The "Crime" of Being Poor, Female, Sick And Homeless

 

This is the only photo of the Ecuadorian serial killer William Wladimir Cumbajín Bautista (born 1971) - known as William Cumbajín - that reveals his looks. He took great precautions in hiding his face, presumably not because of shame of what he did to (at least) nine murdered women from 2002 to 2003 in Quito, Ecuador, but to protect himself when he got caught. 

In many ways this coward was the prototype of a serial killer of women, but in other ways his targeting homeless, poor and sick women makes him stand out as something special: He didn't go for victims who excelled in beauty or sex-appeal, but social, psychological and physiological vulnerability.

What had these women done to him to deserve what he did to them? Nothing on a personal level, but what he did to them reveals the same deep seated hatred of women and the female sex as such that other male killers have exhibited. It makes him interesting in a world of the all too many men who have committed sex-related murders that he took such great pain in mutilating the genitals of his victims. To me it's obvious that he was fascinated by the very femaleness that at the same time may have felt like a threat to his masculinity. 

It is known that his mother was an abusive alcoholic and her abuse may have led to some kind of damages, physical as well as psychological, that made him hat women the more. However, to me it looks like a somewhat too "handy" excuse for what he did ....

He lured the poor and homeless women to come along with him by pretending to be a friend. That may have been easy as they were uneducated and most of them didn't have either family or friends. He gave them small gifts which made them trust him and his fake friendship. Then he drove them to the bushed in the Outskirts of Quito. Here he raped, tortured, mutilated their genitals before strangling them. When he was caught in 2004 he was sentenced to 25 years in prison which is ridiculous when considering the gravity of his crimes. After all, some of his victims had been tied up and tortured mercilessly before the murder. Something he told the police officers who investigated the murders gave him pleasure.

https://web.archive.org/web/20170906155043/https://www.eltelegrafo.com.ec/noticias/judicial/13/william-cumbajin-mutilaba-a-sus-victimas

 

https://elcomercio.pe/mundo/latinoamerica/william-wladimir-cumbajin-bautista-el-asesino-que-violo-y-torturo-a-nueve-mujeres-en-quito-ecuador-nndc-noticia/

 

The Murder of The Lovely Niece of Marilyn Monroe

 

Krystal Jean Baker 

This 13 years old girl, Krystal Jean Baker (1982-1996), was a very lovely young girl whom many feel bore a certain resemblance to her famous relative, the actress Marilyn Monroe. Or rather with her great aunt Norma Jean Baker before she was turned into Marilyn Monroe as part of her struggle to become a movie star. Marilyn/Norma succeeded in her field of work, but Krystal didn't even get the chance of spreading her wings as she unfortunately met a man who was horny as well as cruel.

Norma Jean Baker

It seems that young Krystal had taken a day off from school, claiming an earache that made it impossible for her to leave the house of her grandmother - that is, until one of her friends phoned her. Then she "had a miraculous recovery" that made it possible for her to go out to see said friend. 

Sadly enough when she went along to spend time with her friend, happy as a lark, that was the last time anyone in her family saw her alive as she was found dead, obviously murdered, in what has been called The Killing Fields which run along the Texas' Interstate 45. That means that in death she was one of more than 30 young women found dead here. That's a "club" that nobody wants to join, and one wonders how the young teen, Krystal, ended up there. 

As many teens she may have been rebellious, but she didn't lead a life that made her a typical target for murder, so what happened? Well, it took several years to identify her killer, Kevin Edison Smith, and it didn't happen until her semen soaked dress was resubmitted to analysis for DNA. That put a face on the killer and sent him to jail on a life sentence. However, the  question is, did he murder others or was Krystal his sole victim? 

Detectives have described the remote area where Krystal and some of the other victims were found as a perfect dumping ground for a serial killer. Something which has made investigating the cases so difficult that not all of the many victims have been identified. It's very sad to think of all of these women losing their life in this manner. Some believe that they were prey to the wealthy members of a "shooting club", specializing in humans, i.e. women.

 

https://thememorialtribute.fandom.com/wiki/Krystal_Baker

 

https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/man-convicted-in-texas-city-girl-s-1996-slaying-3514233.php 

 

https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/man-convicted-in-texas-city-girl-s-1996-slaying-3514233.php 

 

The Helper, Some Thoughts And Considerations

 

Helping the helpless patient to have something he craves, like in this photo, is help although smoking as a rule isn't healthy. Maybe especially not for an injured man like this one with injured arms. However, I'll deem it to be a genuine act of helpfulness and as such an instance of kindness. I take it that maybe these two guys became friends after being committed to the same hospital when they were injured. That means that they in some respects were equals, and that the man with the severely injured arms may have been of help to his helper, e.g. by being able to walk ....

