Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer
Category B (cold/preservative), e.g. Gary Ridgway, Dennis Nilsen, Carl Tanzler
Category C (warm/destructive) e.g. Andrei Chikatilo, Joseph Vacher
Category D (warm/preservative) e.g. Robert Yates, Earle Nelson
Category E (dabblers) e.g. Richard Ramirez, Mark Dixie
Category F (catathymic⁠ ⁠— impulsively and explosively lashing out)
Category G (exclusive necromutilophiles) e.g. Robert Napper, Peter Sutcliffe
Category H (sexual cannibals & vampires) e.g. Albert Fish, Peter KürtenDabblers have transitory opportunistic sexual relations with corpses, but do not prefer them. Catathymic necrophiliacs commit postmortem sex acts only while in a sudden impulsive state. Exclusive necromutilophiles derive pleasure purely from mutilating the corpse, while sexual cannibals and vampires are sexually aroused by eating human body parts. Category A, C, and F offenders may also cannibalise or drink the blood of their victims. Research
Humans
Necrophilia is often assumed to be rare, but no data for its prevalence in the general population exists. Some necrophiliacs only fantasise about the act, without carrying it out. In 1958, Klaf and Brown commented that, although rarely described, necrophiliac fantasies may occur more often than is generally supposed.Rosman and Resnick (1989) reviewed 123 cases of necrophilia. The sample was divided into genuine necrophiliacs, who had a persistent attraction to corpses, and pseudo-necrophiliacs, who acted out of opportunity, sadism, or transient interest. Of the total, 92% were male and 8% were female. 57% of the genuine necrophiliacs had occupational access to corpses, with morgue attendants, hospital orderly, and cemetery employees being the most common jobs.
The researchers theorised that either of the following situations could be antecedents to necrophilia:
The necrophiliac develops poor self-esteem, perhaps due in part to a significant loss;
(a) They are very fearful of rejection by others and they desire a sexual partner who is incapable of rejecting them; and/or
(b) They are fearful of the dead, and transform their fear—by means of reaction formation—into a desire. They develop an exciting fantasy of sex with a corpse, sometimes after exposure to a corpse. Motives
The most common motive for necrophiliacs is the possession of a partner who is unable to resist or reject them. However, in the past, necrophiliacs have expressed having more than one motive.The authors reported that of their sample of 34 genuine necrophiliacs:
68% were motivated by a desire for a non-resisting and non-rejecting partner
21% were motivated by a want for a reunion with a lost partner
15% were motivated by sexual attraction to dead people
15% were motivated by a desire for comfort or to overcome feelings of isolation
12% were motivated by a desire to remedy low self-esteem by expressing power over a corpseLesser common motives include:

Unavailability of a living partner
Compensation for a fear of women
Belief that sex with a living woman is a mortal sin
Need to achieve a feeling of total control over a sexual partner
Compliance with a command hallucination
Performance of a series of destructive acts
Expression of polymorphous perverse sexual desires
Need to perform limitless sexual activityIQ data was limited, but not abnormally low. About half of the sample had a personality disorder, and 11% of true necrophiliacs were psychotic.