Romeo' s need to kill before he can rape is a key element in his ritual. Because when he reaches orgasm he -like all of us- loses control, exposing his vulnerability... Something he can't allow his victims to witness for fear they'll use it against him. Dead, these women pose no threat. Romeo takes a sadistic pleasure in showing his victims -these successful, independent, professional women- how powerless they are on all levels - physical, psychological, sexual. His heightened arousal is in direct proportion to their heightened debasement.... that Romeo, as a child, has himself been the victim of sadistic as well as masochistic behaviors. For outlets, he may have sought out animals, playmates... seeing nothing wrong with his violent actions... a perverse kind of dounto-others mentality. He gains validation and sexual gratification not only through his victimization of specific womenm but through our collective fascination with his lurid deeds. Romeo, like all serial killers, first locks into the 'aura' phase. During this time he seperates himself from reality. This is a period of intense visualizing and compulsive plotting... creating bizarre parodies of romantic courting. Satisfying, but only up to a point. Romeo's unable to find appropriate oulets for his anger, sexual desite, fears. He can't control them; they control him. But he's adept at keeping that hidden. He repels in his duplicity. Romeo is sublime at the charade. He is quite brillant and cunning... his macabre acts seem perfectly reasonable... making him all the more dangerous... the murders must all conform to his dark, sadistic fantasy... In Romeo's mind, sex and killing are entwined. Does he feel any remorse? Yes. But not for his victims. For himself. Because it's never enough to drive off his secret demons. The satisfcation is short-lived. The sense of frustration inevitably resurfaces, escalates. Because he never can get it right. He never can get at the original rage, the original pain. Even as they're telling themselves they are aroused by being hurt and debased, on some level the victims all secretly share a feeling of shame, worthlessness, inadequacy. And so does Romeo. Whether receiving or giving the pain, suffering is the bond that ties them. While the public may view him as barbaric, inhuman, savagely warped, Romeo believes (with utter convictions) that he's a misunderstood romantic. Each kill fuels more intense, challenging and violent fantasies and fosters more desperation, decompensation. If he's not stopped he'll ultimately self-destruct. But no one can predict when or what it will take.