Displaced Matricide

Conflicts regarding sexual inadequacy in acute catathymic homicides are frequently interwoven with conflicts regarding maternal images. Sometimes the offenders mother is idealized—considered pure and unsoiled by sex—or she may be perceived as rejecting, hateful, or immoral. Such ideas may be induced by the mothers infidelity to her husband or by her sexual conduct with other men. Meloy (1988, 1992) believes that maternal rage is often a result of the feelings of helplessness and dependence aroused in a male, who observes his mothers sexually promiscuous conduct. Maternal sexual promiscuity and indiscretion are more upsetting to males than to females: “A boy’s perception of his mother’s infidelity and sexual looseness is more traumatic than a girls perception of the same behavior in her father” (Revitch and Schlesinger, 1989, p. 108). Perhaps cultural standards play a role in this phenomenon.

Lewis and Yarnell (1951) reported the case of a young man whose preoccupation with fire and female purity was similar to dynamics found in many cases of sexual homicide. The offender was disturbed by his mother’s promiscuous sexual behavior. He hallucinated hearing his mother’s voice inviting him to have sexual relations with her, and he even had a vision of flaming genitals in front of him. Following this experience, he set fire to his mother’s bedroom and her clothing. These authors believed that this case could be best explained by Freud’s (1910) theory of the splitting of the maternal image into “good mother” and “bad mother.” In this connection, Mathis (1971) described the Madonna-prostitute syndrome, which also involves the split between good and bad images of the mother. Men with such maternal conflicts are frequently unable to obtain an erection with their wives unless the wives are sexually degraded in some manner. Only a “degraded woman” is not like the Madonna-mother and does not induce panic anxiety over the thought of an incestuous relationship. Karpman (1935) also found these oedipal preoccupations in some of his cases.

An acute catathymic homicide can be the result of a displacement of suddenly induced hostile emotions from the mother to the victim, although not all acute catathymic homicides involve such displacements. In some cases, these conflicts are masked and are not obvious until the offender is thoroughly evaluated and is willing to discuss his thoughts and feelings in an open and direct manner. Revitch (1965) noted that adolescents and preadolescents who committed unprovoked sexual attacks were particularly preoccupied with maternal sexual conduct and morality, and this conflict served as a trigger for their outbursts. The following cases are illustrative of acute catathymic homicides involving a displaced matricide.

Case 5.5: Typical Displaced Matricide

A 24-year-old male (EE) killed a 39-year-old woman, whom he had known for only several hours, by slashing her throat with a knife. Earlier in the evening, around 8:00 p.m., he had gone to a local bar.

I hit on a chick at the bar. Some bar trash there. I talked to her. She wanted nothing to do with me, and I wasn’t into her world, which was drugs. So I decided to go home. I had to go to work the next day, so the hell with it.

At around 10:00 p.m., EE ran into the victim in the parking lot of his apartment building.

I said, “Whats going on?” and started bullshitting with her. I didn’t think nothing of it. I said, “What are you doing tonight?” I don’t remember exactly what I said. I invited her up to my apartment, and she went up there with me. She rambled on about this and that. I put the moves on her. I kissed her, and she had no objection and she proceeded down. Nothing was said; she did it herself. She didn’t want intercourse. She said, “Not right now.” I wouldn’t force myself on her because she said no. It was just oral sex.

We stayed at my apartment for a half hour talking. I offered to go for a drive. She said, “All right,” and we made small talk. She was talking about a lot of things. I thought she was dingy at the time. I pulled over one block from the boardwalk because she said she wanted to walk on the beach and look at the ocean. We got out of the car, and she mentioned it was a clear night, a nice night. A nice night. I had a hunch maybe our chemistry would work out, and she’d be in the mood if she got to know me a little better. We walked on the beach. It was about a half mile from the boardwalk. We sat down a bit. I wanted sex.

She started talking again. Then I took a change. I wasn’t looking forward to sex anymore.

I got tired of listening to her. I sat there in my own little world. She kept on and on. I was thinking to myself. My head started going wild. I felt pressure. I started getting pissed off. She was rambling on about things, about drugs, about alcohol. She asked if I had a joint. She kept asking me. I don’t know why, but I told her no.

I stared at her for a second. I got into a complete rage. To be honest, I was blind with hate of myself, the whole damn thing. Not specifically mad at her but at other things. I lunged out at her, an impulse. Actually, my mind was like someone screaming in my head, just screaming. I backhanded her across the face, getting wild more or less.

