Poisoners are sneaky. Non-confrontational. Insidious, because the victim doesn’t stand a chance.
But what else do they have in common? What personality traits distinguish the poisoner from other types of murderers? A scientist from Michigan is about to find the answer, undertaking what is believed to be the first comprehensive study of the psychology of criminal poisoners. And the study that John H. Trestrail III, author, forensic toxicologist, and pharmacist, is about to begin will have a strong historical focus, while using the same methodologies that the FBI Behavioral Science Unit used to profile serial sexual killers—namely, interviews with living specimens.
Trestrail, managing director of a regional poisoning center in Grand Rapids, Michigan, has already authored a manual for the FBI on investigating criminal poisonings. (He’s also asked to consult with authors and TV show producers on poisons, but says he doesn’t feel comfortable broadcasting detailed knowledge on the subject of how it’s done; there are real poisoners out there, he says, who might think to themselves, “Hey, I have some of that in my garage….”)
His manual, Criminal Poisoning: An Investigational Guide for Law Enforcement, Toxicologists, Forensic Scientists, and Attorneys examines all that is known about the use of poison as a weapon in murder and reaches quite far back. Trestrail drew on his own collection of 1,000 books going back 300 years to review the various poisons that murderers have used over the generations.
With such a vast body of historical, scientific, and anecdotal knowledge, Trestrail will approach his study of the psychology of poisoners with some hypotheses. For one thing, he believes that love and money are the principal motivators for poisonings. Although most known poisoners are men, he thinks that most criminal poisoners are actually female – they’re just better at getting away with it. It is women who caretake the sick, make the meals, clean the house… and when they end lives with poisons, they are not as often caught. Trestrail also notes that almost half (!) of the poisoners who have been caught had more than one victim.
Trestrail’s earlier book explained how poisoners accomplish their foul deeds. This new work-in-progress will explain who. That ought to fascinate armchair criminal psychologists everywhere. I can’t wait to read that book.
Source:
Michigan Public Radio interview with Trestrail on Sept. 16, 2005.
What brings me here is I feel that someone tried to poison me, that someone is my Mother in law. So much leads up to this conclusion. I search the web in hopes that something will validate this for me.
If she didn't actually do it, she sure wanted me to think she did.
I really hate searching this scary topic, but I am compelled to do it. Ever have that gnawing gut feeling that won't go away, and needs to be satisfied?
I have since cut her out of my life and my husband is totally behind me. She does many vicious cruel things, and the last one, getting the same breed dog as me, and naming it the same name, as the dog I just put down, was what ended it!
From the beginning, she was obsessed with this Castor bean plant. Unknowingly, I went to go get one for her as a favor to my then husband, the clerk told me about the toxic nature and warned me if I had animals or kids.
My Mother in law is insanely jealous of my Husband's love for me. She abused me in her own sly way for 4 years. Too much to go into.
I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, doesn't run in my family, don't fit the profile at all. This after staying in her home while our house was being built. I'd stay with my fiance on the weekends. She made a point out of telling me that the coffee was all set for the morning, all I had to do was, push the button.
After she heard of my diagnosis, I was rushed to the hospital after having thanksgiving dinner at her house, she told me that the Doctors weren't telling me everything, surely there must be something more the matter with me, they just don't want to scare me!
Anyway, there's way more evidence that leads to her guilt. After denying knowing about the plant when my Husband and I brought it up, to guage her reaction, she just told someone she has 5 hardy plants growing!
I am just curious about the exposure to this and developing this disease, that dosen't fit my genetic profile.
Posted by: Raine | October 08, 2005 at 12:50 PM