Tag Name for a Female Serial Killer

Writers' Corner
1

Hey guys!

I did a post similar to this one this forum a while ago. Since then, the manuscript has changed…a lot.

The main character is a twenty-one-year-old college senior named [name]Lindsey[/name] Nichols, who is studying both psychology and criminal justice at a university in Seattle, [name]Washington[/name]. The professor of her criminal psychology class assigns them a semester-long project: write an intimate research paper on a serial killer, their kills, and the psychology behind their crimes. [name]Lindsey[/name] is assigned a serial killer named [name]Gretchen[/name] [name]Penrose[/name].

[name]Gretchen[/name] [name]Penrose[/name]'s serial killing reign lasted ten years. She had a total of twenty victims–that had been found anyway–most of them attractive men in their late twenties to mid-thirties, as well as some beautiful young women. She seduced the men, who she claimed were narcissists that were easy to manipulate, then kidnapped them. She hid them in the basement, tortured them repeatedly in a horrible manner, and then killed them. She would also carve little hearts and stars into the bodies. What is interesting about [name]Gretchen[/name] is that she turned herself in; she wasn’t actually caught by police.

[name]Gretchen[/name] has been in prison for roughly twenty years by the time [name]Lindsey[/name] meets her for an interview for her paper. [name]Gretchen[/name] is now in her forties, yet still beautiful, though admittedly not as much as she was when she was 28 (yeah, she started killing instead of going to college). [name]Gretchen[/name] is also still very charming, seductive, and classy, not the kind of woman people would peg to be a serial killer. But don’t be fooled…there is a vindictive, remorseless killer behind the strawberry-blond hair, perfect white smiles, and blue eyes.

What I’m looking for right now is a title for [name]Gretchen[/name]. Like, what did the press call her during her killing spree? I thought about calling her the Beauty [name]Butcher[/name], but I’m not sure. To me it sounds…butch. I like the [name]Black[/name] [name]Rose[/name] more, though not quite sure how she would get the title if no one knew what her name was until she was captured.

This is why I need everyone’s help. I am open to any suggestions for serial killer titles. Be as creative as you would like.

Thank you!

xoxo [name]Jillian[/name] :slight_smile:

2

Most serial killer nicknames (that sounds like a contradiction) stem from areas of operation or the manner of disposal or other details. (how did she move them?, where were the bodies found?, how did she torture them?) A little insight into what the press focused on would help.

Carving stars and hearts seems like a very immature thing to do, so maybe based off of that? That’s what I would latch onto if I were a journalist. With just that to go on, I would assume the murderer to be very young. Maybe just ‘The Virgin’? Calling the victims ‘The Virgin’s Toys’. I’m sure such a title would just infuriate her more as well…

3

[name]Love[/name] this suggestion, dearest! And PP - your story sounds incredibly interesting :slight_smile:

4

I love your suggestion, dearest! To answer your question, [name]Gretchen[/name] moved the bodies herself–she’s stronger than she looks, which just makes them more intimating. She would wrap the bodies up in a towel or something, throw them in the back of her car, and then dump the body in places where they would be hidden, but soon discovered, like in parks or alleyways (her mood varied). She would leave the corpse there, naked, as if violating her victim even in death.

5

So she moves them herself.
[name]How[/name] does she kidnap them?

And does she spread her dumpsites about to be less keyed to one area? Forensic countermeasures and such? Why does she carve the hearts and stars? Why not something else? Is there a pattern to her carvings? Like star ratings of how much fun she was having while killing them (5 stars for putting up a fight, 2 stars for just being terrified)?
The Critic perhaps? [name]Even[/name] if she doesn’t consider them ratings, the press might assume so…

6

Your questions are making me think. I love it!

She kidnaps her victims under false pretenses. Meaning, she will invite a guy out on a date (or just a night out on the town, if the victim was female). Then, she would drug that person or somehow knock them out, and drag them into the basement of the house she inherited from her mother.

I’m not quite sure how I’m doing to work out the methods of the dumpsites yet, but I’m leaning more towards the idea that she is rubbing in the faces of the police. She doesn’t want to get caught, so she’s smart about not leaving forensic evidence. She knows she’s pissing people off as well as scaring them and she gets off on it. It’s like saying “you are not as safe as you think.” Or maybe the dump site is something related to the victim or women or [name]Gretchen[/name] in general. Not sure yet.

As for the star-rating…I haven’t thought about that one! I was merely thinking of it as simple little doodles she likes to draw, as well as a method of torture. She’ll use a hot knife or a scaple to carved the hearts and stars into the bodies.

Yeah, I know. I’m weird.

7

Maybe she could drug them to make them sleepy and ‘help’ them to the basement, and any passers-by would just assume she was helping a drunk friend home.

Here are some ideas:

  • Does she have any backstory to why she is so twisted? (I’m sure you have one but I want to hear it, lol. I just have to know what makes her so twisted! :))
  • Where did she choose her victims? Is there a club she frequents, or is she more careful to go to different spots?
  • [name]How[/name] does she ensure she leaves no evidence? E.g. many a killer froze their victims so the police couldn’t accurately determine the time of death.
  • [name]How[/name] did she get caught; where did she slip up? Did she select a victim that was maybe a little too clever?