She screamed a little bit. I was like an automated machine. I knocked her down, tackled her. She was hollering, screaming. I hit her hard in the face. I don’t know why. It wasn’t a planned-out deal. She got dazed. I brought out my knife, from my pocket. It was like I was a machine. I started stabbing her. She put her arms up and started hollering how she loved me. Then I yelled out, “No, you don’t.” I felt real weird about that. It was a major surprise. I don’t know what possessed me to say “No, you don’t.” Then I stabbed her quite a few times. I had enough. Then I cut her throat. She was dying. I assumed she was dying. I kept going through with it. I was in motion.

I asked myself a thousand times why I did it. It didn’t seem real. It seemed like a bad dream. The whole thing didn’t seem real. Part of me was seeing myself doing it. I could see me doing what I was doing like I was being supervised. I was watching myself. I was like watching myself like I was elevated above myself and watching. I wasn’t in control, like I was watching myself. That’s the best I could do to describe it.

I stood up, watched her for a second, looked off to my left and thought something was approaching me. So I took off. It didn’t even hit me until I took off in my car that what happened, happened. I washed off by the boardwalk. My mind was calm and quiet after this. I washed off with cold water. It made me feel clean then. I started getting nervous, so I took off.

I went home, went to sleep. I had a dream where something had happened. I took a shower and went to work in the morning. I was thinking of what happened, couldn’t have happened.

While at work, I noticed a wound. That was a crash to reality. It reminded me it had happened. I worked the whole day at the carwash. Later on, I called my friend and told him what happened. I told him that I killed a man. It was a disgrace that I killed a woman.

EE was subsequently arrested, and he gave a detailed statement to the police.

The offender’s background included being abandoned by his mother at age 3. He was raised by his father and had a somewhat troubled adolescence, getting into minor school difficulties but nothing very serious beyond a number of fights. He described lifelong problems relating to females. “When I’m sober, I can’t talk to women. I like older women because it’s easier to relate to them than girls my own age.” He explained that he had been with exactly 18 women sexually but “only two when sober.” He also reported a chronic belief that “my penis is too small.” “I can tell that’s what they [the women] are thinking. I ask them, and they say it’s about average size.” He also reported intrusive sexual thoughts “that make me sick.” “I think of doing things with other guys, oral sex on them.” EE was a rigid, political and cultural conservative, who deplored taking drugs and being sexually promiscuous even though he had engaged in this conduct “with trash.”

On the urging of EE’s maternal aunt, he reunited with his mother 4 months prior to the homicide. He was devastated from the moment he met her.

I hated her. I couldn’t stand who she was. She looked like a full-blown alcoholic. As soon as we met, she grabbed my ass a few times, constantly looking down at my crotch. When she drank, she pointed to my ass and said to her friend, “That’s mine.” I think she wanted my ass. The first night I met her, she put her hands down my pants. That about made me lose my mind. But it was the first time I met her.

She would wear real skimpy clothes and cut-off shorts. I had thoughts of sex with my mother. One night she was lying in the back of her van. I walked up and laid above her, over her. She grabbed around me. She pulled me around her. I locked my elbows and didn’t go down. Her boyfriend saw some of it, but he said nothing. After that day, my migraines blew off the charts. I got sexual thoughts about my mother. I have thoughts now. I had thoughts of killing my mother. I’d watch her cook, and I’d think. I thought of going over there and breaking her fucking neck.

EE described having sexual relations with one of his mother’s neighbors.

She came over. She and my mother were drinking. They were both staring at me. Then I hanged around outside for a while. We went to a bar, and I started dancing with my mom’s friend. We went back to the house. She was rubbing against me all night. There was no persuasion. We got in the house, and we started kissing and took off our clothes. She gave me oral sex, and from there I was going to do the same with her, but she didn’t want anything to do with that. We went at it. She seemed into it. She wanted me to pull her hair for some reason. I really thought my mom was watching the whole time from the living room. I felt her presence. I am not sure. After this, we went to sleep. My mom arranged all this. We’d sleep on the floor together. The next morning I talked to her a little bit, but I didn’t like it at all.

EE had average intelligence with a history of a mild learning disability. The Rorschach and the TAT showed characterological disturbance but no evidence of any psychosis or problems with reality contact. Projective figure drawings (see Figure 5.2) reflected inner tension, self-image disturbance, and low self-esteem, evidenced particularly by drawings of people without any facial features.

The most revealing psychological test findings were several TAT stories in which EE graphically described the dynamics of the homicide.

Card 18GF:

She is a total disappointment and an alcoholic, a liar, and everything. He is trying to rip his mother’s throat out. He can’t believe that that’s his mom. They have nothing in common.

