Ottie Toole: Serial Killer

Ottie Toole, a serial killer from Jacksonville, Florida, was an accomplice of Henry Lee Lucas, who was also a serial killer. They met at a soup kitchen in Jacksonville, Tennessee, where they began a sexual relationship and crime partnership. “Toole later claimed to have accompanied Lucas in 108 murders, sometimes at the behest of a cult called “The Hands of Death”. Lucas later recanted his confessions, saying he made such statements only to improve his living conditions in jail.” (Newton, 2015). Toole lied to get more respect from the people in jail, most likely for him to fit in and get respect. In 1984, Toole was convicted of setting a fire that killed a 64 year old man named, George Sonnenberg. He was sentenced to death for that
His mother was a “religious fanatic”, who Toole also claimed abused him, which included dressing him up in women’s clothes and calling him Becky. “As a young child, Toole was a victim of incest at the hands of many close relatives, including his older sister and next door neighbor. His maternal grandmother was a satanist, who exposed him to various Satanic practices and rituals in his youth, including self-mutilation and graverobbing, and dubbed him "Devil's Child””. (Newton, 2015) Psychodynamic Theory explains, the development of an unconscious personality early in childhood influences behavior for the rest of a person’s life. For instance, Toole was affected as a child with his mom dressing him up as a girl and calling him Becky. With that being said it damaged his personality because his mom was portraying him as something that he wasn’t. Toole also suffered from dyslexia and ADHD, with that being said he already has trouble learning and controlling his behavior. So not only did he already have mental health problems from birth, he had to go through all the problems his mother and family members caused for him. His mind had to
His mind I believe was never there because growing up he lived in a freak environment and never knew right from wrong. From a real life occurrence, I had a friend who was the friendliest guy a friend like me can ask for when we were in middle school. When I was a senior in high school I ran into his mother and asked her about how he was doing. She sat me down and explained to me about his troubles at home while living with his father because his parents were divorced. She explained that he was abused by his father sexually and violently, he ended up going to live with his grandmother in Dallas. At the end of the story she shared that he was in jail waiting on his trial for abusing and attempted murder against his girlfriend. I shared this story because just like Toole my friend lived a troubling early life that eventually led to crime and going to jail. Which leaves me to talk about cognitive theory, “Psychological perspective that focuses on the mental processes by which people perceive and represent the world around them and solve problems.” (Siegel, 2015) Toole had a troubling early life, which showed troubling behavior at him and around him. I believe that he stored all that bad