misswilma: google questions 19-04-2018 Version I, 19-04-2018 –What happened to Dexter Morgan– –that made him a serial killer?– A happy childhood ended in tragedy, to create two boys who would grow up to be serial killers. ... His now adoptive sister Debra asks their father why he never told them what happened to Dexter's real parents, something Dexter looks to his father about for answers as he knew they died but didn't know the true facts behind it … [Dexter Wiki] Probably one of the most famous fictional serial killers in modern history is Dexter Morgan, from the American tv-series Dexter. With over one-hundred victims spanning over the course of twenty years, he is one of the most successful killers. An important question is why he became a serial killer in the first place. Childhood: from a happy childhood to a traumatic memory When Dexter Morgan was still a toddler he witnessed the murder of his mother. This was the starting point of what was going to happened to him in the future. Before his mother's murder, however, he enjoyed a relatively normal childhood. He was born as Dexter Moser on 1 February 1971 to Laura Moser and Joseph Driscoll. He had an older brother, Brian, who he lived with together with their mother on 1235 Mangrove Drive, Miami, Florida. Dexter would later state his earliest memory was his time spent at his mother's house, playing hide-and-seek around the house together with his mother and brother. As a child, he was energetic, happy, who always seemed to be laughing. In contrast, Brian was more quiet, more reserved, but he showed strong affection for his "baby brother" often holding him in his arms, as of protecting him from an unknown force. This type of childhood would continue, for instance, after Dexter hurt himself while riding a skateboard, Brian comforted him with putting a band-aid on his scraped knee. It was not always great, however. Laura Moser was a drug addict, likely stemming from her boyfriend, Joe Driscoll, returning from the Vietnam War, starting his drug problem just after. It would never affect her relationship and love for her sons, but it would put her to risk with law enforcement. Eventually, she would meet Detective Harrison "Harry" Morgan, leading to her being his informant in the Estrada cartel. Laura would provide information that would help bring down the kingpin Hector Estrada. She was, in the beginning, worried that it could be a risk to both her sons and herself if she excepted, but Harry assured her that nothing dangerous would happen. Seemingly, Harry Morgan could not be more wrong. On 3 October 1973, Laura, her sons and other drug users were hurdled into a shipper container, by Estrada's henchmen. While the unnamed drug users become victims to a chainsaw, used by Santos Jimenez, Laura did not want her sons to see her be slain right in front of their eyes. The henchmen did not comply with her begging. As a last resort, she turned to Dexter and told him: "Close your eyes […] Mommy loves you" before she was murdered. The three henchmen managed to exit the area, while Dexter and Brian sat there for two days before the first human opened the container door, Detective Harry Morgan. He !1 eventually spotted the two boys, holding each other by hand. Harry only picked up Dexter, and as the boys were separated from each other they tried to hold on to one another, eventually slipping away. Harry looked into Brian's eyes and saw, what Brian himself would say, "a fucked up kid" and left the container. Brian was recovered immediately after Harry told the other officers, however, he held onto Dexter, reassuring to the little boy that everything would be alright. As he walked to his car, Dexter looked upon the crime scene without any emotion, a look of a boy who had changed. Adolescence: new family, new memories, new personality Dexter was taken in by the Morgan family at the age of three, but he was not formally adopted until the age of seven. When he was shown the birth certificate, Dexter looked confused, saying that he always thought he was a Morgan. Harry responded that to them he was always one, the difference was that it was now official. Because of what he has gone through; the loss of his biological mother in a massacre and sitting in her blood for about to days, it is bound to have side effects. Which it did, but the effects did not become evident until his adolescence. The first sign, that at least Harry saw that something was wrong, was the time Dexter had killed a neighbour's dog. Dexter's reason for killing the dog and later burying the body was because it was a "noisy little creep" and that it disturbed his ill mother's sleep. Harry then asks if he ever wanted to kill something bigger, like a human. Dexter answers that yes, he wanted to, just no specific person, but he never did it because he was scared they – his parents – would not like it. Harry from this point in time wanted to shield and help Dexter from killing someone. After this is where the special code comes in; the Code of Harry. Fearing that someone was psychologically wrong with Dexter, Harry sought help from Dr Evelyn Vogel, a neuropsychiatrist who specialises in profiling psychopaths. After evaluating the stories Harry had told, she not only diagnosed Dexter with the classic traits of a psychopath – the killing of small animals and shallow emotions – but that he had the traits of a will-become killer. Dr Vogel, recognising that it would be impossible to control all his urges, instead suggested that they could try to control specific ones. Originally, the idea was to control his urges to kill animals, only for them to realise that the killing of animals would not be enough to satisfy Dexter. Thus the Code was created. Harry handled the majority of the details, Dr Vogel created the guidance. Harry, from the guidance of the Code, trained his son to be normal during his adolescent years, helping him blend into society as well as he could. One of these aspects was the capability of feeling and showing emotion, which Dexter was incapable of doing. An incident that was really important was at the beach. A photo was being taken, a family photo of the Morgans. it is a warm, sunny day, everyone is smiling, except Dexter. Harry catches onto this, and he asked Dexter what is bothering him. His answer is that he does not like the beach, refusing to smile because of the slimy, nasty, sandy feeling. Harry explains that he has to deal with it, not just to make his mother happy, but to also blend in. Dexter nods in understanding, going back to his family, taking the photograph of his first successful "fake" smile. !2 Early adulthood: his father's death leads to his first human victim During his first years as an adult, his father had fallen ill of coronary artery disease. Harry was for a time confined to a hospital bed. During Harry's time there, Dexter spotted a nurse named Mary. He noticed that something was off about her. She murdered her patients by slowly overdosing them on morphine, delusional with thinking she was helping them by "taking their pain away." As Harry was one of her patients, he gave Dexter his permission to kill her, in order to stop her from killing anybody else. He waited inside Mary's house to strike. His method would be mostly the same one he used in his later murders, such as covering everything in sheets of plastic and strapping the victim to a long and flat surface. While Mary did put up a fight, he managed to strap her down and stab her to death, to later dispose of her remains in the Everglades swamp. This was Dexter's first murder. !3 Sources "What happened to Dexter Morgan that made him a serial killer? - Google Search", Google Search. WEBSITES "Dexter Morgan/Early Life | Dexter Wiki | FANDOM powered by Wikia", Dexter Wiki. (Retrieved: 14-04-2018) "Mary | Dexter Wiki | FANDOM powered by Wikia", Dexter Wiki. (Retrieved: 14-04-2018) "The Code of Harry | Dexter Wiki | FANDOM powered by Wikia", Dexter Wiki. (Retrieved: 14-04-2018) !4.