HE WAS NO CRAZED PSYCHOPATH UNABLE TO CONTROL HIS BASIC URGE

For more than six months after his release, Chikatilo did not commit a single murder.

WHEN PSYCHIATRISTS WERE TO INSIST YEARS LATER THAT HE WAS SANE, THIS PAUSE WAS A POWERFUL PIECE OF EVIDENCE ON THEIR SIDE. THE VERY FACT THAT CHIKATILO WAS ABLE TO STOP KILLING, APPARENTLY AT WILL, SEEMED TO CONFIRM THAT HE WAS NO CRAZED PSYCHOPATH UNABLE TO CONTROL HIS BASIC URGES.

Self-preservation required him to bide his time and so he acted accordingly. However deep the urge-or even need-to kill was withn him, then as before he was exercising a conscious choice over the time and place when he satisfied it.

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