The Conviction
Mark Goudeau, 43, who the Arizona Police believe to be the "Baseline Killer", has been found guilty of 19 charges in connection with the sexual assault of two sisters.
Nine men and three women deliberated for a mere three hours on Friday before reaching a guilty verdict. The sketch the sisters made shows an uncanny resemblance to Goudeau, but it was the damming DNA evidence that hands down convicted him.
"It left little doubt in everyone's mind," jury foreman Michael Voda of Phoenix said. "The DNA was really a lynchpin to the case. It was pretty much irrefutable."
The conviction is the first victory for prosecutors who will have their work cut out for them as Goudeau, still faces 74 other criminal charges including nine murders.
One juror noted: Goudeau showed very little emotion throughout his trial, and was "Cold and distant" which is typical behavior for a sociopath.
Sociopaths and Serial Killers.
Some refer to serial killers as sociopaths, some psychopaths, but it means the same thing. Antisocial - A totally disregard for anyone else except for themselves. They cannot identify with another’s pain and they feel no empathy. That is why it is so easy for them to kill, and keep on killing.
Named the "Baseline Killer" after the neighborhood where he committed his first murder, Goudeau is believed to have terrorized the Phoenix area with a string of sexual assaults and nine murders in 2005 until his arrest in 2006.
If in fact Goudeau is the “Baseline Killer” or BK, some view his escalation of crimes as almost justifiable, as a means to protect himself as his living victims started to identify him through police sketches. However, this escalation of crimes is a common pattern with serial killers. They don’t just wake up one day and start to kill, there is a learning curve.
Escalation of Crimes
All evidence links the BK as getting his kicks from breaking and entry. Many serial killers admit to starting as peeping Toms, something that is hard to keep tabs on for the police department. There’s no evidence that Goudeau participated in this behavior, or the BK for that matter, but it seems logical that he might have as his intended victims where all women, and the crimes always revolved around a sexual assault.
After the excitement wears off from looking from a far, the killer gets bolder and enters the victims personal space. The BK chose to move from breaking and entry to sexual assault and then to full rape.
Again the excitement wears off, the killer realizing they can get away with it, feels indestructible, unstoppable and finally becomes just that, a fully fledged killer. After the first kill there is no stopping them, they stick to a pattern, a signature, and do not stop until they are caught. A true mark of a serial killer.
Is Mark Goudeau a Serial Killer?
I find it interesting that all physical, ballistic and DNA evidence at the crime scenes link to Mark Goudeau and that after he was in custody, all murders, sexual assaults and rapes stopped. In essence the BK’s signature as a killer ceased to exist.
One might speculate that the real killer wants to pin it on an innocent man and I am sure Goudeau’s defense attorney will try that route, but it is extremely rare for a serial killer to suddenly stop killing (excluding the BTK serial killer). They wouldn’t dream of it, this is self gratification at its highest form, they are playing God. They are sociopaths after all. If anything they would want to take credit for their actions, bask in their own glory, not have some nobody get all the attention. Ultimately it all boils down to how they perceive themselves: all mighty, all in control. Does this mean they would admit to the crimes once caught by police? No, not necessarily, they still believe that they can get away with it. Ted Bundy, is a prime example, he even fired his lawyers he was so confident that he still had control. Only after his conviction did he want credit for his victim’s deaths, and even then, not everything out of his mouth could be trusted.
Goudeau faces a life sentence of 70 to 285 years in prison for Friday’s conviction but Arizona prosecutors have vowed to pursue the other murder charges and if convicted go on to seek the death penalty.
The thing about serial killers is, the majority of them get away with it for a very long time, hence their ability to kill multiple times over a long time frame without drawing too much attention to themselves. Thankfully in this case, I believe we have our man, as if he had continued killing at the rate he was (more like that of a spree killer) the death toll would have been a lot higher.
Writer: Sarah L Hanson
More on Goudeau’s conviction: LINK
Comments