by Jim Kouri, CPP
A serial-killer in England who said voices told him to be like the horror movie killer Freddie Krueger was convicted on Thursday of murdering four victims and attempting to kill another two.
Daniel Gonzalez, 25, faces life in prison without the possibility of parole for his bizarre killing spree. His attorney claimed that he was not guilty of the murder charges, but he was guilty of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished capacity because Gonzalez suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and he heard voices that told him to kill his victims using knives.
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But a jury agreed with the prosecution that Gonzalez was not mentally ill, although they conceded he does have a personality disorder and was capable of planning premeditated murder.
Upon his arrest, Gonzalez told detectives during his interrogation that he wanted to murder at least 10 people. He said he had “wondered what it would be like to be Freddie Krueger,” of the slasher film Nightmare On Elm Street.
After his arrest in 2004, following a three-day rampage, Gonzalez, was taken to Broadmoor top security hospital. While being kept under observation, hospital staff said Gonzalez attempted to bite himself to death. Police guards and hospital staff regarded him as “one of its most disturbed and violent inmates,” according to the London newspaper, The Telegraph
When doctors decided he was fit enough to be tried, Gonzalez never once denied he was the killer, leading to a pretrial hearing on the psychiatric issues in the case.
According to The Telegraph, Gonzalez told Dr. Philip Joseph, a consultant psychiatrist: “I wanted to kill people because I was bored and wanted to know what it felt like.”
According to police investigators and prosecutors, Gonzalez knew none of his victims and chose them at random.
The murder victims were: Derek Robinson, 76, a retired pediatrician, and his wife Jean, 68, on Sept. 17; Kevin Molloy, 46, who was killed in Tottenham, north London, also on Sept. 17 and Marie Harding, 73, who was murdered two days earlier in London.
Gonzalez also admitted the attempted murder of Peter King, 61, on Sept 15 and Koumis Constantino, 59, on Sept 17.
Judge Ann Goddard told Gonzalez he would be given a mandatory life sentence — Britain has no death penalty and relatives of his victims cried and hugged each other in the public gallery as they heard the four verdicts of guilty.
Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police and he’s a staff writer for the New Media Alliance (thenma.org). He’s former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights nicknamed “Crack City” by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. In addition, he served as director of public safety at a New Jersey university and director of security for several major organizations. He’s also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers throughout the country.  Kouri writes for many police and security magazines including Chief of Police, Police Times, The Narc Officer and others. He’s a news writer for TheConservativeVoice.Com. He’s also a columnist for AmericanDaily.Com, MensNewsDaily.Com, MichNews.Com, and he’s syndicated by AXcessNews.Com.  He’s appeared as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, Fox News, etc. His book Assume The Position is available at Amazon.Com. Kouri’s own website is located at http://jimkouri.us
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