Homicidal somnambulism
Encyclopedia
Homicidal sleepwalking
, also known as homicidal somnambulism or sleepwalking murder (this is not a correct term, sleepwalking and murder being mutually exclusive in the law), is the act of killing someone during an episode of sleepwalking
. Occasionally, sleepwalkers
kill people, usually a family member, during their sleepwalking act. There have been several rare cases in which an alleged act of homicide
has occurred, and the prime suspect may have committed the act while sleepwalking
. About 68 cases to date have been known.
while asleep got up, took his sword, swam across the river Seine
and killed a man he had planned to murder the day before. After that, he crossed back the river to his home, eventually getting to his bed, without awaking.
meeting. He made plans to tell his grandmother the following Saturday (May 23) and his in-laws on Sunday (May 24) about his gambling problems and financial difficulties.
In the early morning hours of May 23, 1987, Parks reportedly got up (not awoke) from his sleep
, drove roughly 23 km to his in-laws' home and broke in, assaulted his father-in-law and stabbed his mother-in-law to death. After all this, he managed to drive himself to the police station. Aside from a few isolated events, the next thing he could recall was being at the police station asking for help, saying “I think I have killed some people…my hands.”
Parks’ only defense was that he was asleep during the entire incident and was not aware of what he was doing. Naturally, nobody believed it, even sleep specialists were extremely skeptical. However, after careful investigation, the specialists could find no other explanation. Parks’ EEG
readings were highly irregular even for a parasomniac. This combined with the facts that there was no motive, that he was amazingly consistent in his stories for more than seven interviews despite repeated attempts of trying to lead him astray, that the timing of the events fit perfectly with the proposed explanation, and that there is no way to fake EEG results, Parks was acquitted of the murder of his mother-in-law and the attempted murder of his father-in-law.
container, put the container in a trash bag with his boots and socks, stashed the bag in the spare tire well in the trunk of his car, and took and hid all the items that showed that he was the person who killed her. On June 18, 1999 a prosecution expert testified that that Falater's actions were "too complex" to have been carried out while sleepwalking. A week later, Scott Falater was found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without chance of parole.
, England
. His son, Jules, admitted that he caused his father's death, but did not remember committing the act. He has used "automatism
" as his defense. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity and detained at Her Majesty's pleasure (that is, indefinitely) in a secure hospital. He was released after ten months.
s in his room. His father, with similar interests, slept in the adjoining room. Hearing a bump against the connecting door early one morning, "A.F.", still asleep, hollered "You dog, what do you want here?" and fired the gun near to his hand. The intruder turned out to be his father.
) had suffered Nazi internment, which caused him to have nightmare
s; in one of these, he dreamed of fighting back. In fact, he was in the home of his landlady, and when he woke up it turned out he had beaten her to death.
He was found guilty of capital murder, sentenced to death and hanged at Lincoln on January 27, 1961.
--she was not found guilty
, is asked to investigate a murder on the beach. Examining the evidence—the fatal bullet
and some footprints—he decides he had been sleepwalking on the beach and fired the fatal shot. He turns himself in.
-farm chores while fast asleep. One night he dreamed he was fighting with a marauding stranger. When his wife awakened him, he found he had killed their daughter.
depicts a character who believes he may have murdered a good friend while sleepwalking. The movie was inspired by real life cases.
The volume says how the law dealt with them, adding that Western law
recognizes sleepwalking
as a defense but is otherwise not consistent. "Griggs was charged but the grand jury refused to hand down an indictment; Pollard were never charged; 'A. F.,' Kiger, and Boshears were acquitted; Fraser was not formally acquitted but the court adjourned and then deserted the diet simpliciter, Ledru was acquitted and both were ordered by the court to sleep henceforth only by themselves, in locked rooms; while Gnypiuk, denied an appeal
to the House of Lords
Appellate Committee, was hanged."
