Killer IQ Part 4: Are There Evil Einsteins?

Logical-mathematical intelligence has, of course, to do with logic and math (numbers) as well as reasoning and dealing in abstractions.  Those who score high in this intelligence excel in scientific thinking and investigation, they can perform complex calculations and recognize abstract patterns...they are puzzle-solvers, can think events out in advance, and tend to focus on precision.  This intelligence strongly correlates with the traditional ideas of IQ and high-rankers include scientists, mathematicians, engineers, doctors and economists.

It's Highly Ill-Logical

This is another intelligence where serial killers seem to both excel and falter depending on the situation.  Some killers, certainly the more successful ones, have thought out their kills beforehand, have considered how events will play out during and after the kill which immediately implies they rank at least average in this intelligence.  But I think the biggest revealer of this intelligence in killer's lie in precision.  Some killers are very precise, almost to the point of obsession, in their "work".  Bombers, for example, would fall into this category not in the least because, without precision, they risk becoming a victim of their own creations.

Also likely to rank high on this intelligence is Zodiac and BTK.  As mentioned previously Zodiac enjoyed playing with words (changing spellings of things, etc) but he also seemed to like other games and puzzles.  Included in his infamous letters was his equally infamous cipher that, he claimed, held the key to he was.  While I personally doubt that he'd reveal who he was under any circumstances, the self-made code was very real and an indication of his skill in logical-mathematical intelligence.  For his own personal amusement, and to show off no doubt, Zodiac created his own twisted puzzle that had virtually the whole world scrambling to solve it.

BTK, on the other hand, was merely precise in in writing about his victims.  On a separate piece of paper, as a sort of "P.S.", of his 1978 letter to law enforcement and media Dennis Rader (BTK) wrote about what he did - or intended to do - to victims.  The comments didn't just stop with the basics either, he noted specific details such as a female victim being on a "made bed in southwest bedroom", the temperature of the house being at 90 degrees, and how much pre-planning he'd done ("some", "little", etc).  Rader showed precision before the crimes by preparing for them (which included stalking beforehand at times), presumably during since he was able to control and kill a family of four (the Otero's) single-handedly, and after the crime by writing detailed accounts of his kills.

There are, however, those killers that seem to be lacking in this intelligence.  Disorganized killers - those who don't plan ahead, who kill on a whim, and don't care about leaving evidence behind - fall into this category.  Some blitz attackers, especially those that literally just whack victims over the head and leave them to die (and, yes, those do exist), would qualify...as would those like Ed Gein and Richard Chase ("The Vampire of Sacramento" who killed 6 people and engaged in such things as vampirism, cannibalism, and necrophilia with victims and animals alike).  Now while some of these killers may get away with killing a fair number of people beforehand they are nearly almost caught eventually - they're just so sloppy and erratic - and, when asked about their kills, most give an even more twisted logic behind them than even the average serial killer.  Gein wanted a woman's suit, Chase claimed he committed his atrocities because he needed to prevent Nazis from turning his blood into powder via poison they had planted beneath his soap dish.

This form of intelligence also seems in constant battle with the psychological issues these killers have.  After all if it weren't for his serious narcissism BTK killer Rader might never have been caught...but he had such a drive to prove his greatness he stupidly contacted police and press again after years of staying off the radar and, from that contact, police were able to discover who he was.  Bundy, likewise, seemed to let his smugness get the better of him when he allowed a cop to search his trunk when his kill-kit was still inside it.  Because of their severe personality impairments killers sometimes seem incapable of thinking logically when they (and most anyone else) would which makes assigning killers a set ranking in logical-mathematical intelligence rather difficult if not impossible.