Title: The Unique Motives of Female Serial Killers | Psychology Today
Headings: The Unique Motives of Female Serial Killers
Scott A. Bonn Ph.D.
The Unique Motives of Female Serial Killers
Women kill for very different reasons than men.

Content: Female serial killers generally operate in a specific place that they know well, such as their home, or a health care facility where they are employed. They rarely go trolling for victims out in the open as male serial killers often do, but rather find victims in their family or workplace. Dorothea Puente, the Sacramento boarding house landlady who robbed and murdered her elderly guests, was the prototypical, female hedonist comfort/gain killer. article continues after advertisement
Occasionally, a female serial killer will become involved with a male serial killer as part of a serial killing team. In such instances, the female will typically be the more submissive of the two and help to select victims in order to please her dominant male partner. The husband and wife serial killing team of Gerald and Charlene Gallego provides an example of this rare affiliation. Between 1978 and 1980, the Gallegos killed a total of 10 victims, mostly female teenagers, whom they kept as sex slaves prior to murdering them. The victims were selected primarily for the lurid sexual gratification of Gerald Gallego, who was the dominant partner in the murderous relationship. A notable exception to the typical characteristics of female serial killers was the notorious highway prostitute Aileen Wuornos, who killed outdoors instead of at home, used a gun instead of poison, killed strangers instead of friends or family, and killed for personal gratification and vengeance. It is my belief that Aileen Wuornos rose to infamy primarily because she was atypical of female serial killers, in that she "killed like a man."