Narcissism
These Crimes Are Not for Sensitive Ears
Narcissistic child killer from 1950s is subject of a new book.
Posted February 7, 2016
The first time I saw the pudgy, self-satisfied David Michael Krueger was on “The Mind of a Murderer,” a documentary about a treatment program for violent psychopaths in a Canadian psychiatric hospital. Calm and articulate, he described how he had killed two young boys and then a little girl, “to correct a balance.”
To him, strangling kids was an “accomplishment.” When the interviewer found his description disturbing, he said, “Well, I know, but this is not meant for sensitive ears.”
It was a sensational case back in 1957 in Toronto, because three kids were molested and murdered, and because their killer was a teenage boy. His actual name was Peter Woodcock, but he was allowed to change it later while in treatment.
Woodcock used a mutual interest to lure his first victim, six-year-old Wayne Mallette, to his death. The boy was strangled and bitten. The investigation went aground on a wrongful arrest, so Woodcock was free to kill again. Three weeks later, he strangled, bludgeoned, and bit a nine-year-old boy. His third victim in four months was a four-year-old girl.
Woodcock was finally arrested. He confessed, but was declared legally insane. He got into a treatment program. Years later, he managed to persuade the hospital staff that he was responsible enough to have a day pass to go into town. He used the opportunity to kill again. This incident, too, he coldly described in the documentary.
“The Mind of a Murderer,” while showing Woodcock’s disturbing demeanor, did not explore his development. I knew of a book about him by Dr. Mark Bourrie, but it was out of print when I looked and difficult to get. With the recent publication (also by Bourrie) of Peter Woodcock: Canada’s Youngest Serial Killer, details from the crimes, his life and the court records are now easily available.
Bourrie has been an award-winning member of the Parliamentary Press Gallery since 1994. He previously taught media history and journalism at Concordia University, and is the author of eleven books. I don’t know if this new book is the former book with a new title or a revised rendering, but it’s an important addition to serial killer lore. Woodcock was a young killer and was also eager to talk about his crimes.
This is the twelfth book in a multi-volume series by VP Publishing, a partnership between crime historian Peter Vronsky and true crime author and publisher RJ Parker. “Each month,” says Parker, “we publish a book of Canada's most notorious shocking criminals.”
As I was reading, I did wonder about Bourrie’s association with Woodcock. Online, I learned that he had visited Woodcock dozens of times at the psychiatric facility.
Bourrie describes each criminal incident in detail and also introduces readers to the young man who was wrongfully accused of the first murder. In addition, he provides background on psychotic killer Bruce Hamill, the man who helped Woodcock/Krueger to murder, mutilate and sexually assault Dennis Kerr in 1991. The twistiness of that story shows how easy it is for psychopaths to hide their demented plans behind normal facades.
Most important, however, Bourrie provides details about Woodcock’s early years. Woodcock is a good example of someone who was disadvantaged before he could even talk. His mother kept him for a month before shunting him to foster care, where he was routinely rejected for his difficult and “weird” ways. When he was three, he was kept by his wealthy “forever” family, but by this time it’s likely that he’d developed a reactive attachment disorder (my interpretation, not Bourrie’s). His behavior and hypersensitive temperament support this possibility.
Reactive attachment disorder can result from grossly negligent care before the age of 5. Such children fail to form healthy emotional attachments with caregivers. They become resistant, unresponsive, withdrawn, and difficult to handle. For them, the world is not a safe place. The tone is set for their lives thereafter.
Even though Woodcock finally acquired some stability, his life remained unpleasant. There’s no real surprise in discovering that a friendless, uncoordinated, bullied kid would vent his frustration on younger, weaker kids. That’s often the cycle of violence. Once a powerless victim, he found power in becoming a victimizer. For him, this was “an accomplishment.” Coupled with his developing sexual attraction to kids, the violent trajectory was set.
It’s also no surprise that Woodcock found solace in the routines and regularity of the transit system. It was ordered, mechanical and predictable.
None of this excuses him, and in the court system today he would have been handled differently. After Woodcock’s 1991 murder, one staff member who'd worked with him said she was shocked by the data from the psychopath therapy sessions. The treatment, she said, had made them worse in their criminal behavior, not better. For Woodcock, the system that held him for 53 years had been easy to manipulate.
He died in 2010, on his 71st birthday. In another article, Bourrie quotes Woodcock as saying, “I'm accused of having no morality, which is a fair assessment, because my morality is whatever the system allows."
This is a chilling book. Not for sensitive ears.
