Colonel Williams - Macho Man Murderer?

Following up on the case of Trenton's Commander, Colonel Russel Williams, who is the alleged murderer of two women and two assaults (and quite possibly the deaths of five other young women who didn't even reach my age), I read an interesting article from a forensic psychologist's view.

According to TheStar, Williams might classify as the rarest type of serial offender - a Macho Man. They tend to be intelligible men with 'significant others who “do well in the workplace,” “are drawn to law enforcement or military,” display an obsessive-compulsive need for things to be “done a very specific way,” “prefer to dress in uniform,” and “stand up very straight, even in personal life.”'

But really, how does that come close to explaining how a high-ranking military officer, respected and looked highly upon with a wife who is associate exec to Heart&Stroke, can commit such hideous crimes? The answer is a whirlwind of ideas but there is one that the forensic pointed out - compartmentalizing. The dictionary definition states that compartmentalization is a "divide and conquer" process for separating thoughts that will conflict with one another. In Williams' case, he was able to separate his secret malicious behavior from his respectable daily life, and thus, kill without guilt.

"Like a hitman for the mob, he kills for a living yet otherwise leads an ordinary family life."

Compartmentalizing is closely associated with dehumanization in serial killers, whereby the offender believes their victims are subhuman and expendable and that maybe they are doing society good for killing them off. So much for extreme altruism. Col. Williams has 23 years of experience in law enforcement and civil protection and he goes on a killing spree targeting young females. Quite evidently, he took his power and control way too far.

Anyway, this case brings up worried intuitions inside me thinking.. don't we all experience compartmentalization in some way or another? Maybe we're not experts like Williams and all the other offenders in this world, but it does come to show that we do have divided hearts. But that's the Christian life isn't it? At least until we really figure out how to blend the two together.. or let one take over the other.

Oh and just another quick thought... how about the soldiers fighting in the war? I mean, it's almost runs parallel. They're killing people (for a "cause") while they've got their girlfriends, wifes, children back at home... again, altruism in its extreme.