In the first season of the Perry Mason
TV series, one episode was titled "The Case of the Sleepwalker's Niece."
and other forms of disorders of arousal occur from deep non-REM slow wave sleep (SWS). There are parasomnias that occur from rapid eye movement sleep. It is caused by an inappropriate physiological event where the brain tries to exit SWS and go straight to wake. In normal sleep, the brain
transitions from sleep either from stages 1 or 2 of NREM or REM sleep, but almost never from SWS. As a result, the brain gets “stuck” between a sleep
and wake
state. In the case of Kenneth Parks, his EEG
showed that his brain tries to wake from SWS 10 to 20 times a night. Needless to say, this is an incredible number compared to normal sleepers who almost never experience this. Nobody is sure why some people will commit murders in their sleepwalking episodes, but it seems reasonable to assume that many conditions must be met. Using Kenneth Parks as an example again, he was planning to go to his in-laws’ residence the next day, he was stressed and depressed from marital and financial troubles, and he had been sleep deprived
because he couldn’t get any sleep the night before.
Sleepwalking
Sleepwalking, also known as somnambulism, is a sleep disorder belonging to the parasomnia family. Sleepwalkers arise from the slow wave sleep stage in a state of low consciousness and perform activities that are usually performed during a state of full consciousness...
, also known as homicidal somnambulism or sleepwalking murder (this is not a correct term, sleepwalking and murder being mutually exclusive in the law), is the act of killing someone during an episode of sleepwalking
Sleepwalking
Sleepwalking, also known as somnambulism, is a sleep disorder belonging to the parasomnia family. Sleepwalkers arise from the slow wave sleep stage in a state of low consciousness and perform activities that are usually performed during a state of full consciousness...
. Occasionally, sleepwalkers
Sleepwalking
Sleepwalking, also known as somnambulism, is a sleep disorder belonging to the parasomnia family. Sleepwalkers arise from the slow wave sleep stage in a state of low consciousness and perform activities that are usually performed during a state of full consciousness...
kill people, usually a family member, during their sleepwalking act. There have been several rare cases in which an alleged act of homicide
Homicide
Homicide refers to the act of a human killing another human. Murder, for example, is a type of homicide. It can also describe a person who has committed such an act, though this use is rare in modern English...
has occurred, and the prime suspect may have committed the act while sleepwalking
Sleepwalking
Sleepwalking, also known as somnambulism, is a sleep disorder belonging to the parasomnia family. Sleepwalkers arise from the slow wave sleep stage in a state of low consciousness and perform activities that are usually performed during a state of full consciousness...
. About 68 cases to date have been known.
Historic cases
Polish physician Jan Jonston reported a case which occurred around 1630 where an inhabitant of ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
while asleep got up, took his sword, swam across the river Seine
Seine
The Seine is a -long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Saint-Seine near Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre . It is navigable by ocean-going vessels...
and killed a man he had planned to murder the day before. After that, he crossed back the river to his home, eventually getting to his bed, without awaking.
Parks case
In 1987, Kenneth Parks was a married 23-year-old man with a 5-month-old daughter. He had a very close relationship to his in-laws, with his mother-in-law referring to him as "her gentle giant." The summer before the controversial events, he developed a gambling problem and fell into deep financial problems. To cover his losses, he took funds from his family's savings and then began to embezzle at work. Eventually, in March 1987, his actions were discovered, and he was fired from his job. On May 20, he went to his first Gamblers AnonymousGamblers Anonymous
Gamblers Anonymous is a twelve-step program for problem gamblers. GA began in Los Angeles on September 13, 1957. As of 2005 there were over 1000 GA meetings in the United States and meetings established in the United Kingdom, Spain, New Zealand, Australia, Brazil, Israel, Kenya, Uganda, Korea and...
meeting. He made plans to tell his grandmother the following Saturday (May 23) and his in-laws on Sunday (May 24) about his gambling problems and financial difficulties.
