ABSTRACT
Cleophus Prince Jr., or the “Clairemont Killer,” as he was dubbed by the local San Diego media, stabbed to death six women, murders that exempli-ed the picquerism signature. No other murder spree had gripped the city so severely, captivating the media and the neighborhoods where the murders took place. e Clairemont Killer enjoyed an oen unrecognized form of sexual satisfaction called “picquerism,” which as perverted and gruesome as it sounds, is sexual pleasure gained by stabbing, cutting, or slicing of another person. Vernon Geberth (2006) denes picquerism as “the sexual inclination to stab, pierce, or cut-obtaining sexual gratication from the shedding of blood, tearing of esh, and/or observing such pain and suering of a victim who is subjected to this activity.” is particular form of sexual deviation uses secondary mechanisms for satiating sexualized-power needs via the percussion of penetration and rendering of esh. at is, the specic focus and intent of picquerism is to instrument domination, mastery, and deviant sexual satisfactions by the “process” of penetration, be it, cutting, stabbing, slicing, biting, sniper activity, or cutting of animals, and/or esh-like materials. e bloodletting, odors, and victim screams are harmonic and simply supplementary aspects of the primary purpose (Keppel & Birnes, 1997).