Figure 5.2 Sketches by offender who committed a displaced matricide.

They are two different people. She embarrasses him in front of everybody else—her conduct in front of other people, just the way she maintains herself in front of everybody else. She is a drunk. The picture screams out “I hate you.” He is trying to kill his mom. He is choking her to death, trying to rip her throat out. The throat is a vulnerable area. All animals do it there, strangulation. He is tired of her being a disappointment. It makes him feel disgusted.

His mom is a weak person—emotionally weak and a liar. The mother’s activities throughout her life is what that person is totally against—drugs. Talk, talk, like everything is a big party. Conversations are all about something funny—no intelligent conversation. When you talk about getting high or getting fucked up, that’s important. If you try to discuss past events in your life, no response. Try to talk about the news, no response. He can’t believe that that’s where he came from. How the hell can you be my mother? All your life you are told your mother was a good person, and there she is, a total opposite of what you are told. She discards you at birth.

You see her for what she is. She tries to befriend you by telling stories. She is checking you up and down all the time, looking at your ass all the time, staring at your crotch, grabbing your damn ass when she is drunk, pointing your ass out to her friends. On a level such as this, he could have had a sexual relationship with his mother. She couldn’t acknowledge that’s her child. You want to throw your hands up, smash her head against the wall, especially when you have sex with her friend and she watches. Her presence was there.

Card 13MF:

He is ashamed of what he’s done. It looks like he killed her. They didn’t have sex because he is fully dressed. A woman like this is a class of evil. The sole objective is herself—nothing more. To see who she is sickens himself. She was talking about evil spirits, ghosts, demons, all that shit. That’s the type of possession that ruined your life. They took your mom from you—drugs and the whole lifestyle.

It reminds him of his mother. That’s the type of person she is. He didn’t mean to do it. That irritating sound colliding in your mind, hearing your own life calling you, everything hit you in the head. It looks like she’d got a neck wound, there in the picture. You can see it right there. Look what he has become. Look what he is reduced to. I imagine there is a lot more to it.

This case involves not only maternal rejection but EE’s lifelong fantasy that his mother was “a good person” and his view that women who act out sexually are “trash.” When he met his mother, his fantasy was shattered, as his mother epitomized the opposite of what (conservative) EE stood for. His mother not only was involved in alcohol and drug abuse but was sexually provocative in her behavior and came on to the offender sexually as well. She even arranged for the offender to have sex with her friend while she allegedly watched. It is unclear whether EE actually had sex with his mother (in the van); he denied it, although it was suspected at the time of the investigation.

The victim’s behavior reminded EE of his mother, as both were “into drugs, drinking, and promiscuous sex.” When the victim began discussing drugs and alcohol, maternal images flooded the offender’s consciousness, and the emotions were displaced on the victim. The victim thus resurrected major maternal conflicts, and EE transferred his anger from his mother to a mother substitute whom he killed.

Case 5.6: Displaced Anger Stemming from Maternal Neglect

A 28-year-old man (FF) suddenly attacked and killed a young woman while he was working in her home. He was cleaning the homeowner’s rugs and was alone in the house with the victim and her 18-month-old child. After about half an hour, FF heard the baby “screaming and crying” from the second floor. Out of concern, he told the mother. The woman acknowledged his remark but returned to her activities without seeming very concerned about her child. FF then walked upstairs, with the victim right behind him.

Suddenly, FF took a handgun from his waistband, turned, and pointed it at the woman. (He said he always carried a gun because it made him “feel stronger” emotionally.) The woman was at first incredulous, remarking, “Is this a joke?” He then grabbed her around the waist, dragged her into a room, and knelt over her, straddling her legs. The victim said, “Don’t hurt me or the baby. I’ll cooperate. I’ll do whatever you want.” The offender unbuttoned her blouse and tied her hands in front of her with a cleaning rag. She said, “You don’t have to do that. I’ll cooperate.” He then tied another rag around her head and mouth so that “I wouldn’t have to hear her keep saying, ТТ1 cooperate, I’ll cooperate.’” He pulled her pants and underwear off and turned her over on her stomach. Without any hesitation, he put his gun to the back of her head and shot her.

FF recalled hearing the bubbling sound of blood spilling on the floor, which “fascinated” him. When this sound stopped, he felt angry and shot her again a second time. Fie then turned on all the lights, looked at the crime scene, and felt horrified at what had happened. He quickly exited the house, leaving all his cleaning equipment behind. FF drove to his place of employment, cashed a check, and left some money for his wife and two children. He then drove to a friend’s house and revealed what had happened. His friend contacted the police and FF was quickly arrested.