In the early morning hours of May 23, 1987, Parks reportedly got up (not awoke) from his sleep
Sleep
Sleep is a naturally recurring state characterized by reduced or absent consciousness, relatively suspended sensory activity, and inactivity of nearly all voluntary muscles. It is distinguished from quiet wakefulness by a decreased ability to react to stimuli, and is more easily reversible than...
, drove roughly 23 km to his in-laws' home and broke in, assaulted his father-in-law and stabbed his mother-in-law to death. After all this, he managed to drive himself to the police station. Aside from a few isolated events, the next thing he could recall was being at the police station asking for help, saying “I think I have killed some people…my hands.”
Parks’ only defense was that he was asleep during the entire incident and was not aware of what he was doing. Naturally, nobody believed it, even sleep specialists were extremely skeptical. However, after careful investigation, the specialists could find no other explanation. Parks’ EEG
EEG
EEG commonly refers to electroencephalography, a measurement of the electrical activity of the brain.EEG may also refer to:* Emperor Entertainment Group, a Hong Kong-based entertainment company...
readings were highly irregular even for a parasomniac. This combined with the facts that there was no motive, that he was amazingly consistent in his stories for more than seven interviews despite repeated attempts of trying to lead him astray, that the timing of the events fit perfectly with the proposed explanation, and that there is no way to fake EEG results, Parks was acquitted of the murder of his mother-in-law and the attempted murder of his father-in-law.
- all information was taken from a study conducted by R. Broughton, et al.
Falater case
In 1997, Scott Falater was accused of murdering his wife by stabbing her 44 times. According to an eyewitness, Falater was also seen holding his wife’s head under water. When he was tried, the prosecution claimed that after the murder had been committed, Falater changed his clothes, put the murder weapon in a TupperwareTupperware
Tupperware is the name of a home products line that includes preparation, storage, containment, and serving products for the kitchen and home, which were first introduced to the public in 1946....
container, put the container in a trash bag with his boots and socks, stashed the bag in the spare tire well in the trunk of his car, and took and hid all the items that showed that he was the person who killed her. On June 18, 1999 a prosecution expert testified that that Falater's actions were "too complex" to have been carried out while sleepwalking. A week later, Scott Falater was found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without chance of parole.
Lowe case
On October 30, 2004, the body of 83-year-old Edward Lowe was found on his driveway in ManchesterManchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. His son, Jules, admitted that he caused his father's death, but did not remember committing the act. He has used "automatism
Automatism (law)
-Definition:Automatism is a rarely used criminal defence. It is one of the mental condition defences that relate to the mental state of the defendant. Automatism can be seen variously as lack of voluntariness, lack of culpability or excuse...
" as his defense. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity and detained at Her Majesty's pleasure (that is, indefinitely) in a secure hospital. He was released after ten months.
Cases from the Book of Lists 3
In the Book of Lists 3 there is a list of eight people who were recorded as having killed in their sleep, including use of firearms, fighting, or mishandling infants. Their names were "A. F." (only his initials were recorded), Willis Boshears, Simon Fraser, Wasyl Gnypiuk, Esther Griggs, Jo Ann Kiger, Robert Ledru, and William Pollard. (Contributor to The Book of Lists 3: John M. B. Edwards.)"A.F." case
"A. F. " was a gun fancier and a hunter, and kept loaded firearmFirearm
A firearm is a weapon that launches one, or many, projectile at high velocity through confined burning of a propellant. This subsonic burning process is technically known as deflagration, as opposed to supersonic combustion known as a detonation. In older firearms, the propellant was typically...
s in his room. His father, with similar interests, slept in the adjoining room. Hearing a bump against the connecting door early one morning, "A.F.", still asleep, hollered "You dog, what do you want here?" and fired the gun near to his hand. The intruder turned out to be his father.
