Daniel Sancho and hybristophilia: why you ‘fall in love’ with a murderer

The phenomenon has reached the networks and is leaving thousands of users frozen: people who admire daniel sancho after confessing that he killed and dismembered the Colombian surgeon Edwin Arrieta. They defend him, they find him attractive and they even show a crush on his person under the hastag ‘Free Daniel Sancho’. It is not the first time it happens: Miguel Carcano (Marta del Castillo’s murderer) or Sergio Morata (he killed Marina Okarinska and Laura del Hoyo in Cuenca) they had their own fan club. Is called Hibristofilia and it is a disorder that causes a powerful sexual attraction towards people who have committed a crime or who can be potentially violent or dangerous.

The term was initially defined in 1986 by Dr. John Money to characterize a paraphilia in which a person is sexually aroused by a partner who has a predatory history of insulting others. Studies show that It is a disorder that affects a greater number of women. although there is no defined pattern: it is not necessarily women of a low socioeconomic level, or without education, but there are known cases of professionals and people from all social groups.

It’s called hybristophilia. pic.twitter.com/K43mnvSY0d

— Cristina Seguí (@CristinaSegui_) August 12, 2023

Women who are attracted to killers, especially serial killers, they are usually between 30 and 40 years oldaccording to an article in Psychology Todayand explain that in an initial phase it also manifests itself in adolescents who feel an idyllic attraction to “bad boys” who are always involved in complicated situations.

passive and aggressive

There are two types of hybristophilia. The first, known as passive, affects those known as ‘serial killer groupies’ who send letters to men who are in prison but have no interest in taking part in criminal activities. Many of these women claim to have fantasies of rescuing men, believing that they will never hurt them and that they can change them.

do you smell it?? It’s hybristophilia knocking on the door… pic.twitter.com/TAr6sTqa8P

— Araknne (@Araknne1) August 13, 2023

On the contrary, the aggressivemakes people who suffer from it want to be part of the ‘criminal agenda’ and will help their partners, becoming accomplices in their alibis.

Experts affirm that there are two motivations in people who suffer from hybristophilia: those who are sure that they are the only ones who see the ‘good side’ of the murderer and believe that they can make him a good person and those who seek the same fame as the criminal to appear with him in the media.

Parody or hybristophilia? pic.twitter.com/Gej1lvB6Oz

— Vegannibal Lecter (@veganibalecter) August 14, 2023