Being Red Cross nurses these ladies were professional helpers, just as the presumed doctor tending to the patient. All of them must have been paid for their services although they may have volunteered to join Red Cross. That means that receiving wages their help may have been a genuine act of kindness turned into a way of earning money. Did they sacrifice anything in their private lives to become nurses or did they first and foremost go for a job that gave them the wages they needed? Who knows? Nobody but themselves, but for at long time the job as nurse was one of the few acceptable opportunities for women of a certain social standing who wanted some kind of career.

 

Something like that will not have been part of the job description, but it is in accordance with the romanticizing of the job: "Nurses are angels and will do anything to save people." 

This guy, Christopher Duntsch, wasn't a nurse, but a neuro surgeon who ruined the life of several patients by being an incompetent and also arrogant doctor. Actually, it seems that not only did he blunder when operating, but he set out to harm his patients. These saw him as a "helper" in the old sense of the word, but he was anything but. The only thing he wanted to "help" was his wallet and his own over-blown ego.

Oh yes, but how does one spot that trait in someone who likes the role of an expert? I wish I knew because just like the injured patients of Duntsch I am not sure I would notice it in people of another kind of jobs. For instance, how would one know that what a plumber said wasn't true? And what about professional politicians? Nor easy, right?

 

 

Unfortunately, Competence may in reality be INCOMPETENCE, and we don't know ....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_of_mercy_(criminology)

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Duntsch 

 

 

 

The Game of Literary Agents

Does a writer really need an agent to get the attention of a traditional, high-class publisher? So it seems, or at least that's what people keep telling us when we are looking for a publisher. One of those Americans who looks like he is living on the outskirts of the publishing world has targeted me in an attempt to make me sign up for one of his courses. They may be good and worthwhile, but I don't feel tempted to try them out as I don't feel that's what I need at this stage. However, I've noticed that one of the "baits" he uses to get students is to insists that his courses may be a way of getting in touch with an agent who (of course) knows the "art of catching the eye of a publisher". To me that looks like a rather circumstantial way to get something published, but it is in accordance with the information I've had from other writers: One can't approach a traditional, high-class publisher on one's own, but has to go by one's agent.

When I read the pamphlets of the man who runs those before-mentioned courses in publishing it's obvious that the chance of getting an agent is one of the baits, right before the SUPER-BAIT, namely the publishing contract. What he is saying is, that attending his courses would open the door into the publishing firm through the agent. To me it's obvious that it shouldn't be like that, and neither should an author have to pay to get published, unless that's his/her choice to do so because he/she likes the idea of e.g. self-publishing. 

In 1998 a friend and I published this book with St. Martin's Press. We had an agent by the name of Florence Feiler who had done a lot for Karen Blixen and her works in English. Because of my good experiences with Florence as an agent I approached St. Martin's Press when I myself had a script I wanted to publish in USA. By that time Florence had died, and the publishers didn't even bother to reply which to me was a clear indication that those writers who had told me about the difficult modern ways of the publishing world hadn't lied: It's not at all customary anymore that writers approach a publishing firm without an agent. 

Do I want an agent? No, but I may have to try to get one nonetheless, which isn't as easy as one might think. That's why the man with the publishing courses may use the chance of getting an agent as bait for the students he is dreaming of getting ....

The stream of invites for those publishing courses made me think a little more about the nature of the job of a literary agent. What is the education of such an agent? It appears that it may be something of a more or less haphazard nature. There are no fixed exams, and to me it seems it's assumed that they are "well read in life", and - most important, I assume - have contacts in the literary circles. As to their duties they are supposed to find publishers and/or other outlets for their clients' writings. Also they should negotiate terms and contracts as well as collecting incoming payments and royalties. 

If they are on a commission - which definitely is the best - it's customary for them to charge 10-15 % of the money their client earns. That should be OK, I suppose, but what guarantee does an author have that his/her agent is worth his/her money? How does he/she know that they have those contacts that are their bait for an author and which are vital for getting a publishing contract? If there is anything I've learnt about the publishing world these years it is that a lot of people shatter promises of all kinds on the not too easily passable paths of all kinds of writers. All - or most of - these promises may prove to be nothing but air and unsubstantial dreams of getting the hopeful writer to pay much too much for nothing ....