Fraser Case
Simon Fraser, of Glasgow, Scotland, often dreamed that a beast had invaded his home at night. One time, he dreamed that a white beast had come up through the floor. He seized it and dashed it to the ground. He woke up to find he had killed his infant son. This episode was probably a night terror, with or without sleepwalking. (Walker, 1968)Gnypiuk Case
Wasyl Gnypiuk, a Polish immigrant (to EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
) had suffered Nazi internment, which caused him to have nightmare
Nightmare
A nightmare is an unpleasant dream that can cause a strong negative emotional response from the mind, typically fear or horror, but also despair, anxiety and great sadness. The dream may contain situations of danger, discomfort, psychological or physical terror...
s; in one of these, he dreamed of fighting back. In fact, he was in the home of his landlady, and when he woke up it turned out he had beaten her to death.
He was found guilty of capital murder, sentenced to death and hanged at Lincoln on January 27, 1961.
Griggs case
Esther Griggs, resident of London and a mother of three, dreamed one night her house was on fire. Screaming "save my children!" though asleep, Ms. Griggs threw her baby into the street. This episode was probably a night terror, with or without sleepwalking. (Walker, 1968)Kiger case
Jo Ann Kiger, a teenager, was asleep when she took a revolver in each hand, poised to defend her family against a "monster." She fired, and fatally shot her brother and her father.--she was not found guilty
Ledru case
In John Lutz's novel, The Real Shape of the Coast, Robert Ledru, a French police detectiveDetective
A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...
, is asked to investigate a murder on the beach. Examining the evidence—the fatal bullet
Bullet
A bullet is a projectile propelled by a firearm, sling, or air gun. Bullets do not normally contain explosives, but damage the intended target by impact and penetration...
and some footprints—he decides he had been sleepwalking on the beach and fired the fatal shot. He turns himself in.
Pollard case
William Pollard was a farmer whose neighbors knew him well as a sleepwalker and sleepworker--doing his chickenChicken
The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...
-farm chores while fast asleep. One night he dreamed he was fighting with a marauding stranger. When his wife awakened him, he found he had killed their daughter.
Movie Depictions
The thriller In My SleepIn My Sleep
In My Sleep is 2010 suspense thriller movie written, directed and produced by film director Allen Wolf. It stars Philip Winchester, Lacey Chabert, Tim Draxl, Abigail Spencer and Kelly Overton. The story is about a man who believes he may have murdered a good friend while...
depicts a character who believes he may have murdered a good friend while sleepwalking. The movie was inspired by real life cases.
Legal Rulings
The volume says how the law dealt with them, adding that Western law
Western law
Western law refers to the legal traditions of Western culture. Western culture has an idea of the importance of law which has its roots in both Roman law and the Bible...
recognizes sleepwalking
Sleepwalking
Sleepwalking, also known as somnambulism, is a sleep disorder belonging to the parasomnia family. Sleepwalkers arise from the slow wave sleep stage in a state of low consciousness and perform activities that are usually performed during a state of full consciousness...
as a defense but is otherwise not consistent. "Griggs was charged but the grand jury refused to hand down an indictment; Pollard were never charged; 'A. F.,' Kiger, and Boshears were acquitted; Fraser was not formally acquitted but the court adjourned and then deserted the diet simpliciter, Ledru was acquitted and both were ordered by the court to sleep henceforth only by themselves, in locked rooms; while Gnypiuk, denied an appeal
Appeal
An appeal is a petition for review of a case that has been decided by a court of law. The petition is made to a higher court for the purpose of overturning the lower court's decision....
to the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
Appellate Committee, was hanged."
In the first season of the Perry Mason
Perry Mason (TV series)
Perry Mason is an American legal drama produced by Paisano Productions that ran from September 1957 to May 1966 on CBS. The title character, portrayed by Raymond Burr, is a fictional Los Angeles defense attorney who originally appeared in detective fiction by Erle Stanley Gardner...
TV series, one episode was titled "The Case of the Sleepwalker's Niece."
