“Who hires a contract killer? According to recent events, just about anyone.”
This is the first paragraph of an article on “The Psychology of Murder for Hire” by Dr. Joni E. Johnston, Psy.D., posted in the Psychology Today website on March 23, 2016.
Murder-for-hire masterminds can be richer than sin or poorer than dirt, she said, and what they do have in common is a relationship with their target.
Added the doc: “Victims of murder for hire are not chosen randomly. And they are chosen for a specific reason.”
A forensic psychologist, private investigator and crime writer, Dr. Johnston opined that a person who hires a contract killer may be desperate, greedy, psychopathic or drug-addicted but he or she is not insane.
“S/he clearly understands that the idea behind the intended action is wrong and could lead to some serious jail time,” she stated. “More likely, the person behind the plot is angry.”
What provides the impetus for action is the sense of entitlement and lack of empathy underneath this person’s façade, the article continued.
“This is a person who believes he or she deserves to get what he or she wants no matter what the cost to others,” it stressed.
The article, however, did not cite statistics about murder-for-hire homicides in the United States and instead quoted an Australian institute’s estimate that 2 to 4 percent of the country’s murders are for hire and that about 20% of them are motivated by a romantic relationship gone wrong.
“Few acts seem as cold and calculating as the premeditated murder of a loved one. To put time and energy into a plot that can be as elaborate as a Shakespearean play requires a certain type of individual – and not one that most of us would want to bring home to mom,” Dr. Johnston concluded.
The American psychologist should perhaps be consulted with the murder mystery that is now playing out in this corner of the Philippine archipelago, if that is even possible, so the public could have a better understanding of how and why it occurred.
From the first minutes when news broke out that Viga MSWDO Carmel Eubra had been shot dead by riding-in-tandem killers at 5:20 PM of May 24, 2022, the victim’s family and some members of the public, aware of what she had gone through in recent months, already had an idea of who they suspect is behind the unconscionable crime, however unfair this seems to be.
According to those close to the bereaved family, some of them wanted to repay their grief and suffering in kind.
But cooler heads, and a call for parallel probes into the shooting, appear to have reined them in for now.
The ball, so to speak, is now with the Catanduanes police and the National Bureau of Investigation, who will have to do everything by the book with regards to the investigation.
Considering the personalities of those involved, it would be correct for those looking into the case to leave no stone unturned, dig up all the dirt there is and other cliches so popular in crime thrillers and police procedurals.
The alternative – another unsolved case of riding-in-tandem killing – would not only damage further the already spotty reputation of the local police but could also renew belief in that outdated and harsh Biblical saying (Deuteronomy 19:21): “Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.”