 

https://www.fiverr.com/search/gigs?query=literary%20agent&source=top-bar&acmpl

  

https://vault.com/professions/literary-agents/requirements 

 

https://targetjobs.co.uk/careers-advice/job-descriptions/literary-agent-job-description 

 

https://blog.reedsy.com/literary-agents/

 

https://www.theliteraryoffice.com/contact 

 

https://literaryagencies.com/list-of-literary-agents/ 

 

https://fabledplanet.com/30-top-fantasy-and-science-fiction-literary-agents/ 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hands of the Killer

 

When seeing photos of the hands of the German serial killer Fritz Honka, who worked as a security guard at a Shell gas station, one almost exclaims a heart-felt "yes, of course, that's how the hands of a notorious murderer look. Those uncanny, but sufficient-looking hands were Honka's murder-tools and thus bore witness to how he (1970-1975), not only preyed upon elderly and more or less alcoholic women, but also kept their dead bodies in the walls of his apartment after killing them until the stench of their rotting bodies told the tale of their death. The man who took their lives was sentenced to 15 years in a psychiatric facility. After his release, he assumed a new identity, calling himself Peter Jensen, but in 1998 he died from excessive drinking and smoking. 

When seeing the photos of Honka's murder hands I come to think of an American serial killer, Samuel Little, who strikes me as one of the most uncanny and nonempathic individuals I've ever heard of. He too made such a "good use" of his hands that they seemed to attain a life of their own, as if they steered him instead of him steering them when he went on one of his numerous murder sprees. 

His fetish was the female neck and he really enjoyed strangling women. Most/many of his victims were sex workers which made it easy for him to get away with murdering at least 93 women over a time period of ca. 30 years. 

He had a certain way of manipulating his victims into letting him "touch and feel" their neck, pretending it was some kind of sexual foreplay. Those who have written about his method has stressed the fact that his hands were uncommonly strong and agile: They noticed them as something special and not only ordinary and anonymous hands. He appears to be a murder machine, whose sole thrill was sex, (i.e. rapes which he vehemently described as consensual), and the snapping of the necks of women.

Another killer - but not a serial murderer - is Susan Kuhnhausen, and she really did makeextremely good use of her strong hands.

In 2006 her husband, Mike Kuhnhausen, hired a hittman to kill off his 51-year old wife, emergency room nurse Susan. They had been married for almost 18 years, and she doesn't seem to have had any idea of his plans to kill her. In her opibion they were happy together, and when she was attacked by his hittman she kept asking him who had sent him. While asking that question she had a firm grip of the hittman's neck, choking him, and eventually killing him, bare-handed, in self-defence. 

Happier days with Mike

The main reason for her not just succumbing to the hitman was the skills she had got by working as an emergency room nurse. In her job she had had to fight off frantic patients and she had a good grip on what to do in such situations. Mike may have taken for granted that she, being a woman, couldn't compete in physical strength to his hittman, but he sure was wrong. 

I think that many women would be able to fend off some rapists as well as some murderers if they knew WHAT TO DO. Maybe women like Susan should give lessons, thus saving the lives of many other women?

 

https://www.multco.us/multnomah-county/news/susan-walters-who-fended-hitman-provides-guidance-multnomah-county-crime 

 

https://allthatsinteresting.com/susan-kuhnhausen 

 

https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2014/04/woman_who_fatally_strangled_hi.html 

 

https://slatereport.com/news/she-met-a-man-online-and-ended-up-taking-down-an-active-serial-killer/  

 

https://www.oxygen.com/true-crime-buzz/author-jillian-lauren-confronts-serial-killer-samuel-little-in-new-doc 

 

Wikipedia

 

 

 

The Killing of GOD ....

 

 

At The Pearly Gate

Archeologists believe God - yes, the God of everything - was considered female for the first 200,000 years of human life on earth. Statements like this one make many modern, religious people very uncomfortable, which is an interesting fact as it (to me) is a proof that religion isn't as much about faith and spirituality as about POWER. The very idea of a male god gives authority to the men of a given society, making them able to offer definitions of what should be considered female, both biologically and socially. To them being female means inferior to the male who has been set to rule by a male god.

