Clinical Neuropsychiatry (2011) 8, 5, 301-302
SHORT COMMUNICATION
NECROPHILIA AND AUTISTIC PSYCHOPATHY
Michael Fitzgerald
Declaration of interest: M. Fitzgerald in consultant and speaker’s Bureau with Shire, Janssen, Novartis, Eli Lilly
Prof. Michael Fitzgerald
Department of Psychiatry
Trinity College Dublin
[email protected]
This paper puts forward the proposal that a better
way of understanding the psychopathology of persons
engaging with necrophilia is to consider Hans
Asperger’s (1938, 1944) autistic psychopathy renamed
by Lorna Wing (1981) as Asperger’s syndrome, an
Autism Spectrum Disorder. In this paper the author is
recommending that Hans Asperger ’s autistic
psychopathy be retained for persons with autism who
engage in serious criminal activity.
Unfortunately this is very commonly missed in
clinical practice. It is true that the majority of persons
with Autism are highly moral, nevertheless a small
minority are highly dangerous. They show gross lack of
empathy, are dangerously perverse and get enormous
pleasure from serial killing and necrophilia. For some the
only sexual interest they have is in relation to dead bodies.
Necrophilia is a sexual interest in corpses
(Fitzgerald 2010). Wulffen (1910) described lust murder
or necrosadism “in which murder precedes the sexual
act with the corpse, necrostuprum in which the corpse
is stolen, and necrophagy in which the corpse is
mutilated and parts of it eaten”. Sexual interference with
bodies tends to be more common among “mortuary
attendants, hospital orderlies, and grave diggers”
Regular necrophilia is the use of an already dead body
for sexual pleasure and necrophilic fantasy is the
fantasying about sexual activity with corpses (Fitzgerald
2010). Persons who engage in this activity are mostly
males with a wide span of IQ levels. About half engaged
in vaginal intercourse; 11% in anal intercourse; 11% in
fallacio or cunnilingus; 30% in mutilation and 6% in
necrophagia (Rossman and Resnick 1989). Rossman
and Resnick’s (1989) sample of necrophiliacs found
that “the rate of homicide committed by true necrophiles
was 28%”. They call this necrophiliac homicide that is
the killing and obtaining of corpses for sexual purposes.
Prostitutes are sometimes paid to pretend they are dead.
Autistic Psychopathy, Primary Psychopathy
and Necrophilia
Autistic Psychopathy
Asperger (1944) noted a disturbance in social
relationships: “the fundamental disorder of autistic
individuals is the limitation of their social
relationships”.
Persons with autistic psychopathy tend to have
their own interests and are experimentalists for example
in the areas of chemistry, poisons, and killing. As
children they are sometimes interested in dissecting
animals. Later this moves on to human beings. They
can design unique experiments. They are often
interested in nature, animals, and the insides of animals
and human beings. This can feature (interest in the
insides of human beings) in the purpose of killing by
persons with autistic psychopathy. They are extremely
bored by the activities of children in the schoolyard
and are therefore often excluded and bullied. They tend
to be massive readers and prefer the company of books
to human beings. Callous – unemotional traits predict
a persistence in offending. Fitzgerald (2003) has noted
these unemotional traits in Asperger’s syndrome.
Autistic Psychopathy (Asperger’s Syndrome)
and Aggression
Right from the beginning of the discussion on
autistic psychopathy, the link with aggression and
violence was made.
Uta Frith (1991) in her translation of Hans
Asperger’s 1944 paper states that Fritz V, one of Hans
Asperger’s patients was “aggressive” and “lashed out
with anything he could get hold of (once a hammer)”
and he “attacked other children” and “appeared to
“enjoy people being angry”. His next patient Harro L.
was an “inveterate liar” in that: “he told “long fantastic
stories”. This challenges the notion that persons with
Asperger’s syndrome cannot lie, but some can and this
was recognised from the very first discussions of
Autistic Psychopathy (Asperger’s Syndrome). They can
also make false accusations.
This is extremely dangerous for parents, and I have
seen them contact the police and make false criminal
accusations against their long suffering parents who
were naturally devastated by these accusations.
Hans Asperger (1944) also mentioned “autistic acts
of malice”. Frith (1991) writes that: “these acts appear
SUBMITTED NOVEMBER 2010, ACCEPTED JULY 2011
© 2011 Giovanni Fioriti Editore s.r.l.
301
Michael Fitzgerald
to be calculated” and could be “sadistic acts” and these
persons “delight in malice”. Asperger (1944) also wrote
that: “sadistic traits” are frequent. One boy with Autistic
Psychopathy said:
“Mummy, I shall take a knife one day and push it
into your heart, then blood will spurt out and this will
cause a great stir” and “it would be nice to be a wolf.
Then I could rip apart sheep and people, and then blood
will flow”.
This has many echoes of the adults I describe in
this paper with criminal autistic psychopathy
experimentation.
Murrie et al. (2002) again describe a “small subset
of Asperger’s syndrome patients (who) come into
contact with the legal system due to their social
impairments and idiosyncratic interests”. They noted
their “cold, heartless and remorseless behaviour”,
“egocentricity and shallow affect”, “naiveties”, “immediate confession” and “deficient shame”.
O’Brien and Bell (2004) note that Asperger
described in his cases “odd and bizarre antisocial
behaviours”. Lorna Wing in Asperger’s Syndrome
(1981) noted “a small minority have a history of rather
bizarre antisocial acts, perhaps because of their lack of
empathy”.
Jeffrey Dahlmer is a classic person exhibiting
necrophilia and autistic psychopathy. Others include
John Wayne Gacy (Fitzgerald 2010) a man who spoke
in monologues, was a ‘lonely lost and confused person’
(Morrison and Goldberg 2004), had poor interpersonal
relationships with adults and peers but as is typical of
persons with autistic psychopathy got on very well with
children. He engaged in ‘mutilation, biting and/or
necrophilia’ (Morrison and Goldberg 2004).
John Reginald Christie (Fitzgerald 2010) was a
loner. He was fascinated by dead bodies and had sexual
relations with the people he killed. He also mutilated
302
the bodies he killed.
It is critical that psychiatrists keep dangerousness
in mind when assessing persons with Autism and
Asperger’s Syndrome. It is even more critical for
forensic psychiatrists when assessing dangerousness
and recividism.
References
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Clinical Neuropsychiatry (2011) 8, 5