Will mankind ever understand its own mind? Only if it one day learns to do so will the crimes of Edmund Emil Kemper III begin to make any sort of sense. Perhaps the splendour of his name gives a clue to the ambitions his mother had for the new born baby, who emerged into the world just a week before Christmas in 1948. Perhaps the hint in that name of a sort of Hollywood-esque cum Hammer House of Horror quality, just the wrong side of the furthest boundaries of normal, gives a clue that the infant Edmund would face challenges in the years ahead. Then there was his size; both his physical enormity and that of his intellect. As a child Edmund grew, but unlike most of his contempories, he did not seem to stop, reaching the height of six feet nine inches before his body said that was enough. His intelligence matches his stature, his IQ is measured at 145 – genius level. He was a killer while still a boy and suffered horrific abuse at the hands of a mother who, it seemed, either knew no different, or because of her own demons, could act no better. The picture of the macabre ogre is completed by the charge sheet attached to his name. Edmund is guilty not only of murder, but also of rape, cannibalism and necrophilia. This is his story.