And this religious evolution ends up in the modern worship of the mighty "$"??? Well, capitalist societies have taught us that the adoration of "The Golden Calf" is fully acceptable, even though "The Bible" is against it (Exodus 24-32). Yahweh was outraged and wanted to destroy "his chosen people", but Moses pleaded that they should be spared and so they were. However, "The Golden Calf" is an obvious warning against "false gods" ....

As to Yahweh then he is a later deity who seems to have started out as one of the consorts or "toy boys" of the true god: Astarte. She was worshipped by the people of the ancient world as the creator as well as the upholder of everything. Her consorts/toy boys were: El (Ugarite religion), Yahweh (Israelite religion), Amurru (Amorite religion), Anu (Akkadian religion), 'Amm (Qatabanian religion), Assur (Assyrian religion) and Elkunirsa (Hittite religion). As Yahweh is the one ancient god who is still "around", he is the most interesting because one can't help wondering at how he replaced the god(-s) of ancient times.  

 

We know that before the Babylonian Captivity/Exile the Jews had several gods, but afterwards they worshipped one god, Yahweh. That may be what it is, but what about Astarte? She had been very powerful, with followers all over the ancient world, but somehow she was replaced by a god who had been one of her numerous consorts/toy boys. As far as I know she and her cult simply waned away as Yahweh won foothold. Well, at least she wasn't ripped apart by her ungrateful progeny as was the primordeal goddess Tiamat.

When the patron deity of Babylon, Marduk, killed Tiamat he tore her body in two and the halves were turned into the heavens and the earth. Her saliva made up mists and clouds, and her tears became the rivers Tigris and Euphrates. This ancient Story of the Creation is very interesting and it holds a lot of suggestive details that ought to be studied thoroughly by historians as it seems to tell how the Matriarchal orders of the past - seen as and described as "chaos" - were replaced with patriarchal structures and ideologies. In mythology she herself became a many-headed dragon who attained new life in a game of modern days: Dungeons and Dragons.

 

^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Creator_goddesses} 

 

^{https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Tiamat} 

 

^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_science} 

 

^{https://www.vice.com/en/article/paw8bv/god-is-a-woman-history-goddess-worship-ariana-grande} 

 

^{https://www.britannica.com/topic/Astarte-ancient-deity} 

 

^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astarte} 

 

^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asherah} 

 

^{https://study.com/academy/lesson/mesopotamian-goddess-tiamat-history-symbols.html} 

 

^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chaos_Monster_and_Sun_God.png}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WHEN WOMEN FIGHT BACK

 

Yes, there was a killing, but, luckily enough, not the one that had been planned by a murderer. On the contrary, the intended victim, Heather Saul, not only fought him off, but killed him, thus putting a stop to new attacks and presumed murder-plans. As it is he brought with him some tools that made the police suspect that not only had he plans of killing more women, but that he might have done so before attacking Heather in 2015.

She was a sex worker at that time and met this new guy online, but it's unclear if she gave him her address or he found her by her name, Heather Saul. However, Neal Falls (born 1969), came to see her and as soon as he stepped in he attacked her, trying to strangle her. At one point he also pointed a gun at her, asking her to make a choice: "Live or die." 

She had no intention of dying and in the ensuing fight she hit him which made him set down his gun. However, that was when she grabbed his gun and killed him, even though she had been injured in the fight: Her shoulder was dislocated, and her back was broken, but still, she fought the man who was out to kill her. 

When the police came they found a lot of weapons which Neal Falls had brought with him and it was obvious what his intentions had been: Not only sex/rape, but murder. Strangely enough he also brought a "King James Bible" with him and one may guess at the purpose of this without finding any answers because it just seems weird ....

When one reads about the many, many defenceless women who have been butchered by men it's understandable that women like Heather attain heroine status. I, for one, like and admire these women and I hope we shall see more and more like e.g. Heather. 

Neal Falls have been linked to st least nine murders of women in several states, but there may be more - and it's not quite clear whether he killed these specific nine women. The list of other sex workers that was found on his dead body suggests that he had planned a massacre on women which Heather set a stop to once and for all. 

 

https://slatereport.com/news/she-met-a-man-online-and-ended-up-taking-down-an-active-serial-killer/ 

 

https://universe.byu.edu/2017/05/26/survivor-of-attempted-murder-tells-girls-to-fight-back1/ 

 

Wikipedia