditionally categorized as a special sub population of

criminals exclusively motivated by uncontrollable sexual urges to offend (Beauregard

& Lussier, 2018). Ouimet and Proulx (1994) conducted one of the first empirical stud-

ies to challenge the assertion that sex offenders were solely driven by fantasies and

impulsivity. The authors explored the crime-commission process of child molesters

and found that they performed cost-benefit analysis throughout the commission of the

crime, similar to non-sex offenders (e.g., burglars). Subsequently, considerable

research has identified models of scripts for different types of sex offenders (e.g.,

Beauregard & Leclerc, 2007; Beauregard et al., 2007a, 2012). These models identified

the motivational, behavioral, contextual, and cognitive factors associated with sex

offenders in influencing their choices to commit crimes (Beauregard & Leclerc, 2007).

In the subsequent years, considerable sexual homicide research was largely based

on the rational choice perspective (Pedneault, 2018). In general, these studies took an

offender-based approach, examining the behavioral pathways (i.e., modus operandi)

that an offender makes throughout the crime-commission process. However, a review

of the current literature shows that the majority of sexual homicide studies tend to

focus on either identifying offender typologies (e.g., Beauregard & Proulx, 2002;

Holmes & Holmes, 1998; Ressler et al., 1986), or focusing on separate crime phases

(i.e., pre-crime [Yarvis, 1990], crime [Salfati & Taylor, 2006], or post-crime phase

[Beech, et al., 2006]). Recent sexual violence researchers have highlighted the impor-

tance of taking the entire criminal event into account (see Beauregard et al., 2012;

Chopin & Beauregard, 2019c; Ensslen et al., 2018), to provide a more complete pic-

ture of the offender’s decision-making process. However, this approach is lacking

within SH research, and this is even more apparent when considering the post-crime

phase of the SH (e.g., body disposal patterns).

Morton et al. (2014) acknowledged the lack of research on body disposal patterns

and identified four body disposal pathways to assist law enforcement in investiga-

tions. The authors stressed the importance of identifying body disposal pathways

due to several factors: (a) body disposal sites are usually the first scene encountered

by law enforcement; (b) the manner and circumstances of the body disposal can

provide logical clues to the nature of the crime; (c) different body disposal scenarios

can reflect an offender’s criminal experience level; and (d) the manner in which the

body is disposed of can shed light into the relationship between the victim and the

offender (Morton et al., 2014). By identifying behavioral patterns associated with

body disposal, results from this study can not only provide crucial information on