At the age of 14, the offender entered a state-sponsored youth program because of repeatedly running away from home. He had a terrible family situation; his mother, who had been married several times and lived with many men, drank to excess and spent child- support money on alcohol. While incarcerated at another juvenile institution (for various behavioral problems), he received further rejection from his parents and grandparents. Following his release, FF lived with his father and stepmother for a time, but he believed that they were unconcerned about him, and he described his stepmother as rather punitive. He believed that his stepsiblings disliked him and that they told other kids he was “no good.” FF was also unhappy when he lived with his mother. He claimed that her live-in boyfriend punished him brutally. He alleged his mother hit him with a whip and the boyfriend bathed him in alcohol after the beating.

As an adolescent, FF wanted to be a police officer, a position he associated with “goodness” and morality. He believed that girls did not like him; they refused to date him, but they went out with other boys. He regarded himself as ugly and said that girls teased him about having big ears. On a couple of occasions, he was expelled from school for antagonizing teachers and for carrying a knife. The weapon “made me feel strong.”

In this case, the victim’s conduct—specifically, not responding to her screaming child— evoked images of maternal neglect stemming from FF’s own disturbed background. In addition, because he was always bothered by his own mother’s sexual promiscuity and indiscreetness, he was angered and disgusted by the victim’s pleading with him in promising to cooperate (i.e., to submit to him sexually)—actions that led to her death. As is often the case in acute catathymic murders, the offender was horrified by his behavior. He left a note and money for his wife and children, behavior that illustrated his concern for them.

Case 5.7: Displaced Anger Stemming from Unspecified Dislike of Mother

An unprovoked sexual attack by a 16-year-old boy (GG) on a 22-year-old (who was 9 months pregnant) occurred in broad daylight at a train station. According to the police report, the offender grabbed the woman from behind in order to lift her skirt and pull down her underwear. He threw her to the ground, touched her genitals, and was quickly apprehended before being able to injure her further or kill her. The attack itself was triggered by the victim’s obvious pregnancy which upset GG. “It made me angry. I don’t know why.”

The adolescent came from an intact working-class family; his father was employed as a carpenter and his mother was a housewife. He had no prior criminal involvement and no disciplinary problems in school. His intelligence fell within the low-average range, but, clinically, he appeared empty and rather dull with flat affect. His figure drawings reflected emotional detachment. For example, he drew a picture of a house with a sign on the front “do not enter” (Figure 5.3).

The offender reported conflicts with both males and females, but he was particularly disturbed by girls “who call me crazy.” He had difficulty discussing sexuality. When the

Figure 5.3 Drawing done by a 16-year-old who assaulted a pregnant woman reflects social isolation. The sign reads "do not enter."

topic was brought up, he responded, “Everyone just has sex on their mind.” Some hostility was noted toward his father, but particular anger toward his mother for unclear reasons. (“I don’t know if I hate her, but I dislike her”) One of his drawings was of a male running after an older female with a stick in hand, about to hit her (see Figure 2.7, Chapter 2).

Case 5.8: Displaced Anger Stemming from Multiple Conflicts Regarding Sex, Inadequacy, and Morality

This case illustrates an unprovoked sexual attack by an introverted adolescent. He was hostile toward females, preoccupied with sexual morality, had fantasies of sexual purity regarding his mother, and had strong feelings of inadequacy stemming partly from a distorted body image.

The 14-year-old offender (HH) choked and stabbed (but miraculously did not kill) a 10-year-old girl who came to his house to visit his sister. He described the attack as follows:

When I heard her knocking at the door, my stomach was all upset; my mouth was dry, and my head was spinning all around. Then I remembered calling her in. Then I took the knife, and I attacked her, choked her, and cut her neck. When I awoke, like from a dream, I let her go. Then I went to my room and prayed.

A few hours prior to the incident, HH had had an argument with his mother because she had inadvertently broken one of his toys. He revealed fantasies of maternal sexual abstinence (even from having sex with his father) “because it’s forbidden.” He avoided girls at school, especially those who behaved “indecently,” and expressed general dislike for girls because some of them made fun of him.

The victim of the attack did not symbolize his mother as in Case 5.5. Here, the generalized anger and conflict at HH’s mother was transferred to the victim, who evoked erotic feelings in him (as his mother possibly did). In fact, HH’s sister had told him that the victim “liked me.” When the young girl entered the house, HH became anxious. By attacking her, he actually attacked an image of sexual impurity. He felt he took “revenge on girls” for their real or imaginary rejection of him. The violence made him feel more in control and reduced feelings of inadequacy.