excessive driving is also a characteristic of the sexual sadist

Buh? That's just... weird. Huh.

Sexual predators will drive around and around for a few different reasons. Usually they are looking for convenient victims--hitchhikers, prostitutes working a strip, women with car trouble, etc. Or they're scouting for dump sites, where they can leave bodies that won't immediately be found.

Yes, this is true. My reaction was because "sexual sadist" doesn't necessarily mean "sexual predator" and because I love to take this stuff out of context and make a big thing out of it. :)

Ah, ok, see you're using logic. That makes sense, of course, which it would have if I'd thought but... I didn't. Obviously. *hides head*

"...because excessive driving is also a characteristic of the sexual sadist."

Whoa! I love the ambiguity of this statement.

How about one case history as anecdotal evidence? This happened in my county in 1985.

1985 Cynthia Engstrom (19), a prostitute, was killed by Leslie Arthur Byrd, a Marin County banker, in his Novato home bathtub as part of a sex fantasy. Byrd was convicted of 2nd degree murder and sentenced 15 years to life. (SFC, 1/23/02, p.A15)

He frequently cruised for prostitutes, and most of the women who'd been in the biz for a litle while knew that he had a rep for weirdness. But Ms. Engstrom, who'd been on the street for a grand total of three weeks, didn't know this, and may have been naive about any warnings she did get.

Byrd took her to his house while his wife and daughters were away at a Girl Scout weekend function. He tied the young woman up and drowned her in his bathtub. Slowly. Apparently his fascination and turn-on was look of helpless terror on Cynthia's face.

After she was dead, he bundled up her nude body and drove all around the county, finally dumping her body (nude, unbundled) near the elegant driveway of one of his business antagonists, who lived in an exclusive but kind of remote part of the county.

During the investigation and trial, it was discovered that at least three women with whom he'd worked at this very prominent bank had already filed complaints with the bank's HR department, alleging that he'd created a hostile work environment with some offensive, lewd stories and references he told them, apparently just to intimidate them.

Cynthia Engstrom's parents and siblings were present throughout the trial. I suspect that after a few month on the street, she may have gone home, or been arrested...and that the odds were pretty good that she might have turned things around. Of course, that's irrelevant insofar as it might seem to imply that a woman with no such family contacts is a lost cause. But it is kind of poignant.

He hasn't gotten paroled. Yet. I don't think it's gonna happen for good long while. The dude was a star exec at his bank, but rather than this garnering support, it seemed to outrage the local community even more.

So, to conclude my unsolicited case history remarks: this one fits the profile, doesn't it.

I really hate that man.

How fascinating. When I was at school, I used to carry around a list of signs of unbalanced minds/abusive males in my day planner - basically, who not to date. I'd picked it up at some conference, and had always kept it on hand. A lot of it was common sense, things you'd point out to friends who stuck with bad men - but a lot of it involved unusual things, such as the 'excessive driving' or 'dislikes animals'.

I could be paranoid. LOL