Since she appears as charming and pretty and pure, maybe choose the name of a flower that reflects that, like [name]Lotus[/name] or [name]Lily[/name], which are both symbols of purity, and contrast it with some really gruesome, violent word.

8

I figured they were just doodles, which is basically why I suggested the Virgin because I imagine some innocent teen lying on her bed doodling while listening to her favourite band. She would doodle stars and hearts. But the Doodler just doesn’t fit XD

Have you thought about why she’s doing it? Is there a reason she tortures them? I can assume it’s for the thrill of watching someone squirm, but perhaps you have something else in mind?
I read about one killer called ‘The [name]Sunday[/name] [name]Morning[/name] Slasher’, maybe there’s a time element to her murders? [name]How[/name] long does she keep the victims? [name]How[/name] often does she kill? Is her killing routine affected or dictated by some factor she can’t control, like work, or an empty house etc.? Why does she kill the people she kills? Jealousy? Fear?
[name]How[/name] does she choose them? why does she kill them when she kills them and not a month later?

20 victims in 10 years would be one every 6 months, or is it one the first year, two the second and so on? When do they find out they have a serial killer on their hands? Two can be a coinincident, three is a pattern. Does she do the hearts and stars on all of them? What’s her murder weapon? Does she torture them to death, or just until she’s satisfied and then has a different way of killing them?
The fact that she’s getting a name suggests she’s causing a stir, which might be hard with one kill every six months.

I was reminded of Lady [name]Jane[/name] [name]Grey[/name] who was ‘the fortnight queen’, which is something else entirely but sort of not.

9

Right now, I’m thinking this as [name]Gretchen[/name]'s backstory:
[name]Gretchen[/name] grew up in a wealthy family in Seattle, [name]Washington[/name]. She has an older sister named Dr. [name]Alexandra[/name] [name]Lowell[/name], who just so happens to be a medical examiner for the Seattle police department. When the girls were young, their father died under suspicious circumstances and their mother quickly remarried a younger man. When [name]Gretchen[/name] was thirteen, her stepfather repeatedly molested her. It is speculated he might have been her first kill–as he went missing shortly before [name]Gretchen[/name] started killing–but his body was never found. [name]Gretchen[/name] targets men that are similar to her stepfather, or those who remind her of him in anyway at all. As for the few female victims–they were known for being catty yet weak-minded, just like her mother.

10

I’m picturing [name]Gretchen[/name] to work in some kind of fashion or communication business, like a designer or a saleswoman. Something that brings her a lot of attention and interacts with many people. She has plenty of friends and admirers, too, so she could meet her potential victims through them as well. Clubs and bars are definitely good places to find victims (according to TV).

Like most serial killers that don’t want to be caught, [name]Gretchen[/name] just cleans the bodies up after she’s done with them. They are marked up, of course, but still relatively clean. She is very careful and detail-oriented when it comes to cleaning up.

As for how she gets caught…well, that is an interesting story. She kidnaps a man no one ever expected, tortured him for ten days, set him free, and then turned herself in to the police. [name]Just[/name] like that.

11

[name]Gretchen[/name] tortures her victims simply for the fun of it and to make someone once so powerful feel as helpless as she did when her stepfather was molesting her and her mother did nothing about it.

[name]Gretchen[/name] keeps her victims alive a maximum of five days…but her last victim she kept longer: ten days. She got bored easily with her previous victims. I’m guessing she kills every few months or so, or when the mood strikes her. [name]Remember[/name]: there is a possibility there were other bodies that were never recovered because for whatever reason, [name]Gretchen[/name] didn’t want them to be found. She lives by herself in the house she inherited from her mother, she controls the hours she works (I’m guessing), and she doesn’t talk much to her older sister, giving her enough room for her kills.

[name]Gretchen[/name] drew hearts and stars on all of her victims, including the one she set free. I would have to say she tortures her victims mostly with sharp objects, like knives, scaples, etc. She doesn’t torture them to death, but simply slits their throats when she’s done.

12

Maybe ‘The Virgin Widowmaker’?
If she targets men like her stepfather perhaps they’re all married and still going after younger girls?
5 days is a work week, and they way she doodles while doing it suggests a very casual attitude to it all, maybe a spin on work/employee/casual… that sort of thing?
[name]Do[/name] the police and the press know that she’s a beautiful woman? Witness accounts and such?

I guess I’m a little dry on ideas, I would assume a ‘nickname’ to stem from somthing that’s consistent with all the murders, so far there’s only the stars and hearts that are truly consistent, and also the most curious aspect of her ‘work’. It would make sense to find a name from that but I’m not really sure what…

13

The men she targets all have something that somehow remind her of her stepfather, big or small. It doesn’t matter if they turn out to be a decent guy.

Most serial killers are male, which is what the police first think when the killings started. But when a journalist comes forward with an interesting eye witness account–a gorgeous blonde last scene with one of the victims–and they connect all the other dots, that is when they begin to suspect the killer might actually be a female.

14

If the press were the first to know she’s a woman, that’s probably something they would flaunt and focus on. The Beastly Beauty?
I was thinking maybe something combined with [name]Jane[/name], or perhaps [name]Bird[/name] to signify a woman, [name]Carver[/name] [name]Jane[/name]/[name]Bird[/name] sounds decent. Or [name]Jane[/name] [name]Carver[/name]. [name]Bird[/name] [name]Carver[/name] is something else I guess…