Causes
SleepwalkingSleepwalking
Sleepwalking, also known as somnambulism, is a sleep disorder belonging to the parasomnia family. Sleepwalkers arise from the slow wave sleep stage in a state of low consciousness and perform activities that are usually performed during a state of full consciousness...
and other forms of disorders of arousal occur from deep non-REM slow wave sleep (SWS). There are parasomnias that occur from rapid eye movement sleep. It is caused by an inappropriate physiological event where the brain tries to exit SWS and go straight to wake. In normal sleep, the brain
Brain
The brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals—only a few primitive invertebrates such as sponges, jellyfish, sea squirts and starfishes do not have one. It is located in the head, usually close to primary sensory apparatus such as vision, hearing,...
transitions from sleep either from stages 1 or 2 of NREM or REM sleep, but almost never from SWS. As a result, the brain gets “stuck” between a sleep
Sleep
Sleep is a naturally recurring state characterized by reduced or absent consciousness, relatively suspended sensory activity, and inactivity of nearly all voluntary muscles. It is distinguished from quiet wakefulness by a decreased ability to react to stimuli, and is more easily reversible than...
and wake
Wake
A wake is the region of recirculating flow immediately behind a moving or stationary solid body, caused by the flow of surrounding fluid around the body.-Fluid dynamics:...
state. In the case of Kenneth Parks, his EEG
EEG
EEG commonly refers to electroencephalography, a measurement of the electrical activity of the brain.EEG may also refer to:* Emperor Entertainment Group, a Hong Kong-based entertainment company...
showed that his brain tries to wake from SWS 10 to 20 times a night. Needless to say, this is an incredible number compared to normal sleepers who almost never experience this. Nobody is sure why some people will commit murders in their sleepwalking episodes, but it seems reasonable to assume that many conditions must be met. Using Kenneth Parks as an example again, he was planning to go to his in-laws’ residence the next day, he was stressed and depressed from marital and financial troubles, and he had been sleep deprived
Sleep deprivation
Sleep deprivation is the condition of not having enough sleep; it can be either chronic or acute. A chronic sleep-restricted state can cause fatigue, daytime sleepiness, clumsiness and weight loss or weight gain. It adversely affects the brain and cognitive function. Few studies have compared the...
because he couldn’t get any sleep the night before.
See also
- ParasomniaParasomniaFor the 2008 horror film, see Parasomnia Parasomnias are a category of sleep disorders that involve abnormal and unnatural movements, behaviors, emotions, perceptions, and dreams that occur while falling asleep, sleeping, between sleep stages, or during arousal from sleep...
- SleepwalkingSleepwalkingSleepwalking, also known as somnambulism, is a sleep disorder belonging to the parasomnia family. Sleepwalkers arise from the slow wave sleep stage in a state of low consciousness and perform activities that are usually performed during a state of full consciousness...
- Sleep disorderSleep disorderA sleep disorder, or somnipathy, is a medical disorder of the sleep patterns of a person or animal. Some sleep disorders are serious enough to interfere with normal physical, mental and emotional functioning...
- Rapid eye movement behavior disorderRapid eye movement behavior disorderRapid eye movement sleep behaviour disorder is a sleep disorder that involves abnormal behaviour during the sleep phase with rapid eye movement . It was first described in 1986....
- Sleep sexSleep sexSleep sex, or sexsomnia, is a condition in which a person will do sexual acts while still asleep, acts such as masturbation, fondling themselves or others, having sex with another person and in more extreme cases sexual assault and rape....
- AutomatismAutomatismAutomatism may refer to:*Automatic behavior, spontaneous verbal or motor behavior; an act performed unconsciously. Defendants have been found not guilty due to an automatism defense ....
- In My SleepIn My SleepIn My Sleep is 2010 suspense thriller movie written, directed and produced by film director Allen Wolf. It stars Philip Winchester, Lacey Chabert, Tim Draxl, Abigail Spencer and Kelly Overton. The story is about a man who believes he may have murdered a good friend while...