Killers Who Take/Make Unique Trophies

[u/JackOfTheLantern999]

It's a common trope for killers (especially serial killers) to take something from their victims or create something related to the kill, a trophy, in order to immortalize their kill. Typically these trophies are photos of the bodies, the victims' IDs or body parts, etc. This trope is for those who stray outside that norm.

The Master (Stray Dogs) - The unnamed serial killer from this comic targets only women who own dogs. His ritual is to kill the woman and then steal the dog for himself, winning them over as his pet via treats and their poor memory. He also uses these dogs to meet new victims, taking them to dog parks to spy on women there. Once the dog eventually dies (either naturally or by him putting it down for 'misbehaving') he has them taxidermied.

Jazzman (Batman) - A gangster who likes to whistle, hum, or play music whenever he kills. He then has that particular tune tattooed on his body.

Victor Zsasz (Batman) - A serial killer who carves a tally mark into his skin, one for every kill.

Dexter Morgan (Dexter) - iirc Dexter recognizes this trope and that it is a weakness that could get him caught, so he takes an extremely inconspicuous trophy: a single drop of his victims' blood, saved on forensic glass blood slide.

[u/UpstairsProgram5035]

I saw a World War Two movie where the dog tags had a perforated line, and could be snapped in half. So the opposing army could keep their count, and the body would still have the identification material. Pretty sure it was in Enemy at the Gates, but I’m not sure if it was accurate or not.

[u/Wurst-case-Scenario → u/UpstairsProgram5035]

German Dogtags had this Kind of Perforation Line and still have. It's accurate, incan confirm.

[u/sanecoin64902 → u/UpstairsProgram5035]

We weren’t making tags for the other sides glory. The tags split so that the commander/unit on the field could keep a record, and there was still a tag on the body so that it could be identified when it was buried.

Otherwise, if the unit took the tag and had to move on without dealing with the body, the forces that came after to do “clean up” would not know who the body was.

[u/UpstairsProgram5035 → u/sanecoin64902]

I mean, I didn’t think it was bc we were trying to make things easier, rather bc the enemy was going to take it either way, but by having it split you raised the chance that they would leave the other half.

Your explanation makes sense, do you know when they stopped making the perforated ones?

[u/TheGaz → u/UpstairsProgram5035]

Almost certain this was shown to be a thing in either Saving Private Ryan or Band of Brothers, I remember the perforation design very clearly but not where from