Free The Shepherd by Ethan Cross

Certain environmental factors causing a reaction in people with certain genetically inherited characteristics. After all, most people who suffer a traumatic event during childhood don’t grow up to be serial killers. And not all killers had traumatic childhoods.”
    “Didn’t the FBI release a study a while back that stated that something like three quarters of killers suffered some type of abuse during childhood?”
    The Sheriff nodded. “Apparently, you don’t always change the channel. You’re right. Nature versus nurture is a huge debate in the behavior and personality camp. Both sides seem to have compelling evidence. That’s probably why most experts believe it to be a combination of many factors. Ackerman Sr. wanted so desperately to make a name for himself that he decided that the only way to prove his theories would be to conduct real life experiments upon a child—his own son.”
    “What? He wanted to prove that he could make his own son go crazy?”
    “That’s exactly what he set out to do. He wanted to prove that he could take a normal child and create a psychopath. Close your eyes for a moment. Imagine that you’re a very young boy. Then, think of every bad thing that has ever happened in the life of every bad person. The tragic events that molded them into monsters. Abuse, physical and psychological. Torture. Death. Anything you can think of that no child should ever see or experience. Now imagine that all of those things happened to you.”
    Marcus slowly opened his eyes. “My God,” he whispered. “But that would make anyone lose their mind. It doesn’t prove anything.”
    “That’s the worst part. Ackerman Sr. thought that his experiments would provide insight into the minds of killers and ultimately save lives. He thought that his work would light the way to finding a cure for abhorrent behavior. He expected to be a hero. Of course, he understood that everyone would be shocked and outraged at what he had done, but he planned to move overseas and continue his work after his findings were revealed. He planned to create a vicious killer and then cure him. But when his work was discovered, as you said, it didn’t prove anything. The bottom line was that he was a poor psychologist.”
    “I’d say he was a lot worse than that. Anyone who could do that to their own son has to have more than a few loose screws.”
    “Precisely. He set out to prove the nurture theory, but ultimately he gave credence to the nature theory as well. Many psychologists surmised that Ackerman Sr. was broken to begin with and simply passed his psychosis along to his son. Either way, this kid went through Hell for no good reason.”
    “Is there ever a good reason?”
    “I suppose not.”
    “What happened to the father?”
    “Same thing that happens to every mad scientist. His creation turned on him.”
    Silence hung in the air for a moment.
    “That’s one heck of a story,” Marcus said.
    “Yes, it is, but that’s just the beginning. Now, we’re left to deal with the monster that he created. The good doctor wanted to prove that he could construct a murderer, and he succeeded. His son will go down in history as one of the most notorious.”
    The Sheriff seemed to stare off at something that only he could see. “He’s extremely intelligent and plays these elaborate games, but he’s also reckless. He kills at random, at least on the surface. Doesn’t care about being caught. He definitely falls into the mixed category of killers, those displaying traits of both the organized and disorganized offender. Of course, that’s the FBI’s investigative classification system for an UNSUB. But even if we think in terms of the Holmes and DeBurger method, which focuses more on classifying the killer by motive, he’s still a mix. A cross between a hedonist thrill killer, who derives a sadistic pleasure from the process of killing, and a power/control killer, whose primary motive is controlling and dominating the