In 2009, Bradley Waldroup was charged with attempted first-degree murder of his wife and a felony murder of a family friend. Back in 2006, Waldroup had gotten into a fight with his wife and her friend Leslie Bradshaw. After shooting Bradshaw eight times, he sliced her head open with a sharp object and proceeded to cut off his own wife’s finger before she got away.
When the case eventually came to trial in 2009, there was no question that Waldroup was guilty. The case was revolutionary, though, because this was the first capital murder case where a man’s genetics were brought into question. Vanderbilt University analyzed a sample of Waldroup’s blood and discovered the enzyme monoamine oxidase-A (MAOA) on his X chromosome.
MAOA’s job is to break down the neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin. It isn’t nicknamed “the warrior gene” for nothing, though. High levels of MAOA have been linked to people who exhibit aggressive behavior. This 2015 study from Finland has found MAOA to be the link between prisoners convicted of violent crimes. The study also implies that 5-10% of severe violent crimes in Finland can be linked to high levels of MAOA or the mutated CDH13 gene.
The CDH13 gene has already been found in persons with ADHD, autism, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and even substance abuse.
If we so willingly accept that genetics causes disorders such as these, shouldn’t we delve deeper into the DNA of killers in an attempt to try to understand how they can perform such inhumane acts?
Any avid Criminal Minds fan can tell you that most killers are set off by a trigger. Generally, this is some kind of life-altering event that the killer-to-be has no control over. While triggers can usually be attributed to one’s environment, it has been shown that these events–paired with predisposed genetic conditions–can essentially breed a violent person. For example, men with high levels of MAOA who experienced abuse as a child are more likely to engage in violent acts as an adult–more likely, in fact, than men who have high levels of MAOA but did not suffer from abuse.
After Bradley Waldroup’s DNA was analyzed and used as evidence in court in 2009, Vanderbilt University’s William Bernet went on record to state: “We didn’t say these things made him become violent, but they certainly constituted a risk factor or a vulnerability.”
Unless you get your DNA tested, there really is no way to know if you are genetically predisposed to aggressive behaviors. It makes sense, though, that all of these killers may share something in common other than their violent acts. After all, we don’t question why so many people are diagnosed with disorders such as depression or ADHD. It is simply understood that we have no control over our brain chemistry, and even the smallest mutation–like MAOA on the X chromosome–can lead to a violent outcome.
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