HUNTINGTON, Ind. — For a class period Friday, the Huntington North cafeteria was filled with serial killers.
Well, not really.
Since early-March, Mrs. Lori Mickey’s forensics students have been learning about several American serial killers and held a March Madness-style bracket challenge, pitting those killers against one another.
The unit culminated with a gallery Monday, allowing students to share what they had learned.
“We did a bracketology. I introduced 32 American serial killers to them on March 1, and they pitted themselves against each other, and the serial killer that had the most killings advanced, so we had a Sweet 16, an Elite Eight, and a Final Four, and Samual Little was our winner,” Mickley said. “That’s where it just started, piquing their interest.”
While many students were familiar with some of the serial killers, they were surprised to learn about many of the lesser known, sometimes more prolific criminals.
“Leading up to this, we studied forensics as far as crime scene processing,” Mickley said. “We have learned what DNA does and how to use hair and fibers to connect crimes with crime scenes, and crime scenes with victims. We’ve been leading up to all of this, so now they can better understand how these criminals, prolific criminals, some of them. Samuel Little had 93 victims. Wow. Nobody had heard of him.”
After Samuel Little was determined as the top killer in the bracket challenge, students were able to choose a criminal and apply what they had learned and begin researching them on a deeper level.
“We chose [Jeffrey Dahmer] because we thought it was really interesting how he really didn’t care to tell people about what he did,” HNHS junior Layla Garber said of her group’s choice of killer. “He was just really tired to go on with his whole killing spree. He just knew he was doing wrong, so he eventually just confessed to it all. It was really interesting how he could just say all those things of what he did to those people.”
“Well, [Chester Turner] murdered 15 women, and one of the women was six months pregnant,” HNHS junior Izzy Harlan said of her group’s choice of killer. “He strangled all of them and also raped all of them, and it was just interesting.”
The deeper research is when Mickley noticed the students becoming more interested in the project.
“Part of their research was understanding why. Why do these serial killers develop into the monsters that they are?” Mickley said. “What gets them there? Is it something in their background? Is it something in their brain? Learning how to differentiate and then learning how they get caught and how forensics and criminologists will use what they collect from the crime scene to catch these serial killers.”
Once the students got into the psychological element of their chosen killer, they were intrigued, but also a little uncomfortable at times.
“There’s been some discussion like, ‘Oh, what? Why would somebody do that?’” Mickley said. “That’s just not logical to them.”
“The fact that he’s still alive [is uncomfortable],” Harlan said of Turner. “He is in the California state prison on Death Row, though, so he’s not going to be able to do anything.”
“Some of the things, I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, what?’” Garber said of Dahmer. “I can’t imagine doing these things to people, but it was also interesting at the same time, because it’s how their minds work, which is really interesting.”
Despite those challenging topics and discussions, the serial killer gallery was ultimately one of the students’ favorite activities in the class.
“We haven’t really done many projects besides creating a crime scene by ourselves, but this is probably my favorite,” Garber said.
“Today, I’m super enthused with how much energy is in this room, listening to my kiddoes talk and share what they’ve learned. Hearing them use the words that we’ve been focused on, that’s what makes it okay for me. This is certainly easier than sitting in a classroom listening to me talk about fiber and hair.”
Story By: Huntington North Radio/Broadcasting Teacher Nick Altman