Using case histories and accounts provided by serial killers, the analysis reveals that serial murder is often a crime of passion involving the release of repressed emotions. In the mind of the serial killer, the victim serves to bring back memories of someone who embarrassed the killer earlier in life. The killer transfers feelings of humiliation into rage and onto the victim in an attempt to remove the memory of the humiliation. However, because the killer is not removing the actual target, the killer receives no release from the memory. Thus, the killings must continue. 19 references (Author abstract modified)