District killer

District Killer was the name given by the public to several unidentified serial killers active in the Themiclesian capital city of Kien-k'ang from 1938 – 40, 1957 – 59, 1992 – 1993.

A known person, Syam Ti-rep, used this monicker in 1999, for the murder of Kwar Peng; however, Kwar being Syam's only victim, the latter cannot technically be called a serial killer.

While at least two unknown individuals assumed this title, most authorities hold that each of the three spells of activity belonged to at least one person, meaning at least three individuals committed murders under this title.

No. 1

The first District Killer was active in the outskirts of Kien-k'ang (the eponymous "districts", as opposed to the "manors" of city), at a time when the central government had evacuated to Qpah. This person paid for large advertisements by anonymous letters with money inside on consecutive days on the Kien-k'ang Times, asking the enemy to stop sending "snoops" into the countryside. When unheeded, this homicide became known for hanging Menghean and Dayashinese scouts up-side-down on trees and telegraph poles, leaving them to die of various complications or exposure. A search for the District Killer was unsuccessful, and their identity remains unknown today.

The number of victims killed by the first District Killer is disputed but believed to be between 15 and 25, discounting other hang-ups elsewhere in Themiclesia where it would have been difficult for the same person to travel so far unnoticed.

Post-war, the identity of the first District Killer was heavily debated, but historians believe they may not have been a single person.

No. 2

First stint

The second District Killer seems to have committed crimes mostly for notoriety and personal gratification. In June 1957, a mysterious death was reported, of a schoolgirl in her minority. Within days, an anonymous message was sent to the Supervisory Board of Police, stating "I have returned to this city" and signed "District Killer". When the Board took no action, recording it as a prank and not making a connection with the recent homicide, the same message was sent to the Times of Kien-k'ang, which is the newspaper where the first iteration of this name appeared 20 years before.

Second stint

When this was also ignored, the District Killer went into dormancy for the year and killed three schoolchildren between December 8 – 10, 1957, inscribing on their denuded bodies the names of Kien-k'ang districts, plus the flag of the Great Menghean Empire on girls and that of the Dayashinese Empire on boys. Autopsies reveal that the inscription was done while the victims were alive.

Their deaths were reported on the press in full graphic detail on the new colour television service which had begun transmitting only weeks earlier, censorship principles not having been adopted yet. Public shock and horror ensued, with parents taking time off to walk their children to and from school for several weeks. With no progress at the police investigation, two more homicides followed in January and February 1958, while parcels containing body parts were mailed to broadcasters, which were told that they must broadcast the parcel's contents in colour in the same day if the new District Killer's visitation is to be assuaged. None of the broadcasters complied, and the body parts were all eventually united with their bodies.

Ghwang Put's death

In April 1958, the Times of Kien-k'ang printed an opinion piece by its editor Ghwang Put, stating that the new District Killer travelled through the city's many large drains and gutters to avoid detection. On May 10, Ghwang's dead body was found limbless and noosed in a city gutter, and by that time he had been dead for multiple days. An initial autopsy had not discovered that the word "no" was etched into Ghwang's left thigh. This happened during the time of the Road Improvement Programme (RIP), one of whose objectives was indeed to cover the large drains in which sometimes individuals drown.

Last stint

From November 1958 onwards to May 1959, the second District Killer murdered a further 13 victims, this time no longer limited to schoolchildren and newspaper editors. The homicide continuing the earlier practice of inscribing a district's name onto the body of a victim before killing them. Notes were sent to the press "for immediate publication", failing which the newspaper staff was threatened. The killer stated that "they shall all fall", probably indicating the 52 districts that made up the city and that he took a district by killing a victim inscribed with the district's name. The very last victim, a schoolteacher, had Justice of Appeal written on his face; this was the district of the royal palaces, and his body was found there. After this homicide, the second District Killer never appeared again.

Speculations about identity

The most notable fact about the second District Killer was not that they chose to commit crimes under a pseudonym previously used for the opposite orientation, but rather that they were always inactive during summer. Many have speculated that this could indicate only one thing—the killer was a student at a high school that had a semester system vacating during summers. Further, this suggests the killer probably intended to use school attendance as an alibi should they ever come under suspicion, which would have been an excellent alibi because once attendance was recorded in the morning it was not checked again, and students naturally come in and out of sight of each other. Thus, while the alibi was not perfect for the killer, that imperfect alibi exists for all students, and so it was impossible to pin suspicion on a single one.

Additionally, the second District Killer likely had a car whereby victims were abducted and transported, since their victims were invariably some distance away from the places where they were last sighted. In the 1950s, children as young as 12 could legally drive in Themiclesia, and economical cars from Maracaibo were often taken by children who lived far from their schools. Such cars were of a uniform design and paint colour, making them virtually impossible to identify short of the license plate, which could be easily forged. Then, the second District Killer's first victims were schoolchildren, which meant that schoolchildren were placed into public imagination as a victim body and therefore disassociated with suspicion.

The choice of the "conquering the city" as a theme to the homicides has been variously interpreted. A genuine grudge held against Themiclesia or the city is considered unlikely even though it is prosecuted with enthusiasm, and so the vociferous support for the failed invasion seems to have been a device to arouse public attention and lead away from the killer's genuine motivation, which remains unknown.

All these factors led Lewis Stanley to write that of all the individuals assuming the name of the District Killer, the No. 2 was so sophisticated as to be unlike a schoolchild.

Syam Ti

Syam claimed to be the same killer active during 1992 – 93, which would make him but 10 years old at that time. He supported this claim by spraying the sentence "your friend is back". As this was too far contradictory with what is known about No. 3, no authority accepts Syam's claim.

Syam Ti's arrest and arraignment opened a discussion about legal reform and the justiciability of offence committed by children. Themiclesian law provided that children at 8 years old (that is, over 7 years and 364 days) can be held criminally responsible, but with the proviso that the sentence is considered fully served upon criminal amercement (收贖); such a rule protects minors until they turn 19 years old, at which point the adult law applies (civil majority occurs when they turn 20). Unlike civil amercement, where the amount is proportional to violation caused, criminal amercement is fixed to a peppercorn of Rg 1 (about £4); such a concept is comparable to a sentence to the Rising of the Court in other jurisdictions.

For a felonious minor's case, the prosecution always argues that the minor is insane and should be committed to treatment, which most often results in confinement of an arbitrary length determined by physicians appointed by the government. If the minor has poor prospect at trial, and in view of avoiding arbitrary commitment, the defence would confesses to the criminal charge, since the resulting punishment is always commutted to amercement in the case of a minor. Thus, the minor would obtain a criminal record but be free of confinement; moreover, a minor's criminal record is sealed and not taken into account in public proceedings. This is the opposite for an adult's case, where the defence will usually argue insanity to avoid a criminal record and prison sentence.

This loophole is partly filled by the Government's power to file an inquest into whether the child should attain to majority on the grounds of defective character. If found thus, a civil court can place the child into the custody of the parents or irrespective of age and charge the parents with specific duties. In Syam's case, this is "to care for him" (令尚).

See also

• Themiclesia