Did a mother's working outside of the home lead to her son's becoming a serial murderer?
While researching the case of the Columbus Stocking Strangler for Court TV’s Crime Library, I was struck by a number of peculiarities about the case. The man who was convicted of the rape-murders and is on Georgia’s Death Row for them is an African-American named Carlton Gary. I mention his ethnic and racial background because it is relevant to the crimes of which he was convicted which are believed to have been, in part, motivated by his anti-white racism.
Gary has always stoutly denied committing the crimes and still does. His attorneys claim to possess evidence that will exonerate him. However, strong evidence was presented against Gary at his trial and I wrote my article from the viewpoint that he is indeed the Columbus Stocking Strangler.
Gary appears to be a remarkably clever individual. As a child, he was found to have a high I.Q. score. However, if he committed the crimes of which he was convicted, he used that intelligence destructively: to commit gruesome murders for which he sometimes framed other men and to escape from custody.
It is sad when anyone turns vicious but I think there is a special sense of societal loss when it is someone whose intelligence and natural gifts could have made him or her a very productive citizen. I couldn’t help but wonder what type of a person Carlton Gary would have been (assuming he is indeed the Columbus Stocking Strangler) if he had possessed a conscience to go with his intelligence.
It also seemed to me that Carlton Gary can be seen as the product of troubling tendencies within American culture. The first strike against him may have been being born out of wedlock. Children born to happily married couples often enjoy a sense of security and stability that other children lack. Another large strike against him was that the man believed to be his biological father would have nothing to do with young Carlton, giving him neither economic nor emotional support.
Out of financial necessity, Carlton Gary’s mother worked outside of the home. As I delved into his life, I concluded that her work may have been a factor in her son’s crimes. She had worked as a housekeeper for older white women. The victims of the Columbus Stocking Strangler were older white women.
Gary’s mother made little money at her jobs. She was often unable to care for him and left him with either an aunt or a great-aunt. The aunt also worked as a housekeeper for older white women.
Often the boy was malnourished because his mother or guardians did not have the money to adequately feed him. Malnutrition is known to result in brain damage that may be linked to criminality in general and violence in particular.
Carlton Gary once stated, “I don’t have any parents.” There was an emotional truth in this statement. He grew up without a relationship with his biological father or any father figure. Not only did his mother have to work outside of the home but she often could not even make enough to adequately support both herself and the child she shuffled around among relatives. It is possible that even when she and the child were together, she was too tired and stressed from her housekeeping job to give the boy the attention that he needed.
Readers, do you believe these factors contributed to the making of a serial murderer? What do you believe other factors were? Perhaps most pertinently, what can be done to prevent other children from suffering the disadvantages that can – not necessarily do but can – lead to their growing into destructive adults?
My story about the Columbus Stocking Stranglers is at http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/predators/carlton_gary/1.html. I am very interested in any comments, positive or negative, that readers of this column might have about it.
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